Trick & Treat SPOOKtacular Day #10: Guest Post & Giveaway from Author Hank Phillippi Ryan!

Welcome to the tenth day of the Trick & Treat SPOOKtacular, hosted by myself & Lori from Lori’s Reading Corner!

Every day, from now through Halloween, a different author will be stopping by for a guest post with a giveaway. On one of our blogs you will find a TRICK post and on the other blog you will find a TREAT post, both written by the same author. Each author has generously donated at least two copies of one of their titles for us to give away. The entry form is the same on both blogs, so you may enter on one blog, or you can double your chances and enter on both blogs. Check the bottom of the post for the rest of the authors that will be posting here during our Trick & Treat SPOOKtacular.

At the end of our SPOOKtacular, Lori & I will be giving away one BIG treat! Make sure to check back on Halloween for all of the details and to enter for your chance to win.

Our tenth Trick & Treater is HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN! Today she is providing you with the same post for both me and Lori, but be sure to check out Lori’s blog to double your chances of winning the giveaway!

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It’s Dress Up Time.  Oh—NO.by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Are you panicked yet? If you’re still considering your Halloween costume, three little words: tick tick tick. (I don’t mean dress up as a tick, of course. I mean—time is running out.)

My costume brain is NOT working this year. And it’s making me nervous. The Crime Bake, a wonderful mystery convention by New England Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America, is having a costume contest where we’re supposed to dress up as a favorite sleuth. I’m thinkin’—Charlotte McNally. (If any of you have read my books — and if so, bless you — you’ll know she’s my main character. And like me, an investigative reporter for a TV station in Boston.  Which make “being in disguise” as Charlie is not much of a stretch.

(And as an investigative reporter, I’ve gone undercover and in disguise many times—somehow, the baseball cap, big glasses and no makeup doesn’t sound that terrific for Halloween.)

I used to be so good at this.

In college, one year, we were all supposed to dress as a song title. I got some RIT dye (remember that?) dyed a sheet black and went as “She’s Not There.” (Kind of a reverse ghost idea, see?)

I’ve dressed up as a tea bag–brown leotard and tights, then covered myself with a plastic dry cleaning bag I filled with torn up pieces of orange and brown construction paper. I hung a string around my neck and at the bottom was a tag that said Constant Comment.

An old boyfriend and I went as spaghetti and meatballs. We created this enormous contraption, like a table, which we then hung from our shoulders with ropes. We covered the base with a red and white checked tablecloth. We stapled a big cardboard cone on top of it to hold the spaghetti. I cooked spaghetti, and figured I could just glue it to the cardboard thing. Well of course, that was ridiculous.

So I ended up sewing the strands to the cardboard with a huge needle and heavy thread. Then we covered brown paper bags with cotton balls, and sprayed them red and brown to look like meat balls, punched holes for eyes and put them over our heads.

We could not get the thing in the car, so we had to strap in onto the top. So imagine the spaghetti table flying down the Mass Turnpike, stands coming off along the way. When we got to the party, we stepped into the table of spaghetti and put the meatballs on our heads.

It worked, but it was hard to dance. Two years ago, Jonathan and I were the Ark Family. I was Joan of Arc, and he was Noah. Here are photos—it was pretty funny. Those are little animals pinned to his tunic, two of each, of course.

Last year, I was too busy to make new costumes. So I printed out a new flag to replace the Fleur de Lis, put on a bandana, and went as Joan of Arkansas. (Jonathan was Noah of Arkansas, which I know makes no sense.)

This year—I have no idea. Readers, can you help me? Are you dressing up?

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About the Author

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN is the investigative reporter for Boston’s NBC affiliate. A television journalist since 1975, she has won 27 Emmys and ten Edward R. Murrow awards for her work. A best-selling author of four mystery novels, Ryan has won the Agatha, Anthony and Macavity awards for her crime fiction . She’s on the national board of directors of Mystery Writers of America (and an instructor at MWA-U) and the vice-president of national Sisters in Crime. Her newest suspense thriller series, beginning with THE OTHER WOMAN, debuts in 2012 from Forge Books.

Her website is http://www.HankPhillippiRyan.com
Find her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/hank_phillippi
On Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/HankPhillippiRyan?ref=profile
Email:  hank AT hankphillippiryan DOT com
Hank is a member of three different group blogs: Jungle Red Writers, Lipstick Chronicles and Femme Fatales

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Giveaway

Readers, you have your choice of any of the Charlotte Mc Nally books—or one of the first ARC’s of my new suspense thriller THE OTHER WOMAN! (Us and Canada only, please.)

Charlotte Mc Nally Books
http://www.hankphillippiryan.com/books.php

Choose one of these:
1. Prime Time
2. Face Time
3. Air Time
4. Drive Time

OR

THE OTHER WOMAN
Seduction, betrayal and murder — it’ll take more than votes to win this election.
A novel of suspense—coming in 2012

THE OTHER WOMAN, the first in Hank’s new series, will be published next year by FORGE Books. Sequel in 2013.
A Boston reporter on the trail of an ex-governor’s secret mistress…a Boston cop on the trail of a suspected serial killer. What happens when they realize they might be hunting the same person? As one character says: “You can choose your sin, but you cannot choose your consequences.”

How to enter:

1. You must use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter this giveaway.
2. You may enter using any of the listed entry options in the Rafflecopter widget. You may choose one option or all options. Each option is worth one entry into the giveaway.
3. For each option you choose to enter with, click on “CLICK FOR INSTRUCTIONS” FIRST, follow the instructions, then click on “I DID THIS” and fill out the required information.
4. The giveaway ends on November 10th at 11:59pm EST.
5. At the conclusion of the giveaway, we will verify all entries.
6. Once the verification process is complete, we will use the Rafflecopter widget to select the 2 winners and contact them.
7. The winners will have 48 hours from our notification emails to respond with their full name and mailing addresses. If we do not receive a response, their prize will be forfeited and another winner will be selected. Please be sure to check your spam filters!
8. All winner information will be forwarded to the author for prize fulfillment. We are not responsible for lost or misdirected prize shipments. Please check your address carefully before submitting it to us.

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The Trick & Treat Spooktacular Schedule
Oct 14th ~ Krista Davis
Oct 17th ~ Heather Webber
Oct 18th ~ Rick Mofina
Oct 19th ~ Elaine Viets
Oct 20th ~ Cleo Coyle
Oct 21st ~ Cathy Lamb
Oct 24th ~ Ellery Adams (aka J.B. Stanley)
Oct 25th ~ Brenda Novak
Oct 26th ~ Lorraine Bartlett
Oct 27th ~ Hank Phillipi Ryan
Oct 28th ~ Michele Scott
Oct 31st ~ Maggie Barbieri
Oct 31st ~ Lori & Jen’s TreatTacular

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