Yet ANOTHER Great Idea!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Yes, the theme of the week. Great ideas! 

Today the wonderful Ritter Ames has SUCH a great idea—and it's also a great excuse.  

How about:  It's not sittin' around watching movies. It's--RESEARCH.  

Yes.

(And she's giving away a book! Another great idea.)

It’s a Marathon Weekend—a Movie Marathon, that is 

by Ritter Ames

I love smart characters. In particular, I’m a sucker for old Cary Grant movies where the dialogue is fast, the humor is faster, and the lead actor figures a way around every obstacle—no matter how things are going. I also love television shows like “Castle” and “Scorpion,” where you have a little humor mixed with the drama, and unabashedly intelligent people to figure out whodunit or how to meet an objective, all while they acknowledge the talents of the others. Sometimes a bit grudgingly, sure, but still…

One of the reasons the titles I listed are favorites of mine is because there aren’t just strong male roles, but strong female roles as well. When Katherine Hepburn punches Cary Grant in the nose in Philadelphia Story, you have no doubt she could do it in real life—even if she’s wearing a designer gown at the time.

And while Beckett is a cop in “Castle” and Rosalind Russell was a reporter in His Girl Friday, both women are definitely respected and tops in their fields—regardless of the fact that the eras they lived in are more than half a century apart. 

If the story has some funny—but natural—scenes, and quick dialogue is bantered between the male and female protags…Well, all the better. 

Strong women—and the smart men who appreciate them—are a weakness of mine. As an author I can claim it’s research when I hunker down for TMC movie marathons, or stream back to back Avengers episodes so I can watch Diana Rigg take on any villain with those iconic kicks in those lovely iconic boots. And if she does have any difficulty, John Steed is right there to drop his bowler and toss his walking stick into the mix. Oh, yeah, and if the male actor has a British accent, well, I’m kinda hooked for sure then. Don’t even get me started on gadgets or James Bond. 

This is one of the joys of being a mystery author. What looks like someone goofing off and watching movies to others is actual research. And if I’m sitting with my feet propped up on my desk, computer in my lap, and watching YouTube videos—well, I’m brainstorming locations. 

Don’t believe me? Neither does my husband a lot of the time. But no matter. Let’s check out what’s on AMC and Netflix. I’m predicting a movie and television series marathon in the near future. It’s all research—really—I promise!

What do you do under the guise of “getting the job done” that others may not agree with the way you classify the task?

HANK: Ha! I love this. Well, sitting on a train and looking out the window. That is definitely not doing nothing.  Sometimes I’ll lie awake in bed, staring at the (too dark to see) ceiling. “What are you doing, honey?” Jonathan will whisper. Writing, I say. And most absolutely definitely, watching movies.  Reading the paper. Eavesdropping. And on and on…all research! How about you?

Ritter is giving away a signed copy of either Counterfeit Conspiracies or Marked Masters (winner's choice) to a lucky commenter on the blog. The contest closes at midnight on Feb. 20^th

ABOUT THE BOOKS: Laurel Beacham may have been born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but she has long since lost it digging herself out of trouble. Her father gambled and womanized his way through the family fortune before skiing off an Alp, leaving her with more tarnish than trust fund. Quick wits and connections have gained her a reputation as one of the world’s premier art recovery experts. The police may catch the thief, but she reclaims the missing masterpieces.

The latest assignment, however, may be her undoing. Using every ounce of luck and larceny she possesses, Laurel must locate a priceless art icon and rescue a co-worker (and ex-lover) from a master criminal, all the while matching wits with a charming new nemesis. Unfortunately, he seems to know where the bodies are buried—and she prefers hers isn’t next.

COUNTERFEIT CONSPIRACIES is the first book in the Bodies of Art Mysteries by  Ritter Ames, and is published by Henery Press. It and the sequel, MARKED MASTERS, are currently on sale for $2.99 in all ebook formats, and can also be purchased in trade paper and hardback from Amazon and Barnes Noble.

 Ritter Ames is the USA Today Bestselling author of the Organized Mysteries and the Bodies of Art Mysteries. She lives atop a very green hill with her husband and Labrador retriever, and spends each day globetrotting the art world from her laptop with Pandora blasting into her earbuds. Often with the dog snoring at her feet. She’s been known to plan trips after researching new books, and keeps a list of “can’t miss” foods to taste along the way. Visit her at www.ritterames.com.

Hallie's Hitchcock Moments...

HALLIE EPHRON: I never would have guessed that I'd end up writing suspense novels, but a lifetime fascination with movies of Alfred Hitchcock could have tipped me off. One of my favorite of his techniques -- one which I've borrowed over and over again -- is what I call the "light bulb in the milk" moment. 

I found it near the end of Suspicion. Cary Grant plays the husband Johnny, a handsome ne'er-do-well married to wealthy Lena (Joan Fontaine). She's an invalid, and every night he brings her a glass of warm milk before bedtime. She's convinced he's trying to poison her.

Hitchcock photographs climbing the stairs carrying a silver tray, and on the tray is a glass of milk. And we're riveted as the camera goes back and forth from Lena to Johnny as he gets closer to her bedroom. Meanwhile, the milk seems to glow.

That's because Hitchcock put a light bulb in the milk to make what would be an ordinary, comforting glass of warm milk seem sinister. And Hitchcock slows things down, brings the camera in closer and closer, unpacking the moment and building the tension.

I think of that light bulb in the milk when I write. I try to mix the everyday with the sinister -- noticing that something ordinary is just slightly off, and then slowing things down to take it in. Like... 

• Suppose you get into your car and realize the seat's been pushed back. 
• Or you come home and the phone is off the hook or the bathtub overflowing. 
• Or the light is on in the attic and no one ever goes up to your attic. 

One little off-detail sets alarm bells in the reader's head ringing.

Hitchcock movies are full of them -- here are a few of my favorites:
- One crow perches on a children's jungle gym. Then several. Soon its rungs are crowded with crows.  (The Birds)
- A windmill is turning the wrong way (Foreign correspondent)- A nun steps out of the shadows in a church bell tower (Vertigo)
- A crop duster flying low over a field where "there ain't no crops" (North by Northwest)
- A boy on a bus is carrying a birdcage which contains a bomb. (Saboteur)
- A husband who may have murdered his wife plants flowers in his front yard (Rear Window)

I like these subtle moments far more than Hitchcock's flamboyant ones (the mummified mother in the rocking chair in Psycho or the brutal rape/ strangulation in Frenzy).

Do you find inspiration in the movies, too?

TONY BROADBENT--SHADOWS IN THE SMOKE

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I've had such fun this week, talking about some of my favorite books and authors. And now I have one more, my friend Tony Broadbent.

SHADOWS IN THE SMOKE is the third book in his In the Smoke series, set in late 1940s London, and featuring dashing Cockney cat burglar, Jethro. You might guess how much I like Tony's books by the fact that that's my quote on the cover (Squint really hard...) What you can't see is that I'm in very good company--the blurbs on the back jacket are from Michael Connolly, Lee Child, and Jacqueline Winspear! (I'm hugely flattered to have got the front!)  I'll let Tony tell you more.

DEBS: Tony, I love love love your Jethro books, and I don’t know of anyone else writing anything similar.  How did you come up with the idea of Jethro as a character? (And it’s just Jethro—we don’t know his last name. Will we ever learn it?)

TONY BROADBENT:Your blurb describes our Jethro to a T: ‘A rakish Cockney cat burglar with the soul of a poet.’ Lovely stuff. Thanks ever so. Jethro is based on the father of an old friend of mine­­­—who I never ever met—but who was an honest to goodness cat burglar in and around London. And as my ‘old china’ (Cockney rhyming slang: old china = old china plate = mate) had a career in the London theatre, I put the two together and ‘voila’—our Jethro.

The Smoke sold on the log-line: ‘To Catch A Thief—in postwar London.’ And along with the very nice things you say about Jethro, a reviewer for Booklist said: ‘Jethro could have been played superbly by Cary Grant. (Now if any of the bloggeratti are unaware of Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece ‘To Catch A Thief’—starring the incredible Cary Grant and the ever-lovely Grace Kelly—I suggest they stop doing this and immediately go access their video source and have ‘a Butcher’s hook’—as Jethro might say—more Cockney rhyming slang = to take a look. (And if I knew Jethro’s last  name, I’d tell you, honestly I would. All I know is it probably begins with the letter ‘H’—which I discovered by a very close reading of The Smoke.)

DEBS: And the time period is so fascinating. London in the late forties is The Smoke.  A tough place, filled with bombsites, still in the throes of austerity.  The gangsters were not to be trifled with (the next decade would see the rise of the Kray twins) but Jethro, who may be a creeper (cat burglar) but is as honorable as they come, always seems to get on their bad side. But that London had its charms as well, and a thriving vitality. When I read your Jethro books, every detail is so perfect I feel as if I’m there. How do you get that authenticity?

TONY: That London of bombsites was there well into the Sixties—and when I was nipper—a very young kid—my father would always take me up to London—for the fun of it. So I actually visited many of the areas I write about—Church Street and Petticoat Lane (street markets) in particular—and actually saw Jack Spot—‘Spottsy’—one of the Lords of The Underworld—on Church Street. (I wasn’t half as impressed as I was when I bumped into and met the famous American cowboy star—Tex Ritter—at the Wembley Arena for his Wild West Show—and he tousled my hair and said “Howdy pardner”. I blush to think that I must’ve been in full cowboy regalia myself. But all part of the fun. And different times, maybe, but heroes are ever important. And our ‘body memories’—sights, sounds, smells—of time and place never really go away. All it needs is a few nice, old black and white photographs to bring it all back. The details—come from reading all manner of things—autobiographies of stage star and crime star and ex-Scotland Yard coppers—newsreel, newspapers—anything and everything.

 

DEBS: I think it’s quite a challenge to write long and complex novels in the first person, but you do it very well and I think that’s part of what gives the Jethro books such a sense of immediacy. Was that a conscious decision? Does the line ever blur between Tony and Jethro?

TONY: The challenge in writing, of course, is to try keep your head on straight—and only ever revealing what Jethro would actually know at any one time. I’ve tried all manner of different ‘work-arounds’ to the problem—and some have succeeded more than others.

And as for ‘keeping my head on straight’ with the character of our Jethro. In my head, I always give him the voice of the young Michael Caine—a great British actor— a man of humanity and humor—born and bred in London—the youngsters out there will know him as Alfred the butler in the latest ‘Dark Knight Rises’ film trilogy starring Christian Bale as the caped crusader. (Again—our heroes are ever important—regardless of how they might kit themselves out.) All I have to do is read some lines of narrative in Michael Caine’s (younger, Cockney) voice and I’m away and running, so to speak.

As for the line blurring—how can it not? That’s why I introduced other ‘pop’ heroes of mine into the narratives—the author, Ian Fleming; the actor David Niven; even the extraordinarily talented Michael Bentin—one of the originators (along with Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, and Harry Secombe) of the ‘national obsession’ BBC radio comedy show in 1950s Britain—‘The Goon Show’.

And so—yes—when’s all said and done, I just try conjure up the dark streets and alleyways of the London of the late Forties and early Fifties—and I’m away and running, itching to climb the nearest drainpipe, up and onto the rooftops—an eye open for any open windows of interest.

DEBS: I'm going to hunt for a copy of To Catch a Thief, and a few Michael Caine movies, all the better to imagine Jethro. Readers, SHADOWS isn't out until October 16th, but the first two books in the series, THE SMOKE, and SPECTRES IN THE SMOKE, are available in trade paper and as e-books.  So if you haven't made Jethro's acquaintance, here's your chance to catch up.

Or, Tony has very kindly offered to give a signed copy of the THE SMOKE to the first commenter who can translate this phrase into Cockney rhyming slang:

"I went upstairs to have a look at my wife and couldn't believe my eyes."

And Tony will give an ARC of SHADOWS IN THE SMOKE to the reader who can  tell us what nickname Jethro gives to the CIA agent James Russell in SPECTRES IN THE SMOKE.

Are you up for the challenge?

Tony will be checking in today to respond to questions and comments, so do drop in and say "hi."

He can also be found at www.tonybroadbent.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

One last bit of Jungle Red business: Thanks to everyone who came to Lucy's party yesterday. Dee (Gram) is the winner of the Keys Cuisine cookbook and Amy is the winner of DEATH IN FOUR COURSES. Please email LucyBurdette at gmail dot com to arrange delivery.