"Flamingo Road"

Sasscer Hill was an amateur steeplechase jockey, as well as a horse owner who bred, raised, and rode race horses for thirty years in Maryland. Her first published novel, Full Mortality, was nominated for both the Agatha and Macavity Best First Mystery Awards. Born in Washington, D.C., Hill earned a BA in English Literature from Franklin and Marshall College.

Hill applied the Page 69 Test to her new mystery-suspense novel, Flamingo Road, and reported the following:

From page 69:

“Patrick,” I said. “I have to head north tomorrow.”

“What?” he asked.

Jilly’s eyes widened. “No, you can’t.”

“I have to. I’ve been offered a new job.”

“Can’t it wait?” Patrick sounded almost desperate.

“I’m sorry, but it can’t.” I glanced at Jilly.

She narrowed her eyes and glared at me.

“But I’ll be back in about two weeks.”

“Two weeks? I don’t believe you. You’re just like Mom. You won’t come back.” She pushed back from the table so violently her chair crashed to the floor. She kicked it three feet across the tile and ran from the room.

“That went well,” I said, reaching for my fortune cookie.

“How can you joke about this?”

“Would you rather see me cry?” I broke open the cookie and read the little slip of paper.

“A journey awaits you. Beware of Danger.”

“Lovely,” I said, and bit into the cookie.

Page sixty-nine reveals that Flamingo Road is about much more than just horse racing. Family issues often take center stage. Since Fia’s mother walked out on her and her brother, Patrick, ten years earlier, the siblings have been estranged, to say the least. Until this trip to Florida, Fia has only met her niece Jilly once, years earlier. History has repeated itself, as Patrick’s wife has abandoned him, leaving him to handle their difficult daughter, Jilly. The relationships become even more tense as these characters are drawn into a web of crime and violence in South Florida.

Visit Sasscer Hill's website.

--Marshal Zeringue