The Secrets to BLUFFing

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, my gosh. Poker. I am TERRIBLE at poker.  Don't get me wrong, I am very enthusiastic, and go into every game so optimistic, and cannot wait to play, and swoop up all those lovely chips (pennies?) after I slam down my straight flush (or whatever.) 

But that never happens. Fold fold fold. I vacillate between being a chicken and being a huge bluffer, which rarely works.

That's just one of the reasons I am in awe of the amazing New York Times best-selling author  Jane Stanton Hitchcock.  

Her first novel was nominated for the Edgar and the Hammett prize. Her newest, BLUFF--with its cleverly wonderful poker structure and bitingly wonderful wit--is fast-paced, smart, clever and oh-so-knowing. (And look at that amazing cover!)

HANK:  BLUFF grew out of your own mastery of poker. How did that work?

JANE: First of all, I would never say I had “mastered” poker. If anything, the game is my master. It’s taught me a lot about life and how to deal with adversity – namely, there’s no point in dwelling on bad luck or one’s mistakes. 

 Hard as it is, you sometimes have to say “Next Hand” and get on with it. I also realized that at the poker table I was being underestimated just as I had been in life. Players never expect an older woman to play anything but Old Lady Poker—just as the guy who swindled my mother out of millions of dollars never expected me to find out about his larceny and ultimately help put him in jail.

When I made this connection I found a way into the book: Combine being underestimated in life as well as in poker and then write a twisty tale of murder, revenge, and bluffing. Hopefully the reader will be intrigued by the characters and swept up in the twists and turns of the story. The book is one long poker hand with a Flop, a Turn, and the River. As readers play the hand with me, I want them to be thinking: “How the hell does she get out of this?” Only one way: Bluff!

HANK:  “Mad Maud” Warner--amazing-- is a complex character. And a timely one. Do you see Maud as an everywoman? How?

JANE: As I say in the book, “Older women are invisible and we don’t even have to disappear.” Power derived from supposed weakness is the primary theme of BLUFF. In the very first scene, Maud is able to escape because no one can fathom that a woman like her – an older, well-dressed socialite – could have had the balls to commit such a shocking crime in a posh and crowded restaurant.

The book is told in two voices: Maud’s own, as she recounts what lead her to commit murder; and the third person, which details the crime and its aftermath on all the people involved. My hope is that the reader will be rooting for Maud as she explains what has led her to such violence and why she thinks she can possibly get away with it if she literally plays her cards right! I guess she’s a #MeToo murderer!

Hank: High society certainly takes a hit in BLUFF. Do you view humor as a tool for enlightenment?

JANE: I like what Abba Eban said: “The upper crust is a bunch of crumbs held together by dough.” I grew up in so-called “High Society” and, as I say in the book “money is a matter of luck and class is a matter of character.” Maud knows she can trust some of her dicey poker playing pals much more than the “social” friends she’s known her entire life. I also say: “Money exaggerates who people are. If you’re good you’ll be better, if you’re bad you’ll jump right down on the devil’s trampoline.” A lot of people think having money makes them better than other people. I like to aim my pen at such pretension and there’s no better way to do it than with humor.

I’d have to be Dostoevsky to write my own family’s story without humor. As the book shows, money doesn’t save anyone from addiction, swindling, and death. In fact, money often makes things worse. But there’s nothing more exasperating than self-pity. So telling my family’s story was a challenge. It took me nineteen drafts! But the poker theme eventually helped me harness the humor in all the darkness.

HANK: You have a wonderful article in this month's Mystery Scene blog--and you mention your mother taught you the joy of reading out loud--and about Shakespeare. 

JANE: My mother was a wonderful actress. She is chiefly remembered as the voice of the very first Lois Lane on the radio, but she had an amazing stage and television career as well. She was a famous beauty and she had a lovely, melodic voice. She was always quoting Shakespeare to me from the time I was little. I was too young to understand it at the age of four, but the way she read it made me love it.

She kept a book of Shakespeare’s sonnets by her bed. Near the end of her life, she found out she had been swindled out of most of her money by her accountant, whom she had adored and trusted above anyone in the world for over 30 years. The betrayal nearly killed her. 

When she got over the initial shock, I asked her if Shakespeare had ever written about an accountant who swindled a trusting old woman out of millions. It was a cheeky question, meant to elicit a laugh. Without hesitation, she opened the sonnets and told me to read the one she pointed at aloud.

The last lines of that Sonnet are: “For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds; Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.”

HANK: Oh, that brings tears to my eyes.  So--In addition to being a novelist, you're also a playwright and screenwriter. Does one teach you about the other?

JANE: Movies are really a directors’ medium so a writer is blessed if he/she has a good director. Enough said. 

 Playwriting taught me about creating scenes and developing characters through dialogue. In the theatre time on the stage grows more expensive with each minute. You have to engage the audience. Therefore, you always have to ask yourself: What’s at stake? Why should people care about these characters, this situation? You have a captive audience sitting there waiting for things to develop in a finite amount of time. 

 The novel has no such constraints. But I confess, I love a good, twisty plot. I like every scene to further the story but I also think it’s important for the reader not to be one jump ahead of me. It’s when surprise meets inevitability that I feel I’ve done my job. I want my readers to say: Wow I didn’t see that coming, but now it all makes sense!

HANK: You're so terrific at dialogue--

JANE: Thank you! I try to give the reader a sense of place without overloading the description. Action is character and I really like writing dialogue, putting myself into all the characters – the good, the bad, and the ugly. It’s fun to create a good villain and more fun to see the villain get his/her comeuppance. But in my books, there is usually an anti-heroine who is, herself, operating in an amoral sphere. In Bluff, I want my audience to be complicit in Maud’s revenge and root for her to earn it.

HANK: Gotta ask about your influences --whose books most influenced you at the time you decided to enter the field yourself?

JANE: To be honest, I didn’t know I was entering the field when I wrote Trick of the Eye. I thought of the book as literally a trompe l’oeil canvas for the readers who are led to believe they are looking at a simple whodunit when, in fact, the real picture is about a dark acquisition. I was thrilled when mystery lovers liked it and it was nominated for both the Edgar and the Hammett Prize. I think those fans made me realize I had a mind for murder!

The writers who most influenced me at that time were Patricia Highsmith, Ruth Rendell, Edgar Allan Poe, and Daphne du Maurier.

HANK Great list! You were on hiatus for nineyears--are things..different in the crimefiction world now?

JANE: A writer never really stops writing. During this nine-year hiatus, I was working on three three books while trying to sort out a difficult family situation. As a writer, I was always used to being an observer of social life. Writing took me away from my problems.

However, with Bluff, I’m not only an observer but a real participant in the story, which is what made it so difficult for me to write. It was painful to look back on the ruins of our family. So I would work on it, then put it away and work on the other books. I knew if I ever published Bluff I’d have to get the tone just right because I hate self-pity.

In writing Bluff, I came to realize how blessed I’ve been. I remembered the words of my stepfather who always said: “Anything you can buy with money is cheap.” That lightened things up for me and made me think: Okay—humor and murder is the only way to go!
I often wish I did have a “technique” because then I might have a road map of some sort. As it is, I write until my characters take over the story. Of the three books I was working on, Maud in Bluff took over the story in a singular way. It took me nineteen drafts to get her story just right. I just hope I succeeded. 

HANK: And I have one bet I know I will win--I'll bet two of you lucky commenters are gonig to be very happy--because you will WIN a copy of BLUFF! 
So tell us, Reds and readers--are you good at poker?
Jane's on book tour now, but she'll still be here to answer all your questions---like: how do you make sure you win at poker? What's the best way to bluff? And is it true that everyone has a "tell"?

Barbara Peters, Jane, and Linda Fairstein at The Poisoned Pen 

Jane Stanton Hitchcock was born and raised in New York City, where she led a seemingly privileged life. Early on, she learned the trappings of wealth and fame are not nearly all they are cracked up to be, themes she has since explored in screenplays, stage plays, and novels dealing with murder and mayhem in high places. She is married to Jim Hoagland, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist  ed note: who Hank had a huge crush on in 1972 in Washington,DC, just saying. They live in Washington, DC, and New York City.

BLUFF is a stunning social noir that begins with an audacious murder in broad daylight which sets off the biggest scandal to hit New York society in years. The unlikely shooter uses her knowledge of poker to play the game of her life with no cards. A bluff to frame her nemesis and exact revenge. Inspired by real-life events, the novel takes the structure of poker at which the author has become adept.

“Jane Stanton Hitchcock pulls off another stunning tour de force in her newest crime novel. Nobody writes high society and its down-low denizens better than Hitchcock – and this book is her best yet. It’s all in the cards – and it’s masterful.”

— Linda Fairstein, New York Times bestselling author

“With the heart-pounding suspense of a high-stakes poker game, Bluff is a vivid, compelling novel about deceit, seduction, and delicious revenge that will have you spellbound and cheering as you turn the last page.“

— Susan Cheever, award-winning and New York Times bestselling author

For more information:

Jane Stanton Hitchcock

www.janestantonhitchcock.com

Lisa Unger! Congratulations!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  Oh, my gosh. Lisa Unger.  Do you know her? One of the most generous, genuine, and absolutely uniquely talented writers of contemporary suspense. Every single book is jaw-droppingly innovative. Thoughtful, complex, multi-layered and completely completely creepy. Good creepy, but shiver-inducing creepy.

And it’s so perplexing—in real life, she’s irresistible. She’s a great pal, and a friend and teacher to writers and the joy of her fans, but also a wonderful wife with a cool husband and an adorable daughter. And a beloved dog.

And yet, her books are…chilling.

And today, we are all giving her a standing ovation! Her new book UNDER MY SKIN is not only an Edgar nominee for best novel, which as you know is the complete grail, but has just been announced as a finalist for the Hammett Award from the International Association of Crime Writers. Plus! Her short story is ALSO an Edgar nominee! Let’s just say—this is a grand slam home run.

HANK: Whoo hoo! How did you come up with the idea for UNDER MY SKIN? Did you do any specific research for the book?

LISA UNGER:  First--I am thrilled and honored. This is incredible, and I am so grateful. But--the idea for a novel can come from anywhere. It might be a news story, a photograph, even, in one case, a piece of junk mail.  For UNDER MY SKIN, it was Carl Jung quote: “Between the dreams of day and night, there is not so great a difference.”

This thought kicked around in my head for a while and led to research into sleep, dreams, memory, addiction, and the slippery nature of our perception.  A great deal of research goes into all of my novels, and my study of certain subjects is ongoing. I have a continuing obsession with Carl Jung and his work. I have spent a number of years researching trauma, addiction and their impact on perception and behavior. These ideas run through much of my work.

HANK: I can tell!  So—another topic. If you have to pick one favorite character from all your books, who would it be and why?

LISA: I could never pick a favorite! They are all so different, so important to me. I have love and empathy for each of my characters, even the most deranged among them. There are a few characters that stay with me and show up again and again in novels. Retired private Detective Jones Cooper tends to show up in books where I didn’t expect him. Eloise Montgomery, the psychic, and her granddaughter Finley are often on my mind; I know their story is not yet finished. There is a novel in the works featuring all of those characters.

HANK: Oh--amazing. Cannot wait. Your books are so—seamless. Have you ever been stuck while writing one of your books? How did you get over it?

LISA: Writing, as with all organic process, ebbs and flows. Some days you can’t stop the pages from coming; sometimes you spend a lot of time staring at the screen or the blank page. If I’m stuck in my narrative, I exercise. I go to the gym, blast some music, and move – or I walk my dog, or do some laundry. This, more often than not, will help me get to the next place in the narrative. Sometimes you have to walk away in order to give your subconscious the space to work things out.

HANK: You are so much fun—and I will never forget our night of margaritas!  You seem to be so aware of the need to relax and get away from it all? What do you do when you aren’t writing?

LISA: I live in Florida, so my life with my family is very centered on the beach and the water.  Boating, kayaking, and swimming are favorite activities. We are passionate lovers of story – of course. So reading, theater, and film are big features of our life. I love to cook. I have a yoga practice. We also travel quite extensively, and love exploring the world together.

HANK: How did your writer brain grow? Is there any particular author or book that influenced you in any way either growing up or as an adult?

LISA: I have been a literary omnivore since  was a kid – in love with books and film of all types and genres.  But I think if I had to pick one author that influenced me more than any other it’s Truman Capote.  His short stories are where I fell in love with language. IN COLD BLOOD, a searing true crime book – maybe the first of its kind -- taught me that one could write about crime and the dark side of human nature with compassion and with beauty. That book gave me permission to be who I am as a writer.

I also tend to mention REBECCA by Daphne du Maurier when asked this question. That was my first thriller. And the idea of the ordinary young woman caught in a tangle of extraordinary circumstance has been a theme in my work since my early novels.

HANK: I so agree! SO interesting to hear this, because we’ve never discussed this specifically. (Too many margaritas, maybe…) Certainly both have influenced me—Truman Capote was top of mind throughout TRUST ME. So--What projects are you working on now?

LISA: I am working on the revisions for my next novel.  But I never talk about a book until it’s totally complete.  So I’ll have to keep you suspense. After all, that’s my job!

HANK: Why why why did I even bother asking??? You are fabulous. And thank you so much for being here today!  I’m in Florida right now, actually, at BookMania—so let’s chat about dreams today—and I will pop in as often as I can.

 A few days ago, I dreamed I wrote a significantly successful book. Can I remember what I was? Nope. Only the title.

What have you dreamed about recently? Do you remember? And I may be checking in only sporadically—but you can be sure I am reading every post! And I’ll be here as much as I can—and totally focus when I get on the plane to come home.

SO now—take it away. Your turn.  And we’ll choose one lucky commenter to win Lisa’s internationally acclaimed UNDER MY SKIN!

Lisa Unger is the New York Times and internationally bestselling, award-winning author of sixteen novels. Her latest, UNDER MY SKIN, is nominated for an Edgar Award and the Hammett Prize. Her short story, THE SLEEP TIGHT MOTEL, is a #1 bestselling Kindle Single and is also nominated for an Edgar Award.

Published in twenty-six languages worldwide, with more than two million copies sold, her books have been voted "Best of the Year" or top picks by the Today show, Good Morning America, Entertainment Weekly, Amazon, IndieBound, Goodreads and more. 

Her nonfiction essays have appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, and Travel+Leisure. Lisa Unger lives on the west coast of Florida with her family.

UNDER MY SKIN

What if the nightmares are actually memories?

It’s been a year since Poppy’s husband, Jack, was brutally murdered during his morning run through Manhattan’s Riverside Park. In the immediate aftermath, Poppy spiraled into an oblivion of grief, disappearing for several days only to turn up ragged and confused wearing a tight red dress she didn’t recognize. What happened to Poppy during those lost days? And more importantly, what happened to Jack?

The case was never solved, and Poppy has finally begun to move on. But those lost days have never stopped haunting her. Poppy starts having nightmares and blackouts—there are periods of time she can’t remember, and she’s unable to tell the difference between what is real and what she’s imagining. When she begins to sense that someone is following her, Poppy is plunged into a game of cat and mouse, determined to unravel the mystery around her husband’s death. But can she handle the truth about what really happened?

It All Happens at the Library!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: You can only do it once—have a debut novel. I was honored to be an Edgar judge for Best First last year, and plowed though dozens and dozens and dozens of debuts. The Edgar nominees glistened like jewels among them. It was amazing how they stood out.

Ashley Weaver

One was Ashley Weaver’s chic and clever Nick and Nora-ish  mystery Murder at the Brightwell—words like lavish and viscount and champagne and playboy and gala and cloche occur, as do jewelry and resort and chauffeur. You get the picture. We all loved it!

And now, Ashley Weaver takes her characters to a new adventure. (And you can only do that once, too—write your second novel!) Where does she come up with this stuff? You’d never guess. First, she had a dream…

ASHLEY WEAVER: I’ll be the first to admit: as a mild-mannered librarian, I’m not exceptionally daring in my day-to-day affairs. 

Don’t get me wrong. I love to travel, to see new places and have adventures. But I’m also a big fan of good old routine. Most days will find me happily sitting at my desk, ordering or cataloging books and drinking large quantities of coffee from my favorite sassy (but true!) mug.

While public libraries aren’t exactly as quiet as the old stereotype suggests, there is something soothing about being surrounded by books, and the library was always one of my favorite places long before I thought of working there. What better place for a writer to flourish, after all, than surrounded by rows and rows of beautiful books!

(The library, my natural habitat.)

Yes, I enjoy a quiet life . . . until I get home at night, that is. My evenings are filled with drama and danger. Of the fictional variety. When it comes to books, the more mayhem the better! For as long as I’ve been reading, I have loved mysteries. I love the thrill of the unknown, of being caught up in the hunt for clues that will make everything clear. I love the moment when I’m reading a book and the scene becomes so intense that I have to close the pages for a few moments before I can face it.

It’s no surprise, then, that when I started writing, it was always mystery stories that I wanted to tell. My Amory Ames Mysteries came about when I had a dream with my character’s name. That was it. There were no other details in the dream. But I knew right away who she was and what kind of story she belonged in, and everything just unfolded from there.

I discovered as I mapped out Amory’s adventures that writing a character’s risky behaviors is perhaps even more fun than reading about them. In fact, that’s one of my favorite things about being a writer: getting my characters into trouble that I would be sensible enough to avoid! I would never, for example, visit disreputable pawnbrokers in disguise to haggle over stolen jewels or confront a killer I’d caught red handed. But Amory would, and does, and shows no sign of learning her lesson!

Of course, that’s the stuff that heroines are made of.  A bit of recklessness and the willingness to put oneself in jeopardy is what gets mysteries solved, after all. And what makes reading them so enjoyable!  I suppose it is inevitable, then, that Amory will keep sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong and getting into all sorts of mischief. I will be enjoying every minute of it, and I hope readers will too!    

So, despite my quiet day job, I live a life of mystery. As both a reader and a writer, I love the idea that characters are up for a challenge and can meet undauntedly whatever calamities come their way, solving the crime and saving the day.

That’s not to say my day job doesn’t have its own exciting moments. There was that especially lovely one last year when my love of libraries, mysteries, and writing combined, and I got to put my first mysterynovel on the library’s shelf. As a librarian, I can’t image a much bigger adventure than that!

HANK: So, in honor of Avery, let’s do a library shout out!  What’s you favorite library, or the one that changed your life, or the one you frequent these days?

(And you do remember, just saying, the paperback of TRUTH BE TOLD is now on sale, and I do mean sale! $5.03…and I have a very VERY special offer for you right here! http://bit.ly/1Kp5ZIP

 *******************  

AshleyWeaver is the Technical Services Coordinator for the Allen Parish Libraries in Louisiana. Weaver has worked in libraries since she was 14; she was a page and then a clerk before obtaining her MLIS from Louisiana State University. She lives in Oakdale, Louisiana.

Death Wears a Mask

Following the murderous events at the Brightwell Hotel, Amory Ames is looking forward to a tranquil period of reconnecting with reformed playboy husband Milo. Amory hopes a quiet stay at their London flat will help mend their dysfunctional relationship after their unexpected reconciliation. However, she soon finds herself drawn into another investigation when Serena Barrington asks her to look into the disappearance of valuable jewelry snatched at a dinner party.

Amory agrees to help lay a trap to catch the culprit at a lavish masked ball hosted by the notorious Viscount Dunmore. But when one of the illustrious party guests is murdered, Amory is pulled back into the world of detection, enlisted by old ally Detective Inspector Jones. As she works through the suspect list, she struggles to fend off the advances of the very persistent viscount even as rumors swirl about Milo and a French film star.

Once again, Amory and Milo must work together to solve a mystery where nothing is as it seems, set in the heart of 1930s society London.