"The Brighter the Light, the Darker the Shadow"

Verlin Darrow is a psychotherapist who lives with his psychotherapist wife in the woods near the Monterey Bay in northern California. They diagnose each other as necessary. Darrow is a former professional volleyball player (in Italy), unsuccessful country-western singer/songwriter, import store owner, and assistant guru in a small, benign spiritual organization.

He applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, The Brighter the Light, the Darker the Shadow, and shared the following:

From page 69:

“I never really thanked you for all you did for me.”

“It was my pleasure. Listen, this is Bill Cullen. He’s investigating a murder up on our land, and he thought you might be able to help.”

Gar’s face darkened. “I’m tired of this shit, officer. I’ve been clean for six years now and I did my time. Anyway, I was never violent.”

Bill’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? I’ve seen your file, Brindisi. Resisting arrest? Wasn’t that one of your crimes?”

“That was bogus. They tacked that on to strengthen their case so I’d make a deal. All I did was try to grab my coat while this asshole was pulling my arm at the front door. Shit, it was cold out.”

“The detective has to explore all the possibilities, Gar,” I said. “I told him you’d never be involved in anything like a murder. But maybe you know who would, or how we could find out.”

“Cuz I have a record? That makes me a font of information?” He looked down and then spoke in a softer, calmer tone. “Look, I’d help you if I could. All I can say is nobody up there could’ve done it unless there’ve been newcomers in the last four months.”

Bill looked at me, and I shook my head.

“I know every person in the community, and I knew killers in Folsom,” Gar continued. “You’re talking about opposite ends of the spectrum. Look elsewhere.”

“Okay, thanks,” Bill told him.

This excerpt is typical of the middle part of my mystery, in which Kade, my protagonist, and a police detective question a series of suspects to investigate a murder on a rural spiritual community’s land. The page isn’t particularly significant or interesting compared to some of the other encounters—ones that yield important plot points or further character development. Since the latter part of the book is a murder trial, this page isn’t any sort of harbinger of what’s to come, either.

All in all, I’d say page 69 lets the reader know a bit about the general idea of the book. It introduces the setting, two of the main characters, and that there’s a murder to solve. Beyond that, I hope this relatively unexciting scene doesn’t reflect how engaging the book will be to readers.

I’m going to take the opportunity to let my protagonist dispense advice to writers.

“We have a choice to either hunker down and resist being changed by what comes our way, or grow and evolve as the ground underneath us shifts. Trying to maintain our historical sense of ourselves through thick and thin can be subtle, using psychological defenses, or it can be obvious, arguing away others’ point of view or freezing our development by drinking. Our attempts to make ourselves feel safe and secure are doomed. Impermanence prevails.

For writers, this means we have to surf the randomness and capriciousness of the publishing world, especially in regards to the end result of our efforts. It’s easy to adopt a subtle adversarial stance toward the folks who hold the fate of our careers in their hands. Why won’t they accept our query/submission of such a wonderful manuscript? What’s wrong with these people? The reality we sometimes need to accept is that our work may not be wonderful, after all. And even if it is, it may not be marketable in the eyes of people more expert than us. If we can yield gracefully—without a fight—to all of this, including our feelings and thoughts about it all, we can proceed in whatever is the best way possible.”

This is in his voice, and he’s no dummy.

Visit Verlin Darrow's website.

Writers Read: Verlin Darrow (May 2023).

My Book, The Movie: Murder for Liar.

The Page 69 Test: Murder for Liar.

The Page 69 Test: The Not Quite Enlightened Sleuth.

Writers Read: Verlin Darrow (April 2024).

My Book, The Movie: The Not Quite Enlightened Sleuth.

My Book, The Movie: The Brighter the Light, the Darker the Shadow.

Q&A with Verlin Darrow.

Writers Read: Verlin Darrow.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Ramin Abbas Has MAJOR Questions"

Ahmad Saber is a young adult author who grew up on an all-girls college campus next to a massive fort in Pakistan. He now lives in Canada, and loves Broadway (favorite show = Phantom), travel (favorite place = 4-way tie between NYC, Seoul, Paris, and Melbourne), and Taylor Swift (favorite album = folklore) He's also a self-professed Chocolate Chip Cookie Connoisseur and has crowned New York's Culture Espresso’s as the best in the world.

Ramin Abbas has MAJOR Questions is his debut novel and is based in part on his own lived experience, exploring the inherent challenges of being queer and Muslim, and the struggle to reconcile faith with sexuality.

Saber is also a medical doctor specializing in rheumatology.

He applied the Page 69 Test to Ramin Abbas has MAJOR Questions with the following results:

This is fun! Here’s what’s on Page 69 of Ramin Abbas has MAJOR Questions:

“Don’t talk poorly of your aunt,” Dad says irritably. “And leave your daadu out of this.”

But it is about Daadu. It’s got everything to do with my grandfather. Five months have gone by since Telephone Grandpa passed away, but Dad’s grief shows no sign of abating. When Dad emigrated, Daadu moved in with Aunty Fauzia, Dad’s younger sister. Aunty Fauzia doesn’t have a computer with a webcam or even Wi-Fi; the only option to talk with our grandfather was by phone. So, while Zayn and I wanted Daadu in our lives, it’s kinda hard to get to know someone when you can’t even see them. And it’s harder to be there for them. Aunty Fauzia loves reminding my father of this. Loves accusing him of being selfish for leaving. Never mind that Dad tried to sponsor Daadu four times, but the immigration people kept rejecting his application. Canada doesn’t want old, sick people.

I lay a hand on Dad’s shoulder. “Uh. We can talk about Daadu, you know.” My voice is shaky; I don’t know how he’ll react.

Dad runs his fingers through my hair. “Ramin. He is gone. No point talking about the past. We should focus on the future and fix things. It is not too late.”

“Fix things?” I bolt upright.

“I mean, it is not too late to make some big decisions. You and Zayn are young. You can still adapt easily. Islamabad has great universities.”

I leap off the couch as if it’s made of lava. “Come on, Dad! We’ve talked about this already! We’re not moving back to Pakistan. This is our home!”

While the Page 69 Test doesn’t quite capture everything (mainly, the central conflict between Ramin’s queer sexual identity and his devout faith in Islam, which forbids homosexuality, and the central plot about the soccer competition), it has captured the general vibe of the story and I’m quite impressed with this test, actually. Therefore, I think the readers would definitely get a good taste of the story, like a tasty amuse bouche before the main courses are served.

My book spans a wide variety of subject matter, so I think it would be nearly impossible for a single page to capture the breadth of the novel, but why this test worked for my book is because it has captured a key component of the various types of conflict in the story: Ramin’s complicated relationship with his soccer-loving dad, who’s also very religious and very unlikely to be accepting of Ramin’s queerness. The page highlights Ramin’s dad’s struggle with adjusting in Canada, a move which came at the cost of strained family relationships and constant second-guessing his decision to immigrate. Dad’s guilt over this certainly affects his relationship with Ramin on a subconscious level, hence the page gives an idea of the struggle of many first generation immigrants to the modern west: the feeling of never quite belonging.

Lastly, the page happened to capture one of my favorite combinations of words in the book: Telephone Grandpa. Every kid who grew up far from their grandparents would likely immediately know and feel what a “Telephone Grandpa” is. I had received overwhelmingly positive feedback on this phrase from my beta readers when the novel was first being drafted.

In summary, I love the Page 69 Test! I’d never heard of it before, but now I have a feeling I’ll apply to every single book I browse or purchase. It’s just so much fun, and lands you right into the core of the book to get an idea of the writing, the themes, the worldbuilding etc.

Visit Ahmad Saber's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Dark Below"

Sherry Rankin grew up in New Jersey where she became an early and avid reader of mystery fiction. She earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in English and currently lives in Abilene, Texas where she has taught writing and literature at a local university for twenty years.

Her novel, Strange Fire, was shortlisted for the 2017 Daniel Goldsmith First Novel Prize and won the 2017 CWA Debut Dagger Award.

Her debut thriller, The Killing Plains, was published by Thomas & Mercer as a super lead title in February 2025.

Rankin applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Dark Below, and reported the following:

On page 69, Teddy stops by her father Milton’s house to check on him and drop off a few groceries on her way to the crime scene. When Teddy was a child, Milton was a brutal domestic tyrant. Now, in his seventies, he’s a reclusive hoarder and an alcoholic—a shell of his former self, but still spiteful and manipulative. Teddy looks after him out of a sense of pity and family obligation, and he repays her kindness with complaints.

Here's a passage from page 69:

Teddy opened the refrigerator to put the milk away. The handle was sticky. A line of ants crawled up the door. She washed her hands and dried them with a paper towel. When she tossed it into the overflowing garbage pail, a crumpled letter on county letterhead caught her eye.

She pulled it out. “Dad, what’s this?”

Milton drained his beer. “Health Department thinks they can bully a veteran.”

Teddy scanned the letter. “This says you have thirty days to clean up before they take you to court.” She checked the date. “It’s from a week ago.”

Milton picked up his cigarette. “People need to mind their own goddamn business.”

“This place is a health hazard, Dad. It stinks.”

“It’s them rats—they die in the walls.” He flicked ash into the tray. “What can they do, sue me? I ain’t got nothin’.”

“They can send in a crew with a roll-off dumpster and gut the place. That what you want?” A dull pain was pulsing behind Teddy’s eyes. She looked at her watch. “I’ve got to go, Dad. We’ll talk about this later.” She folded the letter and tucked it in her back pocket as she left.

The Dark Below is largely concerned with the darkness people keep buried beneath the surface of their lives. While page 69 isn’t directly tied to the central mystery, it captures Teddy’s ongoing struggle to manage her own anger and grief while tending to others—balancing career and family, pride and pity, rage and restraint. In that sense, page 69 offers a representative glimpse of the novel’s thematic center, even as the larger plot continues to unfold elsewhere.

Visit Sherry Rankin's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Killing Plains.

The Page 69 Test: The Killing Plains.

Q&A with Sherry Rankin.

My Book, The Movie: The Dark Below.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Misheard World"

Aliya Whiteley is the author of many books of speculative fiction, including the fantasy/SF travelogue Three Eight One, which won the BSFA 2024 Best Novel award, Arthur C. Clarke Award shortlisted Skyward Inn and The Loosening Skin, and also The Beauty, which was shortlisted for a Shirley Jackson award. She lives in Sussex with her husband and daughter.

Whiteley applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Misheard World, and shared the following:

On the eve of a battle, three soldiers stand on the battlements of an ancient prison. They watch a ferry laden with refugees cross a lake, trying to escape a burning city. The soldiers are colleagues, not exactly friends. They wager casually on whether the ferry will make the crossing.

Every time I drew a line under the behaviour of those we fought – told myself: no further than this or I will become nothing but hate – they crossed it.

“Three wraps it is sunk,” breathed Imberley.

It grew closer. What had looked, at distance, to be a smooth movement revealed itself to be a surging crawl, and a list – not much, but enough to call it a bad bet. Still, I said, “It will make it.”

The Misheard World is a fantasy novel that relies on key revelations at certain moments, and I had no idea where the reader would find themselves upon page 69. I was gratified to discover that it didn’t really matter because one of the key themes of the novel is front and centre on that page, in an encapsulated moment that’s a great way to get a feeling for the book without learning too much in advance about certain elements of the plot.

How we use gameplaying as a technique to distance ourselves from our fears in the face of overwhelming or unbearable reality is definitely one of the major ideas that shaped The Misheard World. Many games pop up throughout the text. They range from simple to devious, and from amusing to deadly serious. They can be convoluted, cruel, and destructive. Page 69 features an encapsulation of that with one small moment, where the main character and her fellow soldiers gamble on the lives of desperate people to find some way to cope with a terrible situation they can’t control.

This use of gameplaying is then used throughout the novel as a way of showing similarities across societies, classes, and civilisations. The plot moves in surprising directions, but this element retains its importance throughout.

It’s very enjoyable to find out that the Page 69 Test works so well for The Misheard World, and delivers a short, tense, and pertinent extract that highlights one of the most important elements of the novel. After this moment, the three soldiers face very different futures, but this scene links them together as gameplayers and escapists, as so many of us are.

Visit Aliya Whiteley's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Arrival of Missives.

The Page 69 Test: Skyward Inn.

The Page 69 Test: Three Eight One.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Other Moctezuma Girls"

Sofia Robleda is a Mexican author who spent her childhood and adolescence in Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Singapore. She completed her undergraduate and doctorate degrees in psychology at the University of Queensland, in Australia. She currently lives with her husband and son in London.

Her debut historical fiction novel, Daughter of Fire, was an Amazon First Reads and Editor's Pick for July 2024 and a top 100 Kindle bestseller. It has been translated into Spanish.

Robleda applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Other Moctezuma Girls, with the following results:

From page 69:

To her credit, Elvira did not make any fuss of the stilted interaction and said, “How are you finding the party?”

“It’s quite . . . fine.” I shrugged.

“Oh yes, it can be a little boring, especially if you’re not keen on dancing. I love dancing, but . . .” Her voice wavered. “Anyway, the food is magnificent, have you tried these tiny baked fish wrapped in corn husks? Mextlapique, I believe the dish is called. Does Catina like fish? Tell her it’s delicious, please, I don’t want her to be left out!”

I interpreted what she’d said. Catina nodded, still looking at the floor, and whispered, “I love fish.” My feelings for her mellowed, for I knew she was trying her hardest. I squeezed her hand and said, “Yes, we love fish infinitely more than dancing, which is the opposite of Nano. Alas, our older brothers have chased all his admirers away!”

Elvira’s smile faltered. “He is ever so popular at court.”

“Ah, but we prefer quality over quantity, don’t we?” I nudged him, and he returned a threatening smile. I fluttered my eyelashes back at him. “In fact, I was just telling him how much happier he’d be on the dance floor. Why don’t you indulge us all, brother. Take Elvira with you! You can’t possibly deny her, not after all the effort she’s made for Catina!”

His jaw set. A myriad of emotions flickered across his features. He pinned me with a look that conveyed his deep desire to strangle me, but when his gaze landed on Elvira’s glowing, expectant face, he warmed and slowly extended his palm.

“May I please have the pleasure of this dance, Señorita de Toledo?”

Her shoulders dropped infinitesimally. Likely she would’ve preferred for him to call her by her first name, like she had done with him, and the return to formality was disappointing. Regardless, she didn’t wait long before nodding and taking his hand.

“Don’t you dare move,” he said under his breath as they left.

I bent low as I bowed so he wouldn’t see the victorious smile on my face.

While I don’t think you can gain a thorough idea of the main plot in the novel from just this page, I do think it does a good job of showcasing the personalities and dynamics between the main character, Isabel, and her two siblings, Catina and Nano.

The page shows Isabel’s feistiness, her cheek and her daring. We glean Catina’s shyness, but also her courage at trying to speak in front of other people. We also witness Nano’s inner conflict, his frustration towards his sisters, born from a need to protect them, and the way his kindness overpowers him in spite of himself.

The scene shows the reader that these are the children of nobility. They belong to the upper echelons of New Spain society in the sixteenth century, although the only clue to the wider setting comes from the dish that Elvira mentions, mextlapique, a type of tamale made with native Mexican fish.

The scene also asks the question, why is Isabel trying to get rid of Nano? Why does she feel victorious when he leads Elvira away to the dance floor? Why does Nano resist?

At first glance, it may seem that Isabel is trying to set Nano up with Elvira, in which case the reader might be tempted to think this is perhaps a historical romance – and while there is a minor romantic subplot, it’s not the main theme of the book.

In fact, Isabel is trying to manoeuvre her brother away, because she wants to search the viceroyal palace for her dead mother’s journal. She is desperate to find it, as it contains part of the story of her mother’s life as the last Aztec empress before and after the Spanish conquest.

Catina has joined Isabel on this mission, but Nano knows nothing about it at that point. He is only vaguely aware that his sisters are plotting something. He knows Isabel like the palm of his hand, he knows she is reckless and headstrong, and he rightly guesses that she is up to no good.

Luckily for Isabel, she knows how to play her brother just right.

Visit Sofia Robleda's website.

The Page 69 Test: Daughter of Fire.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Book of Forbidden Words"

Louise Fein is the author of Daughter of the Reich, which has been published in thirteen territories, the international bestseller The Hidden Child, and The London Bookshop Affair. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from St Mary’s University. She lives in Surrey, UK, with her family.

Fein applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Book of Forbidden Words, and reported the following:

Page 69 of Book of Forbidden Words opens with the musings of Lysbette Angiers, a young girl living in the household of Sir Thomas More in London in the 1520’s.

How would life be in a land where there was no thieving because nobody needed to?” Lysbette thinks. “Where there was enough time for leisure besides work, and where learning and reading was a pleasure enjoyed by all, boys and girls… And like her nobody had a penny to their name but they, unlike her, didn’t care because it was a place where gold and silver, where money itself had no value at all… In Utopia, nobody cared what religion you had. You could believe in God and the immortal soul of man, or the sun or moon or anything else, and nobody punished you for it…

The subject matter of page 69 of Book of Forbidden Words is uncannily pertinent to the novel. Lysbette, one of the three protagonists of the novel, has just read a little book that was written a few years previously by Sir Thomas More, her guardian, entitled Utopia. The book has a profound effect on young Lysbette and comes to influence her greatly in later life. The theme of Utopia and Utopian ideals run through Book of Forbidden Words and are central to the story of what happens in both timelines, namely the turbulent religious wars of the 1500’s and the oppressive suspicions of 1950’s McCarthy era America, and the uncanny echoes between the two eras.

Visit Louise Fein's website.

Q&A with Louise Fein.

Writers Read: Louise Fein.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Vermilion Sea"

Megan Chance is the critically acclaimed, award-winning author of more than twenty novels, including Glamorous Notions, A Dangerous Education, A Splendid Ruin, Bone River, and An Inconvenient Wife. She and her husband live in the Pacific Northwest.

Chance applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Vermilion Sea, and shared the following:

From page 69:

They assembled after dinner in the main saloon. Victorine asked Maud to light candles, which glowed on the hutch and the end tables. Maud and Pollan had moved what furniture wasn’t fastened down into a makeshift circle and drawn the curtains. The room, which Billie had found melancholy before, was even more so now. It might have been romantic with the candles, but instead it felt crowded, gloomy, and claustrophobic.

The wind had come up; the Eurybia rocked in the chop, making the pictures hung on cords and the drapes in the saloon swing in a nauseating way. Victorine ordered them all to their places. James and Oliver in the armchairs. Victorine in a dining room chair brought in specially so she could sit in the middle of the circle. Roland and Billie were seated together on the settee. Once they were all assembled, Victorine said, “Now we must all hold hands. No one can break the circle once it begins, do you understand?”

“I’ve done this a hundred times, darling,” James drawled.

“The instructions are for the others,” she said. “Maud, Pollan, keep an eye on the candles, please. I don’t want them rolling and catching something on fire.”

The two servants stood against the doorway to the dining room, trying to keep their balance against the jamb as the ship pitched. Victorine seemed to vibrate with enthusiasm. “Oh, I know he’s here—I think I can already feel him. Quickly now! Everyone—everyone take hands!”

Page 69 of The Vermilion Sea is the point where the creepiness that has to this point only been alluded to really begins. It is where Victorine Coustan Holloway, the wife of the owner of the Eurybia, has decided to hold a séance to contact her brother’s spirit. Her beloved brother committed suicide on the ship two years prior and she yearns to know the reasons why. From this point, the book moves from a pretty standard historical fiction tale about collecting marine specimens for the San Diego zoo into something more ominous and threatening.

So I would say that page 69 is pretty indicative of what the book really is. While it doesn’t show the extent of the horror that ensues, it is the starting point. In that way, it gives the reader a good idea of the overall mood of the book.

Visit Megan Chance's website.

My Book, The Movie: A Splendid Ruin.

The Page 69 Test: A Splendid Ruin.

Q&A with Megan Chance.

The Page 69 Test: A Dangerous Education.

My Book, The Movie: A Dangerous Education.

Writers Read: Megan Chance (February 2023).

Writers Read: Megan Chance (January 2025).

My Book, The Movie: Glamorous Notions.

The Page 69 Test: Glamorous Notions.

My Book, The Movie: The Vermilion Sea.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Alphabet Sleuths"

Bestselling, award-winning author Laura Jensen Walker is the Agatha and Lefty-nominated author of more than 20 books including Murder Most Sweet, Hope, Faith & a Corpse, and Death of a Flying Nightingale.

A rabid Anglophile since being stationed at an RAF base with the USAF in her twenties, Walker lives in Northern California with her Renaissance-man husband and two rescue terriers, where she drinks tea and dreams of England.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Alphabet Sleuths, with the following results:

From page 69:

He held up a six-pack. “I got the beer, and Tony’s bringin’ the subs.”

“Don’t let us keep you.” Claire climbed into the SUV.

“Sorry, ladies,” Vince said. “Didn’t mean to interrupt.” He noticed the suitcases. “Goin’ on a trip, huh?”

“That’s right.” Barbara opened the door behind the driver’s seat and hopped in. “Girls trip to Vegas.”

Putting on her seatbelt, Atsuko started the SUV. “Let’s get this show on the road, ladies. My slots are calling.” She backed out of the parking space, leaving Lenny and Vince in the dust as Barbara waved goodbye.

* * *
“Uh-oh,” Barbara said an hour later from the back seat. “We’ve got trouble.”

“What is it?” Claire asked.

Barbara held up her phone, and Claire saw the face of the man she’d killed. A face she’d never forget. Beneath the dead man’s photo in the online edition of the Santa Bonita Herald, the headline read “Have You Seen This Man?”

“Want to share with the class?” Atsuko turned down the Golden Oldies station.

Barbara read aloud. “Benny Popov, longtime resident of Santa Bonita, recently released from prison, is missing. Mr. Popov’s parole officer said he failed to check in, and his employer, local businessman Dmitri Glazatovsky, said Benny never reported to work, to the job waiting for him upon his release. A rental car registered in Mr. Popov’s name was found in the parking lot of the Muddy Pig Saloon.”

Barbara continued reading. “Jake Hetland, longtime owner of the Muddy Pig, said he has not seen Mr. Popov since before he went to prison, years ago. I’m surprised Benny didn’t come straight here once he was released,’ Hetland said in an interview. ‘He always said the first thing he’d do when he got back here was come to the Pig for a Jack and Coke. I told him the drink would be on the house, but he hasn’t collected it yet. Benny, if you’re reading this, your Jack and Coke is waiting for you,’ Hetland said.”

The Page 69 Test gives a good idea overall of The Alphabet Sleuths since it furthers the critical plot we see in the first chapter where Claire accidentally kills a bad guy who’s in the process of strangling her friend, Daphne. She and her senior gal pals then have to dispose of the body, which becomes quite a comedy of errors.

On page 69, three of the self-proclaimed Alphabet Girls; Atsuko, Barbara, and Claire, are on their way to Nevada, to fill in retired cop Daphne (who’s left town to protect her friends) on the latest, and bring her back. What this page doesn’t reveal is the critical plot point of Claire finding another dead body—a friend and fellow resident who’s been brutally murdered—within their California retirement community. The friends then put on their sleuthing hats to solve the mystery of who killed the resident curmudgeon, despite the police warning them off, questioning suspects, discovering shocking secrets, and putting themselves at risk.

Visit Laura Jensen Walker's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Alphabet Sleuths.

Q&A with Laura Jensen Walker.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Bone Queen"

Will Shindler has spent most of his career working as a broadcast journalist for the BBC. He also spent nearly a decade working on a number of British television dramas, working for both the BBC Drama Series Department, and Talkback Thames Television as a writer and script editor. He has been writing novels since 2020, including the five-book critically acclaimed DI Alex Finn series: The Burning Men, The Killing Choice, The Hunting Ground, The Blood Line, and The Cold Case. He currently combines reading news bulletins for BBC Radio London with his novel writing and has previously worked as a presenter for ITV West, a reporter for BBC Radio Five Live, and as one of the stadium presenters at the 2012 London Olympics. He lives in London.

Shindler applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, The Bone Queen, and reported the following:

I’m not going to lie, I found the premise of this absolutely fascinating. With some trepidation, I turned to page 69 of my novel The Bone Queen and was pleasantly surprised by what I found. My honest answer, after reading it, is yes: this page does give an accurate sense of the book as a whole.

By page 69, my protagonist Jenna has travelled to Athelsea (a fictional island off the coast of England) in search of her missing teenage daughter, Chloe. Jenna has already learned that Chloe may have become obsessed with a local legend: an ancient supernatural figure known as the Bone Queen.

Page 69 is where several crucial ideas converge. Chloe is shown scouring the internet for information about the Bone Queen, uncovering fragments of folklore and accounts of other teenagers - girls very much like herself - who appear to have been influenced by the same legend. One post in particular explains the myth:

One long post written by someone in Toronto claimed she was a spirit of retribution, punishing children for the sins of their parents.

From there, through Chloe’s perspective, we learn that Jenna is a recovering alcoholic - an important plot and character point of the novel - and that during her worst periods of drinking she was not always the mother she wanted to be. There’s one passage in particular that encapsulates her:

Later Jenna would be mortified, ashamed of herself, and would apologize profusely. In many ways she’d never stopped apologizing.

Taken together, the page establishes two ideas that sit at the core of the book: the Bone Queen as a figure who punishes children for parental wrongdoing, and Jenna as someone haunted by the fear that she may deserve that judgment.

From a writer’s point of view, that’s the ideal sweet spot of exposition and emotional truth. So, from this mildly surprised - and genuinely delighted - author’s perspective, page 69 successfully passes the test!

Follow Will Shindler on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

My Book, The Movie: The Bone Queen.

Q&A with Will Shindler.

--Marshal Zeringue

"A Study in Secrets"

Jeffrey Siger is an American living on the Aegean Greek island of Mykonos. A former Wall Street lawyer, he gave up his career as a name partner in his own New York City law firm to write the international bestselling, award-recognized Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis series of mystery thrillers telling more than just a fast-paced story.

Siger applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, A Study in Secrets, and shared the following:

For more than 15 years, virtually every time I released a new book in my Greece-based Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis series I’d take The Page 69 Test. And each time I’d be amazed at what the Test revealed. This year is different in many ways, but not in the uncanny revelations of the Test.

Now I’m launching A Study in Secrets as the debut novel in my brand-new “The Redacted Man” series. It’s set not in Greece, but in New York City, and instead of a gregarious, happily married Chief Inspector serving as my protagonist, I’m introducing a Sherlock Holmes-worthy amateur sleuth possessing a complicated George Smiley retired-secret-agent past. Practically a recluse and partially handicapped, Michael A spends his days imagining the lives of the anonymous people he watches in the park beneath the windows of his elegant New York City townhouse–number 221–his every need tended to by his housekeeper, Mrs. Baker.

For decades Michael has taken great care not to get involved in the lives of those he observes until one day he realizes that a young girl he’s watched for weeks sitting alone in the park at dawn faces terrible danger. For reasons unclear even to himself, he makes an uncharacteristic decision to abandon his solitude and help her…changing everything.

Page 69 represents two major revelations for Michael: First, he learns that a colleague’s trusted employee has played a key role in a process that put the young girl’s life in danger, and second, he realizes how a pair of seeming innocents came to possess a priceless purloined treasure that could now cost them their lives.

Page 69 also mentions virtually every “good guy” character central to the story line and one very bad one…leaving many more of the latter for readers to discover. Most significant for me, page 69 captures the essence of Michael’s character––revealing his thought processes, compassion, sense of humor, and decisive toughness whenever the situation calls for it.

Thank you, Page 69 Test, for once again eliciting from me a unique perspective on my own work.

Visit Jeffrey Siger's website.

The Page 69 Test: Murder in Mykonos.

The Page 69 Test: Prey on Patmos.

The Page 69 Test: Target Tinos.

The Page 69 Test: Mykonos After Midnight.

The Page 69 Test: A Deadly Twist.

Q&A with Jeffrey Siger.

The Page 69 Test: At Any Cost.

The Page 69 Test: Not Dead Yet.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Her Cold Justice"

Robert Dugoni is a critically acclaimed New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and #1 Amazon bestselling author, reaching over 9 million readers worldwide. He is best known for his Tracy Crosswhite police series set in Seattle. He is also the author of the Charles Jenkins espionage series, the David Sloane legal thriller series, and several stand-alone novels including The 7th Canon, Damage Control, The World Played Chess, and Her Deadly Game. His novel The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell received Suspense Magazine’s 2018 Book of the Year, and Dugoni’s narration won an AudioFile Earphones Award. The Washington Post named his nonfiction exposé The Cyanide Canary a Best Book of the Year.

Dugoni applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, Her Cold Justice, with the following results:

On page 69, Keera and her private investigator, JP Harrison are asking neighbors if they saw or heard anything on the night of two homicides. They speak to Jada Davis, who lived across the street from the young man accused, Michael Westbrook, who is JP Harrison’s nephew.

If the reader opened to this page they would know that Keera is an attorney representing the accused in a double homicide and that she is trying to find any and all witnesses who might have seen or heard anything during the night in question. It would give them a good head start on what the book is about, but not much more. I would call the test inconclusive.

The book started with the simple premise, “Who is the most powerful person in the criminal justice system?” I think the reader will be surprised by the answer. Her Cold Justice explores how far a person will go to obtain justice and what are the far-reaching consequences for all of us when constitutional rights are not respected? It’s a scary proposition for anyone who finds themselves suddenly accused of a heinous crime and looking at the possibility of life in prison. The criminal justice system is a juggernaut and sometimes it grinds up everyone and everything in its path and the only thing a defendant can cling to is his attorney.

Visit Robert Dugoni's website and Facebook page.

The Page 69 Test: Wrongful Death.

The Page 69 Test: Bodily Harm.

My Book, The Movie: Bodily Harm.

The Page 69 Test: Murder One.

My Book, The Movie: Murder One.

My Book, The Movie: The Eighth Sister.

The Page 69 Test: The Eighth Sister.

My Book, The Movie: A Cold Trail.

The Page 69 Test: A Cold Trail.

The Page 69 Test: The Last Agent.

My Book, The Movie: The Last Agent.

Q&A with Robert Dugoni.

The Page 69 Test: In Her Tracks.

Writers Read: Robert Dugoni (March 2024).

The Page 69 Test: A Killing on the Hill.

My Book, The Movie: A Killing on the Hill.

The Page 69 Test: Beyond Reasonable Doubt.

My Book, The Movie: Beyond Reasonable Doubt.

Writers Read: Robert Dugoni (October 2024).

My Book, The Movie: Her Cold Justice.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Epicenter of Forever"

Mara Williams drafted her first novel in third grade on a spiral notebook—a love story about a golden retriever and the stray dog who admired her from beyond the picket fence. Now she writes about strong, messy women finding their way in the world. Williams is the author of The Truth Is in the Detours and The Epicenter of Forever. When not writing or reading, she can be found enjoying California’s beaches, redwoods, and trails with her husband, three kids, and disobedient dog.

Williams applied the Page 69 Test to The Epicenter of Forever and reported the following:

Page 69 of The Epicenter of Forever is a pivot point in the novel. Our protagonist, Eden Hawthorne, has just reluctantly committed to spending several months with her mother in Grand Trees to nurse her back to health, and she’s adapting to the rhythms of the town that she swore she’d never return to.

The Page 69 Test works fairly well. Readers would get a good sense of the tone of the story and dynamic between the three main characters—Eden, her mother, and Caleb. The reader would see Eden and her mother’s polite, careful, and tense relationship—with some resentment simmering just beneath the surface. While Caleb is not in the scene directly, he’s mentioned several times in Eden’s interiority, revealing how quickly he’s woven his way into Eden’s psyche.

There’s a bit of foreshadowing as well, as we watch Eden’s visceral reaction to tending to her mom’s injuries. She’s determined to be a good daughter to the detriment of her own well-being. She’s burying a trauma response and ignoring her own needs in order to prove Caleb wrong. This is Eden’s harmful pattern and, ultimately, is the work she needs to do over the course of the novel: listen to her gut and acknowledge her own wants and needs.

Visit Mara Williams's website.

Q&A with Mara Williams.

The Page 69 Test: The Truth Is in the Detours.

My Book, The Movie: The Truth Is in the Detours.

Writers Read: Mara Williams (August 2025).

My Book, The Movie: The Epicenter of Forever.

Writers Read: Mara Williams.

--Marshal Zeringue