"Lake of Tears"

Award-winning writer Mary Logue is the author of numerous adult mystery novels (including the Claire Watkins mystery series), four books of poetry, several nonfiction books, and many children's books.

She applied the Page 69 Test to Lake of Tears, the ninth Claire Watkins mystery, and reported the following:

I love the notion of this test. And I can see my mom doing exactly what is being tested. I can see her standing in the library and reading a bit from the beginning, and, yes, I hate to say it but reading a bit from the end, and then turning to page 69 to see how the story was moving along.

I have to say that I hope if she had read page 69 in Lake of Tears that she would have kept reading. There's the end of a fight between two men over Tammy Lee and then a mother's nonchalance about her missing daughter, again, Tammy Lee. What I hope this would raise in the mind of my careful reader is both mystery and promise. Maybe promise of mystery. Why are the men fighting? Why is the mother so unconcerned? And who is this Tammy Lee?

The line I love from this page is right toward the bottom. Tammy Lee's mother is talking about her daughter's upcoming wedding, "Tammy's been saving up money so she could have the kind of wedding she's always dreamed of—you know, the big white dress, the five bridesmaids, the whole nine yards."

So the final question--will this wedding take place? Or will the title, Lake of Tears, hint at a sad ending?

Visit Mary Logue's website.

The Page 69 Test: Point No Point.

--Marshal Zeringue