Welcome the NEW RED!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Hear that? See that? It’s the Triumphal March from Aida. It’s a stadium-full of people cheering. It’s ticker tape billowing from Manhattan skyscrapers.  It’s the Rose Parade, the Mardi Gras, Bastille Day, Oktoberfest and Fashion Week. Okay, we’re happy and we’re celebrating.

Ta DAH! We have a new Red.

Who? Hey. We’re suspense writers. So read her interview and see how soon you can guess!

Title of your autobiography?

NEW RED: You Think I’m Kidding…. But I’m Not. (I asked my husband what it should be and, according to him, I say this a lot. And now—since I told him I’m writing this for the Jungle Reds—he’s launched into a rendition of “Jungle Boogie.” Oh my.

Book you wish you had written?

NEW RED: I Capture the Castle, by Dodee Smith. Or maybe I just want to live there? It’s about an eccentric family that lives in a dilapidated castle in England in the 1930s. Would love to have artist’s model Topaz dye all my clothes green, be best friends with daughters Cassandra and Rose Montmain, swim in the moat and flirt the Cotton boys, and, of course, write in a castle turret.

Movie you would see again and again?

NEW RED: Amélie, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and starring Audrey Tatou. The film is quirky and funny and sad and gorgeous and, most of all, gentle with humans and our many foibles. And the soundtrack is wonderful as well.

Exotic drinks--yes? No?

NEW RED: Yes! But I don’t think cocktails necessarily need to be exotic to be good. Our favorite cocktail bar is Clover Club in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn — it feels like a 1930s lounge, with a stamped tin ceiling, leather furniture and Billie Holiday songs playing. The cocktails are amazing, both classic and newly created. And owner/doyenne Julie Reiner is from Hawaii, so there are some authentic Tiki drinks on the menu as well. 

When in history would you choose to visit? (Reds, this question includes a BIG HINT...)

INEW RED:  know everyone would think the 1940s, given my novels, but I’d really love to visit New York City in the 50s and 60s —see New York City Ballet; go to the Russian Tea Room and maybe catch sight of George Balanchine, Igor Stravinsky and Suzanne Farrell; and, of course, wear adorable hats and gloves

Eeelia or Ellia?  (HUGE CLUE!)

It’s Eeelia. And it’s not even a real name — apparently it was made up by some immigration official at Ellis Island who couldn’t figure out how to write the family’s actual last name, which was Egliotti.

HANK: Okay, now you know!  Welcome to Susan Elia MacNeal!

What you said when you hit the New York Times bestseller list:

 SUSAN:  “Holy cats!” (Except it might not exactly have been “cats”…)

What are you working on now?

SUSAN: Working on the copyedits for The Prime Minister’s Secret Agent (Maggie Hope #4) and delighted to report it’s scheduled to be released in June 2014.  Can’t say much (because my editor will kill me) but it takes place in Scotland, London, and Washington D.C. in the fall of ’41, leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

I’m under contract now for Maggie Hope books #5 and #6, so I’m also researching and outlining #5, The First Lady’s Confidante. I’m happy to be able finally to write African-American characters. My mother-in-law just moved in with us (she prefers Black to African-American though, and really doesn’t mind Negro at all) and told me if I have any questions, I should “have my people call her people.” (She lived in New York City during World War II and remembers the blackout, knitting socks for soldiers, and being terrified a German U-boat would attack from the harbor.)

Pizza or chocolate?

SUSAN: Chocolate. Always chocolate.

Kids? Pets? Husband? Garden?

SUSAN: One kid — Matthew Wallace MacNeal, age eight going on forty-two. This year, he’s into reading Harry Potter, watching Monty Python, fencing, and basketball. (For anyone who read the ballet piece, he’s given up ballet, but because he wanted to move on and try other things, not because of social pressures.)

Two cats. One is Xander, a grey tuxedo who’s basically a tiny, grumpy Ed Asner in a fur suit. The other is tabby kitten Lola, who’s a lot like Goldie Hawn from her Laugh In days.

Husband, yes — Noel MacNeal and we’re just about to celebrate our fourteenth wedding anniversary! He’s a puppeteer who’s worked with Jim Henson and Frank Oz, and works on Sesame Street and with the Muppets. He starred in the shows Eureeka’s Castle, Bear in the Big Blue House, Oobi, and Between the Lions.

His first book is 10-Minute Puppets with Noel MacNeal, and his second book, BOX! Castles, Kitchens, Costumes and other Cardboard Creations is coming out this November 5. 

Mother-in-law Edna MacNeal also currently lives with us. She calls her walker “Precious,” her iPhone “son of Precious,” and her Kindle “Grandson of Precious.” Every day at 6 p.m. we watch Match Game (the one from the 70s with Richard Dawson—I DVR it on the Game Show Network).

No garden, alas — we live in a condo. Do window boxes count? I have portulacas (aka moss roses) in ours, because they are 1) bright and cheerful and 2) impossible to kill.

Do you watch TV? What?

SUSAN: I’m a huge fan of Game of Thrones. Also, Breaking Bad (what an ending!), Girls, Mad Men, Orange is the New Black, Scandal, and Homeland. And everything by Joss Whedon. As a family, we really love Once Upon a Time.

Can you sing?

SUSAN: You know, I studied classical music when I was younger and sang soprano in a first-rate choir and did a lot of Schubert, Mozart, and Vivaldi solo pieces as well. Lots of musical theater in both high school and college, too —classics like Cole Porter and Rogers and Hammerstein, and works by contemporary composers such as Stephen Sondheim. (These days though, it’s mostly jazz standards in the shower….)

Best concert you've ever seen?

SUSAN: One summer during college, a friend of mine and I snuck into Artpark, which is an amazing concert hall right on the Niagara River gorge in Lewiston, New York. It has outdoor seating, so we went into the back, sat on the grass and looked up at the stars as legendary opera diva Leontyne Price sang Gershwin’s “Summertime.” I’ll never forget it.

Secret talent?

SUSAN: Mixing cocktails. I could match martini-making skills with Nick and Nora Charles anytime.

HANK: Two things. No, three. One, I had a cat named Lola.

Two, I had no idea about the singing thing! I just asked because I can’t sing.

Three—let’s welcome Susan Elia MacNeal (her bio is below!) to Jungle Red—and one lucky commenter will win one of her fabulous books!

More about Susan! 

New York Times-bestselling author Susan Elia MacNeal is the author of the Maggie Hope Mystery series from Bantam/Random House. She is the winner of the Barry Award, and her books have been nominated for the Edgar, Macavity, and Dilys Awards.

The first novel in the series is Mr. Churchill's Secretary. It won the Barry Award and was nominated for the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award for Best First Novel and the Mystery Readers International's Macavity Award for Best First Mystery Novel. It was also nominated for the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association's 2013 Dilys Award for "the mystery title of the year that booksellers have most enjoyed hand-selling," Mr. Churchill's Secretary was also declared one of Suspense Magazine's Best Debut of 2012, Deadly Pleasures's Best Paperback Original of 2012, and chosen as one of Target's "Emerging Authors" series.

The sequel, Princess Elizabeth's Spy, was a New York Times bestseller and chosen by Oprah.com as "Mystery of the Week" and one of "7 Compulsively Readable Mysteries (for the Crazy-Smart Reader)," as well as Target's "Emerging Authors" series. It was nominated for the Macavity Award's Sue Feder Historical Memorial Award.

His Majesty's Hope made the New York Times- and USA Today-bestseller lists and was chosen as one of Target's Emerging Author Series.

Book #4, The Prime Minister's Secret Agent, will be published in spring of 2014 and Susan is under contract for books #5 and #6.

Susan graduated cum laude from Wellesley College, with departmental honors in English Literature and credits from cross-registered classes at MIT. She attended the Radcliffe Publishing Course at Harvard University.

Her first job was as an intern at Random House for then-publisher Harold Evans, before moving her way up the editorial ladder at Viking/Penguin and McGraw-Hill, then becoming an associate editor at Dance Magazine.

Her writing has been published in The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, Fodor's, Time Out New York, Time Out London, Publishers Weekly, Dance Magazine, and various publications of New York City Ballet. She's also the author of two non-fiction books and a professional editor.

Susan is married and lives with her husband, Noel MacNeal, a television performer, writer and director, and young son in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Dream Jobs

DEBS: I debated chatting about something timely today, like VS Naipul's assertion last week that women can't write as well as men. (Not reading one of your long, boring books, Mr. Naipul, by the way.) But then I decided that we would all be grinding our teeth in irritation, getting the week off to a very bad start, and that we should talk about something fun instead.

A couple of weeks ago, Roberta asked what we wanted to be when we grew up, and how that turned out for us.

That started me thinking about dream jobs. What would we do if we could pick something that we don't do now and have never done? (Or are likely to do in real life.) No qualifications or experience required, as it is, after all, the fantasy job. Astronaut? Archeologist? Spy? Jockey?

I'm fascinated by all those things, and might have done any of them if I were a little more adventurous in spirit and tougher in body. (Or better at math.)

But the thing that always make me say, "Ooh, I'd LOVE to do that!" ?

I want to be in the MOVIES.

And no, not in front of the camera. No way. My dream job would be to design sets, especially interiors. I'm one of those incredibly nerdy people who will watch the extra materials on DVDs over and over to listen to the commentary by the art director, and will play scenes back just to study what the sets convey about the story, the setting, the period, and the characters. Think Lionel Logue's office in The King's Speech. Or Tony Stark's house in Iron Man. Or The Burrow in the Harry Potter movies . . . The list is endless, and makes me giddy. And wouldn't the shopping be fun?

So, Jungle Reds, assume the world is your oyster. What would YOU do?

JAN: Well, if talent goes with the dream, I'd be Taylor Swift, writing and singing country songs on the big stage, touring the world, and writing best selling songs about the people who bummed me out in high school. Otherwise, I'd really like to be a director. I directed actors in the small video trailer I did for Teaser and I had the time of my life. it was like writing, only in three dimensions. My third choice is to go back to school and become a psychologist. I love brain stuff, and right now I'm talking to returning veterans and writing about EMDR therapy and I'm thinking what a meaningful job it would be to help someone overcome the traumas in life.

ROSEMARY: So hard to say since one's dream can so quickly turn into one's nightmare. I was about to say professional tennis player - but only if I could be in the top five. But even then someone would always be nipping at your heels and you'd have to prove yourself 100 times a year. So then I thought about owning a wonderful Victorian house and opening an inn or bookshop - but I was put off by all the strangers I'd have to invite into my home. Next up was the vintage clothing store. That was nixed quickly since sometimes going through old clothing can be skeery. The heroine in my books is a gardener and that would be fun and I'd get a great workout, but people are so hard to please and they'd probably blame you for deer, slugs and things over which you really have no control.

I'd really like to be Oprah. She can do good. She can make stuff happen. No one cares how much she weighs. She has great hair and skin. She probably never worries about parking or her wifi connection or getting tickets to anything. She probably never waits in line. That's it. I want to be Oprah.

HALLIE: Never having to wait in line...ever. That part I could get used to. Ditto, waving my magic wand and "making stuff happen." The rest of what Oprah does is too hard and I'd have trouble being that "nice." My dream job would involve travel, eating, and wearing comfortable shoes. Being a restaurant critic (like Lucy Burdette only for a fancy travel magazine--Yoo hoo, Conde Naste!) would suit me just fine.

RHYS: I also considered being the world's number one tennis player, but it's a stressful life, always living out of a suitcase, always having to compete. I'd like to be an intrepid explorer, meeting primitive tribes and talking to gorillas--because I love reading about such exploits, as long as I don't have to wade through water full of leeches. I'd also like to be a famous opera singer with a divine voice. I used to sing in an opera chorus and would love to be Violetta in La Traviata or Madama Butterfly. Or I'd like to be a better writer than VS Naipal!!

HANK: Rhys, you already are.

ROBERTA: Okay this is fun--I'd like to start by being a top ten lady golfer and win the US Open. "On the tee, from Key West, Florida...please welcome Lucy Burdette. She came to golf very late but she's taken the golf world by storm...She's a lot smaller and older than most of the golfers we see on the tour, but her brilliant short game makes up for that."

Next I'd like to be EmmyLou Harris or Bonnie Raitt, except I can't stay up late enough to do all those evening concerts...so, another idea would be to be a top level manager in a big, big company run mostly by strong women. The kind of company that donates a ton of money to worthy causes and helps women feel good about themselves by offering good jobs. And then Rosemary could have me on her Oprah show and I'd donate cars to everyone in the audience, but only if they give their old cars to someone who needs one. In fact I think there's a boatload of creative and organizational talent amongst the Jungle Reds and I bet this could really happen...

Except I really love writing and working in my yoga clothes and I couldn't do all that if I was an important executive. oh well...

HANK: Really? I missed it, maybe, but being a blockbuster New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of really good books that people love and talk about and share, that'd be pretty nice. Notice I said books, plural. I'd like to write them from my house in France for a third of the year, and then maybe in Italy, and then home for the other third. Maybe..I could be a documentary producer, yeah, that would be great. Do important, world-changing, or at least intriguing documentaries (yoo hooo PBS and HBO and AMC and History channel) about current events or history or the arts. Or, be a ballerina, but that's so impossible, what with the bulimia and all. OR be Linda Ronstadt, with that great voice, and come out to a crowd of happy fans and sing something powerful and terrific. (And some day ask me about my astronaut decision. Pretty funny)

Debs, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Can I be in your movie?

DEBS: Okay, you guys have made me sound really dull . . . and you never fail to amaze me with your inventiveness. Now I have a whole other list of things that would be cool to do (except I'm not too fond of golf. Sorry, Roberta!) But I hope we all get to do the New York Times Bestselling author bit, and writing from my house in France or Tuscany wouldn't be bad, or even from my fantasy flat in London. I've never been interested in the fame part of being famous, but some of the perks wouldn't be half bad. So in the words of famous and regularly-bleeped Stephen Tyler, Dream On!

What about you, Jungle Red readers? What's your fantasy job?

The Fabulous Pulpwood Queen

RHYS: it isn't often that one meets a true character these days, but Kathy Patrick is one of a kind. I met her when we were both speakers at a charity luncheon in Dallas. I thought she had been invited as a token local author. But when she started to speak I was mesmerized. I watched these rich and jaded Dallas matrons laughing and crying as she told her story. And what a story it is ... how many people have started a bookstore beauty parlour in their living room and wound up on Oprah? Or is started a book club that has become a worldwide phenomenon. So welcome to Jungle Red Kathy.

RHYS: Kathy, you have a most amazing story and I'm dying to share it with our readers. Let's start with how you came up with the idea of a combined hair salon/bookstore.

KATHY: The idea came from my sister, Karen, she's the marketing genius, not me. Yes, I got downsized from being a book publisher's representative back in October 1999, the 4th to be exact and took to my bed. That's what they do in the south. I wallered up with a stack of books and a big ole box of Russell Stover chocolates. I had big pity party and was the only one in attendance. My family ran for the hills!
I'm not sure what I ran out of first, the books or the chocolates, but as I was out of hissy fit ammunition, I decided to shower and regroup. I then called my sister, Karen, and whined to her awhile. She told me to get a grip and open my hair salon back up. I had become a hairdresser to put myself through college. When I told her that I would be bored just doing hair, she then retorted, "Well, do the book
thingy too!" That's when all these bells and whistles starting going off in my head! Ta da, I opened the first Hair Salon/Book Store that I then named Beauty and the Book!

RHYS: Now tell us about your other remarkable venture, the Pulpwood Queens, and how one small bookclub morphed into a phenomenom that made it to Oprah.

KATHY: It's really very simple. I selected a book, "Bald in the Land of Big Hair" by Joni Rogers about a women who got cancer in the land of big hair, Houston, Texas. I, being a hairdresser decided that who better than a beauty professional to say that it is more important how we are perceived on the inside than on the outside. We all want to look good too but truly beauty does come from "within". I decided to have a Best Bald Head contest and Best Wig contest to go along with the event. HarperCollins called and told me that Oprah's OXYGEN Network was interested in this take on the book and would I be interested in being on this show that was dubbed "Dallas Style". Would I ever?
My biggest thrill was not that I was actually on the show but who I was on there with. Would you believe they featured too this new singing group from Houston called Destiny's Child. Yes, I got my start with Beyonce'. How cool is that? I guess the Oprah organization just kept up with me after that because next I was
featured on the same show with Queen Latifah, when her film "Beauty Shop" came out! I feel like the Forrest Gump of the book world! READ KATHY READ!

RHYS: So how is your bookclub different from others? let's start with the wine...

KATHY: Imagine that, we did. In fact, when I announced at the first book club meeting when six complete strangers showed up at my shop, one timid hand was raised. I nodded for her to speak and she told the group she did not think she could wear comfortably a tiara, wasn't that just for beauty queens? As I stood and announced my response to that declaration, I simutaneously started pouring more wine. We were going to be "beauty within" queens because we were readers. Afterall,
doesn't true beauty come from within and I turned again to pour more wine.
At the end of the evening as the women tottered off, I had them convinced we could indeed crown ourself QUEENS!

My book club began because shortly after opening the local book club invited me to join them for their meeting. We had a fine time with a four course luncheon. We discussed the book which oh, serendipity, I had read. We sipped cordials at this magnificent southern antebellum home. All was fine and dandy until my Yankee self, blurted out, (I hail from Kansas and from here, that makes you a Northerner), "I am just thrilled to be invited to be in your book club. I have always wanted to be in a book club..." I was cut off short as the diminuative hostess grabbed my big ole Kansas farm girl arm and hauled me out into the galley. That's what they call hallways in the south,galleys and do drag out the syllables.
"Excuse me Kathy, but I'm so sorry. We didn't invite you to join our book club. We invited you as our guest," all of this whispered to me on her tippy toes. She then went on to tell me that the book club was for just eight people as that was all that would fit around their table. Neverthee mind that I had just sat at the table. I was mortified with embarrassment. "You see," she continued to whisper, unless someone dies or moves away it's just eight.
As I was driving home, I wondered, "Who made up that RULE?" I went home and immmediately starting planning my own book club in my Hair Salon/Book Store and I was going to invite everybody. I crowned myself QUEEN of The Pulpwood Queen Book Club empire and declared as our motto "where tiaras are mandatory and reading good books is the RULE!", not exclusivity. Is that a word?
We were going to be an inclusive book club and forget the table, we would gather in my shop. Our mission would be to promote authors, books, literacy, reading and help undiscovered authors get discovered in a big way! Now as we reach our 11th year an our book clubs nationwide and in ten foreign countries, we are the largest "meeting
and discussing" book club in the world!
What really makes our book club so different than other book clubs is we don't take ourselves very seriously as you can tell from my responses to your questions. But we do take our reading of our books and our authors very seriously. That is why it is not necessary to come to every meeting but if we do, everyone is to have read the book. That is important as I arrange to either have the author in for a teleconference or in person. We want to have a real discussion of their book when they take the time to grace our door! At first I had to really beg to get authors to do this but now they or their publishers call me. We are really helping a book and their author get discovered in a big way.

RHYS: How many book clubs are there now?

KATHY: 402 but who's counting, hahhaha!

RHYS:How does it work?

KATHY: Basically, someone decides they want crown themselves Head Queen of a chapter. They gather their friends once a month, plunk down $25 for membership which includes my book, "The Pulpwood Queens' Tiara Wearing, Book Sharing Guide to Life" as their first book club read, plus a membership certificate and card to display prominently and often and they are in for life! It's all up on my website at www.beautyandthebook.com, click on Pulpwood Queens for the full details. Do they all read the same book at the same time? Absolutement! I select the books and they all read what I pick! It's better to have one chief than too many Indians. Politically correct, not. It's as I always say, "Who made up that RULE that members select the book!" They get all clicky when they do so I am the Queen and I'm ruling when it comes to the READ!

RHYS: and not content with all this you run incredible girlfriend weekends--tell us about them.

KATHY: Girlfriend Weekend started out as me inviting back all the authors we
had featured the year before for a big bookloving party. I held that first event in my front yard under some tents. We bused in the entire Jefferson Elementary for storytimes and I think I had more authors than attendees but every year we double the attendance and now we have completely SOLD OUT for our 11th Anniversary Girlfriend Weekend except for our recently added FILM FEST! The program is all up at
www.girlfriendweekend.blogspot.com!
(Comment from Rhys-- I'm going to be a speaker at one of Kathy's weekends in May. Can't wait.) Kathy, what did you set out to achieve?

KATHY: World Peace, hahhahaha! No, I am not kidding, really. The more we read the more we understand each other.

RHYS: And what is next for the Pulpwood Queen?

KATHY: Next up? It just so happens that I am shooting pilots for a NEW book club talk show with me as the host to be called Beauty and the Book. Seriously, the premiere show will be at our Girlfriend Weekend and official press release will be announced shortly on that literacy promoting endeavor. As you can see I like to talk as much as I like to write and nothing would please me more than featuring authors in a NEW and different way to showcase their books and their stories. It will be a real trip, just wait and see!

RHYS: Anything you'd like to add?

KATHY: Well yes, I am anxiously waiting to see what happens as GalleyCat on Facebook has been running this contest to get an author on Dancing with the Stars! Evidently, I was nominated and at the top in the running. GalleyCat is sending my petition to get an author on Dancing with the Stars, much the same way that Betty White was championed to be featured on Saturday Night Live. Years ago I took clogging lessons as I thought "Clogging for Literacy" would be pretty cool. Now I'm thinking Dancing with the Stars could really send the message home that reading takes you to really amazing places. All I know is for me, promoting authors, books, literacy, and reading has given me a wonderful life and a life that is true, authentic, and full of purpose and promise. Now you tell me, who wouldn't want to join me on this bookloving journey?

Thanks Rhys, for letting me talk the talk and now walking the walk all in the name of literacy!
Tiara wearing, Beauty and the Book sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
"Hairdresser to the Authors"
and THE Pulpwood Queen!

RHYS: thank YOU Kathy. It was a delight to meet someone who still sees life as fun. And who throws herself into living it to the full.
>

Fifteen Minutes of Fame

RHYS: Since it's the US Open as I post this, my thoughts have been exclusively on tennis for two weeks. My bottom has been glued to a chair and I have cooked with the background thwunk of tennis balls making me turn around every time there is a good shot. So naturally I had to blog once about tennis.

About a year ago I did a long radio interview. Usually interviewers ask the same questions and answering them merely requires me to push the correct button in my head. So when I find an interviewer who throws me off balance, I find I am sitting on the edge of my seat and I give much fresher answers. Anyway this particular interviewer suddenly said, "If you could be anyone else in the world for fifteen minutes, who would you be?"

I really didn't have time for much thought but a clear picture came into my mind. I said, "I'd like to be the world's number one tennis player, coming out onto Center Court to play the final at Wimbledon." I didn't choose the moment when I had won and was holding up the trophy. I chose the moment of supreme anticipation, feeling the cheers of the crowd echoing around me and knowing that all I had to do to win was to play my game. Delicious.

So who would you be?

ROBERTA: If we're sticking with tennis, how about Melanie Oudin, the 17 year old American in her first open who's just slain three major dragons? She's the absolute darling of the US Open crowd because she has not one visible iota of attitude or baggage. She's just so happy to be where she is and so happy to dig in and take every point. And she's so damn young:) That all might be fun for fifteen minutes!

RO: Who knew I had so much in common with my blog sisters? I am practically useless during the grand slams..I've been known to get up early for the Australian and stay up way too late for the US Open. I knew Flavia Pennetta when other people thought she was a sauce. Someone asked me this question eight years ago and I didn't hesitate before answering - Venus Williams. She had just won the Open and I thought - "what must it be like to be the best in the world?"
(Now I'm reminded of the homicidal beauty in The Natural..."are you the best there ever was?" BANG!) On the court I'd have to say Roger Federer. See above.

Off the court...it's really not so hard to be me, but maybe for a day..don't laugh..Oprah. Think of the power.

HALLIE: Not Oprah, but on about the same level I would mind 15 minutes as Heidi Klum. To be that gorgeous, that slim, and wear all those great clothes...sigh. Then I tell myself to get a grip...because the person I'd really like to be is Sonya Sotomayor. Fifteen minutes would probably be plenty.

What's on your mind?

RO: Most mystery fans know that Carl Hiaasen has pretty strong views on the environment, in Florida, in particular. And why should he hide them? He's got a bully pulpit now. But it wouldn't work if he hadn't written some terrific books first. The Cosby Show was enormously popular before the anti-apartheid posters starting showing up in the kids' bedrooms. Later on this week (Wednesday!)our guest blogger will be NYTimes best-selling author Linda Fairstein, who, as a former NYC prosecutor and former head of NY's Sex Crimes Unit has made no secret of some of the issues that are important to her.

I gently (I am still a newbie, after all) raised the issue of day laborers in Pushing Up Daisies, and casino gambling in The Big Dirt Nap. How comfortable are you mentioning real issues in your books? We know the story has to be served first, but what about after that's done?

JAN: I always have an issue in my books. In Teaser, it was the dangers social networking pose for teenagers; in Yesterday's Fatal it was the exploitation of illegal immigrants in staged car accidents; and A Confidential Source it was casino and state-sponsored gambling. But I wouldn't exactly call it a bully pulpit. I'm not sure murder mysteries are an effective forum for advancing social change. They are more an avenue for me to research and explore the crime trends that fascinate and disturb me.

RO: Well, I guess I'm asking, not so much about advancing social change (would that we all had the power of Oprah, or to a much lesser degree Carl Hiaasen) as I'm asking about revealing your own positions on issues.

HALLIE: I think it works when Hiaasen does it because he's so funny about it. You do it with humor, too, Ro. So even though there may be a serious intent, it doesn't come off as confrontational.

ROBERTA: I think we all reveal ourselves (whether we start out with that intention or not) in our choice of characters and story. As long as the opinions read like they come from the characters rather than the heavy hand of the author, I'm all for it. Celebrities do have unusual opportunities to bring attention to world problems and I admire the ones who do that.

HANK: Yes, Roberta, I agree. It's a great way to put a spotlight on reality without beating readers over the head with it. For instance? Franklin Parrish, Charlie McNally's producer, is black. That's not really discussed, except for one brief introduction. Except...in each book there are situations that, unfortunately, would happen to Franklin and not to Charlie, who is white. He's pulled aside by airport security. He's followed by suspicious salespeople in a used car lot. He's ignored by salespeople in a posh store.
"Look at the bright side," Charlie suggests. "At least they're not bothering you." "There is no bright side," Franklin says. Charlie pauses. "I guess not." As an author, I don't need to say any more.

RO: That's that famous Ryan touch. Not too heavy, not too light!

HANK: Aw. Thanks. xo.

RHYS: I also strive for a balance between light and dark in my books.Even though I write historicals, I focus a lot on social issues and I leave the reader to draw interesting comparisons between the early twentieth century and the present day. My latest Molly book is all about the role of women in society, how women leave Vassar with bright, awakened minds, only to marry and be caged by what society thinks a wife should be. We've come a long way in that respect, but I've also written about conditions in sweat shops and the powerlessness of the immigrant--which haven't changed all that much. Even my Royal Spyness books, light as they are, have a darker underpinning of the great depression. I think that if my sleuth is a real person, she can't fail to be aware of conditions and injustices around her and they have to creep into the book.

RO: As readers and writers how do you feel when you're reading a mystery and you can feel the writer's political or social positions coming out? Do you need to agree with the main character's opinions in order to enjoy the book?

(And don't forget to come back Wednesday for the first of our two interviews with Linda Fairstein.)