"Kernel of Truth"

Kristi Abbott, who also writes as both Eileen Rendahl and Eileen Carr, lives in northern California, although she was born in Ohio like the heroine of her new novel, Kernel of Truth. She loves snack food, crocheting, her kids, and her man, not necessarily in that order.

Abbott applied the Page 69 Test to Kernel of Truth and reported the following:

Page 69 is relatively representative of the rest of Kernel of Truth. On page 69, Rebecca Anderson (my heroine) stops by the scene of a crime that occurred the night before. The Sheriff sent her packing the night before and she’s curious and concerned. This was the second attack on a woman shop owner in her little town. She’s just satisfying her own curiosity, but manages to do something that will come back and cause her trouble later.

That’s when I froze. It was kind of a long reach from that windowpane to the doorknob. I walked up onto Barbara’s porch. Someone had taped cardboard over the broken pane, for what good that would do. It was a matter of a couple of seconds’ work to peel that back. I reached my arm through and reached for the knob.

I couldn’t reach it. It was on the opposite side of the door. I pulled my arm back out, snagging my favorite blue sweater as I did it. “Damn it,” I muttered. I tried to inspect my elbow, not exactly the easiest thing on the planet to do. It would have to wait until I got to the shop and could take it off to see how much damage I’d really done. I glanced at my watch and realized how late I was running.

Of course, the yarn that snags on the broken window comes back to bite her squarely on the butt later. I wish that section was funnier, but I guess Rebecca can’t be funny on every page.

Visit Kristi Abbott's website.

--Marshal Zeringue