All This Could Be Yours
An Interview with Hank Phillippi Ryan
In this week’s Q&A, bestselling author Hank Phillippi Ryan pulls back the curtain on her unputdownable new thriller, All This Could Be Yours, in which a debut author’s book tour takes a surprising — and sinister — turn.
“Ryan nails the feel and pace of life as an author… [and] creates a love letter to booksellers and librarians amid the suspense and twists. Ryan has written her best book to date, which should be on everyone’s reading list.”—Library Journal Starred Review
How do you like to introduce All This Could Be Yours to readers?
A debut author with a surprise blockbuster bestselling novel gets sent on a glamorous book tour—her dream come true! She’s met with devoted fans and standing room only audiences—until yikes—she realizes she has a stalker who was trying to ruin her career and the beloved family she left back home. That’s when a fancy nationwide book tour turns into a deadly dangerous cross country cat and mouse chase—with the author running for her life.
Did something on your book tour spark the idea for this thriller?
Absolutely! I signed a book to a reader as I often do—I put her name, and “so wonderful to see you in Scottsdale!” Then I signed my name, and put the date. And then I burst out laughing. I had just given her a perfect alibi! Then I thought about how potentially scary so many things are on book tour—the strangers, the questions, the high stakes, the vulnerability. It all became so potentially sinister—so I weaponized the whole thing for the novel. I’ve had author friends who tell me they’re happy they did not read it till they got home, because they would have been too creeped out to read it on the road.
This book is such a treat for readers — do you have a favorite indie bookstore that appears in the book?
Ha! This is a secret I cannot reveal. All of my favorite bookstores are in this novel, but in disguise! An Unlikely Story, The Poisoned Pen, Page 158, Swamp Fox, Doylestown Bookshop, Newtonville Books, Litchfield Books, BookLove and more. Do you recognize them? (And librarians have starring roles in the book, too! And readers will certainly see themselves in the book!)
How did you land on the title and what does it mean to you?
I have to say… I have no idea. I knew I had a novel about a debut author, and a Faustian bargain, and the book tour from hell. “All this could be yours”—the words appeared in my mind, and I knew it was the title. And that never changed.
Your books are always impossible to put down! What is the last book that kept you up late turning the pages?
Thank you for the compliment! But I cannot choose just one! Heather Gudenkauf’s The Perfect Hosts, Lisa Jewell’s Don’t Let Him In, Sulari Gentill’s Five Found Dead, and Stacey Abrams Coded Justice. It is the joy of my life to find a book that keeps me up too late, don’t you agree?
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN is USA Today bestselling author of 16 psychological thrillers, winning the most prestigious awards in the genre: five Agathas, five Anthonys, and the coveted Mary Higgins Clark Award. She is also an on-air investigative reporter for Boston’s WHDH-TV winning 37 EMMYs and dozens more journalism honors for her groundbreaking journalism and true crime stories. Her newest thriller, ALL THIS COULD BE YOURS, came out in September from Minotaur Books, and is an instant USA Today bestseller. It is already in second printing.
Hank is on the board of International Thriller Writers, a sought-after teacher and keynote speaker, and host of three popular online events: THE BACK ROOM, CRIME TIME on A Mighty Blaze, and FIRST CHAPTER FUN. She lives in Boston with her husband, a nationally renowned criminal defense attorney. Learn more: https://hankphillippiryan.com/