Crooked Lane Books and is working on a new series featuring an FBI agent hunting down her best friend’s murderer. The backdrop is the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the playground of her youth, and the place that will always be home. She currently resides in Texas with her husband, her German Shepherd, Zoe, and her Corgi, Win.
Sparks applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Every Missing Girl, and reported the following:
From page 69:Visit Leanne Kale Sparks's website.The food court was busy with young families getting breakfast as they set out on their spring-break destinations. Trying to be inconspicuous while looking through the throngs of people was nearly impossible. Adam settled on the idea that people would just think he was looking for a table, even though he had no food. At this point, it didn’t much matter. He was intent on finding his niece. There was no other outcome.This is a pretty decent introduction to Every Missing Girl, if a browser had no idea what the story was about. On one front, the reader can gather Adam and Kendall are searching for a girl—Adam’s niece. There is also the sense that the young girl has been taken by a man, and that they are at a food court. In the actual story, the food court is at a large truck stop, but I can imagine the reader might figure it was a mall. Still, the main idea is there. A crowded area, searching for a child, and feeling helpless. And second, the reader will get a glimpse of Adam’s personality and sense of humor, even in a very dark moment.
He caught Kendall’s eye on the opposite side of the food court, but she shook her head.
Damn! Where could they have gone?
His phone pinged with an incoming text from Kendall.
Check the restrooms.
He saw she was headed toward the women’s restroom as he moved toward the men’s room. The pungent odors of urine and sweat assaulted him as he shouldered open the door. Men stood with their backs to him, legs apart, no one looking anywhere but at the streams coming from between their legs. It was a well-known fact that talking at the urinal could result in an ass whooping. The second rule of urinal etiquette: keep a urinal between you and the next guy.
It was unlikely a guy could bring a young girl in here with the amount of men milling between the toilets and the showers, but that didn’t mean the man didn’t have her locked in a stall, hoping anyone who observed them would mind their own business.
Just as Adam was about to pound on the first closed stall door, he heard his name being called.
“Adam!” Kendall hollered.
All eyes at the urinal turned toward him as he crossed to the restroom door. A few of the men snickered at him. One said, “Adam,” in a high-pitched voice. “Mommy’s calling you, Adam.”
Adam considered flipping him the bird but didn’t think getting his face shoved into a filthy urinal by the 350-pound man would benefit anyone, especially him. He pushed through the door and breathed in the fresh deep-fried aroma of the food court.
“Fletch called.” Kendall had started running through the food court. “They’re on the move.”
“How? We had exits covered!”
“Food court has exits.”
I’m very excited to bring back Kendall and Adam in Every Missing Girl. And while it is book two in the Kendall Beck Thriller Series (The Wrong Woman; book one), it can be read as a standalone. Of course, if you want to really understand how this dynamic duo became unofficial partners, The Wrong Woman is a great introduction. I absolutely love this book. It was a challenge to write, but once I let the story unfold without trying to force it, and allowed the characters to dictate the course, it was pure bliss. Even the ending, while a major shocking twist, was exactly how it should end.
Coffee with a Canine: Leanne Kale Sparks & Zoe.
The Page 69 Test: The Wrong Woman.
--Marshal Zeringue
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