Do you need a copy editor?

I was reading a book about writing and was dismayed at the spelling errors until I got to a point where I understood the writer was from England. Ha!

***

In a review for one of Edward Jones' books at Amazon.com, a person said that he/she gave up reading it because of the grammatical errors. When I was reading "All Aunt Hagar's Children," I found that there were more errors than I would have liked-- cause used for a shortened 'because' but cause is what makes something happen so the word should appear as 'cause.

But the bigger thing is that in the story "Root Worker" which is an excellent read and from a writer's standpoint, an incredibly structured work, Jones says the girl is ten in one place and then says she's twelve in another. (He will leave a scene and come back to it later, sometimes much later, in the work.) I read and re-read to make sure I was a dunce, but no, he's not consistent and the copy editor at Amistad is slacking off.

Or maybe they need one.

I called and asked. No, really. I called HarperCollins and spoke to an editor who said she'd pass my message on.