Ex-sports reporter talks pivot to writing mysteries

Elise Hart Kipness has had a remarkable career path.

She started as a news reporter in the New York area, including with Empire State Network News on radio, with the Associated Press in print, as a TV producer with Albany NBC affiliate WYNT, and then as a TV reporter with Long Island stations WLIG and News 12 LI and New York NBC affiliate WNBC. From there, she went national with Fox News, then jumped to Fox Sports, where she worked on Fox Sports Net from 1998-2002.

Hart Kipness then left the media world to spend more time with her family; her first son was born while she was working at Fox Sports Net, and she was spending weeks on the road at times, which wasn’t ideal.

But she’s now come back to sports in an interesting way, writing detective novels focused on the character of Kate Green. Green is a former Olympic athlete (which Hart Kipness is not) turned sports reporter who winds up solving mysteries, and those books wind up incorporating a lot of Hart Kipness’ knowledge of the media world.

Hart Kipness’ debut novel featuring Green, Lights Out , saw the reporter investigating the murder of an NBA superstar. It came out last November to rave reviews and best-seller status. Her follow-up, Dangerous Play, was published by Thomas & Mercer last week; it has Green returning to her roots as an Olympic soccer player, investigating the murder of a former teammate and running into her old coach.

Hart Kipness recently spoke to AA by email about that, saying she began writing fiction in recent years because of how she missed the writing aspect of her media jobs.

“I found myself missing it. That actually surprised me,” she said. “Writing was always part of my job as a reporter, but I thought I’d miss covering the games or conducting the interviews or the adrenaline rush of facing a short deadline. Then, I started writing and found that I was happier on the days I put words on paper. Even if those words weren’t so great.”

It’s quite a shift from sports reporting to penning crime novels, but Hart Kipness’ news background gave her plenty of experience covering crime, including with high-profile cases such as the 1993 Long Island Railroad mass shooting and the trial of serial killer Joel Rifkin . Even beyond that, though, she said she wasn’t initially sure why crime novels were what spoke to her when she started writing fiction, but later came to a realization there that this was a way to look back at and process some of what she covered on the news beat.

“The answer to this question eluded me for a long time,” Hart Kipness said. “Then one day I heard a fellow author explain that she writes in the thriller genre to get the ‘darkness’ out of her. That really hit me.

“When I was a news reporter, I covered a lot of crime. But as a reporter, I didn’t process the trauma I witnessed because it was someone else’s tragedy. Still, I think witnessing those horrible moments stayed with me. Writing crime fiction has helped me grapple with those emotions.”

Hart Kipness said her sports reporting experience gave her a natural setting for these novels, and one with more ties to the dark side often shown in crime novels than many might realize.

“I think I decided to place my series in the world of sports because the arena (pardon the pun) was ripe for great conflict and drama. I have great admiration for the sacrifices professional athletes make to achieve their goals. But there’s also a dark side to the world—one fraught by greed, jealousy, insecurity, secrets. Basically, all the fodder one wants for a crime novel.”

Hart Kipness said she had to relearn some elements of writing for crime novels compared to news stories, though.

“I quickly learned that writing a novel requires many different skills than writing a news story. My first draft included the who, what, when, where, and why. Which meant it had absolutely zero suspense. Not a good thing for a thriller. I spent countless hours learning from experts and took writing classes and seminars before I produced a manuscript worth submitting. And even then, I needed to go back to the drawing board many times.”

Many authors don’t have an easy time getting even polished work published, but that wasn’t the case for Hart Kipness.

“For me, finding a publisher happened pretty quickly,” she said. “But that’s because I hit the jackpot with my agent.”

And she said she was staggered by the reception her debut book got.

“I had complete imposter syndrome. I remember looking at the number of sales the first week and saying to my husband that we don’t have that many friends and relatives, so real people must be purchasing the book.”

It can be challenging for anyone to follow up a hit, but Hart Kipness said the first book’s success helped convince her she could do this. However, she still questions herself at times.

“For me, the advantages of following up a best-seller outweighed the disadvantages because I approached Dangerous Play with a bit more confidence,” she said. “Still, the imposter syndrome thing doesn’t seem to completely go away.”

Her character of Green differs from Hart Kipness herself in several ways, but one of the most notable is Green’s high-level sports background. Hart Kipness said that was a way to get Green more directly tied into some of these stories than your average media member.

“I gave Kate a sports background because I wanted her to be immersed in that world. Her knowledge and connections as an athlete are key to her ability to solve crimes and expose secrets.”

But this character adds to an interesting larger debate about media roles going to ex-athletes, whether that’s with sideline reporters or with high-profile color commentators such as Tom Brady. Hart Kipness said she’s not opposed to that, especially given the experiences those athletes can bring, but they need to do the work for their new career as well.

“I think it depends on the athlete. If they have the skills needed to report, then I think their insights can add to the viewer’s experience. But if they are only there because they are already famous, well, that’s another story.”

Back on the book front, Dangerous Play sees Hart Kipness deciding to put Green directly back in her old sports arena. She said that was about digging into the character’s past and looking at some youth and adult sports issues.

“In Dangerous Play , I wanted the reader to get to know Kate better, especially her past as a youth soccer player: an experience that really impacted her,” she said. “And I really wanted to explore the underbelly of professional sports both in the adult and youth stages. I thought putting Kate in the middle of those situations would help me delve deeper into these issues.”

It’s also interesting to see a crime novel focused on events around women’s sports in particular. Hart Kipness said she appreciates seeing the overall rise in interest in women’s sports, including soccer, and she’d be thrilled if her story winds up adding to that.

“I do see an increased interest in women’s sports now and I love that!” she said. “I think it’s about time that female athletes are appreciated and celebrated. If my book even helps one person become more interested in watching women’s sports, then I would feel very proud of that.”

While there’s lots here for those interested in detective stories and/or women’s soccer specifically, Hart Kipness said she’s also hopeful Dangerous Play can give readers a behind-the-scenes look at sports reporting.

“I tried really hard to give readers a behind-the-scenes view of what it’s like to report on sports, especially for television,” she said. “To take readers places they wouldn’t necessarily have access. For example, in Dangerous Play , Kate journeys into the tunnels of Yankee Stadium and into the locker rooms in search for clues. I also wanted to show readers how it feels to stand on the field while reporting to audiences with producers simultaneously talking in your ear.”

An excerpt from Dangerous Play can be read here . The book is available now .

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