"Singularity"

Kathryn Casey is a former magazine reporter and the author of five highly acclaimed true-crime books.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her newly released mystery, Singularity, and reported the following:

From Page 69:

“Sure, she’s guilty,” he said, using his fingers to comb back the errant fringe of hair falling over his forehead.

“You don’t believe that,” I said.

He paused, as if considering the possibility.

Hmmm. Well, yeah, the truth is, page 69 does go to the heart of my new novel, Singularity. How interesting.

The basics: Singularity begins a series for St. Martin’s Minotaur on Texas Ranger/profiler Sarah Armstrong, a single mom with a precocious twelve-year-old daughter, Maggie. As the book opens, Sarah’s husband, Bill, a fellow Texas Ranger, has died. With her family in turmoil, Sarah is pulled into the vortex of a sensational double-murder case, that of Houston multimillionaire Edward Travis Lucas III and his young, beautiful mistress, attorney Annmarie Knowles. Before long, Sarah becomes embroiled in controversy from every direction: within the rangers as she copes with departmental haggling, with investigators intent on fingering Lucas’s widow, and at home as she struggles to balance an intense investigation with her grieving daughter’s needs. Along the way, Sarah forms a partnership – and more – with FBI Agent David Garrity, as they traverse Texas in search of a serial killer no one else believes exists.

Now, back to page 69: It starts out with David Garrity and Sarah diagnosing the Lucas case, taking sides on who could be responsible and why. The “she” referenced in the first sentence (above, in the box) is Priscilla Lucas, the not-so-grieving widow. As the page begins David, to Sarah’s chagrin, mulls over the possibility that Priscilla is indeed behind the gruesome murders. As the dialogue on the page continues, readers wonder: What does David believe? Is he someone Sarah can count on?

Near the end of the page, the serial killer theory is debated. While David agrees that the bizarre crime scene suggests just such a ritualistic murder, he has doubts. Sometimes crime scenes aren’t what they suggest, he points out, and the profilers who diagnose them can be fallible. Who’s right? Is a serial killer afoot? Or does it all boil down to a fight over big Texas money?

Finally, the ultimate question: Will Sarah find a way to stop the killing before she becomes the next victim?

Learn more about Singularity and its author at Kathryn Casey's website and her blog.

Visit the complete list of books in the Page 69 Test Series.

--Marshal Zeringue