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Rene Gutteridge is the author of seven novels, including Boo, Boo Who, and Boo Hiss, as well as Ghost Writer and Troubled Waters. Her work as a playwright has been published more than thirty times. A trained screenwriter, she graduated Magna Cum Laude from Oklahoma City University, earning the “Excellence in Mass Communication” award. She served for five years as the full-time director of drama for First United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City before leaving to be a stay-at-home mom and full-time writer. She enjoys instructing at writer’s conferences and college classrooms. Rene lives with her husband, Sean, and their two children, John Caleb and Cate, in Oklahoma.

And now back to our regularly scheduled insanity.

Channel 7 news producer Hugo Talley dreams of working with first-class professionals. Instead he’s saddled with a weatherman who can’t admit when he’s wrong, an aging anchorwoman who refuses to release her clawlike grip on the newsdesk, a conscience-stricken reporter who’s reluctant to focus on sensationalism, and a new assistant–former homeschool student Hayden Hazard–who can’t just seem to leave her faith outside the newsroom.

When the Channel News 7 team inadvertently stumbles on a hot news story, Hugo is frantic to exploit this rare opportunity. But a series of crises–including a Botox disaster and the disappearance of a colleague–threatens to destroy his chance for ratings success and send him completely over the edge.

Meanwhile Hayden’s presence is distracting at least two coworkers. Softspoken reporter Ray Duffey isn’t sure whether he’s attracted or frightened by her outspoken faith, while ego-driven Sam Leege is certain her naïve spiritual convictions will fall victim to his persuasive attentions.

With their oddball antics and all-too-real foibles, this lovable cast of characters offers a hilarious look at the sometimes-unexpected effects of taking one’s faith boldly into the workplace.

Publishers Weekly

This humorous novel from Gutteridge kicks off her new series, the Occupational Hazards, featuring seven siblings in a clown family that disbands when the parents die in a freak accident. Twenty-five-year-old Hayden Hazard sheds her protected, homeschooled life to strike out on her own as assistant to Channel 7 news producer Hugo Talley. Her innocence, simple faith and good looks attract the attention of reporter Ray Duffey and egomaniacal weatherman Sam Leege. But trouble is brewing: an aging newscaster has overdone the Botox, giving her a permanent happy face while announcing the most terrible tragedies, and Ray is assaulted on the air while doing a story on pig zoning. An explosion at the waste-water treatment plant seems simple, but Ray discovers something stinks more than sewage or the pigs. Hugo pops blue pills for his stress, but even his medicated calm can't quell the looming disaster. As she did in her Boo series, Gutteridge clearly has fun with her story; the pages brim with quirky characters and plenty of laughs. Hayden's crusade against Hugo's antianxiety meds are the only questionable note in the book; readers may see it as a faith versus prescription antidepressants message. Drugs aside, this is a rollicking evangelical ride through the television news world, reminding readers why Gutteridge is such a delightful read. (Oct. 10) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.