and, with James Patterson, The Good Sister, which was included in Patterson’s collection The Family Lawyer. A two-time Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist as well as an Anthony, Edgar, International Thriller Writers, and Lefty Award nominee, Hall is also the author of Land of Shadows, Skies of Ash, Trail of Echoes, and City of Saviors in the Detective Elouise Norton series. A past member of the board of directors for Mystery Writers of America, Hall has been a featured writer on NPR’s acclaimed Crime in the City series and the National Endowment for the Arts weekly podcast; she has also served as a mentor in Pitch Wars and the Association of Writers & Writing Programs. Hall lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter.
She applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, What Fire Brings, and reported the following:
From page 69:Visit Rachel Howzell Hall's website.Do not leave this place. But trust your gut. But if my gut tells me to bounce, then I will bounce forthwith.This page truly captures the story driving What Fire Brings.
But if you leave, you can never come back. It’s over.
Which means I may never find Sam.
Which means Avery will then have to take this part on herself.
Which means that I’ll lose a chance to broaden my training in these types of undercover investigations.
Which means that I may not pass the licensing test.
Maybe I’m not ready to be a private investigator, not if I’m already thinking about leaving.
Murder. Manson . . .
And brushfires. It is California, and like drought, the Santa Ana winds, and earthquake swarms, fire is one of our seasons.
…..
I must find Santa Ynez Falls before someone looks too long at the dry hillsides and the world goes up in flames.
On page 69, our heroine, Bailey Meadows, is at the “debate” part of her journey – trying to figure out if she’ll stay at the writing retreat in Topanga Canyon to continue her search for Sam, her missing friend. If she leaves, then Sam may never be found, which may ultimately mean, she may not receive the hours she needs to become a fully-licensed private investigator. But in addition to worrying about the people who may have harmed Sam, Bailey is also worried about her environment. Though it’s not fire season yet in the canyon, she senses… something. Wariness, yes, but something deeper than that.
Bailey is trying to balance duty against her need to survive, knowing that she needs to face danger for her career of choice and that California weather can often be more dangerous and unpredictable than the people she’ll be investigating.
All she knows is this: she needs to find Sam before the world around her catches fire.
The Page 69 Test: They All Fall Down.
--Marshal Zeringue
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