A New Kind of Driving Test

 JUNGLE RED:  This is one of those days we especially love—it’s a red pub day!  Today we celebrate Hank’s DRIVE TIME—the fourth of who knows how many Charlotte McNally mysteries. And its now reissued, in gorgeous new editions, so any one you readers who missed it can…ah, trying to think of a driving analogy. Get into the fast lane? Speed ahead with the books? 

Library Journal gave DRIVE TIME a starred review—saying “Puts Ryan in a league with Lisa Scottoline.” Yay! And Robert B. Parker, in maybe the last blurb he gave, said “Hank understands plotting and writes beautifully. I loved Drive Time.”

So Hank’s in the JRW hot seat today. (Driver's seat?)  And she’ll award the Charlotte McNally book of your choice to one lucky commenter!

JRW:  One of the things about the Charlotte McNally books that we love:  You don't have to read them in order. Did you plan that?

HANK: Plan? Plan? When I wrote PRIME TIME I had no idea it would be a series. I was such a newbie that I didn’t plan for that. As a result, there there is one tiny thing in PRIME TIME that's a surprise--and if you read the other books first, it won't be.

However! It is so much fun to see how Charlotte met her beau. So it is extra fun if you don’t read PRIME TIME first. (It becomes a wonderful prequel!)

JRW:  So the books are standalones? Like Sue Grafton’s, right? You can read them in any order.

HANK: JUST like Sue Grafton’s, absolutely. And yes, when I finally figured out what I was doing, I made the other books absolutely standalones.  Of course people's lives change, but each book is a solid complete story in itself.

You can read them in any order.

JRW:  Was it different writing the four books? It’s always a journey for a series author.

HANK: Each book was so different! In PRIME TIME there were no stakes. I had no contract, no deadlines. Only dreams. I was devoted to that story, but I had no idea what I was doing and blithely typed away. It was a joy every minute.

FACE TIME—boom--was a new experience! I had a contract and a deadline, and so my mindset was more much more serious. I also wanted to make the subject a little more important, and the writing richer, and I felt a big responsibility to make it better and even more successful than PRIME TIME.

AIR TIME was the beginning of my second contract! And that was a true life change. I remember very clearly thinking whoa… I have a new job! I’m an author!  I learned from my TV experience to give every story all you've got. To hold nothing back.  But now on book three, I wondered, do I have anything else? And can I grow as a writer? (This was about the time Jungle Red started, right?)

early Reds! Rosemary and Jan, with Lucy, Hank and Hallie

But I was incredibly pleased with AIR TIME. I will admit I think is very clever! And it gave me a lot of confidence.  Yes, Sue Grafton loved it :-) so that gave me great fuel.

JRW: And DRIVE TIME?

HANK:  DRIVE TIME. You know, gang, that was a different story. With DRIVE TIME I thought…and I can tell you this because it’s just us. I thought: I'm an Author.  I'm going to do this, amp it up beyond anything I could have imagined, and I'm going to do this big big big. I understood the stakes. The rhythm. The structure. The careful choice of every word. That every decision counts.

You have known me for a while, you all, and you can see, I can at least, how I changed as an author for  DRIVE TIME.

It's the first of my books with two parallel plots, the first time I had to juggle two stories. One, Charlotte on the trail of her investigation of dangerous automobiles, and a nefarious scheme to steal cars. And then the other storyline, blackmail and extortion at an exclusive private school. And, of course, Charlotte’s personal life.

As I analyze, I do see the structure for the Jane Ryland stories being foreshadowed. In a way, I was working on the Jane Ryland thrillers—though I didn’t know it—as I was writing this book.

So reading it now, through that filter, it’s kind of instructive.

JRW: So the investigation Charlie does in DRIVE TIME: That came from real life?

HANK: Yes, absolutely! We did a series of stories on the ineffectiveness of automobile recalls, and how likely it is that you will rent or buy a car with an open recall—so dangerous, and it’s still a problem.  I’ve also done many stories about the closed circle atmosphere of sun exclusive private schools, and what that can lead to.  And, as I bet we all have, I once got ridiculously lost in a parking garage. Everything is fodder for a story, right?

JRW: And the reviews were amazing—on a different plane.

HANK: Aw. Yes. The Charlie books were very well received, but I could see from the tone of the reviews that people were looking at this one a bit differently. Taking me more seriously. It actually makes me cry to remember it. 

The opening quotation for DRIVE TIME is from Stephen King. And it still gives me chills. Because it is the essence of everything I write now.

“Only enemies speak the truth;

friends and lovers lie endlessly,

caught in the web of duty.”

It is so perfect for DRIVE TIME, and I write about that very theme all the time.

JRW: I bet your drivers ed teacher is laughing so hard. You and cars were never a happy couple.

HANK: Oh, you are SO right! My driver’s ed experience was horrific. 

Actual dialogue from real life:

Hank’s Drivers Ed teacher: “Watch out for that car!”

Hank:  “What car?”

I failed my first driving test.  SO unfair.

JRW:  In happier news:  we hear there’s a DRIVE TIME giveaway? Sounds terrific.

HANK: Yup. It ends in 2 days! Click here for the scoop—two books for the price of one, and a free giftie!  https://a.pgtb.me/p8bk8B

JRW and Hank: So lovely Reds and readers, how was your drivers ed experience? Do you like to drive? Are you good at it? 

 Hank’s giving a Charlie book of your choice to one lucky commenter!

(US only please, the postage is prohibitive.)