"The Happiness Collector"

Crystal King is the author of four novels spanning historical fiction and contemporary fantasy. Her latest, The Happiness Collector, is a contemporary fantasy that Booklist calls "a must for V.E. Schwab and Katee Robert fans" and was named an Amazon Editor's Pick. Her historical novels include In the Garden of Monsters (longlisted for a MassBook Award and selected as an Amazon Editor's Pick), The Chef's Secret, and Feast of Sorrow (longlisted for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize). King's writing is fueled by a love of history and a passion for the food, language, and culture of Italy.

She applied the Page 69 Test to The Happiness Collector with the following results:

On page 69, historian Aida Reale is settling into her dream job at MODA in Italy when she hears unsettling gossip about her predecessor, Johannes, who died suddenly of a heart attack. Ilario and Pippa, who work in the kitchen at the palazzo where she's staying, discuss the man with concern that hints at something darker beneath the surface. The conversation reveals cryptic details about individuals at MODA, including their mysterious boss Mo, and Trista, Aida's prickly aide.

Does the Page 69 Test Work?

This test works somewhat well for The Happiness Collector. While page 69 won't tell you that Aida's employers are gods or that she's collecting happiness for divine purposes, it captures the book's central tension: something is very wrong with this too-good-to-be-true job. The mention of a predecessor's death, the cryptic comments about crossing their snarky boss, and Aida's growing unease all signal that her Italian dream is actually a nightmare in disguise.

What the page does reveal accurately is the book's atmosphere of mystery. Aida is clearly picking up on strange undercurrents in conversations around her. The dialogue gives you a taste of the Italian setting and the dark humor that runs through the narrative. You get a sense that Aida is smart and observant but a bit in the dark about her employer.

What you won't get from this page is the mythological framework that makes The Happiness Collector more than just a mystery. You won't know that Aida and her colleagues are pawns in a game between gods, or that the places that Aida visits as part of her work are starting to disappear. But you will understand that Aida has stumbled into something dangerous and that her perfect new life is built on secrets that might destroy the world as we know it.

Still, for readers who love contemporary fantasy with a slow-burn reveal, page 69 does its job: it raises questions, hints at danger, and makes you want to keep reading to find out what everyone is hiding.

Visit Crystal King's website.

The Page 69 Test: Feast of Sorrow.

Writers Read: Crystal King (March 2019).

The Page 69 Test: The Chef's Secret.

My Book, The Movie: The Happiness Collector.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Watch Us Fall"

Christina Kovac, author of the Watch Us Fall and The Cutaway, writes psychological suspense/thrillers set in Washington, DC.

Prior to writing fiction, Kovac worked in television news, covering crime and politics at Fox 5’s Ten O’Clock News in Washington, DC, and after that as a news producer and desk editor at the Washington Bureau of NBC News.

She lives outside Washington DC with her family. She loves morning writes with her cat on her lap, book hauls from her town library, and hiking national parks. Her favorites—C&O Canal National Park, Assateague Island, and Rock Creek Park—provided inspiration for Watch Us Fall. She’s currently at work on her third novel.

Kovac applied the Page 69 Test to Watch Us Fall and reported the following:

From page 69, which takes place at a dinner party, where Josh Egan first meets Addie’s friends:

Their conversations flew fast, skipping easily between movies and books and music, stories half told and finished by each other. He felt a little dazzled by them. Estella refilled his wine. “Tell Josh about the Obama niece, Lucy.”

“Let’s not,” Lucy said.

Josh thanked her for the wine. Then, to Lucy: “Does President Obama have a niece?”

“Oh God, no, this is embarrassing,” Addie said, laughing, and Josh squeezed her hand saying, “Well now somebody has to tell it.”

Estella tossed her hair. “It was Addie’s alter ego in college.”

“We’d go to parties and guys would hit on Addie,” Lucy said. “She could never kick free of this certain type of guy that always gravitated to her.”

Estella interrupted. “The saddest, drunkest, most pathetic...”

Penelope lifted her eyebrows. “These guys would ask for Addie’s number, and she’d crumble, afraid to hurt anyone’s feelings.”

“Who likes hurting people?” Addie asked.

Estella pointed her fork at Lucy. “So Lucy developed her alias. Alter ego, whatever. Remember that first guy hounding Addie for her Instagram handle? So Lucy moves in with something to the effect of, ‘I’m sorry, but she’s under orders from the Secret Service to observe a strict social media blackout. I’m sure you can understand... her uncle, you know?’”

“I was thinking, play her off as some foreign dignitary’s kid,” Lucy said. “The university is lousy with them. But the guy assumed President Obama, so.”

Addie was shaking her head, laughing. “I never said anything about President Obama. I never gave any name. He just said I looked just like my uncle and then everyone started agreeing, and it took off from there.”

“You look nothing like President Obama,” Josh said.

“We were treated so nicely after that, remember?” Penelope said.

Here Josh finds the four friends fiercely protective of each other, willing to do whatever it takes to keep each other safe. In this case, it’s Addie’s vulnerability to helping broken people. This page is actually representative of the themes of the novel—friendship and obsessive love and how far we’ll go to protect each other, as well as the shifting, conflicting stories we tell, and the delusions this creates. It is also part of a pivotal scene in the novel. And we see the love and humor and history the women share with each other.

The novel uses two points-of-views: Lucy’s in present-day narration that begins on the day Josh goes missing, and Josh’s in the past month’s events leading up to that terrible day.

This page is from Josh’s point-of-view. He doesn’t understand their inside stories. As a celebrity journalist (a la Ronan Farrow with a bit of a JFK Jr. mystique), Josh has firm thoughts about truth and lies. For his own traumatic reasons, he’s afraid them. Lies are a Josh Egan trigger.

And here, on page 69, the woman he’s obsessively in love with is laughing with her friends about lies they so easily tell. He will come to wonder about other lies. Soon after that, Josh disappears.

Visit Christina Kovac's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Cutaway.

The Page 69 Test: The Cutaway.

Writers Read: Christina Kovac (March 2017).

My Book, The Movie: Watch Us Fall.

--Marshal Zeringue

"May Contain Murder"

After being flung into the culinary limelight as a semi-finalist on Masterchef, Orlando Murrin edited Woman and Home, BBC Good Food and founded Olive magazine; then he switched track to become a chef-hotelier in SW France and Somerset.

He has written six cookbooks and received an Outstanding Achievement Award from the Guild of Food Writers, its highest accolade. A popular guest on TV and radio, and at food and literary festivals, he is also a regular podcaster and podcast host.

From his grandfather, a Met detective who rose to become a crack MI5 interrogator, he inherited a fascination with crime and mystery. He lives in domestic bliss in Exeter, Devon, and has written two culinary crime novels: Knife Skills For Beginners and Murder Below Deck (published as May Contain Murder in Canada and the US). Knife Skills was shortlisted for McDermid Debut Award, Crime Fiction Lover Debut Award, CrimeFest Last Laugh Award and Fingerprint Debut Award.

Murrin applied the Page 69 Test to May Contain Murder and shared the following:

On page 69 our narrator Paul Delamare finds himself at dinner aboard the magnificent superyacht Maldemer, on the second night of her cruise from the London’s Tower Bridge to the Caribbean.

Paul is a waspish character – even slightly cruel – and here we find him criticising one of his dining companions, a vegetarian called Karol-Kate, for ‘chewing in a circular motion’. He expands on this: ‘I remember a geography lesson in which we learned the different ways ruminants eat: cows by pulling up tufts of grass with great long tongues; sheep with their teeth, nibble-nibble-nibble. I half expect her to moo.’

The Page 69 Test works well for my book – it gives a flavour of the banter and social comedy for which the chef Paul Delamare mysteries are known.

I would have loved it even more if page 69 had also landed the browser with some of the book’s other fun elements: for instance, the reproductions of actual tarot cards, or the email exchanges between Paul and his best friend Julie, stuck back in London, which add a hilarious extra dimension to the book.

I’d also like the reader to flip to the epilogue, which contains an imaginary magazine article written by Paul Delamare with six delicious recipes. These are real, working recipes, in American cup measures, including the Poseidon Adventure Cocktail and a devilishly delicious chocolate cake based on Julia Child’s immortal Gâteau Reine de Saba.

I’m not sure if readers realise what a fantastically complicated book this was to write! Whenever Paul sends an email he gives his coordinates in the Atlantic Ocean, which I wanted to be accurate. This involved plotting a course to an imaginary island, while the boat was being blown off-course by a terrible storm. On top of that, the yacht kept crossing time-zones. By the time I’d finished writing it, I felt I’d done a Masters in navigation. Plus don’t start me on international maritime law…

Visit Orlando Murrin's website.

The Page 69 Test: Knife Skills for Beginners.

Q&A with Orlando Murrin.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Huguette"

Cara Black is the author of twenty-one books in the New York Times bestselling Aimée Leduc series as well as the WWII thrillers Three Hours in Paris and Night Flight to Paris. She has won the Médaille de la Ville de Paris and the Médaille d’Or du Rayonnement Culturel and received multiple nominations for the Anthony and Macavity Awards; her books have been translated into German, Norwegian, Japanese, French, Spanish, Italian, and Hebrew.

Black applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Huguette, with the following results:

From page 69:

Huguette says:

"I can speak GI English, and I'm good with numbers. You've seen the housekeeping budget Marie gave me, and I kept my father's accounts in the café since I was thirteen. And....after maman went to the sanatorium, my father had me keep two ledgers."

Louis's face barely changed. He nodded slowly. "One ledger for the tax man and another for himself, oui?"

"You could say that, monsieur."

Louis reached in his silk bathrobe pocket. Handed her a key. "Unlock the bottom drawer in my desk. Take out two ledgers in there."

She did.

"Now make coffee. We've got work to do."

This page shows Huguette, in survivor mode trying to be useful and keep her job with Louis. This also illustrates her background in that she's no stranger to clandestine accounting and Louis, sharp as a tack, reading between the lines and seeing her skills and usefullness.

In my mind writing this scene I kept hearing a line from the film Casablanca where Rick says to the French policeman as they walk off into the fog "Louis I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

And for Huguette and Louis page 69 starts their friendship and working relationship. He becomes Huguette's mentor, her entree to the world of French cinema, to his connections and in return she does his black market dealings. In the set up we've learned Louis is desperate to avoid bankruptcy, has dreams for the French film industry and can read people and spot talent. Huguette becomes vital in his dealings and she's no stranger to the black market. She's also afraid to be back on the street and go hungry again so to her, it's her only choice.

Visit Cara Black's website and follow her on Instagram and Threads.

The Page 69 Test: Murder at the Lanterne Rouge.

My Book, the Movie: Murder at the Lanterne Rouge.

The Page 69 Test: Murder below Montparnasse.

The Page 69 Test: Murder in Pigalle.

My Book, The Movie: Murder in Pigalle.

My Book, The Movie: Murder on the Champ de Mars.

The Page 69 Test: Three Hours in Paris.

The Page 69 Test: Night Flight to Paris.

Writers Read: Cara Black (March 2023).

Writers Read: Cara Black (March 2024).

The Page 69 Test: Murder at la Villette.

My Book, The Movie: Huguette.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Snow Lies Deep"

Paula Munier is the USA TODAY bestselling author of the Mercy Carr mysteries. A Borrowing of Bones, the first in the series, was nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark Award and named the Dogwise Book of the Year. Blind Search also won a Dogwise Award. The Hiding Place and The Wedding Plot both appeared on several “Best Of” lists. Home at Night, the fifth book in the series, was inspired by her volunteer work as a Natural Resources Steward of New Hampshire.

Along with her love of nature, Munier credits the hero dogs of Mission K9 Rescue, her own rescue dogs, and a deep affection for New England as her series’ major influences.

A literary agent by day, she’s also written three popular books on writing: Plot Perfect, The Writer’s Guide to Beginnings, and Writing with Quiet Hands, as well as Happier Every Day and the memoir Fixing Freddie: The True Story of a Boy, a Mom, and a Very, Very Bad Beagle.

Munier applied the Page 69 Test to her new Mercy Carr mystery, The Snow Lies Deep, and reported the following:

Turn to page 69 in The Snow Lies Deep, my seventh Mercy Carr mystery, and you’ll find yourself in the middle of a Winter Solstice ceremony. It’s the first night of Northshire’s annual Solstice Soirée, the quaint Vermont village’s countdown to New Year’s—and the show must go on, even if there has been a suspicious death earlier in the day. The local grove of Druids is in charge of the spectacular bonfire that opens the official holiday season. The town green has been transformed into a Winter Wonderland, full of Christmas markets and food booths, but all have gathered around the labyrinth garden to watch the lighting of the bonfire. Mercy Carr and her family are all there, watchful and worried but entranced nonetheless by the beauty and simplicity of the ritual.

At least until the murderer strikes again.

From page 69:

Though some might mistake him in his flowing robe and beard at quick glance for Saint Nicholas, to her, Oisin always looked every inch the pagan priest, no matter where he was or what he was doing or what he was wearing.

He raised his staff, and his fellow Druids fell silent. The crowd outside the garden also quieted. There was a moment of hushed anticipation, broken only by the booming baritone of Oisin himself. “Hail and welcome.”

Behind the Arch-Druid, the burly Druid blew the carnyx again. He was now flanked by two bagpipers, who played along in a mournful counterpoint to the primeval howling of the ancient horn. A fiddler and a Celtic harpist stepped up to join them, forming a little band of sorts. The Druids’ eerie music took a more melodic turn. It reminded Mercy of some of the more haunting Celtic ballads she’d heard in pubs in Boston.

“Here we go,” said Grace.

The remaining Druids—around fifty or so, by Mercy’s count—removed small crowns of antlers from under their cloaks and placed them on their heads. In the growing gloom of dusk, the antlered Druids looked like stags moving in and out of the mist of the deep forest.

They moved to the edge of the Yule logs, creating a circle within a circle within a circle. Now Mercy could see the straps that they wore over their robes to secured their frame drums to their sides. Steadying the goatskin drums with one hand, they held their double-headed tippers in the other.

“It’s a bodhrán,” Mercy whispered to Tandie before she could ask. “The native drum of the ancient Celts. And traditional Irish music.”

“And Druids,” Tandie whispered back as the members of the Cosmic Ash Grove began to drum, adding a pulsating beat to the music of the solstice. “I like their antlers.”

The Arch-Druid tapped his staff on the rock in time to the music. The drumming continued, and one by one the other instruments dropped out of the performance. Until only the drums beat on in a firework of percussion—faster and faster and faster—as the last of the sun’s rays disappeared below the horizon.

Page 69 reflects the fact that December is the perfect time for a murder mystery. The Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas…all are about finding the light shining in the darkness. Winter acknowledges our shadow selves—and asks us to embrace the light. Murder mysteries are about the best and worst of human nature—the dark and the light—so it seems fitting to set a crime novel during the most wonderful time of the year.

Visit Paula Munier's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Paula Munier & Bear.

My Book, The Movie: A Borrowing of Bones.

The Page 69 Test: A Borrowing of Bones.

Writers Read: Paula Munier (October 2019).

My Book, The Movie: Blind Search.

The Page 69 Test: Blind Search.

My Book, The Movie: The Hiding Place.

The Page 69 Test: The Hiding Place.

Q&A with Paula Munier.

My Book, The Movie: The Wedding Plot.

The Page 69 Test: The Wedding Plot.

Writers Read: Paula Munier (July 2022).

Writers Read: Paula Munier (October 2023).

My Book, The Movie: Home at Night.

The Page 69 Test: Home at Night.

My Book, The Movie: The Night Woods.

The Page 69 Test: The Night Woods.

Writers Read: Paula Munier (October 2024).

My Book, The Movie: The Snow Lies Deep.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Edge"

Tracy Clark is the author of the Cass Raines Chicago Mystery and Detective Harriet Foster series, award-winning books that feature tough, smart, Black female characters working the mean streets of the Windy City. Her debut novel, Broken Places, was CrimeReads’ Best New PI Book of 2018 and made Library Journal’s Best Crime Fiction list that same year.

A finalist for Anthony, Lefty, Macavity, Edgar, and Shamus Awards, Clark has won two G. P. Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Awards and one Sara Paretsky Award. She is a proud member of Crime Writers of Color, Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime and sits on boards at Bouchercon and the Midwest Mystery Conference.

When not writing, Clark watches old black-and-white movies, reads, or putters around. She roots equally for the Cubs, White Sox, Bears, Blackhawks, Sky, and Fire. As a proud Chicagoan, it’s deep-dish and hot dogs, no ketchup―vegan schmegan. And she can toss a (fictional) dead body anywhere and make it work. Dare her.

Clark applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Edge, and shared the following:

From page 69:

She turned back to look at the dead woman. The young mother. Accidental or on purpose? The pressure of the new baby too much to bear, or something else? Tragic either way, she knew.

Page 69 of my novel Edge, book four in my Det. Harriet Foster series, has “Harri” and her partner, Det. Vera Li, on scene at the discovery of a new victim. There’s already been one suspicious death, this victim, is victim number two, and it hits these two cops, these mothers, particularly hard. There’s a tainted drug out on the streets of Chicago called EDGE, and Harri and Vera haven’t pinpointed its source, but bodies keep falling.

Does the test work for my page 69? I kinda think it does. It shows my cops on the case, doing their jobs, working to figure it all out. It shows the impact of the young woman’s loss but also illustrates how her death affects the cops called to her ordinary bedroom in an ordinary home where a terrible, devastating thing has happened.

We see the interplay between partners on page 69. We witness the yin and yang as the two cop/mothers work in unison to process the scene and look for anything that might tell them what happened. Vera notices how small the woman looks in the bed. Harri picks up an infant’s hairbrush and wonders about the last time the young mother brushed her baby’s hair with it. Little things, along with the big things—points of entry, whether the contents of the room were displaced—cop things. We get police procedural on page 69, we also get a lot of character.

Page 69 illustrates to readers that there are people behind badges, which is the main thing I always want to convey in every Harri and Vera book. So, I think I nailed it this time out. Two hardworking female cops doing their thing with hearts open wide. Boom!

Visit Tracy Clark's website.

Q&A with Tracy Clark.

My Book, The Movie: What You Don’t See.

Writers Read: Tracy Clark (July 2021).

The Page 69 Test: Runner.

The Page 69 Test: Hide.

The Page 69 Test: Fall.

Writers Read: Tracy Clark (December 2023).

The Page 69 Test: Echo.

Writers Read: Tracy Clark (December 2024).

--Marshal Zeringue

"All My Bones"

P.J. Nelson is the pseudonym of an award-winning actor, dramatist, professor, and novelist (among other many other professions) who has done just about everything except run a bookstore. He lives in Decatur, Georgia.

The author applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, All My Bones, with the following results:

Page sixty-nine of All My Bones is, remarkably, the page on which the Reverend Gloria Coleman is arrested, an event which is the proverbial crux of the biscuit—to be specific, the crux of the buttermilk biscuit. (We are, after all, in the Deep South.) The narrator of this and all the Old Juniper Bookshop mysteries is Madeline Brimley, an Atlanta actor, who inherited the bookshop from her Aunt Rose, a New York actor. Gloria Coleman, one of Madeline’s best friends, is the Episcopal priest whose church is just across the road from the bookshop. She’s seen arguing with Idell Glassie, the richest woman in the small town of Enigma, Georgia. The problem is that Idell’s sister, Beatrice, had been missing for months when Madeline and Gloria find Bea’s bones. They were only digging up the front yard of the shop to plant azaleas, and there they were. Idell knows that sister Bea and Reverend Gloria were at odds over church affairs. Now Idell, only a little out of her mind, has decided that Gloria murdered Bea. Without a shred of proof. But since Idell has money, she also has influence, which she uses to force the GBI to arrest Gloria. For most of the rest of the book, Madeline works tirelessly to prove Gloria’s innocence. That work includes confronting other citizens of Enigma, all of whom disliked the deceased intensely, including a handyman whom Beatrice refused to pay and the owner of the town diner whom Beatrice tried to force out of business. Madeline’s investigations even take her to the allegedly haunted opera house in nearby Hawkinsville, and to Kell Brady, the wealthy ex-boyfriend of Bea Glassie, who spent a fortune restoring the old hall with Bea’s help. So, as it happens, page sixty-nine is the page upon which, to a great degree, the entire rest of the book depends!

Read more about All My Bones at the publisher's website.

My Book, The Movie: All My Bones.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Fun City Heist"

Michael Kardos is the author of the novels Fun City Heist, Bluff, Before He Finds Her, and The Three-Day Affair. His story collection One Last Good Time won the Mississippi Institute of Arts & Letters Award for fiction, and his book The Art and Craft of Fiction: A Writer’s Guide is taught at colleges and universities across the country. Kardos's short stories have appeared in One Story, The Southern Review, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and many other magazines and anthologies, and have won two Pushcart Prizes.

He applied the Page 69 Test to Fun City Heist and reported the following:

At one time, Mo Melnick was a half-successful musician, but these days he rents beach chairs and umbrellas for a living. By page 69, Mo is on board to commit a felony with his old band. They have this idea that they can pull a heist—robbing the beachfron amusement park where they’ve booked a gig—during the gig itself. A perfect alibi.

On page 69, while down on the beach doing his day job, Mo is approached by the woman he saved from drowning in the openingchapter. Turns out she’s quite pretty, and she offers to repay him (for saving her life) by taking him to dinner. She hands him her business card, at which point Mo learns that a) she’s a detective with the town’s police department and b) she’s already run a background check on him.

Here’s how the chapter ends:

“I had to make sure you weren’t a serial killer before I asked you to dinner,” she explains.

I stare at the card some more. “You’re a detective?”

“Don’t worry—your record is squeaky clean.”

“It is,” I tell her, feeling the sudden urge to sit down. “I’m totally law abiding.”

She laughs a high C-sharp. “I can tell cops make you nervous. Don’t worry. I’m used to it. Unless you have reason to be nervous.” Her eyes narrow. “Do you have a reason to be nervous?” After a long beat, she smiles. “I’m kidding,” she says. “Cop humor.”

My heart can’t take this. Death is imminent.

“How’s seven?” she asks.

I think page 69 conveys a decent sense of the universe throwing things at Mo that he doesn’t expect. The cop is a new complication: Let no good deed go unpunished, right? In Chapter One he saves her from drowning—which isn’t even his job, but the lifeguards were being inattentive. Now his good deed comes back to haunt him. The page also includes a quick bit about Mo’s perfect pitch—a recurring motif. (Mo believes his perfect pitch is more of a cosmic joke than a useful talent: after all, he’s the drummer.)

So life/death, music, the prospect of a crime, an uneasy relationship…I suppose that page has a lot of the novel baked into it. But I recommend readers start with Chapter One.

Visit Michael Kardos's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Three Day Affair.

My Book, The Movie: The Three-Day Affair.

My Book, The Movie: Before He Finds Her.

The Page 69 Test: Before He Finds Her.

The Page 69 Test: Bluff.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Ten Thousand Light Years from Okay"

Tracy Dobmeier and Wendy Katzman have been great friends for more than twenty-five years. Their debut novel, Girls with Bright Futures, was a suspenseful journey into the cutthroat world of college admissions that earned starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal, was named a Book Club Winner by Real Simple, and was selected as an Apple Best Book. Dobmeier holds an undergraduate degree from Princeton University and a JD from UC Berkeley and worked in biotechnology law and nonprofit leadership. Dobmeier was a nationally ranked youth tennis player and went on to play at the University of Michigan, where she earned her undergraduate degree before pursuing a career in medical marketing. Dobmeier and Dobmeier both live in Seattle with their husbands. They enjoy sports, reading (obviously), civic engagement, and spending time with their amazing families and friends. You can often find them together brainstorming and walking their dogs, Shadow and Josie.

The authors applied the Page 69 Test to their new novel, Ten Thousand Light Years from Okay, and shared the following:

From page 69:

Chapter 9

As we pulled up to the café where the book launch party was being held, I prayed I wasn’t on the precipice of hell once again. I reminded myself for the billionth time that I’d written a happily-ever-after romance. Yet my body was frozen in place. Rebecca must have sensed my apprehension, because she reached behind her seat to pat my knee. In the weeks leading up to my book’s publication, Rebecca and I had tiptoed around each other, but I was touched by all her support, despite her misgivings. She’d called in a favor from a client to let my publisher host the launch party here after-hours, and had even hired a stylist to come over and do my makeup and battle my thick hair into submission. But my hair was less of an issue than my nerves. Because four hours from now it would be midnight on the East Coast and my new book would be launched into the wild.

As William held open the door and Lucy and I walked across the threshold hand in hand, I felt like Cinderella arriving at the ball, minus the glass slippers. We’d opted for matching white sneakers and light-pink shift dresses similar to the one worn by the main character on the cover of the book as she gazed up at Mars in the night sky.

As I took in the beautifully decorated space, my mind traveled back to the launch event for my debut novel, which had been held at a swanky rooftop restaurant in New York. I’d been so naive as I sipped champagne and my prepregnancy hair complied with my every wish. With Sam by my side for that one night only, having stopped in on his...

We have to admit we were a bit skeptical of this test when we first heard about it, but it’s uncanny how well it works for Ten Thousand Light Years from Okay! Page 69 is the start of Chapter 9, and a pivotal moment in the protagonist’s story. From the back cover copy, readers would know that the book is about Thea, a young, widowed and still-grieving writer whose husband died shortly after her debut novel was published in a manner that was eerily similar to the protagonist’s husband in her book. Page 69 picks up as Thea is arriving at the launch party for the first novel she’s worked up the nerve to publish since that tragic event turned her life upside down. This time, she’s written a happily-ever-after romance as a way to hedge her bets, just in case what she writes comes true again. But as she prepares to enter the launch party, she can’t help but reflect on her state of mind at the launch of her debut novel, and how she had absolutely no clue that night how dramatically her life was about to change. We love that page 69 at once captures her terror that she could be standing “on the precipice of hell once again,” but also the simmering excitement and anxiety that comes with counting down the hours to a book’s official launch, a feeling that every author no doubt innately understands.

Interestingly, page 69 also mentions five of the novel’s six most important characters - Thea’s in-laws, her daughter Lucy, and her beloved late husband Sam. The only major character not on this page is Thea’s best friend, Frannie, but Frannie more than makes up for that as the book unfolds! Finally, the first paragraph of this page does an excellent job of capturing the essence of Thea’s relationship with her mother-in-law, Rebecca. There are obvious hints of tension between Thea and Rebecca, but also a clear sense that Rebecca’s love and support of Thea wins the day. The intricacies of their complex relationship-–with both of them intensely grieving the loss of the same man (Thea’s husband and Rebecca’s son) but with incompatible styles—is a central theme of the book. All in all, we honestly don’t think we could have picked a better page for readers to engage with our book than page 69!

Visit Tracy Dobmeier and Wendy Katzman's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Wondrous Life and Loves of Nella Carter"

Brionni Nwosu is a writer, educator, and joyful creative based in the vibrant city of Nashville, where she lives with her husband and their three children. After more than a decade teaching students and mentoring teachers, she shifted her storytelling craft from a side passion to center stage. A 2021 We Need Diverse Books mentee under Rajani LaRocca, Nwosu writes bold, heartfelt fiction that explores connection, purpose, and what it means to live a life well.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her debut novel, The Wondrous Lives and Loves of Nella Carter, with the following results:

Page 69 opens with Nella meeting James, an early love, and details their growing attraction. I feel it speaks to the wonder of the premise of the novel, as she would have been long dead had she met her natural end.

Jacques didn’t read the books, seemingly satisfied to have me recount the contents to him. I felt important as I shared the ideas and the conversation the books sparked. I didn’t question why he spent sums on books, only to give them away. I was only interested only in growing my own collection as I read deep into the night, learning of lands far beyond this one, grateful for Death’s gift of being able to read and speak any language I heard.

Some Sundays, we broke off and walked alone, his hand lingering over mine. It felt good to be the center of his attention. It wasn’t the red-hot love Eugène had for Eulalie. I didn’t know if I was even capable of those kinds of feelings, but it was a warm, pleasant glow.

In September, Eulalie and Eugène moved into a large two-story home on Rampart Street. They hosted a masked ball at their house to celebrate their commitment, a celebration open to all who understood the nature of their relationship.

For the occasion, I had chosen a blue cotton dress with marigold petticoats, a white shawl tucked around my shoulders and into the neckline, and a marigold tignon to match.

Eulalie bustled by me. “Is that a new dress? Quite fetching.”

I nodded, fluffing the cream cotton skirts with the dark-blue trim.

She gave me a long look. “Anyone you’re hoping you’ll see tonight?

“Possibly.” I blushed and straightened the row of extra masks meant for guests. The steady stream of guests soon consumed my attention as a quartet began to play. The sound of stringed instruments mingled with lively conversation as a pair of dancers swept about the room, waltzing to the sprightly fiddle. Other couples joined them on the dance floor, and the room became an atmospheric swirl, colored with the flicker of candlelight, the spin of vibrant cotton and patterned silk, the spice of tobacco, and the titters of laughter from tongues loosened by wine and champagne. The scene was a wonder, and my place in it would have been unthinkable before Death had given me this chance.

I think page 69 gives a good sense of the emotional heart of the book, even if it doesn’t show the full scale of it. On this page, Nella is learning, exploring, and slowly opening herself up to connection, as she determines what love looks like for someone like her during this point in time.

What readers won’t get from this page is the larger premise — the deal with Death, the centuries she moves through, or the bigger questions the book wrestles with. So the Page 69 Test is only partially accurate: it shows the tone, the wonder, and the warmth, but not the full sweep of her journey. I think the chapters from Death’s perspective give it an interesting structure and a POV we don’t often see in literature.

What I love about this page is that it shows Nella at the very beginning of becoming who she’ll be. She’s discovering books, love, friendship, and a world she never imagined she’d get to see. Those small moments — learning a new idea, being noticed by someone, feeling joy that once felt impossible — end up shaping the whole novel.

Throughout the book, Nella travels across cities and centuries, meeting people who challenge her, surprise her, and sometimes break her heart. Page 69 catches her right at the start of that process. She’s standing inside a new life and realizing, almost for the first time, that she has the chance to experience true romantic love.

Visit Brionni Nwosu's website.

Writers Read: Brionni Nwosu.

--Marshal Zeringue

"NYPD Red #8"

Marshall Karp co-created and co-authored the first six books in the #1 bestselling NYPD Red series with James Patterson. Starting with NYPD Red 7: The Murder Sorority, Karp became the sole author of the series, which features Detectives Kylie MacDonald and Zach Jordan as members of an of an elite squad sworn to "protect and serve New York's rich and famous." Karp is also the author of five books in the critically acclaimed Lomax and Biggs mystery series, featuring LAPD Detectives Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs, who work homicide out of the famed Los Angeles Hollywood Division. For over twenty years Karp has worked closely with the international charity Vitamin Angels, providing tens of millions of mothers and children around the globe with lifesaving vitamins and nutrients.

Karp applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, NYPD Red 8: The 11:59 Bomber, and reported the following:

When you're writing a book about a mad bomber who's running around New York blowing up iconic places every day at 11:59 AM, you better be sure you give the reader what they came for.

So I was happy to see that on page 69 my two hero NYPD detectives, Kylie MacDonald and Zach Jordan, have just arrived on the scene of the second bombing — a major department store. The bomb, like the one in the Wall Street subway station the previous day, went off at precisely 11:59 a.m. It’s now clear to the cops (and the reader) that the entire city now knows exactly when the next bomb will explode. They just don’t know where.

It’s not difficult to imagine that millions of people will hunker down at home, and the economic impact on the city will be monumental.

Even though the bomb has already decimated a wide area of the first floor of the store, Page 69 shows the detectives studying the security footage from minutes before the 11:59 explosion. As the time clock in the corner of the screen goes from 11:57 to 11:58, and the seconds slowly tick off to 11:59, the cops see the bomber leave his knapsack near a luggage display and head for the exit. They stand there helpless, knowing that the impending blast will kill everyone in the vicinity. But who? The man admiring a display of crystal bottles? The saleswoman behind a glass counter, a mirrored wall behind her? The little girl who walks into the frame, no mother or father in sight?

Re-reading what I had written, I was confident that page 69 had done exactly what page 69 is supposed to do. Get the reader to turn to page 70.

Visit Marshall Karp's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Falling Apart and Other Gifts from the Universe"

Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author of more than fifty published and forthcoming books.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Falling Apart and Other Gifts from the Universe, and shared the following:

From page 69:

Then Wendy said, “Is this about those two kids?”

“Yes and no,” Addie said with her mouth half full. “It’s more about this guy who hangs out in the warehouse with them. Comes and goes. He’s got a bad habit of trying to sexually assault anybody he thinks he can take. Which is pretty much everybody, because he’s a huge guy. It’s starting to get under my skin. And it’s even worse than it normally would be in my brain—like it’s not already bad enough in there—because I’m writing about my father, who never sexually assaulted anybody as far as I know, but who used my brother for a punching bag until he got to be a near size match. And the two situations are coming together in my head, because he’s tried it on both those kids, the boy and girl both, and it’s bugging me a lot. I just can’t seem to keep my mind focused. I think I’m going to have to do something about it.”

She was afraid Wendy would ask her what she planned to do, but fortunately it never came to pass. Probably Wendy would just think Addie was talking about a call to the police. That’s what most people would think. Especially if they didn’t know Addie all that well.

“What do your two new friends think about that?” Wendy asked.

“Not sure,” she said, which was not entirely true, because she knew Jeannie thought she should kill him. “They haven’t been around for a couple of days.”

“Well, I hope they’re somewhere indoors. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy to be sleeping outdoors during this.”

Addie stopped eating and gazed out the window for a moment. As if there were something to see out there. A firestorm or a tornado she had somehow missed. But it was just a night like any other.

“During what?”

Wendy raised an already high and arched eyebrow.

“You don’t watch the news?”

“Sometimes. Not lately.”

“Or look at weather reports?”

“Not usually. I figure I’ll see what the weather is when it gets here.”

“Every now and then there’s weather you might want to see coming.”

I’m very happy and excited about this, because I’ve done quite a few of these Page 69 Tests, and this is my absolute favorite page 69 text yet. I’m probably more enthusiastic about it than the situation even warrants.

So… yes. I think this is a great representation of the novel, and gives the reader reason to believe they would enjoy the complete work.

They say “no conflict, no story,” but a big reason I’ll keep reading is a foreshadowing of conflict. And a lot of foreshadowing happens to fall on page 69 this time. There’s a dark hint that Addie is going to do something dramatic to the abuser, and then on top of that we have ominous thoughts about the weather, which is more of an issue when two of the characters are homeless teens.

Not only do I think it makes a person want to read more, but there’s more drama in Other Gifts than in some of my novels, so I think it paints a good picture of what the reader will find in the full read.

Visit Catherine Ryan Hyde's website.

Q&A with Catherine Ryan Hyde.

The Page 69 Test: Brave Girl, Quiet Girl.

The Page 69 Test: My Name is Anton.

The Page 69 Test: Seven Perfect Things.

The Page 69 Test: Boy Underground.

The Page 69 Test: Dreaming of Flight.

The Page 69 Test: So Long, Chester Wheeler.

The Page 69 Test: A Different Kind of Gone.

The Page 69 Test: Life, Loss, and Puffins.

The Page 69 Test: Rolling Toward Clear Skies.

The Page 69 Test: Michael Without Apology.

--Marshal Zeringue