Hank Phillippi Ryan

  “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’ hunting 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 scandal.”

                                                            Back Cover The Other Woman by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Welcome to WWK, Hank. Your nominations and awards precede you so I’ll dispense with my normal introductions. Our readers know you!

**Well, lovely! And yes, I’m pretty thrilled that THE OTHER WOMAN won the Mary Higgins Clark award—and is the only book nominated for the Agatha, Anthony, Daphne, Shamus and Macavity! I am still floating. And one of the joys of this new career is making so many new friends—and getting to meet some of authors I’ve read for years.

At the beginning of The Other Woman, a slander lawsuit against TV reporter Jane Ryland, your main character, places her in an ethical dilemma resulting in the loss of her job. Does the business-side of journalism often clash with the professional side?

***Clash. Well, depends who you ask, right? As a reporter, I try to avoid the whole business side. When a story needs to be told, we do it. People say—whoa, is the subject of that investigation an advertiser on your station? I say—I have no idea. If by the “business side” you mean does the hope for good ratings affect story choices? Well, sometimes…it’s always good to do a story that people want to watch. But a good story is everyone’s goal. (The same with writing fiction, right?)

Jane accepts a job reporting for a Boston newspaper. Do ethical or reporting standards vary  

depending on the type of medium?

***Nope. A professional journalist—whether in TV or newspapers or radio—is out to dig up the truth, give a voice to the voiceless, shine light on problems, and point the world toward solutions. The ethical bottom line is theoretically clear—tell the truth and keep your word. That’s where my Jane Ryland gets caught—if she tells the truth, she can’t keep her word. SO she does the honorable ethical thing (the way she always would—she’s Jane!) and protects her source—and as a result, loses her job.

Not only, it seems, do reporters have the problem of protecting their sources, but they also have conflict of interest problems that can hamper personal relationships. Have you ever turned away from a friendship or potential relationship due to conflict of interest?

**I am laughing. And this question arises because Jane is madly in love (although she won’t quite admit it) with the attractive Boston detective-who’s also been a source. That’s a huge dilemma—how can she cover the cop shop—while she’s sleeping with a cop? And how can Jake hang out with Jane—if there’s ever a lead from the Boston Police—won’t he be the first one suspected?

As for me—when I was the weekend anchor at WSB in Atlanta, I dated the city editor of the Atlanta Journal. It was all fine…until that huge story of the missing and murdered children—remember? A serial killer? Well. Our station finally had the scoop on the arrest, and I knew it was coming, but couldn’t say a word. My beau had dinner at my house that night, and when he left, I said—you might want to watch the 11 o’clock news. He said—why? And I said—just watch.

The next time he saw me, I was live on the air from FBI headquarters.

And now my husband is a criminal defense attorney—and he knows things he just can’t tell me—and I know things I can’t tell him. We’ve worked it out. 

Hank chats with Sue Grafton

Many journalists have turned to writing fiction after their primary career is over, but you are doing both at the same time. Are there similarities in the writing, and do you find yourself editing out the fiction writer on the job? Are there other challenges to balancing both?

**Yes, I hope my TV career is not over! We just won 2 more Emmys (that makes 30!) and I hope to win more. Are there similarities? Sure! Because in journalism and in fiction—it’s all about telling a good story, right? With compelling characters, and a problem that needs to be solved, you want the good guys to win and the bad guys to get what’s coming to them, and in the end you want a satisfying solution, and you want to change the world. Exactly the same, fact and fiction.

Of course, in TV you can’t make stuff up.

You wrote the Charlotte McNally series in first person, present tense—a hard-core crafting technique few can master. But in this series, you’ve chosen third person, past tense. Which do you prefer, and how did you choose?

**I love to talk about this—because to me it illustrates the magical (yes, magical) qualities of writing. When I started writing PRIME TIME, my first book—well, people ask me “how did you decide to do first person present” I have to admit—I didn’t “decide.” After I got the germ of the idea for the plot, the first sentence just, um, came out. And every writer and reader knows, after that, there’s no changing. And somehow, that style and rhythm and syntax came very naturally to me.

That’s the good news.

The, well, not bad news, but different news: When I wanted to write THE OTHER WOMAN, I knew it was a “bigger” book. A much bigger book. And because I wanted to have the engine of the book be dramatic irony, the only way to do that is by multiple points of view…and to do it in third person past tense.

It was very very difficult. Very. Initially, I thought—past tense? I’m writing something that’s...already happened? I was quite baffled. Then, I actually said to myself “Once upon a time, there was a….” and I realized I understood that construct. And for weeks, every time I sat down at the computer, I’d say to myself “once upon a time…” and go from there. I’m used to it now…and my brain is just as happy either way.

As a journalist, you have to be sure of your facts. How much research and what type of resources did The Other Woman?

you seek in writing

**Oh. Research. Ah. Well, I’ve been a street reporter and an investigative for almost 40 years—including covering countless political stories of every kind. I also worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative aide in the US Senate and the US Congress, and for a few years as a staffer on several political campaigns. So I know this stuff, from years and years of experience.   

Jean Voltaire said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” In your experience, how responsible are powerful people?

**Oh, I thought you were going to ask about the responsibility I felt as a reporter. Which is huge. How responsible are powerful people? The spectrum goes from zero to a hundred.

After reading The Other Woman, I thought other writers might have chosen another starting point by having the trial as back-story. But you chose to write it head on. How did you decide when to start this story?

***Initially the story started with chapter 2, with Jane throwing up after the verdict. But then I decided it needed to start with the conflict between reporters and law enforcement, the pressure on cops to solve crimes, and the lust of reporters for a sexy story. Because all those are themes in the book. And it seemed to work. I’d love to hear how you would have started! 

Do you believe the Biblical verse, “…for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”?

**Yes. One hundred percent. I think of it—or some incarnation of it—every day. 

Now that the soft cover version of The Other Woman has been released, and the ARCs for WRONG GIRL are out, can you give us a glimpse of Jane’s next challenge?

**Oh, yes! Delighted. In THE WRONG GIRL—and I did a lot of research for this, but I hope you won’t notice—Jane’s on the trail of an adoption agency that may be reuniting birth parents with the wrong children. And Jake’s tracking down the killer of a foster mother—where’s the baby who should be in the crib in her bedroom? I love this story—it’s so realistic—and so very creepy.

Then coming up—book three, still untitled— How far would you go to keep your family’s home? Jane’s there when a body is found in a home where the owners have just been evicted. A bank executive decides banks have been bailed out long enough, and it’s time for people to be bailed out—so she manipulates bank records so people don’t go into foreclosure. Will she be killed? That’s what I’m figuring out right now—I have no outline—so we shall see! And Jake’s dealing with a guy who’s confessed to a murder which Jake is sure he didn’t commit. What if Jake is wrong?

Your term as President of Sisters in Crime is almost complete. How much progress have female mystery authors made toward equality with their male counterparts since SinC’s inception, and what are the challenges remaining?

****Oh, it’s amazing, the time has gone by so quickly. And I’m so honored to be part of such a powerful, vibrant, successful and passionate—and compassionate! organization. Equality. Ah—what’s equality, really? How do you quantify? We’re getting there when it comes to number of reviews, right? Not there yet, certainly, but we’re working on it. Equality in talent? Puh-leeze. Equality in perception? Well, that’s interesting. I do think that “men” are sometimes thought as “better” writers, which is so absurd. I’ve never had a woman say I don’t read books by men. But I have had men say to me—I don’t read books by women!

But. As I said to the guy who told me that—it’s a genre thing, maybe, more than gender? Nevertheless, that’s another challenge that certainly remains. I think our mission of parity and equality continues. I don’t think women writers are “victims” anymore—I think we have our power, and now we’re continuing to make sure that’s the standard.

I’m gong to stay active in SinC as long as they’ll have me—and MWA too, where I’m on the board! It’s so important. And Kate Flora said in our recent meeting, the key to SinC is: “You write alone, but you’re not alone.” (Anyone who wants to join, I can hook you up!)

Your preference, Hank: beach or mountains?

**That is surprisingly tough! I love the beach...to watch the pelicans and listen to the water. (Not so much buying bathing suits, though.) But I’m also big on views, and vistas, and stars, and sweaters. So—either way. Happy.