Hank Phillippi Ryan & The Murder List In Delray Beach: A Review

Bestselling author, Hank Phillippi Ryan is the perfect example of why authors should go on book tours. Last week, Hank came to steamy Delray Beach, Florida to talk about her latest bestseller, The Murder List.

I had read five sample chapters of this superb suspense novel months ago when it became available for download from her publisher, Forge Books. Then, I had to wait… and wait… until publication day.

But even had I not read the sample chapters, I would have put The Murder List at the top of my Want-To-Read list after listening to Hank speak at the Murder on the Beach Mystery Bookstore in Delray.

Quit Full-Time TV Job

Hank’s an investigative TV reporter and the author of eleven award-winning novels. Eighteen months ago, after 43 years in television, she quit working full-time “to focus on being an author.”

“I don’t multi-task. I’m very focused. I’m very organized.” she said in Delray. “I make lists, and make lists of my lists. Sometimes, if I do something that’s not on my list, I’ll put it on there so I have something to cross off it.” But she added, “I’m always thinking about my books.”

She described how she got the idea for The Murder List when she heard her husband, a top, Boston-based criminal defense attorney, talking about some of his cases, and how she thought, “he’s a good guy standing up for the rights of an accused.”

“Then,” she added, “I realized that somewhere across town, a prosecutor was probably talking about his/her case at the breakfast table, and both defense attorney and prosecutor — everybody– thinks they’re the good guy.”

The Murder List

Hence, the Jack Kirkland (for the defense) and Martha Gardiner (for the prosecution) characters in The Murder List were born. They are cut-throat, professional rivals, ostensibly despising each other, though, privately, acknowledging each other’s skills.

And, then there’s the protagonist of the novel, Rachel North — whom Hank, using her hands, places at the top of a pyramid-in-the-air. That’s because Rachel is the link between Jack and Martha. She is linked to Jack personally by marriage and to Martha professionally by being assigned as Martha’s intern in the District Attorney’s office.

Oh, did I mention that Rachel is, what we used to call in law school, a “mature” student (like I was.) In other words, Rachel, having had to retire from one career — as the chief of staff to state senator, Thomas Rafferty — has in her mid-30s embarked on a new career, enrolling in Harvard Law School so that she can partner with her husband as a defense attorney when she graduates. In the meantime, she is serving an internship with the D.A.’s office to glean an insight into that side of criminal law.

It’s a super-fascinating set up especially when Rachel’s past and present collide as Martha re-opens an investigation into the murder of Danielle Zander who used to work for Rachel in Rafferty’s office.

Delray Beach Readers Ask

Inevitably, questions from the audience focussed on how to find an agent, and where to find ideas. As Hank told her audience, “Write the kind of book you love to read, and your passion will come through.”

She said she’d gotten hooked on mysteries when as a 12-year old she read Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, and had been fascinated as to how Christie had come up with that “Rubik’s Cube of a story.” She also regularly watched Perry Mason on TV, and realized that the police often got the wrong guy who was innocent till proven guilty. As for her own novels, she said: “I like deceit, and deception and gaslighting and mind games.”

Terrific Tale

Needless to say, I devoured this suspense novel in about 48 hours. Loved it, and almost didn’t see the end coming. Almost. Except that Hank alluded to it during her talk in Delray. I’m not going to explain here how she did that — you had to be there — but suffice it to say, she said something that suddenly clicked for me as I approached the end of the novel.

It’s a terrific tale; a mix of legal thriller, psychological suspense and whodunit with such well-rounded characters that you truly don’t know who the bad guy is until the very end. Hank also proves to be a master at using the flashback. She easily and naturally maneuvers between present and past, and immediate past for all three principal characters. And, that’s not an easy feat to pull off as any author can tell you!!!!