series, as well as the Sydney Rose Parnell series, which includes Blood on the Tracks, a Suspense Magazine Best of 2016 selection and winner of the Colorado Book Award and the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence; Dead Stop, winner of the Colorado Book Award and nominee for the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence; Ambush; and Gone to Darkness. Her essays and short stories have appeared in Writer’s Digest and on Criminal Element, among other markets. She lives in Colorado, where she loves to cave, snowshoe, hike, and drink single malt Scotch―usually not at the same time.
Nickless applied the Page 69 Test to her latest novel, The Drowning Game, and reported the following:
In The Drowning Game, Nadia and Cassandra Brenner are the heirs to a prestigious yacht-building firm. Cass is in Singapore overseeing a build for a Chinese billionaire when she falls to her death from the 40th floor of one of the word’s most expensive hotels. In the novel, page 69 offers only a glimpse into the novel’s themes of betrayal, treachery, and family secrets. The page is focused on Nadia’s decision to look into her sister’s unexpected death—be it suicide, an accident, or murder. We get a few leads on this page as to where Nadia’s investigation might take her in Singapore: an astrologist Cass was apparently seeing (even though she didn’t believe in astrology or fortune telling), secretive behavior by Cass’s assistant, and an invitation to dinner from the man hired to handle security for the almost finished yacht. While this page offers only a small peek into the avenues Nadia will explore, she is haunted by her father’s advice, which will stay with her throughout the novel: “Trust no one."Visit Barbara Nickless's website.
The Page 69 Test: At First Light.
Q&A with Barbara Nickless.
The Page 69 Test: Play of Shadows.
Writers Read: Barbara Nickless.
--Marshal Zeringue
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