Around the Fire with special guest Cara Bertoia and Casino Queen. A contemporary suspense / thriller.

Welcome to my fire, Cara. Can I pour you a refreshment? What is your go to beverage?
My go to beverage is iced tea. I grew up in the South and can’t live without it. But the quantities of tea I drink is so fattening that now I drink it plain and use Sweet’N Low to give it flavor. But if I do drink sweet tea it has to be brewed not instant, a noticeable  difference.
 
Okay, I'm on it. While I do, why don't you tell everyone who you are that's not part of your bio?
I’m a restless person who loves to travel and read. I have had many different careers and have moved to many cities, Charlotte, Boston, Lake Tahoe, Palm Springs and on a cruise ship for five years. I suffer from torschlussapanik, the German word for the fear of missing out. I don’t care about money only experiences.
 
I love new words thanks for sharing that one. Cruise ships are one of may favorite things. I don't know if I could do it for five years though. What other interests besides writing do you enjoy?
I love reality shows like 90 Day Fiancé, Love Is Blind and my all-time favorite, Married at First Sight. The goal of the show has to be a good relationship. I call myself The Hopeful Romantic, because I met my husband while working on a cruise ship and we were married four months later. After two decades I think our marriage qualifies as a success. Check out my blog, carabertoia.blogspot.com and read my latest post to learn my basic strategy of love. The dynamics of how couples do or don’t make things work fascinates me.
 
Wow, married after four month! I was engaged within two months but we waited a year to tie the knot and were going on twenty-nine. I bet your hubby is a big supporter. Who else is your network or support system?
My biggest supporter and chief editor is my husband Ray. He will be editing this article. I also had a great group of early readers for Casino Queen. One is a court reporter who catches my punctuation errors and another is a college professor who is an insightful critic. I also have a group of casino professional who vet my manuscript  for gambling errors. There are so many writers from The Wild Rose Press who support each other I have learned so much from them.
 
The Garden is an amazing group of creatives who are very generous with their time and experience. Who or what book or authors are your inspiration?
Charles Bukowski, who wrote about his daily life, his job and going to the track. I loved the plain way he wrote, he named his autobiography Ham on Rye. How great is that title. 
I also love Lionel Shriver, her most famous book is We Need To Talk about Kevin. She is cynical and funny and always honest. In her book The Post-Birthday World she creates a parallel-universe but both paths have their problems because life is not a fairy tale.
 
Hah! Ham on Rye indeed. I love it.  And I agree, life certainly is not a fairy tale. It can be gritty and dirty. Do you have any fun or outrageous talent?
I am known as the food-scout because I always pick good restaurants. I check out the reviews, read the menus and focus on the ambiance. It started when I worked on cruise ships, I hated the tourist traps we went to. Eating out is expensive so it better be good.
 
Next time Pete and I want to dine out I'll reach out for your recommendations. You're not on a ship anymore so, tell me about your neighborhood?
My neighborhood is fantastic. It is the reason we moved to Hollywood, Fl. We live right on the beach, I can see the ocean as I am typing this. This place is a walkers paradise, I can walk on the beach, to the library, and they are building a Publix two blocks away. But the highlight is the two-mile Broadwalk outside my door. It is great for eating out, people watching and there is a free concert five nights a week. It is a true beach paradise, and undiscovered except for the natives and Canadian tourists.
 
Darn! You are about 400 miles away from my winter home. I never realized Florida was such a big state. In my head it was always the size of NJ until I showed up and found out everything is tomorrow away. Does writing energize or exhaust you?
Writing exhausts me, it is so hard to write the first draft of a novel. But I love rewriting where words become sharper, dialogue is funnier and the real research begins. I love whipping my manuscripts into shape.
 
If you could tell your younger writing self-anything, what would it be?
To not worry about criticism. I used to be so anxious that people wouldn’t like my work. But guess what most agents and editors won’t like your work, but they don’t like other writers either. Try to paper your wall with rejection letters, a tough skin will make you a writer. Write the book you want to read, write it for you.
 
I just wrote a letter to a young author saying the same thing. What did you edit out of this book?
I wrote about the real estate crash of 2008 because I knew so many people in Palm Springs who lost their homes. I thought it was a good cautionary tale. My editor wanted to go in a different direction so I cut about 80 pages out of my manuscript but I can always use them in another book.
 
I deleted an entire chapter from Rock House Grill on the advice of my editor. They do know a thing or two. Do you Google yourself?
While I was promoting my first book, Cruise Quarters, I received a request from Goodreads asking me to provide a quote from my novel. Imagine my surprise a few months later when I Googled my name and I found over 200 websites where my quote had been used. I love to make up quotes, it’s a fun way to give advice in a short pithy sentence. I use them for my chapter titles. It has been included in so many lists of best gambling quotes, people on social media sites, and even Seeking Alpha, a financial website. A YouTuber used it with the song Money by Lisa playing in the background. My words have even been used as part of a legal argument in an Indian lawsuit. You too can Google Cara Bertoia quotes like this one... "It’s hard to walk away from a winning streak, even harder to leave the table when you’re on a losing one."
 
That's amazing! What kind of research do you do?
I spent two decades working as a croupier. I didn’t realize it at the time, but every day was research. When I decided to write a thriller about casinos, I thought writing a novel would be a breeze because I knew everything about casinos. I am here to tell you that knowing your subject is such a small part of the process. 
I had to research historical events to make sure I got it right. How did Native Americans win the right to open casinos on their reservations?  Luckily my husband worked as a pit boss, so he could answer my technical questions about money laundering and odds. I had to learn about police procedure because I wrote a mystery. I spent many hours on the Internet researching Native Americans, and the proper use of capitalization. If you think rules like when to capitalize the word tribes as it applies to Native Americans is simple just Google it. I also had to research the dialogue for some of my foreign characters to make sure it sounded authentic.

What can you share with other authors and aspiring ones?
Here’s a tip, read your whole novel out loud and record it to see how it sounds. 
Here’s another tip, even if you think you know how to spell a place, or a brand always double check. I was sure I knew the way to spell Louis Vutton imagine my surprise when I learned it was Louis Vuitton. Be careful about the names of companies you use, some companies are very serious about their trademarks. I bought The best punctuation book period and referenced it every day. Keeping your verbs in the right tense is just one of the many challenges you will  face.
Correcting all the mistakes in a novel are mind-boggling, so before you query if you have the resources hire an editor. Also make sure you have people that share your taste in books read your story. Does it flow, does the plot make sense and are the characters engaging?

Excellent advice. Who is the most interesting person you have ever met and talked to?
Agua Caliente Tribal Chairman Richard Milanovich was the most interesting person I knew. He was responsible for bringing casinos to tribal lands in Palm Springs, and positively impacting the fortunes of his tribal members. A charismatic man who spoke with the soft slow cadence of the Native Americans of the Southwest. Even though he was such an important man he knew all of his employees names and would stop and chat with them and ask about their families. He became the inspiration for my character John Tovar.

I hear you have an amazing write up in the Palm Springs Desert Sun. Can you share it?
Cara Bertoia stacks the creative cards in our favor in “Casino Queen” (The Wild Rose Press), a compelling
mystery set in Palm Springs and Joshua Tree.Bertoia lived in the Coachella Valley for nearly 22 years. In fact, she and her husband, Ray, were casino employees and long-time residents in Chino Canyon before moving to Florida several years ago. “Casino Queen” arrives at the perfect time when crime-solving tales that revolve around strong female protagonists aren’t just a luck of a draw. They’re downright successful. (See TV’s "Equalizer" and "Poker Face" for samplers.)
To that end, “Casino Queen” has the makings of a streaming series. 
That is so exciting! Congratulations. Cara, thank you so much for spending time Around the Fire with me today. Before you bottoms-up your iced tea, will you leave us some information about where we can find more about you and your latest book?

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Casino Queen
A contemporary suspense / thriller novel
by
Cara Bertoia
 
Caroline Popov, alone, heartbroken, and deeply in debt ends up in glamorous Palm Springs, California. Native American casinos have just opened, thousands of people from all over the world came to work there, money flowed like water, and real estate became the new status symbol. And then came The Great Recession, and suddenly the partying stopped. 
Alone, desperate and deeply in debt, she lands a job at the Palm Oasis Casino. She is mentored by the charismatic tribal chairman, John Tovar. Embraced by casino culture, Caroline works her way up to casino manager of the Night Hawk, in the High Desert town of Joshua Tree. There, she is responsible for managing multicultural team members, satisfying the demands of challenging guests, growing revenue while rooting out corruption. As she moves up through the ranks of management, her bond with John deepens.
In the process of uncovering the underbelly of corruption her list of enemies grows. Sometimes you have to gamble like your life depends on it. With her life on the line can she pull out a win?

What others are saying.
Little Miss Book Lover 187
"Oh Wow!! What a debut this has been. How will a written review do this one justice? I'm so excited for this book to get into the hands of other readers. I have wanted to step into the gorgeous setting of this one. However, the author's descriptions have transported me and made me feel as though the setting has been familiar to me - an added talent of hers. It's converted me as a huge fan of Bertoia." - Vikkie Wakeham, Little Miss Book Lover 187 - Squadpod
 
A peek inside. 
“Why did I transfer you up from Palm Springs to be my Casino Queen?” The charismatic Tribal Chairman John Tovar asked.
“Casino Queen, really? Apparently, you are the only person in America who isn’t watching the show about the seven kingdoms on cable. The queens always get killed in the most horrific ways. They are hanged, beheaded, poisoned, burned alive in an explosion, or have their throat slit,” an exasperated Caroline Popov answered.
“I promise that won’t happen to you.” He gestured for her to take a seat at an empty ‘Mystic Mermaid’ slot machine, then sat across from her. They swiveled their
chairs to face each other. John tried to act serious, but a smile kept pulling at the corner of his eyes. “According to the Mazurie decision, Native American tribes are considered sovereign nations. Therefore as leader of the tribe, I am King of the Shotowa.”
He continued. “Believe me, when I met the Queen of England I was introduced as the leader of the Shotowa nation. Let me be clear, as soon as you drove into this parking lot you entered the nation.” He gestured toward the uniformed officers standing at the door. “We have our own army.”
She decided to play along with the flow of his logic. “You mean security guards.”
“Precisely, trained courtesy of the United States Marine Corps. The tribe issues its own currency, gaming chips made of ceramic clay, stamped with our logo. At the cashiers’ cage, our central bank, those chips can be exchanged for U.S. dollars. Anyone can find food in our three restaurants or the team member dining room for employees. An underground well supplies us with water. We provide hotel rooms for shelter. Any guest who comes to stay with us will find their basic human needs covered by the Shotowa Tribe. Never forget we are a sovereign nation. I am the King, and I anoint you Queen of the Night Hawk.”
 
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More about the Author 
Cara Bertoia grew up in a strait-laced Southern family, but she was always fascinated with casinos. In her twenties on a summer hiatus from teaching in North Carolina, she drove to California and became a dealer at Caesars in Lake Tahoe. She discovered that after teaching high school, handling an unruly gambler was a piece of cake. Her mother highly disapproved of her working in a casino, "a place so bad it has 'sin' in the middle."
Eventually, she succumbed to pressure from the family and returned east to take a hi-tech job in Boston. She also began working on her MFA in writing at Emerson. Her goal was to write the first realistic novel about casino life from the perspective of an experienced table games dealer. She is always amazed that normal and sometimes quite intelligent players become absolutely clueless in the casino. They repeat superstitious nonsense and no amount of logic can change their position, maybe her novel will.
While in Boston she was offered the opportunity to join Princess Cruises as a croupier. Jumping at the chance, she spent the next five years circling the globe. Sometimes life exceeds your dreams. She was awed by the wonders of Venice, the fjords of Norway, and the Northern Lights in St. Petersburg.
Cara returned from ships with a very special souvenir, her Scottish husband Ray. They went to work at the Spa Casino in Palm Springs, and now live in Hollywood, Florida, where she writes about her casino years while wistfully gazing out at the ocean.
I love to connect with my readers. Please send me a picture with Casino Queen. I will post those pictures to my social media.
 
mailto:[email protected] 
TikTok:  tiktok.com/@carabertoia
Cara Bertoia’s Blog 
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Here is a link to my article in Women Writers Women’s Books
http://booksbywomen.org/behind-the-scenes-of-the-gambling-industry-writing-casino-queen/
 The Big Thrill is a monthly publication of the International Thriller Writers Association. They say they have 200,000 hits a month. I don't know why they picked me for an author interview, but I am very happy because all the big names appear there. Check it out. Here is the link. My interview appeared April 1st.
 
The Big Thrill Online Magazine 
 

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