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.

Frozen foods we can live without...

AND YESTERDAY'S WINNER IS: S.E. Warwick! Email me at hallie "at" hallieephron "dot" com with your mailing address and Ellen will speed you a copy of BURYING BEN.
 
HALLIE EPHRON: I was in the supermarket the other day, making my way through the frozen food section when I noticed they were selling bags of pancakes. Frozen pancakes.

I can't say why these strike me as more ridiculous than frozen waffles but they do. Maybe because not everyone has a waffle iron but all of us have pans.

Nearby were frozen donuts and frozen scrambled eggs and frozen ham and cheese sandwiches and frozen corn on the cob. None of these makes any sense to me.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to frozen foods. Cousin to pancakes, I buy the occasional package of frozen cheese blintzes. Sautee them in butter (put the lid on at the end to be sure they're warmed through) and serve with a dollop of whole (not light) sour cream and a glop of cherry pie filling. Can't beat it for sheer decadence.

Frozen filo dough, just for example, is another frozen godsend if you ever moved to make turnovers or strudel or a yummy spinach and cheese pie. Which I often am.

And frozen veggies are fine by me, too. I grew up on frozen peas, lima beans, and corn. The only fresh vegetables I encountered before going away to college were iceberg lettuce and the occasional green bean. I thought squash was gourmet, and eggplant and brussels sprouts downright exotic.

I confess, in my youth a true guilty pleasure was a frozen TV dinner. Fried chicken and gravy, please, with a section for apple pie with foil over it that you ad to peel back.

So fess up, when you're in the frozen food section, how far do you stray from ice cream and frozen vegetables, and have you found something there that's really worth getting?

Anyone tried the frozen Chinese dumplings or edamame? Because if either of those is good, I'd be tempted.

Ellen Kirschman writes from experience, counseling cops and fire fighters

HALLIE EPHRON: I met Ellen Kirschman a few years at Book Passage's mystery writing conference. I was impressed with her writing, and especially impressed with the experience she'd had as a psychologist and the two (now three) books she'd written about counseling cops and fire fighters. Her thoughtful insights into the challenges of serving for public safety were unique and fascinating.

She was also working on a novel, she told me. Making it up this time. That book, "Burying Ben," is just out and it's my pleasure to welcome Ellen to Jungle Red.

Ellen, why did you move from non-fiction to fiction? Did you feel you had to tell "Ben Gomez's" and "Dot Meyerhoff's story"

ELLEN KIRSCHMAN: I was delusional. I thought it would be easier to make things up. It isn't. Creating a story that engages readers from start to finish is a lot harder than writing a book readers can pick up and put down when they want to without losing the thread.

As you know, Burying Ben is about police suicide - that's not a spoiler, it's on the first page. What many people don't know is that suicide is the leading cause of death for police. Cops are two to three times as likely to kill themselves as they are to be killed in the line of duty.

It's an important subject that's no longer being swept under the rug. I wanted to show some of the real wear and tear of policing, which is very different from what you see on TV.

Fortunately,  I've never lost a client to suicide, but it's something I've always feared, so this was a chance for me to put those fears on paper. Not only does my protagonist, Dot Meyerhoff, lose her client, he leaves a suicide note blaming her.

HALLIE: Wow, that is very powerful. Tough. Serious stuff. Wondering if you had any fun writing it? Will the reader have any fun reading it?

ELLEN: Hard to believe, but this is a humorous mystery. I had a wonderful time taking pot shots at cops, my fellow psychologists, my ex-husbands, and myself. It was very satisfying.

HALLIE: So I can ask: Ellen, does your nonfiction and your novel "Burying Ben" spring from the same well?

ELLEN: I'm not nearly so gutsy, young or thin as Dot Meyerhoff, and I certainly never did the wacky things she does, like breaking and entering or assault with a deadly weapon. But we do share some of the same challenges.

For example, like me, she works like the devil  to gain officers' trust. I spent 25 years consulting at one agency and the day I left, there were still some cops who believed I had a video camera in my office that went right up to the Chief's desk.

Like Dot I've felt like a  fish out of water, both as a woman and as a civilian. Dot has even bigger problems. She is the  daughter of a student activist at Berkeley in the 60's. The memory of her father's mistreatment by the police creates causes her a lot of grief.

If you're asking whether certain aspects of this book really happened, the answer is yes and no. Some scenes, like the old man's death in Chapter One, really happened and I never forgot it. 

I also keep a record of the funny, off-the-wall things cops say. They go from my folder to Officer Eddie Rimbauer's mouth. He's a composite of many people, but he sounds so real, there's an on-line pool of cops trying to guess his identity.

HALLIE: What got you started counseling public safety officers, and briefly what are its special challenges?

ELLEN: I was working in an outpatient psychiatric clinic. Several of my clients were married to cops. Some of their home situations were very difficult. I'm a curious, hands-on person with a bit of a law enforcement background - I was once a probation officer - so I wanted to explore this world of work and how it influenced an officer's private life.

I did most of my research in the back of a patrol car. It was a lot more exciting than doing therapy.  Cops are way funnier than psychologists, even when they're depressed. I learned to appreciate  how complex their jobs really are, and how under-appreciated by the public  they often feel.

HALLIE: You've written another book called "I Love a Cop." Are you married to one?

ELLEN: No. Never even had a date with a cop. I keep my personal and professional lives separate. My husband is a remodeling contractor and photographer. Unfortunately, no one wants to read a book about a remodeling contractor.

HALLIE Will there be another Dot Meyerhoff mystery?

ELLEN: I'm working on it as we speak. It's a bit darker and more complicated. This is what makes writing fun for me, I'm not sure I know how it's going to turn out.  Dot will figure it out.  I'm just trying to get out of her way.

HALLIE: Ellen will be hanging around today. I know we have lots of writers out there, so if you questions about how cops and fire fighters and their families deal with the realities of their jobs, now is your chance to ask.

Ellen is giving away a copy of Burying Ben to one lucky responder.