What Hank's Writing: What is THE MURDER LIST?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: THE MURDER LIST is not a legal thriller, someone said to me. It's domestic suspense, focused on a wife and husband, and who might be the good guy and who might be the bad.  

Someone else said: It's not domestic suspense, it's totally a legal thriller. It's about murder, and trials, and finding a dangerous killer. Or  two.  

I say: it's both.  It's THE MURDER LIST (coming August 20),  and I am superly excited about it.

It has a courtroom battle--oh yes. And a jury. And some murders, and legal wrangling. But also a husband and wife...situation. As the amazing Erica Ferencik said : "it's husband and wife, ego and id, cat and mouse." 

No review couldn't make me happier than one Goodreads early reader who said--"All right! If John Grisham and Lisa Scottoline had a book baby, that would be THE MURDER LIST!" 

I might have a t-shirt made out of that.  But what is a legal thriller?

Witness for the Prosecution. A Few Good Men. Adam's Rib. To Kill a Mockingbird, of course. And the amazing Inherit the Wind, (Spencer Tracy as Clarence Darrow) remember? And oh--Compulsion (Orson Welles as Clarence Darrow), maybe my favorite trial movie ever. 

The reason I love these movies is that they not just about the crime, but they're about personal stories, right?  Relationships. Why people make the decisions they do.

 And certainly they're about justice. And sometimes, when we wonder--why do we write crime fiction? When there's already enough crime in the world? I once read  a mystery where someone says--I don't write about crime. I write about justice.

And that's what I do, too. Write about why people do what they do, and then--how do we get to to the truth about it? And be sure--can we ever be sure?--that justice is served? Claus Von Bulow died last week, and I had covered his retrial in 1985. 

(Recognize anyone besides Von Bulow in this photo from the NY Times that was in his obituary?)  


Von Bulow was acquitted--but did someone try to kill his wife Sunny? His death, and hers years earlier, means we will never know.  

We'll never know! That's what informed TRUST ME--that sometimes we think we know, but we don't, can't possibly, for sure. And I explore similar themes in THE MURDER LIST.  Murder, and the rules of law. Justice, and how we get there--if we do. 

And, as the cover asks: What happens when the battle for justice becomes the battle for survival?

Rachel. Jack. Martha. Who is next on THE MURDER LIST?

Here is Rachel North, chief of staff to Senator Tom Rafferty. And they both are having a bad day in court. 

                             Rachel North

 A wall of bodies and cameras and microphones presses toward us and a din of insistent voices engulfs us, questions echoing on the white brick walls, doubling the sound, tripling the sound. We almost can’t get out of the elevator. It crosses my mind to push the close door button, escape, and sneak back into the courtroom some other way.

“Let’s do this,” I say. I narrow my eyes, lift my chin and power ahead, carving a path for the Senator, unstoppably determined, as if I’m his personal fullback. What these people are asking, what they’re demanding, what they’re thinking, is outrageous. Insensitive. Demeaning. Disrespectful. And, I hate myself for thinking, exactly what I’d like to know myself.

“Is your wife a murderer, Senator?” “Why did she do it?” “Why would Nina kill her?” “Were you having an affair?” “Are you going to resign?”

“No comment no comment the senator has no comment,” I repeat. I’m a robot, a talking robot, but I can feel Tom Rafferty, silent and seething, behind me. We make it to the tall wooden courtroom doors of room 226. I pull one of the metal door handles. Nothing. Try the other one. Nothing. And again. Nothing.  Locked.

“No comment no comment no comment.” I say as I keep trying, rattling the curved handles with one hand, knocking like crazy with the other. Tom and I are trapped here, sandwiched between the closed doors and the insistent reporters. Not a good battle strategy.

I almost fall over when one of the doors opens right onto me, and I lurch a step backward, almost tripping on the Senator who’s close behind me. A scowling court officer, a head taller than I am and shoulders twice as broad, appears in the doorway, clearly ready to order us away. He stops mid-command. Closes his mouth. Regroups.

“Get in here,” he mutters, waving us through.

I go first, ducking my head, then Tom. I feel the crowd behind us surging, as a group, trying to follow.

“Get back!” the officer instructs. His bulk blocks the still-open door, arms crossed over his chest. “Court stays closed until l:30. Rules are rules.”

“Come on, Hector,” someone whines from the back of the hallway. “If they can go in, we can go in.”

“He’s the President of the Senate,” the court officer hisses.

“Not for long!” someone calls out.

HANK:  So, this is the time of crossing fingers!  So, Reds and readers, do you love legal thrillers?  Which ones?  Tell us your faves--and an advance review copy of THE MURDER LIST to one lucky commenter!