"Knife Skills"

Wendy Church is the author of the Jesse O’Hara and Shadows of Chicago Mysteries series. The first book in the Jesse O’Hara series, Murder on the Spanish Seas, was named one of Booklist’s Top Ten Debut Mystery/Thriller novels of 2023, and received a starred review.

Church's newest books are Murder Beyond the Pale, the second Jesse O’Hara mystery, and Knife Skills, the first Shadows of Chicago mystery.

She applied the Page 69 Test to Knife Skills and reported the following:

On page 69 of Knife Skills, the main protagonist, Sagarine Pfister, is trying to get listening devices installed in a restaurant, while a Russian mobster is there doing the accounts. Sagarine’s worried that she’ll be caught.

This is a pretty good indication of the book’s main plot: A chef reluctantly helps the FBI take down a dangerous Russian gang, where much of the action takes place in a restaurant, and there is an element of suspense.

Of course there are other storylines, and characters, including Sagarine’s roommate who works for the Chicago PD, and writes ‘female centered pleasure books’ in her spare time, as well as a creepy stalker, and a romance between Sagarine and one of the Russian gang members. But page 69 lays out what Kirkus summed up in their review: “Audiences who wish the TV series The Bear could make room for Russian mobsters are in for a treat.”

Visit Wendy Church's website.

The Page 69 Test: Murder on the Spanish Seas.

Q&A with Wendy Church.

My Book, The Movie: Murder on the Spanish Seas.

The Page 69 Test: Murder Beyond the Pale.

Writers Read: Wendy Church.

--Marshal Zeringue