"Stalked"

Critically acclaimed and award-winning author Elizabeth Heiter likes her suspense to feature strong heroines, chilling villains, psychological twists, and a little bit (or a lot!) of romance. Her research has taken her into the minds of serial killers, through murder investigations, and onto the FBI Academy’s shooting range. Her novels have been published in more than a dozen countries and translated into eight languages; they've also been shortlisted for the Daphne Du Maurier award, the National Readers' Choice award and the Booksellers' Best award and won the RT Reviewers' Choice award.

Heiter applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Stalked, and reported the following:

Stalked is the fourth book in The Profiler series featuring FBI profiler Evelyn Baine. When a teenage girl disappears, leaving a note foretelling her death, FBI profiler Evelyn Baine desperately tries to unravel the girl’s secrets, before one of them claims her own life.

Here’s what happens on page 69, shortly after a new note – supposedly from missing teenager Haley Cooke – arrives at the police station and Evelyn – along with police detectives Sophia Lopez and Quincy Palmer – has to figure out what it means:

“Wait,” the officer who’d told them about the note called, running after them. She was young, probably not long out of high school herself, and bursting with newbie enthusiasm. “It came in with the mail. I took the stack of mail from the carrier myself.”

The young officer took a step back as both Quincy and Sophia stopped in their tracks, spinning toward her. Evelyn hurried to catch up, wishing she had a longer stride.
…

“I dumped the stack on the desk and was going to leave, but I noticed this letter had no postage. I was going to ask the carrier, but she’d left and -”

“You’re sure she gave it to you?” Sophia asked. “No one dropped it in the pile?”

“I’m sure.”

“Shit,” Sophia said. “Okay, we’ll talk to the carrier. Let’s take a ride.”

Sophia was already racing for the door, but Evelyn snagged her elbow before she could get far. “Hang on. Let’s look at the cameras first.”

“But if -”

“How would a piece of mail with no postage get into a mail stack coming into a police station?”

Sophia frowned back at her, then nodded slowly. “It must have happened nearby.”

At this point in the story, Evelyn and her colleagues at the local police station realize that whoever dropped that note off – whether it was Haley or the person who’d kidnapped her – must be close. It’s a chance to find her – and find out what happened to her. If they don’t, Evelyn knows the teenager’s chances of staying alive dwindle with each hour…

My Book, The Movie: Stalked.

--Marshal Zeringue