On-air with Hank Phillippi Ryan, author of Prime Time (A Q&A)

Hank Phillippi Ryan, author of Prime Time.

Today, I am delighted to host bestselling and award-winning author Hank Phillippi Ryan on the re-release of her first Charlotte McNally mystery, Prime Time (Mira, $7.99), which won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel.

Ryan is an investigative reporter for the NBC affiliate in Boston. With twenty-six EMMYs to her name, along with dozens of other regional, national, and international honors for her reporting and writing, she is truly distinguished within her field. She has personally wired herself with hidden cameras, exposed corrupt politicians, and chased down crooks in the street. And she takes that insider knowledge and uses it to color the fictitious world that Charlotte (“Charlie”) McNally inhabits.

Much like Ryan, McNally is an investigative reporter. In Prime Time, she finds herself desperately seeking a story that will win both ratings and the kudos of the studio brass (who may just be looking to replace Charlie with a younger face). The answer comes in the form of what at first appears to be an innocuous piece of Spam email but ultimately turns out to hold the key to a lethal multi-million dollar fraud ring. With her life on the line, Charlie races to report the news before she becomes it.

Recently, I had the opportunity to be the one doing the interrogating. And while I didn’t go digging through Hank’s trash in preparation for our little chat, I think you’ll find my questions to be quite probing...

1) Your protagonist, Charlotte "Charlie" McNally, is a TV reporter who finds herself aging in an industry that often values beauty and youth over journalistic ideals. How much of yourself will readers find in your character? And do you ever worry that they might have trouble separating the artist from the art (or the writer from the written, as the case may be)?

Ah, Ha. Well, you get right to the heart of it, don't you? When my husband talks about Charlie McNally to me, he calls her "you". As in--"when you catch the bad guys" or "when you solve the mystery." I say--honey, it's fiction. And he just laughs.
 

Of course Charlie McNally is me--in some ways. She's--younger. She's braver. And although we've both wired ourselves with hidden camera, chased down criminals and confronted corrupt politicians, scarier things happen to her. (So far.) But we're both very committed journalists of a certain age. If people confuse us? Well, I guess that's okay. Happy to be Charlie.

2) As an investigative reporter, you well know the importance of getting the "sexiest" story--the one that will sweep the ratings and put you ahead of the competition. As an author, do you ever feel that same sense of urgency when formulating plot ideas?

Well, hmm. I don't think of them as "sexy stories." I think of them--for TV and for fiction--as "good, compelling, interesting and new stories." So sure, I feel exactly the same sense of urgency. I want people to be glued to the screen (or page.) I want to find something no one's ever written about before, and write it in a way no one has ever heard. The search for a great story is the same, whether you're writing it for TV or for readers in a library or bookstore.

It's got to be new, memorable and important, with high stakes and the power to change lives.

3) Speaking of plot, PRIME TIME's is pretty high-concept--Charlie suspects that the contents of Spam email actually contain the key to a (deadly) multi-million dollar fraud ring. That's a very intriguing premise, as most of us have found ourselves victims of cyber junk email. Where did the idea come from?

Oh, I remember the very moment. I was at my desk, at Channel 7 in Boston. I was powering through emails, deleting spam. We all do that, right? But by mistake, I opened one. The subject line said: Need refinancing help? Or something like that. But inside was nothing about refinancing. The body of the email was what looked like a scene from a Shakespearean-era play.

I stared at it, and thought—why would someone put those words in an email about refinancing?

And then it went through my mind: maybe it’s a secret message. Ah! And in that second, I had the plot for PRIME TIME. (There’s a moment like that for all of my books.)

By the way--I took a course from the FBI, called the FBI Citizen's Academy. After the session on cyber crimes, I pulled the special Agent in Charge aside, and asked if I could run my murder mystery plot by him. I'm sure all he wanted to do was run away, but he was politely patient, and listened. But the time I was finished, his eyes were big and he looked at me--differently. He said: You know, that would work.

Have you ever seen that done, I asked? Nope, he replied…

So my scheme got the stamp of approval from the FBI.

4) Like Charlie, you find yourself balancing a demanding career (well, two in your case!) with personal relationships and civic commitments. How do you maintain a healthy balance?

Yeah, that's truly a constant battle. I work as an investigative reporter 24/7. I work as an author 24/7. And I also have a wonderful and supportive husband, a criminal defense and civil rights attorney, who, amazingly, likes to have dinner! And have vacations. Imagine. So it's a lot of juggling. (We DO have dinner together. But we haven't had a vacation in years. Writing comes first.)

How does it work? My husband is incredibly supportive. And patient. I'm very organized. Lots of lists! And I'm used to working under a deadline--I've had deadlines for the last 30 years, and am comfortable with that.

I've also learned to let go a little--not everything gets done. I'm a perfectionist about what I do accomplish--I try to give better than my best each time. But, you know, it's summer, and my winter coats are still in the front closet. I finally just hired someone to wash the windows. And the to-be-read pile on the nightstand hasn't budged in a while.

5) I just have to ask: With twenty-six Emmys for broadcast journalism to your name and several honors for your fiction (including an Agatha Award for Best First Novel), do you actually have room on your bookshelves for books?

I'm blushing. Yes, indeed. But that's one of my secrets. We have a room that's wall to wall bookshelves. The Emmys are in my study. With my Agatha teapot in a special place of honor.

***

And this just in: Though Prime Time is now available at bookstores everywhere and online, we have learned that the mystery gurus at Mystery Lovers Bookstore in Oakmont, PA invited the author to do a virtual signing of the Charlotte McNally books! Here’s the special deal: you can order there, and get an autographed book--and the shipping is FREE! Click here for more details.

With thanks to the ever-gracious Hank Phillippi Ryan, who will be making a return appearance at Hartford Books Examiner upon the re-release of the second Charlie McNally mystery, Face Time, in August. Until then, it’s a wrap!