Get Lost with HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN

Get Lost in a Story Readers.  We’ve dragged Author Hank Phillippi Ryan away from both her careers, her job at Channel 7 in Boston as an Emmy Award-winning Investigative Reporter, and as a fiction author of the Agatha and Anthony award winning Time series, AND her brand new release, book one of a series,  THE OTHER WOMAN to answer Get Lost in a Story’s fun questions.

ABOUT THE OTHER WOMAN : 

Jane Ryland was a rising star in television news—until she refused to reveal a source and lost everything. Now a disgraced newspaper reporter, Jane isn’t content to work on her assigned puff pieces, and finds herself tracking down a candidate’s secret mistress just days before a pivotal Senate election.

Detective Jake Brogan is investigating a possible serial killer. Twice, bodies of unidentified women have been found by a bridge, and Jake is plagued by a media swarm beginning to buzz about a  “bridge killer” hurting the young women of Boston.

As the body count rises and election day looms, it becomes clear to Jane and Jake that their investigations are connected…and that they may be facing a ruthless killer who will stop at nothing to silence a sandal.

With its dirty politics, dirty tricks, and a barrage of final twists, THE TOHER WOMAN is the first in an explosive new series. Seduction, betrayal and murder—it’ll take a lot more than votes to win this election!

As one character warns: You can choose you sin, but you cannot choose your consequences.

Cover Quotes:

  Lisa Scottoline says “Riveting!”

 Louise Penny says "Thrilling!” 

 Sandra Brown  says “Wholly entertaining!”

 Joe Finder says "Hank is a star!”

 Carolyn Hart says “ Speed-of-light pace. Riveting suspense. A breakout book.”

Karin Slaughter says:  “A powerful fusion of political intrigue and crime that keeps the reader captivated.”

Lee Child says "I knew Ryan was good—but I didn’t know she was this good!”

THE CANDIDATE meets BASIC INSTINCT in award-winner Hank Phillippi Ryan's new high stakes, jet-fueled political thriller. Blending the world's two oldest obsessions, sex and political intrigue, THE OTHER WOMAN is a high-octane mix as timely and topical as today's headlines. Ryan joins the thriller elite and THE OTHER WOMAN belongs at the top of your reading list!   
                                                            Julia Spencer-Fleming

 Reviews: 

BOOKLIST:  starred review

Ryan…knows her way around politics at the highest levels, and use uses that knowledge to fashion a revenge-fueled plot that twists and turns at breakneck speed. Political skullduggery and murder make a high-octane mix for a perfect pre-election thriller. 

Library Journal: Starred review

Ryan, the Anthony and Agatha Award-winning author of the Charlotte McNally mysteries (Drive Time; Prime Time), employs her investigative reporting and political background to craft a dizzying labyrinth of twists, turns, and surprises. Readers who crave mystery and political intrigue will be mesmerized by this first installment of her new series.

AND NOW READERS, LET'S GET TO KNOW HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN!!

DONNELL:  Good morning, Hank, thank you for joining us today.  I know you live in Boston, but let’s put you on the spot.  If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be, and why?

HANK:  See, I’m a reporter, so I’m going to need to know some answers before I tell you. I do love my house, a white  Victorian (from 1894) in a Boston suburb, we have a lovely garden, and a swimming pool in the back where mallards come to visit every spring, a willow tree and rambling pale pink roses. So—I’m pretty happy there. However—if I could have endless money, and an instant babel-fish multi-lingual ability—I’d live in oh, Tuscany, with the cypress trees and fresh peaches and pecorino cheese, and gorgeous wine and black flats with capri pants, and windy roads and the scent of rosemary and  history and beauty everywhere you look.   And coffee. Or, with the agreed-upon money and language skills, smack in the middle of bustling Paris, with the fabulous light and wonderful food, the history, the architecture, the shopping, the ice cream and the baguettes with sweet butter. And  coffee! And the clothes and Hermes and Chanel and string quartets in the stained glass of Chartres.

And I’d have a gorgeous apartment in the 6^th arrondissment  or a 14^th century farmhouse in Castellina (with electricity, please..)

DONNELL:  What’s your favorite room in your house? And why?

HANK:  OH, too hard. My study is fabulous, it really is, and it is a MESS. There are floor to ceiling bookshelves on one whole wall, but there are still stacks of books and files on the floor. It’s covered with my posters and souvenirs—well, here’s a   photo. My desk is an antique semi-circular “hunt” desk, I think they call it, and my bay window looks out over a huge sugar maple.  The room is so chaotic and file-filed—when people come over, I don’t even clean it up. It is what it is.

DONNELL:  What’s the one thing during the day you won’t go without?

HANK:  Sadly? Coffee.

DONNELL:  THE OTHER WOMAN  is the start of a brand new series.  How hard was it to give up your first protagonist, Charlie McNally, and tell us about your new protagonist?  How are your protagonists alike, how are they different and what would they think of each other?

HANK:   Jane would look up to Charlie. Admire her. Which Jane would think is a very funny thought, and one that had never crossed my mind. Charlie s 46, worried about getting old in TV. She’s smart and successful—but is married to her job, and wonders what happens to a TV reporter when the camera doest love her anymore. She’d tell Jane to be more protective of her personal life.

Jane is younger, tougher, harder. Still funny—in a droll way. Very devoted to her job. Jane is a little more vulnerable, since she’s been fired for protecting a source. So in THE OTHER WOMAN,  she’s reeling a bit, trying to get back on her feet after a huge career setback. Jane might be falling into the same “it’s all about the job” trap that Charlie did—if that’s a trap!—but she’s also madly in love with a cop. And for a reporter, that’s impossible. So she’s focusing on work—because to focus on her personal life, she thinks, would be a disaster.

Funny to think about this. We all make choices as our lives progress. Both of these characters are examining the choices they‘ve made—and deciding whether it’s time to make a change in priorities. Will they do anything different? Well, that’s the surprise.

 

DONNELL:  You’re hosting a dinner party.  Your characters are invited.  Who would you leave off the guest list?  Tell us why?

HANK: Oh, easy one, Donnell. Let me just say, at the outset, that nobody in my books is a real person. Let me just be clear! But in every reporters life there’s the one person, usually an editor, who has decided they know what’s best. And by gosh, they are going to MAKE you do that. Whether it’s really “best” or not.

 Now, as writers, we know that editors can be wonderful—especially the ones who let you be a better you. You know? Whose goal is to cultivate your skills, challenge you with their knowledge, help you blossom into a better writer.

But other editors are more interested in making you be what THEY want to be. They stomp your voice and try to change you into them.  There’s a character in the TIME books who’s like that—the fictional Angela—and I’d be much happier having dinner alone!

DONNELL:  With technology changing in the blink of an eye, are you current?  Is it important to be?  Why or why not? 

HANK: Oh, well, who knows. I work in TV, and when I started we used film. When “videotape” was developed, we never thought it would last. But I’m very comfortable with live shots, and going undercover with a hidden camera, and TV technology, and computers, and digital video editing, and my smart phone and computer and social media.

The only thing I’m really baffled by is videogames. NO idea about videogames. I’ve never played one.

DONNELL:   Packrat or organized?

HANK:  An organized packrat. There’s a part of me that says—what if I need that? I’ll just tuck it away over here for later.  But I know where it is! I make lists and lists and lists and love to check off what I’ve done. I have a words-a-day chart to make sure I write enough words so I’m not behind on my deadline. I’m still always behind, but at least I have some idea of HOW behind I am.

My clothes in my closet are in color-order. (Which is kind of easy, come to think of it—black, black, black.)

DONNELL:   If you’re not writing, where will we likely find you?

HANK:  When would that happen?

DONNELL:  What’s your favorite holiday?  Favorite tradition?

HANK: Thanksgiving! Definitely. I love having thanksgiving dinner with my family, I love organizing and scheduling and cooking all the traditional things. (It’s such a triumph when it all comes out at the right time.) We MUST have stuffing and cranberries and all kinds of pie. We have champagne and oysters Rockefeller for appetizers.  Oh, I also love the 4^th of July—we make lobsters and corn and sit outside and watch the fireworks!  

DONNELL:  Are you superstitious?

HANK: Yes. I admit it. I mean—okay, I know it’s not logical. And my husband is not superstitious, not at all, and we are quite a pair. DO NOT PUT THAT HAT ON THE BED! I say. DO NOT STIR THAT COFFEE WITH A KNIFE! He looks at me as if I’m the wackiest person on the planet.

But let me say, about writing, I am NOT superstitious. I have two rocks on my desk, carved with “patience” and “imagine.”  But I consciously don’t have any writing rituals, nothing that I do or say or chant or incant, no special t-shirt I have to wear.  That’s because I don’t want to make my writing dependent on anything mystical, you know? Writing well is magic enough. It’ll come, I have to believe, without me trying MAKE it happen by some superstitious thinking.

But I do throw salt over my shoulder. And I’m not happy when a black cat crosses. And I will not walk under a ladder. I mean—why?

DONNELL:  You’re famous for conducting interviews:  If you could talk with any person in the world, past or present, who would it be?

HANK:  Shakespeare. Wouldn’t that be terrific? Then I could find out if he really wrote the plays, first of all. If yes—and I bet he did—then think of all the wonderful writing things he could teach! Oh, I’d love that. Edith Wharton. She was so brilliant—I’d love to just listen to her gossip and hear her views on society and writing. (Don’t you love that she wrote in bed, and just dropped the pages onto the floor for the maid to pick up?)

 HANK, NOW IT’S YOUR TURN.  YOU GET TO ASK READERS A QUESTION.

OH, a funny question? Well, there’s a car chase—or is there?—in THE OTHER WOMAN. Are you a good driver? Who’s better, you or our spouse/significant other? Do you backseat drive? What’s your favorite thing to say to when you’re annoyed while driving? (I yell  “MERGE MERGE this is a MERGE situation!” And my husband just shakes his head.)

Or—let me think. A serious one. THE OTHER WOMAN is partly about an honorable and tough reporter who’s trying to decide how important it is to report the possibility that a candidate in a pivotal election may be having an affair. What do you think about that? How much of a candidate’s personal  life matters to you? Think: John Edwards, Monica Lewinsky, Arnold Schwartzenegger, Anthony Weiner…would it change your vote? Should the public know?

 I’ll give away a copy of THE OTHER WOMAN to a commenter about each topic!)

READERS, BE SURE TO CHECK OUT MORE INFO OR HANK, OR FOLLOW HER ON TWITTER.

http://www.HankPhillippiRyan.com

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hank-Phillippi-Ryan-Author-Page/250706175034817

twitter  @hank_phillippi

Blogging at http://www.JungleRedWriters.com    @junglereds

 Note: Offer void where prohibited. Prizes will be mailed to North America addresses only unless specifically mentioned in the post. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants. Winners of drawings are responsible for checking this site in a timely manner. If prizes are not claimed in a timely manner, the author may not have a prize available. Get Lost In A Story cannot be responsible for an author's failure to mail the listed prize. GLIAS does not automatically pass email addresses to guest authors unless the commenter publicly posts their email address.