I've Got A Little List!

Hank Phillippi Ryan: Summertime! And soon…the summer reading lists will be out! But hey, why wait for the Times or the News or People--when we have the Reds? What are you reading--right now? (Come on, be honest.) and what're you reading next?

I'll admit it--I'm reading Dan Brown's Inferno. And okay, fine, it's a page turner. Irresistible! I'm also reading Joe Hill's NOS4ATU. Which is creepy as pie and just as delicious.  And Bruce DaSilva's new PROVIDENCE RAG. He's good! Sort of if Spenser was a reporterand lived in Rhode Island.

 Next is Jon McGoran's DRIFT. Or maybe ...Susan Elia MacNeal’s HIS MAJESTY"S HOPE.(She’s so terrific. I am hooked on her books!) And Catriona McPherson has a new one, AS SHE  LEFT IT. Sigh. And I SHOULD be writing!

 How about you?

LUCY BURDETTE:  I'm reading a romance by Nancy Herkness called TAKE ME HOME. It's about a woman who goes home to West Virginia from NYC and finds both a "whisper horse" (a horse who will listen to your troubles) and a romance with a sexy vet. It's light summer reading that seriously sizzles....

 And next up, KNEADING TO DIE, by our friend Liz Mugavero. And after that, Erica Baumeister's THE LOST ART OF MIXING. But really, seriously, need to be finishing MURDER WITH GANACHE...

HANK : Oh, me, too. (and Lucy, I cannot wait to read it!) LOVE Liz Mugavero!   Ah, I’m at 50,000 words—hurray! Of a book that has no title, boo. Soon, I’ll be coming to you to ask  for advice. How can you write a book that has no title? Well, I secretly  have one. (Is it: The Last to Lie? One False Move? No Good Deed? As Good As True? What do you think?)

Rhys is en route from London, Julia has a big deadline, Ro is doing something glamorous,  and Hallie’s writing, too, I know…and she’s just back from vacation.

HALLIE EPHRON:     My TBR pile is topped by Jess Walter's "Beautiful Ruins" -- I'm a huge fan since he blew me away with Edgar winner "Citizen Vince." Like Roberta I'm behind on my

deadline so reading for pleasure is on the back burner--temporarily at least. 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING:  Hallie, I'm so happy to be (temporarily) able to read for pleasure! I'm still recovering from the Best Novel Edgars, and as such, I've been reading a lot of romance, womens fiction, etc. I just finished the latest Nora Roberts stand-alone, WHISKEY BEACH. Always a good read. When you're in a Nora mood, nothing else will suffice. 

I'm also backtracking to read Lee Child's THE AFFAIR; after I bought it in 2011, Ross grabbed it off my pile and read it and for some reason, I never got back to it. I want to catch up before NEVER GO BACK lands at the beginning of September. A couple of summer books I'm REALLY looking forward to laying hands on: William Kent Kruger's TAMARACK COUNTY and Paul Doiron's MASSACRE POND. Both faves of mine in the "Rugged men sleuthing in places that can kill you" genre. Seriously, I may have to hit up their editors for Advance Readers Copies.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Whew, Julia, now I feel a bit better (grovel, grovel) about admitting the fact that until now I had never read a Lee Childs' novel. Not a deliberate oversight--I've had two in my TBR pile for donkey's years-- just too many books... Anyway, I'm reading the very first Jack Reacher, KILLING FLOOR, while alternating hitting myself on the head for not having read ALL of them sooner.  Halfway through, I could write a dissertation on Reacher as the iconic hero in literature, but suffice to say it's a cracking good story.

Also part way through the 75th anniversary edition of THE HOBBIT (a birthday gift from a friend,) which I hadn't reread in years. And THE HOBBIT: THE CHRONICLES, a gift from my publisher--a fabulous coffee table book on the art and design in the film. Then a good bit more non-fiction: THE POSSIBILITY DOGS by Susannah Charleson (out yesterday!), THE TRAIN IN THE NIGHT by Nick Coleman (a book about music and hearing loss,) and THE MURDER ROOM, by Michael Capuzzo. Then more fiction; a galley of MIDNIGHT by Kevin Egan, who will be my guest on JR in July. And somewhere there is a new Jo Bannister novel, if only I could find it... I think we will all be buried in books...

(Oh, and I LOVE William Kent Krueger, so the new one is going on the pile, too.)

RHYS BOWEN:  I'm on a plane as you read this, finishing up Deb's No Mark Upon Her, which I had had on my Kindle for a year and never had time to read. I was interviewed by a woman who belongs to Leander Club so that was fun. And I'm no longer sure what lurks in the TBR pile at home. I know I have to blurb Hannah Dennison's new one, and definitely want to read Catriona's (she'll be our guest next week) and the latest Kate Morton is waiting for me and I confess, I'll have to read Dan Brown as I was just in Istanbul.

LUCY BURDETTE:  Could I just say that I was on the Edgar committee that chose CITIZEN VINCE as best novel that year? I was very proud of that one!

HANK: See, Lucy/Roberta? You know your stuff!  It’s very gratifying to be on that committee—ours picked Mo Hayder’s GONE. A fabulous book! I smile every time I see it in a bookstore.

So how about you, Readers? Tell us your then, now, next! We’d love to hear what you’re reading! There are SO many wonderful books!

(And yes, indeed! One lucky commenter wins the ARC of THE WRONG GIRL!) Yesterday's winner: Katie Baer! Email me h ryan at whdh dot com with your address!

YOU NEVER KNOW DAY

Journeys end in lovers meeting,

Every wise man’s son doth know.
**********Twelfth Night. Act ii. Sc. 3.

HANK: This vacation time of year, my thoughts turn to love and travel. Why? Because just this time of year, 14 years ago, I met Jonathan.

I had been invited to share a house with a group of friends in Nantucket. I was six months (or more?) out of a deadend reationship (another story) and said--no thanks. And then I reconsidered. Of course, why not go? So I packed up my books and my bike and my tennis racket, and headed to Nantucket on the ferry.I was so--unready to meet someone, I didn't even bring any makeup. (I will pause while you howl with laughter.)

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to me, another person sharing the house had invited Jonathan. And the other person didn't know I was coming.

I arrived from Boston. Jonathan arrived from Boston. I took one look and thought--yikes, get me to drug store make-up counter. (I didn't go, by the way. I thought--this is me. Take it or leave it.)

We haven't been apart since then.

But we don't celebrate the anniversary of the day we met. Every year, we celebrate the anniversary of the day BEFORE we met. We call it "You Never Know Day." Because you never know what wonderful thing is just around the corner.

How did you meet your true love? By chance, by choice, by fix-up, by proximity? And how do you know it was the real thing?

JAN: Although my older brother and I hung around a lot together, when I followed him up to Boston University he told me not to expect to hang out with his college friends. I had to make my own friends.

A year later, he decided that he really didn't like my friends, especially not my boyfriend, who he claimed spoke in "monologues." So he fixed me up with one of his friends, Bill. He didn't tell me he was fixing me up, he just brought Bill back to his apartment one night when I was there cooking him dinner, and we went to a party afterward, Then he pressured Bill until he called and asked for a date. And yes, I knew immediately it was the real thing.

My brother passed away young - at 26-years old. Ironically, since I stayed in Boston, I've spent my entire life hanging out with his college friends.

HALLIE: Mine was a fix-up too. I was a junior at Barnard when I ran into an ex-boyfriend on the corner of Broadway and 116th Street. He asked how I was and I said "fine." In truth I was between men but this ex was an extremely odd duck and I didn't want to give him any ideas. He must have been far more perceptive than I gave him credit for, because a few hours later I got a call from his roommate inviting me to a college hockey game. I went and had a great time. Took me a lot longer than my husband to realize it was "the real thing." But 40+ years later I'm utterly convinced.

ROBERTA: Sorry to hear you lost your brother so young Jan--sounds like he was the best kind of friend! I met John at a singles tennis night at the racquet club in the next town. We got matched up for mixed doubles and had a good time. But when he called to ask for a movie date, I couldn't remember who he was. (I attribute that to being blinded by my infatuation with an inappropriate guy who was quite enamored of himself.) After about six months of playing doubles with John (as friends), I began to realize just how special he was. So I invited him to dinner one night. "Who's coming?" he asked. "You," I said. And we've been together ever since.

HANK: Aw, Roberta, that's so sweet.

RO: Well, I knew right away Bruce was the one. He took a little convincing though. To the tune of 13 years before we actually got married. He was the boss when we first met, and um, otherwise engaged. I left the company and got on with my life and then we hooked up again in - of all places - Las Vegas, where we were both attending a video convention. At a show filled with fading B actors, wrestlers and adult movie stars, we were two of the more normal people there. It was fate. Then we dated for 10 years. (Why rush into anything?)

HANK: I was at a signing the other night--talking about AIR TIME (on sale tomorrow, whoo hoo, stop by here then to hear more and WIN BOOKS!).

Anyway, in AIR TIME Charlotte McNally has to decide if she's found the real thing--both in her reporter life (tracking down the source of phony designer purses), and in love. (And in the dedication: flight attendants.)

A woman came up to me afterwards, and told the story of how she'd always always always known she wanted to be a flight attendant. She got the job, passed the tests, and boarded for her first flight. And sitting in seat whatever--turned out to be the man she later married. And they just celebrated their twenty-fifth.

You never know.

How about you all?

(A big week coming on Jungle Red: Tuesday, big contest! Wednesday, Megan Kelley Hall with the secrets of promotion. Thursday, Marilyn Brant on seeing mystery authors as others see us. And Friday, coolest of the cool Seth Harwood!)