costumed tour guide at Colonial Williamsburg. As Mary Miley Theobald, she has published numerous nonfiction books and articles on history, travel and business topics. As Mary Miley, she is the author of the award-winning Roaring Twenties mystery series.
Miley applied the Page 69 Test to Deadly Spirits, her third Mystic's Accomplice mystery, and reported the following:
From page 69:Learn more about the book and author at Mary Miley's website, blog, and Facebook page.“What would you say, Mrs. Wilcox, if I told you we have several witnesses who overheard you and your sister in a rather passionate quarrel on the veranda?”Does this page 69 pass "the test?" Is it a good example of the rest of the book? I say Yes.
“I would say they were exaggerating. My sister and I had a brief disagreement. Nothing unusual in that. We seldom see eye to eye.”
“And what was the disagreement this time?”
She paused to fill her lungs with smoke and puff it back out in one long breath, cleverly giving herself time to think of her reply. “That is none of your concern.”
“Begging your pardon, Mrs. Wilcox, but everything related to your father’s death is my concern. And there are witnesses who have described the argument to me, so this is your chance to give your version.”
“My version?” she replied scornfully. “I do not have a version; I have the truth. Gladys had been spreading malicious lies about my art teacher’s supposed estimation of my paintings at the Art Institute school. As Gladys has the artistic talent of a chimpanzee, she envies the abilities of others.”
“And your father’s role in this?”
“His role? He had nothing to do with it.”
“I have witnesses who say your father went out on the veranda and joined the argument.”
She bristled. “That’s ridiculous. He came to call us inside, that’s all. And it wasn’t an argument.”
“What happened after this squabble occurred?”
“I left.”
“Immediately thereafter?”
“Not quite immediately. I finished my cocktail, complimented the pianist who was taking a break, and observed my sister’s husband thrust his way to the bar to resume his journey toward complete intoxication. Then he turned on my sister. Watching him insult her was enough to keep me entertained for a few minutes. After that, I went to the hall to get my wrap.”
“And what was their argument about?”
“I’ve no idea what set Warren off. It happens frequently. He is easily prodded into rage over the most insignificant things, especially when drunk. Which is his usual state.”
Deadly Spirits is the third Mystic’s Accomplice mystery, a series set in Roaring Twenties Chicago during the height of Prohibition when Capone’s gangsters terrorized the town.
During these years, seances, Ouija boards, fortunetellers, palm readers, and mystics flourished alongside bootleggers, speakeasies, and jazz singers. The series focuses on young widow Maddie Pastore who works for Madame Carlotta, a fraudulent spiritual medium—if “work" you could call it—investigating Carlotta’s clients and acting as a shill during her seances. Her investigations occasionally bring her face-to-face with a spirit whose death was neither natural nor accidental, and she finds herself involved in solving a murder.
In this story, on page 69, Maddie is with Chicago’s only female detective Alice Clement (a real life, Clement was Chicago’s first female detective) as they question Mrs. Wilcox, the daughter of the deceased. This page is typical of my writing style, which leans toward dialogue to move the plot along, and it illustrates a significant historical point. Some readers might find this surprising, but alcohol was readily available and down-right common at parties, never mind that it was illegal. But large cities like Chicago were awash in booze during the 1920s as citizens flouted Prohibition laws, allowing organized crime to become the scourge it remains today.
The Page 69 Test: The Impersonator.
The Page 69 Test: Silent Murders.
The Page 69 Test: Renting Silence.
The Page 69 Test: Murder in Disguise.
--Marshal Zeringue
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