My Weblog: It's time for AIR TIME

by Hank Phillippi Ryan

I'm hijacking the blog today. Briefly. Mainly to say thank you.

When I got the email asking me to join the Femmes, gosh, about a year ago, I almost burst into tears. (You all know me now, and you know the kinds of things that make that happen for me. Friends, and generosity, and enthusiasm, and affection. And the Femmes had all that.) I thought--I'm such a newbie, but they think I'm a writer. And that was life-changing.

Now, so much has happened. Terrific things, and a few not so terrific. But by far, it's wonderful.

And now, today is the pub day for book three in the Charlotte McNally mysteries. And I'm hijacking the blog to tell you about AIR TIME. So thank you for bringing me here.

It's never a good thing when the flight attendant is crying.

That's the first line of AIR TIME! And this newest adventure takes reporter Charlotte McNally undercover and carrying a hidden camera to investigate the high-stakes world of high fashion and counterfeit couture—and the secret back rooms of big-city airports. Someone is ripping off the valuable original designs of one of the industry's most prestigious lines and selling counterfeit merchandise as the real thing. Turns out "faking it" is the pathway to multi-million dollar profits. Charlie goes undercover to uncover who's trading secrets about trade secrets, and soon discovers when the purses are fake—the danger is real.

How does she tell the real thing?

Wait a minute, I hear you saying. You're a reporter, Hank. And you've gone undercover a million times. And you're probably carrying a hidden camera right now.

Fine. I admit it. It's been there, done that. After 30 years in TV—I've had some real life adventures of my own.

But as a mystery author, I'm always wondering—what if. And I began to imagine the fascinating possibilities in designer duplicates. One of the things I love to do in my novels is take something that's familiar and give it a twist or two that turns it into something unexpected and unpredictable.

And as for going undercover...well, I couldn't ask Charlie to do too much I wouldn't do. Or haven't already done. Charlie does infiltrate a suburban purse party--in disguise and toting a hidden camera in her purse. I can safely admit now, though I won't say the specific place it was held, I've done that several times.

And there was once we went undercover into a store selling knock-off purses. We knew the feds were on the trail of the same place, and I swear the only other people in the store when we got there were g-men, also undercover. (It was the haircuts and pressed khakis that gave them away.)

Charlie's adventures undercover take a different turn. And where she goes is strictly fom my imagination. But because I already knew the inside scoop—that helped me create a truly workable scheme for my fictional crooks. (I can tell you, when I revealed it to law enforcement sources, they sheepishly admitted my plan was completely plausible!).

The other part ofAIR TIME that's based on not quite fiction--the airlines lose Charlie's luggage. That's because I am a lost-luggage magnet. It's shocking. And beyond statistical explanation. It's so bad, I now pack half my stuff in Jonathan's suitcase, so when mine goes missing, at least I'll have t-shirts.

So in one airport, mid-rant, as I was wailing--"Where did my luggage GO?" I suddenly had an idea. What if...? Eventually, I not only got my suitcase back--I also got the idea for a mystery.

And finally--the dilemma is not just undercover, but under the covers. (Ahem.) In AIR TIME, Charlie's still married to her career. But in love as in life, how does she tell the real thing?

We now return you to your regular programming. And hey--thanks. None of this would have happened without you.