Episode Details

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Today’s guest is Hank Phillipi Ryan, the USA Today bestselling author of seventeen thrillers, including the Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning All This Could Be Yours. A true powerhouse in the mystery and suspense world, she won every major award in the genre and has captivated readers around the globe with her twist-filled novels. Before becoming one of today’s most celebrated thriller writers, Hank spent decades as an award-winning investigative reporter in Boston, earning an incredible 37 Emmy Awards for journalists that changed lives and even helped shaped new laws. Today, we’re celebrating her latest thriller, Mother Daughter Sister Stranger. Her book flight includes timeless novels she has re-read many times in the crime genre.

Episode Highlights:

• Hank’s 40-year career as a reporter and investigative journalist—and how it shaped her as a storyteller
• Making the career leap from reporting true crime to writing fictional crime
• Why learning to make something up was one of the biggest challenges of becoming a novelist
• The idea of a “you never know day”and staying open to the unexpected
• What Hank has learned from years of interviewing other writers
• How different people can experience the exact same family history and remember it completely differently
• The family secrets, perspectives and questions of truth at the heart of Mother, Daughter, Sister, Stranger
• Why Hank says she still learns something every single day she writes
• The power of watching fictional characters triumph—and how their victories can give readers hope, too

Connect with Hank:

• Website
• Instagram
• Facebook

Some links are affiliate links, which are no extra cost to you but do help to support the show.

Books and authors mentioned in the episode:

• Prime Time by Hank Phillipi Ryan
• Nancy Drew novels by Carolyn Keene 
• Sherlock Holmes novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• Ngiao Marsh books
• Josephine Tey books
• Dorothy Sayers books
• Bookish Flights Narrative Non-Fiction List
• Winter’s Tale by Mark Halprin
• You’ll Be Sorry by Lisa Gardner
• The Unknown by Riley Sager

Book Flight

• The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
• In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
• The Stand by Stephen King

The BFF Book Club is becoming a family affair! ❤️ This our FREE virtual book club, where we read together each month and have live author chats.

Each Family Book Flight pairs our BFF Book Club pick with:

• One chapter book for growing readers
• One picture book for our littlest readers
• A few family conversation starters + a simple activity

Three books. One common theme.

→ Join us here: https://bookishflights.kit.com/bfffamily