"Blindspot in America"

Elom K. Akoto immigrated to the United States from Togo (West Africa). He earned a bachelor’s degree in Education and a master’s degree in TESOL (Teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages). He is the founder of Learn and Care, a nonprofit organization that aims to promote Literacy and Adult Education, not only among immigrants but also among Native Americans who missed the opportunity to earn a high school diploma. The program offers ESL, literacy, GED preparation classes, and more. He self-published two ESL workbooks: Ideal Companion, ESL level 1 and Ideal Companion, ESL level 2. He teaches French in a high school and ESL at a community college in Omaha, Nebraska, where he lives with his family.

Akoto applied the Page 69 Test to his debut novel, Blindspot in America, and reported the following:

Page 69 in Blindspot in America is an essential part of the plot, a turning point in the story. The few dialogue lines on page 69 continue a conversation on the previous page, where Lindsey had just declared her feelings for Kamao after desperately waiting for him to make the first move for quite a long time. In those few dialogue lines on page 69, she is begging Kamao to say something in response to her declaration of love, and the latter is stoic, not knowing how to respond. He wanted to be in a relationship with Lindsey. Still, he also knew what was at stake: he, a Black African immigrant, getting involved with the daughter of a prominent, conservative, and anti-immigrant US senator was not a step to take lightly. The remaining lines of page 69 show the state of mind of a devastated Kamao following Lindsey’s bold move in her feelings for him. On the late-night bus ride back to his apartment after his shift at the gas station, his bus friend, a lady who worked at Burger King, knew something was bothering him but resolved to leave him alone, as he wouldn’t engage with her as he usually did.

Browsers turning to page 69 of Blindspot in America will get a good feel for the story as they will sense the tension between two people who have strong feelings for one another. One person declares her feelings, and the other is hesitant to respond. The bottom of the page hints at why the other party is reluctant, which will likely cause the browser to want to read the entire story. Page 69 is the right page to introduce the browser to the story's heart because the other significant plot development starts from this page. The test is a good browser shortcut.

It is impressive how my novel appears to pass the Page 69 Test. This page reveals a significant plot twist, as the protagonist’s decision to respond to the declaration of love from the girl he has strong feelings for opens a new chapter in his life in America. This decision affects him and his family back home in Africa. He has a pretty good idea about how his potential girlfriend's father would feel about their relationship, which makes him uneasy. The rest of the story will show if he is right or wrong.

Visit Elom Akoto's website.

My Book, The Movie: Blindspot in America.

Q&A with Elom K. Akoto.

--Marshal Zeringue

"A Cure for Sorrow"

Jen Wheeler is a former managing editor of Chowhound and lives in Oregon.

She applied the Page 69 Test to A Cure for Sorrow, her second novel, and reported the following:

On page 69, our protagonist, Nora, rides in a spring wagon with her former fiancé’s brother, going to visit their family farm in what she hopes will be an act of closure:

When they turned onto a dirt track that led into the countryside, she glanced back again. Hoosick Falls was already partially obscured by distance and trees. Nora felt a flutter of something like panic, which was absurd, because she had absolutely nothing to be afraid of. She was grateful when Malcolm distracted her. “Let me know if you’d like to stop at any point. I’m sure this isn’t as comfortable as the carriages you’re used to.”

She smiled and shrugged. “It’s all four wheels and a horse or two.”

“Unless it’s a chariot, I suppose,” said Malcolm.

She chuckled, felt that pleasant buoyancy in her chest again.

They rode in easy silence.

The afternoon was cloudy but mild. It was colder in the deeper pockets of forest, where a gentle breeze rustled the abundant leaves, most of which were still green, though they’d begun to change in places—speckles of yellow and rust, a few spots of crimson.

“Does it all look how you pictured it?” Malcolm asked.

“Even lovelier,” Nora said. “It’s so peaceful—and so nice to hear all the songbirds. And it smells so fresh, so green.”

“Well, the cows aren’t far off now…”

But Nora found the sweetish stench of their manure rather pleasant. Not that she would wear it for perfume, but there was something comforting and pure about its grassy nature.

I think the Page 69 Test works this time! This truly is the pivotal moment when Nora leaves civilization behind to venture into the deep, dark woods, where frightening things (and frighteningly attractive things) lie in wait for her.

At this point in the story, she and Malcolm have exchanged letters for about a year, mostly sharing memories of his brother Euan, to whom Nora was engaged before Euan died. They’re a bit self-conscious to finally meet in person, and while you don’t get a sense of the formality of their correspondence here, you do see Mal relaxing for the first time; later, Nora suspects he could be a different person (happier, more at ease) away from the farm, a place that harbors terrible secrets and tragic histories (as she soon discovers)—and she can recall his demeanor on this wagon ride as proof of her hypothesis.

Not yet knowing what’s in store, coming as she does from a very privileged family in Gilded Age Manhattan, she’s still somewhat unnerved by the unfamiliar forest—but also perceives beauty and promise in it (even in the aspects that might seem to be the most obviously unpleasant). Crucially, she sees/senses life—yet the leaves are starting to turn, signaling the chill approach of death and decay; in hindsight, even the spots of crimson are like bloody omens that only look pretty to her now.

Ultimately, Nora wants this trip to be a sort of spiritual cleansing, during which she can shed her grief before returning, unburdened, to her normal life—and while that’s certainly not going to happen, on page 69, it still seems like it could…

Visit Jen Wheeler's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Light on Farallon Island.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Istanbul Crossing"

From a young age, Timothy Jay Smith developed a ceaseless wanderlust that has taken him around the world many times. En route, he’s found the characters that people his work. Polish cops and Greek fishermen, mercenaries and arms dealers, child prostitutes and wannabe terrorists, Indian Chiefs and Indian tailors: he hung with them all in an unparalleled international career that had him smuggle banned plays from behind the Iron Curtain, maneuver through Occupied Territories, and stowaway aboard a ‘devil’s barge’ for a three-day crossing from Cape Verde that landed him in an African jail.

Smith has won top honors for his novels, screenplays and stage plays in numerous prestigious competitions. Fire on the Island won the Gold Medal in the Faulkner-Wisdom Competition for the Novel, and his screenplay adaptation of it was named Best Indie Script by WriteMovies. Another novel, The Fourth Courier, was a finalist for Best Gay Mystery in the 2020 Lambda Literary Awards. Previously, he won the Paris Prize for Fiction (now the de Groot Prize) for his novel, Checkpoint (later published as A Vision of Angels). Kirkus Reviews called Cooper’s Promise “literary dynamite” and selected it as one of the Best Books of 2012.

Smith applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, Istanbul Crossing, and reported the following:

From page 69:

In the dead air of the hallway, that morning’s characteristic stratification of odors was permeated by something appetizingly fried, causing Ahdaf ’s empty stomach to growl all the way to the next corner. He bought a simit – a large thin bagel covered with sesame seeds – and ate it on his way to the tram stop.

The stop was mobbed. Like everyone, he used his shoulders to wedge his way closer to the turnstiles, where people backed up because half the time their tickets didn’t work on the first swipe. Passengers pressed against him on all sides. Remembering to be wary of pickpockets, he slapped his hand against his back pocket and felt someone’s hand quickly jerk away. He whipped around. Who’d it been? No one looked guilty. Then he saw the girl leaning against her mother’s knees, maybe five years old and staring at him.

“I’m sorry,” her mother said. “She lost her balance.”

He transferred his wallet to a front pocket and kept his hand on it.

The platform was so crowded that people had to stand in the demarcated danger zone at the edge of it. It made Ahdaf nervous, the possibility that someone might knock him onto the tracks, and he let the crowd push forward around him as a tram approached. When its doors opened, a brief melee ensued as passengers pushed their way off while others pushed their way on. He was the last on before the doors closed, grazing his shoulders.

Getting off at the docks, he headed for the newsstand, assuming Selim would look for him there. The dozen or so newspapers clipped to wires all headlined the bombing of the nightclub in Athens. From what Ahdaf could read above the fold, most described the nightclub as trendy and popular with gays, but the right-wing press applauded the attack on queers and their perverted lifestyle.

“Excuse me,” he heard.

Selim reached around him for the top newspaper in one of the stacks. “My boat leaves in five minutes. Maybe I’ll see you on board.”

It’s amazing how much of my story is inferred, reinforced or foreshadowed on page 69.

Ahdaf’s hungry, and lives in a building where the air is ‘dead’ in the hallway. So he’s poor.

He goes to catch a tram on a platform that’s mobbed, and he’s afraid of being pushed onto the tracks. A child tries to pickpocket him. So there’s a sense of threats coming from anywhere and any kind.

He goes to the ferry docks and heads for the newsstand, where someone named Selim will likely look for him. It’s obviously a planned encounter and where to meet has been left to habit. While waiting for Selim, Ahdaf reads the headlines about a terrorist attack on a gay nightclub in Athens that will ripple through the rest of the story.

Selim arrives and reaches around Ahdaf for a newspaper. Pretending he doesn’t know Ahdaf, he apologizes, explaining he has a ferry to catch. Maybe he’ll see Ahdaf on board?

Immediately, there’s a sense of mystery about the relationship between Ahdaf and Selim which isn’t fully resolved until the novel’s last page.

Istanbul Crossing is a coming-of-age gay literary thriller. After watching his cousin’s execution by ISIS for being homosexual, he flees to Istanbul for safety where he survives by smuggling other refugees to Greece. Eventually he’s approached by both the CIA and ISIS to smuggle high-profile individuals in both directions between Turkey and Greece. In the process of juggling their two operations, he falls in love with, and must decide between, two men who offer very different futures.

Visit Timothy Jay Smith's website.

Writers Read: Timothy Jay Smith.

My Book, The Movie: The Fourth Courier.

The Page 69 Test: The Fourth Courier.

Q&A with Timothy Jay Smith.

The Page 69 Test: Fire on the Island.

--Marshal Zeringue

"A Slay Ride Together With You"

Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the U.S. She has written more than forty books: clever cozies to Gothic thrillers to gritty police procedurals, to historical fiction and novellas for adult literacy. She is currently writing four cozy mystery series: the Tea by the Sea mysteries for Kensington, the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series for Crooked Lane Books, the Catskill Resort mysteries for Penguin Random House, and the Lighthouse Library series (as Eva Gates) for Crooked Lane.

Delany is a past president of the Crime Writers of Canada and co-founder and organizer of the Women Killing It Crime Writing Festival. Her work has been nominated for the Derringer, the Bony Blithe, the Ontario Library Association Golden Oak, and the Arthur Ellis Awards. She is the recipient of the 2019 Derrick Murdoch Award for contributions to Canadian crime writing. Delany lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario.

She applied the Page 69 Test to the newest novel in the Year-Round Christmas mystery series, A Slay Ride Together With You, and reported the following:

Page 69 is an excellent example of the test working! I think it encapsulates the mood of the book and provides a hint at the plot, without giving anything away. It also sets up some possible conflict between the characters.

Mark didn’t laugh or try to reassure us. All he said was, “What sort of something?”

“Knocking at the door at first,” Vicky said. “Twice. Two doors, front and back. We checked, but no one was there. Then we heard a sound like someone was . . . I don’t know. In pain, or terror maybe.”

“Or trying to scare us,” I said. “After the knocking, we searched the house—all of it— thoroughly, but we didn’t find anything that might be making those sounds. Then, moments before you arrived, we heard the . . . I don’t know what to call it. A moan, a cry. This isn’t the first time that’s happened either. Vicky’s been hearing things. Noises in the night.”

Mark turned to Vicky. “You too?”

“You mean you have as well?” she said.

“Yeah.” He rubbed his hands through his short hair. “I didn’t want to worry you, so I didn’t say anything.”

“But you’re always sound asleep when I’ve heard things. I’ve been so jealous of that.”

“I figured you weren’t sleeping well, but you denied it when I asked. I didn’t push it, because I thought maybe you were having second thoughts. About this house. About me. We’re on such different sleep and work schedules, I suppose our disturbance schedule’s been off too.” He spoke to me. “I sometimes don‘t get home until after midnight, particularly if we’ve had a big function like a wedding. Plenty of chefs are wired after a night’s work and need to stay up for a while to wind down, and they hit a bar, have a couple of drinks. Never been that way for me. I drop the moment I get in. Vicky gets up around four to get to the bakery and start the bread, so she’s usually asleep when I get to bed. These sounds you hear—have I been home when it happens?”

Merry Wilkinson’s best friend, Vicky Casey, and her fiancé Mark Grosse have bought a house together and moved in just a few days before the action here. The house is old, rumoured to be haunted, and has been abandoned for years. The only reason the young couple can afford it, it because it came so cheap.

In this section of dialogue on page 69, the mood has been set: Is the house truly haunted? Are the residents in danger?

We get a glimpse into the lives of Vicky and Mark. Both are in the food business, but at opposite ends schedule-wise. Will this create strain in the marriage? The page provides a good insight into their characters: Vicky and Mark don’t want to worry the other. But, we can see that when they are confronted with what appears to be happening, Mark doesn’t attempt to dismiss it.

If the house isn’t haunted, is someone trying to scare them away? If so, for what ends? And what will they do if their initial approach fails?

Page 69 sets up the questions to be faced in the book, both on the personal level and the mystery level, perfectly. As this is a cozy mystery so the is-it-or-isn’t-it haunting won’t be toooo scary, and we can be confident the young couple will work though their differences.

Visit Vicki Delany's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

The Page 69 Test: Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen.

The Page 69 Test: A Scandal in Scarlet.

The Page 69 Test: Murder in a Teacup.

Writers Read: Vicki Delany (September 2021).

The Page 69 Test: Deadly Summer Nights.

The Page 69 Test: The Game is a Footnote.

Writers Read: Vicki Delany (January 2023).

Writers Read: Vicki Delany (January 2024).

The Page 69 Test: The Sign of Four Spirits.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Whisper Sister"

Jennifer S. Brown is the author of Modern Girls, which was a Goodreads Choice Award semifinalist for Historical Fiction, a Massachusetts Book Award “Must Read,” and a USA Today bestseller. Her writing has appeared in McSweeney’s, Fiction Southeast, Southeast Review, Hippocampus Magazine, Cognoscenti, and Bellevue Literary Review, among other places.

Brown has a BFA in film and television from New York University and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Washington. She loves writing historical fiction because the research lets her live vicariously in another time and place.

Brown applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Whisper Sister, and reported the following:

From page 69:

In New York, only a sign distinguised our synagogue as a place of worship. Inside, the musk of men lingered, mixing with the musty smell of books. The men who came weren’t the scholars of the Old World, with sidelocks and beards, but the everyday people—the tailors and factory workers, the pushcart operators and street sweepers—the people who dressed like Americans, who looked like Americans, but still sneaked off to pray. The men who put on yarmulkes before stepping into the shul and pulled them off as soon as they emerged.

The synagogue confused me. Papa held nothing but disdain for religion and the frauds who, he claimed, conned their congregants, bilking them of their hard-earned money. But Mama revered the rabbi, a learned man of God. She said religion kept people on the path of justness.

Who to believe?

The novel takes place over the course of Prohibition, 1920 to 1933, in New York City. Minnie is 10 years old when she immigrates to America, where her father has been for the past seven years. Her father is involved with the Jewish mob, working for real-life gangster Arnold Rothstein. Her mother prefers to live in a world similar to the one she had back in Ukraine, surrounding herself with people from the Old World. When Minnie is 18, family circumstances force her to take over her father’s bar, which she turns into a swanky speakeasy.

In many ways, the Page 69 Test works perfectly on a thematic level. Minnie struggles throughout the book to find her place in America. Her father, who has assimilated, is a proponent of making his own way, earning money, moving up in the world. Her mother is still quite religious, doesn’t understand the need to learn English, and wants Minnie to grow up to be a respectable woman, a proper wife with lots of children.

Is Minnie Ukranian? Is she American? Is she Jewish enough for her mother? Is she worldly enough for her father? These questions plague her, and she desperately wants to find her own place in the world. As she grows older, more questions nag at her: Is it better to obey the law and be poor or to break the law and live a better life? To do the proper thing or the thing that gives her pleasure?

The excerpt from page 69, even though no cocktails are featured, definitely shows the beginning of Minnie’s struggles.

Visit Jennifer S. Brown's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Phantom Patrol"

James R. Benn is the author of the Billy Boyle World War II series, historical mysteries set within the Allied High Command during the Second World War. The series began with Billy Boyle, which takes place in England and Norway in 1942.

Benn applied the Page 69 Test to The Phantom Patrol, the nineteenth installment of the series, and reported the following:

In this selection from Page 69, Captain Billy Boyle and his pal Kaz – Lieutenant Piotr Kazimierz – are returning a painting that had been looted by the Nazis and recovered after their retreat from France. They’re headed to a Monuments Men collection point east of Paris, so page 69 does catch them in the process of becoming more involved with the Monuments Men (officially the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Section Unit) as well as Rose Valland, a courageous Frenchwoman who risked her life to trace the shipments of stolen art which passed through the Jeu de Paume Museum.

Kaz and I made plans to meet Big Mike at Inspector Fayard’s office after we delivered the Klimt and see if Salinger had come up with anything in the police files. We headed for Lognes, a town about twenty miles east of Paris. The Monuments guys had a collection center for wayward artworks in a building next to an army hospital.

The fog had cleared, but now a chill, thin mist drifted across the roadway. We took a route south of Paris, crossed the Seine again, and followed the road signs east to Lognes. It didn’t take long to leave the city behind. Soon we were driving through fields and woodlands, military traffic heading in both directions.

Vehicles filled with supplies and GIs headed for the front ground their gears on the winding road as the wind picked up and blew away the mist. Ambulances and empty trucks filled the opposite westbound lane—a stark display of the expenditure of lives, blood, and treasure this war demanded.

The brief mention of “Salinger” refers to J.D. Salinger, who was a Counter-Intelligence Corps agent during WWII and fought from D-Day through the occupation of Germany. He plays an important role in Billy’s investigation. Researching his wartime experience gave me a whole new outlook on his writing and went a long way in explaining his desire for seclusion later in life.

The last paragraph foreshadows at a major backdrop to the story. This investigation into murder and theft connected to stolen artwork is about to lead Billy and Kaz straight into the oncoming Ardennes Offensive, soon to be known as the Battle of the Bulge. I tried to show what it was like being caught up in that ferocious surprise attack, having no idea at all of the big picture, only aware of all hell breaking loose in every direction.

So hurrah for the Page 69 Test! It illuminated three key elements from the story. Not bad at all.

Learn more about the Billy Boyle WWII Mystery Series at James R. Benn's website.

The Page 99 Test: The First Wave.

The Page 69 Test: Evil for Evil.

The Page 69 Test: Rag and Bone.

My Book, The Movie: Death's Door.

The Page 69 Test: The White Ghost.

The Page 69 Test: Blue Madonna.

Writers Read: James R. Benn (September 2016).

Q&A with James R. Benn.

The Page 69 Test: Proud Sorrows.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Dawnland"

Tess Callahan is the author of the novels April & Oliver and Dawnland. Her essays and stories have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Writer’s Digest, National Public Radio, Agni, Narrative Magazine, AWP Notebook, Newsday, The Common, the Best American Poetry blog, and elsewhere. Her TEDx talk on creativity is titled, “The Love Affair Between Creativity & Constraint.” Callahan is a graduate of Boston College and Bennington College Writing Seminars. A certified meditation teacher, she offers meditations on Heart Haven Meditations and Insight Timer. She curates Muse-feed.com, a toolbox for aspiring writers. A dual citizen of the United States and Ireland, she lives in Cape Cod and Northern New Jersey with her family and number one life coach, her dog.

Callahan applied the Page 69 Test to Dawnland and reported the following:

Page 69 of Dawnland jettisons us into the middle of a tense moment at the family dinner table. April is frantic with worry as Al finally returns home hours late from a boating adventure with their 15-year-old son Lochlann. The boy flies up the stairs in a rage while Al casually sits at the table. When Al and April argue, Loch’s be pipes up to defend him. At this point in the novel, the reader knows each of these characters intimately. Coming in cold on page 69 might feel like a big bite. Nevertheless, the scene captures the growing friction between husbands and wives, parents and children.

“Did you get lost?” April asks.

“Of course not,” Al says. “I never get lost.”

“Why can’t you ever admit—”

“Why can’t you admit you coddle him? I could get him a job as a ball boy in Citi Field, and instead he’s farting around in the barn. He’s fifteen and hasn’t worked a day—”

“I don’t have a job, either,” Phoebe says. “I’m fifteen.”

Everyone turns to look at her.

“That’s different,” Al says gently. “We all know how responsible you are, Phoebe. You play soccer. You’re a math wizard. You take AP US History.”

“Lochlann took that class, too. He got a four,” Phoebe says. “And he plays the bass better than anyone I know. And by the way, I suck at math.”

Silence envelops the table, Phoebe’s face crimson.

Al turns to April. “I thought he dropped that class.”

She puts her head in her hands.

“He’s taken several AP classes,” Hal says. “Right, April?”

“What’s the point of this?” Beryl says. “Would he be a lesser person if he weren’t in AP? Honestly!”

“Can I remind everyone that the walls are thin in this house?” April says.

Page 69 of Dawnland signals the mounting tension during this family vacation and the inevitability of an explosive outcome. Buckle your seatbelts!

Learn more about the novel and author at Tess Callahan's website.

The Page 69 Test: April and Oliver.

--Marshal Zeringue

"A Change of Place"

Julie E. Czerneda is a biologist and writer whose science fiction has received international acclaim, awards, and best-selling status. She is the author of the popular "Species Imperative" trilogy, the "Web Shifters" series, the "Trade Pact Universe" trilogy and her new "Stratification" novels. She was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Her stand-alone novel, In the Company of Others, won Canada's Prix Aurora Award and was a finalist for the Philip K. Dick Award for Distinguished SF.

Czerneda applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, A Change of Place, and reported the following:

From page 69:

…Louder, to a dragon, the keening of efflet. Those in the lowermost fields fought to keep the flood at bay, as if water were snow to be pushed back by their claws. They drowned in their hun­dreds, bodies drifting away to be seized by waiting nyphrit. If the river continued to rise, those here would do the same and die.

Efflet were as they were. They could no more stop trying to save their kaliia than succeed in the effort. The moment when only the river’s snarl filled the silence, who, Wisp wondered, would mourn them?

Jenn Nalynn.

If he told her, which he would not. “The efflet cannot help you.”

Nor could he. The ravines along the far side of the valley, where Tadd and Allin took the animals to graze in spring, were deep and shadowed, full of snow and frozen.

As for flying the beasts from Marrowdell, beyond the edge? Wisp shuddered inwardly. Better to drop them in the Verge and have a quick death.

The girl didn’t move or speak. Stars came out. Wisp felt the chill sink into his flesh, slowing his blood except where she touched him. He wouldn’t move before she did, there being no greater comfort in his life.

Still, being flesh, she shouldn’t linger. The dragon struggled with his conscience.

All at once she spoke, her voice low and petal soft. “Then we must stop the flood. Wisp, where does the river come from? Where exactly,” she qualified before he answered.

Meaning he had to envision the valley as it looked when he flew over it. A valley where the interesting parts were along the road the turn- born had made from their crossing to Bannan’s farm, the ford, and the village— as well as the forested crag above the village that might contain bears— and the not- safe for dragons or anyone parts where the Bone Hills stretched like enormous claws dug into the ground.

“I don’t know,” the dragon admitted.

Wow. The Page 69 Test is a complete success for this book. Hurray! The risk to Marrowdell, the danger faced by everyone quite early in the story is all here, plus a rich sense of two main characters, Jenn and her dragon Wisp. One of my favourite parts of writing these stories has always been their interplay. He’s not a person—far from it and that’s vital—yet after being part of Jenn’s life since she was born, Wisp is also far more than just a dragon.

As for Jenn, she’s learning to navigate the impulses of her generous heart and the consequences of her still new magic. It’s a powerful tension throughout.

On the other hand, I’m grateful this isn’t a spoiler. You do find out that there’s a flood and they’ll do their utmost to survive it, but very little else. So far. Hurray!

If you read this page first and like it, I promise you won’t be disappointed by the rest.

Visit Julie E. Czerneda's website.

The Page 69 Test: To Guard Against the Dark.

The Page 69 Test: The Gossamer Mage.

The Page 69 Test: Mirage.

Q&A with Julie E. Czerneda.

The Page 69 Test: To Each This World.

My Book, The Movie: To Each This World.

My Book, The Movie: A Change of Place.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Anyone But Her"

Cynthia Swanson is the Denver-based author of the psychological suspense novels The Bookseller, The Glass Forest, and the newly released Anyone But Her. An Indie Next selection, New York Times bestseller, and winner of the WILLA Literary Award, The Bookseller is slated to be a motion picture produced by Julia Roberts. Swanson is also the editor of the award-winning anthology Denver Noir, which features dark, morally ambiguous stories set in and around Denver, written by 14 notable literary and mystery authors.

She applied the Page 69 Test to Anyone But Her and reported the following:

On page 69 of Anyone But Her, it’s October 1979, and James, the father of the main character, Suzanne, has just announced his engagement to his girlfriend, Peggy while the family is having a “special dinner” (14-year-old Suzanne has even been served a small glass of wine by her father, something that’s never happened before). Some months earlier, Suzanne’s mother (and James’s wife), Alex, was killed during an armed robbery of her Denver record store.

Anyone But Her opens about six weeks before the page 69 scene, with Alex’s ghost appearing to Suzanne, urging Suzanne to intervene in James and Peggy’s relationship. When Suzanne attempts to do so, the consequences are long-lasting—all the way to 2004, when adult Suzanne must reconcile with the ghosts—and repercussions—of the past.

In the page 69 scene, after the engagement announcement, Suzanne’s younger brother, Chris, asks for more milk. The scene continues:

Peggy rose, scurrying to the kitchen with his cup. From the doorway, I heard her humming. It sounded like that 1960s song about going to the chapel.

Holy freakin’ hell.

“Do you have anything to articulate?” Dad asked me. “Any inquiries?”

“None that can be answered in the time it takes to pour Chris a cup of milk.” I refilled my wineglass. “This seems awfully fast, Dad. What’s the rush?”

He nodded toward my glass. “You were only meant to have a minuscule amount, miss. Just for jollification.”

Could he never talk like a regular person? “You didn’t answer my question,” I said.

“Peggy suggested that since we were getting serious, we should make a commitment.”

“Mom’s only been gone for seven months,” I replied. “If Peggy really loved you, she could wait.”

Does page 69 give a good sense of the entire book? Partially, yes. Because the story is dual timeline, alternating chapter by chapter, a single page can logically only contain a scene set in one of the timelines. That being said, this 1979 scene is key. Suzanne was tasked by her mother’s ghost with ensuring that James and Peggy’s relationship ends before it gets off the ground. The engagement announcement makes it clear that Suzanne is failing in that task. For a 14-year-old girl mourning the loss of her mother, this is enormous.

This turn of events sets Suzanne onto a more determined investigative path. She’s already discovered that Peggy’s behavior and some of her relationships are suspect. After this scene, Suzanne resolves to learn everything she can about Peggy, in an attempt to break up Peggy and James.

As the story unfolds, alternating between 1979 and 2004, the mystery of Peggy—and what happens to her relationship with James—is revealed. In 2004, adult Suzanne hesitantly returns to Denver to live with her husband and children after decades away, and attempts to forge a new life in her hometown and put the past in the past. But she can’t shake the disquieting feeling that she’s being followed, and that she—or her children—might be in danger.

Visit Cynthia Swanson's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Bookseller.

The Page 69 Test: The Glass Forest.

Writers Read: Cynthia Swanson (February 2018).

Q&A with Cynthia Swanson.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Vampire of Kings Street"

Asha Greyling lives in Maryland with her furry four-footed muses, Gwin the terrier and a guinea pig who thinks she’s a cat. She likes nothing more than swinging in the playground (unless the local children scare her off), collecting acorns, or sitting down with a good book.

Greyling applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Vampire of Kings Street, and reported the following:

From page 69:

It was not social awkwardness or avarice at the opportunity presented to her by acquaintance with this grand, mysterious family that made Radhika silent, looking out at the dim silhouettes of shingled houses and long, low hills. It was the curious dynamic in what she was beginning to understand of the Frosts’ tightly knit household: it was Evelyn’s dualism in the tears he shed in her office and his assumed reserve in prison: and more irresistibly, it was the dream-like understanding of what it was to grieve for someone while simultaneously resenting them both for their failings in life and their absence in death. It was a familiar feeling, at once frightened yet certain, that she could only describe as fascination.

Did the Page 69 Test work?

Yes! I’m as surprised as anybody frankly, because I was bracing for the test not to work—I had no idea what was on page 69! But as soon as I looked it up, I couldn’t deny it. This paragraph perfectly encapsulates Radhika Dhingra’s fear and determination to uncover the truth of the vampire Evelyn More’s mystery—and conveys her own personal stake in his situation.

The Vampire of Kings Street is a book that explores intersocietal connections and prejudices, all from the point-of-view of an aspiring lawyer of South Indian heritage. It was important to me in creating this world of vampires and humans living together that the fundamental emotion be one of wonder—of fascination—for something strange yet unexpectedly familiar.

Visit Asha Greyling's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"A Scandal in Mayfair"

Katharine Schellman is a former actor, a one-time political consultant, and currently the author of the Lily Adler Mysteries. A graduate of the College of William & Mary, Schellman currently lives and writes in the mountains of Virginia in the company of her family and the many houseplants she keeps accidentally murdering.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her new Lily Adler Mystery, A Scandal in Mayfair, and reported the following:

From page 69:

Chapter 7

“What a smart little rig, Captain,” Lily said as Jack handed first her and then his sister up into his new curricle.

He had called, as promised, first thing in the morning, arriving just as Lily and Amelia were finishing breakfast. As Jack strode into the dining room, offering a polite greeting and helping himself to a plate of sausages, Lily had seen Carstairs hovering in the hallway before he shook his head and walked away. She had smiled to herself at his resignation, though she could not help wondering what her rather stoic butler, who, in spite of his own slightly checkered past, was now a model of propriety, made of Jack’s easy comings and goings these days.

A simple explanation was sitting beside her, holding her hat against the wind. And that, Lily reminded herself, trying not to think of her embarrassment the night before, was all there was to it.

Except this morning. She could tell from Jack’s expression that he had something to share.

Page 69 of A Scandal in Mayfair comes at the start of a chapter, so it’s a particularly short snippet because of the heading. And I think, in this case, it wouldn’t give brand new readers a particularly strong sense of the book as a whole.

It does give a good sense of the setting—London in 1817—which strongly influences how the characters behave. The rules of the strict society Lily Adler and her friends live in required certain pretenses and politenesses, which impact not only how they interact with each other but also how Lily, as a sleuth, must handle her investigating. But because this short snippet is mostly focused on scene setting, it doesn’t give a strong sense of the intertwining mysteries the characters must solve or the stakes they are facing if they fail (blackmail being one of them!)

There is one group, though, that I think would learn a lot from this snippet: returning readers who want to know whether the tension that has been building slowly between two characters is going to pay off in a romance. While the Lily Adler books are, first and foremost, mysteries, there has been a strong subplot throughout all of them of Lily finding herself again after the unexpected death of her husband, and part of that has been the re-entry of romance into her life. Anyone who has been eagerly following that particular subplot probably wouldn’t be able to resist turning the page here!

Visit Katharine Schellman's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Last Note of Warning.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Swimmer"

Loreth Anne White is an Amazon Charts, Washington Post and Bild bestselling author of thrillers, mysteries, and suspense. With over 3 million books sold around the world, she is an ITW Thriller Awards nominee, a three-time RITA finalist, an overall Daphne du Maurier Award winner, Arthur Ellis finalist, and winner of multiple other industry awards.

A recovering journalist who has worked in both South Africa and Canada, she now calls Canada home. She resides in the Pacific Northwest, dividing time between Vancouver Island, a ski resort in the Coast Mountains, and a rustic lakeside cabin in the Cariboo.

When she’s not writing or dreaming up plots, you will find her on the lakes, in the ocean, or on the trails with her dog where she tries—unsuccessfully—to avoid bears.

White applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Swimmer, and reported the following:

While it might not give the reader a full idea of the whole book, the Page 69 Test does apply to a key story arc in The Swimmer–it burrows toward the psychological heart of my quirky main character, bartender Chloe Cooper. However, my cue to the reader would be: Beware, because nothing—not even the main character—is quite what first meets the eye in a twisty psychological suspense, is it?

We hit page 69 after Chloe has had a highly traumatic and triggering 9-1-1 ambulance trip to the hospital with her mother (who is in palliative care and lives with Chloe in her tiny apartment along with her old dog, Brodie). But now Chloe is back at work and she’s discovered that the painting she gifted her boss for his birthday (her hobby is painting, and she’s done a night scene of the exterior of the restaurant in which she works) has been hung in the lobby where everyone can see it, and this rather mortifies her. Below is the text from that section of The Swimmer:

“Why did Bill do that?” Chloe demands.

“Do what?”

“Hang it up there.” She points. “Where everyone can see it?”

“Well, he wants everyone to see it. That’s the—ah—idea.”

“There’s no reason to mount it right above the hostess’s head.”

Stavros angles his own head and gives Chloe a hint of a smile, which draws her attention to that provocative sprout of hair beneath his lower lip.

“Do you find this amusing, Stavros?”

“Bill loves the painting, Chloe. That’s why he hung it there. He actually canvassed some of the staff, asking us where we thought it would look good. We all reckoned this was the best spot.” He tilts his chin toward her rendition of the Beach House at night, windows aglow with yellow, people sitting at tables inside.

“By committee?” Chloe is horrified.

“Honestly, Chloe, it’s brilliant. One of the customers who came in yesterday said it reminded him of a famous painting by Edward Hopper called Nighthawks.”

She stares

at him. She doesn’t know about Edward Hopper, and she’s not about to admit it. She’ll google Hopper later.

“Seriously, where di

d you think Bill would hang it when you gave it to him?” Stavros asks.

“I don’t know. At home, maybe. Or throw it away. I had to give him something for his birthday.” Chloe likes Bill. She’s indebted to him for giving her a start in the bar business. But before Stavros can answer, she makes a beeline for the bar, where she knows she will be safe behind the counter. In her domain. Her castle. With her arsenal of bottles and mixers and herbs and spices at her fingertips. Ingredients with which she can produce any variation of elixirs and potions to appease her patrons.

I know what you all like. I know exactly how much each of you drinks. All of you who live in this elitist little neighborhood enclave. I know your weaknesses. I see your lies. You’re not as special as you all think you are.

Stavros, annoyingly, follows her. She keeps her face averted as she tucks her purse under the counter, shrugs out of her puffy jacket, and takes her black apron with its name tag off a hook. She loops the apron over her head and secures the ties behind her back.

“You should be proud of your work, Chlo. You have talent. Everyone says so.”

“Don’t call me Chlo, Stavros. My proper name is Chloe. And I don’t see why people should talk about me behind my back. I know they do, but—” A weird emotion attacks out of nowhere, and her voice cracks. Tears threaten to come to her eyes. She doesn’t know why she’s suddenly reacting this way. It’s as though seeing her painting up there has ripped away the protective veil of numbness she’s been hiding under this past week, since the hospital episode.

You attracted attention. I told you—you would live to rue the day.

“Why are you so scared of the truth?” Stavros asks. “You’re talented, Chloe. The photos of some of your other pieces that you showed me are stunning. And that painting you gave my uncle—”

“I am not scared, Stavros. What makes you think I’m scared? And for heaven’s sake, just—just leave it alone, okay?” She turns her back on him and starts polishing glasses.

“Say, talking of birthday gifts, isn’t yours coming up soon, too?”

“No.”

“I’m sure you mentioned the other day that—”

“I didn’t. You’re wrong.” She refuses to face him. She starts checking her invento on earth is she telling him she already turned forty in a beige hospital chair.

He’s silent for a while. She wishes he would leav your mom, Chlo? Is she doing okay? How is she?”

“She’s perfectly fine. Same as usual. The care worker will call if there’s another emergency at home.”

“And Brodie?”

“Brodie’s fine.”

“Okay, well, cool.” He removes his own black apron. “Your shift. Bar’s all yours.”

He heads toward the kitchen with his peculiar bouncing lope, balling his apron up in his overly large hands as he goes. Her gaze follows him for a moment. Part of her wants to reach out, pull him back, say sorry, tell him she doesn’t know what’s overcome her.

Another part is relieved he’s gone.

Chloe’s interaction with her co-worker Stavros Vasilou on page 69 underscores Chloe’s oddness. She has a slightly offbeat way of talking—a mix of British properness blended with a North American accent and delivered (at times) with a self-righteous, preachy condescension, yet with an air of vulnerability. We begin to get a sense here that Chloe is perhaps a little ‘different’. And these are all things that will begin to make sense later in the story as we figure out whether Chloe is a villain or a victim, or some shade of grey in between.

Visit Loreth Anne White's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Sleep Tight"

J. H. Markert, the author of The Nightmare Man, Mister Lullaby, and Sleep Tight, is the pen name for writer James Markert, an award-winning novelist of historical fiction. Markert is a produced screenwriter, husband, and father of two from Louisville, Kentucky, where he was also a tennis pro for 25 years, before hanging up the racquets for good in 2020. He graduated with a degree in History from the University of Louisville in 1997 and has been writing ever since. With a total of 10 published novels under his belt, Markert writes historical fiction under his name and horror/thriller under J.H. Markert. He has recently completed his next historical novel, Ransom Burning, a civil rights era family/crime drama that Markert calls “my best book yet!” He recently finished another horror novel called Dig, and is currently hard at work on his next novel, Spider to the Fly.

Markert applied the Page 69 Test to Sleep Tight and reported the following:

On page 69 of Sleep Tight, Detective Danny Gomes arrives at the house of a young woman who’d just encountered the book’s antagonist, the Outcast, and he’s starting to ask her questions about the couple of hours she’d been tied up inside her own kitchen while the Outcast used her phone.

Amazingly enough, anyone opening to this page, I believe, would get a great snapshot of the entire work—as there’s tension, mention of the murderer, and a clear idea that many are in danger.

Visit J.H. Markert's website.

Q&A with J. H. Markert.

My Book, The Movie: The Nightmare Man.

The Page 69 Test: The Nightmare Man.

My Book, The Movie: Sleep Tight.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Young Conquerors"

Christopher Cosmos was raised in the Midwest and attended the University of Michigan as the recipient of a Chick Evans Scholarship. In addition to being a bestselling author, he is also a screenwriter and has had his work featured in the annual Black List of best Hollywood screenplays of the year. He lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

He applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, Young Conquerors, and reported the following:

Page 69 of Young Conquerors features a young Alexandros the Great and Hephaestion on a hunting trip together deep in a Greek forest. They split off from the main hunting group, and instead of the boar they’re searching for, they instead come upon a lion alone in a clearing and there’s a pivotal scene where Hephaestion, who doesn’t know Alexandros very well at this point, learns something very important about him and an unbreakable connection and bond starts to further form and take hold between them.

This scene was inspired by a famous mosaic that’s currently housed in the Pella Archaelogical Museum, depicting Alexandros and Hephaestion hunting a lion, though the scene in Young Conquerors is a bit different as they don’t hunt the lion, but come upon it and instead recognize in it perhaps a kindred spirit. It is a good representation of the novel as a whole in that it shows Hephaestion and Alexandros alone, and for the very first time taking on the world, and also where this scene ultimately leads is to the relationship that’s formed between them that lasts the rest of their lives, and even leads them to conquer the whole world together.

Also, it’s a bond and love that Aristotle - their teacher, a couple chapters later - would refer to (the same in this novel, as he did in real life) as the boys havitwo bodies, but just one soul between them.

This love story is the spine of the novel and window into exploring two of the most fascinating and pivotal characters in history as they’ve never been seen or allowed to have been explored before, and this scene that begins on Page 69 is one of the moments in which they perhaps begin to realize what they mean to each other, and what they could be, together.

They also begin to realize just what this love they share is, how powerful and consuming it can be, and how far in the world it might be able to take them, if they only let it.

Visit Christopher Cosmos's website.

The Page 69 Test: Once We Were Here.

Q&A with Christopher Cosmos.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Empress of Cooke County"

Elizabeth Bass Parman grew up entranced by family stories, such as the time her grandmother woke to find Eleanor Roosevelt making breakfast in her kitchen. She worked for many years as a reading specialist for a non-profit and spends her summers in a cottage by a Canadian lake. She has two grown daughters and lives outside her native Nashville with her husband and maybe-Maltipoo, Pippin.

Parman applied the Page 69 Test to her debut novel, The Empress of Cooke County, and reported the following:

The Page 69 Test works very well to convey the essence of the story from Posey’s POV. In this scene, she is trying to convince her husband Vern to leave the modest home he loves and move to the mansion she has just inherited. An ice storm has knocked out their power, and they are having a dinner of cornflakes and orange juice by the fire. “This house was my parents’ home, and now it’s my home.” He paused and then added, “It’s your home, too, if you’d only realize it.” Myopic Posey cannot recognize what is right in front of her. When she answers Vern, “Well I don’t,” the essence of their conflict is revealed. They agree on nothing, and Posey’s ambition prevents her from appreciating what she has, a cozy house and a kind husband.

Because the story is dual-POV, I’m going to cheat a little and take a scene from one of eighteen- year-old Callie Jane’s chapters to show the essence of her journey. Early on in the story, she finds a book about tarot with an Empress tarot card tucked inside. She reads about the Empress, who embodies success, abundance, and confidence, all things Callie Jane lacks. On page 43 she quotes the tarot book.

“Ignore the message of this magnificent woman at your peril,” she whispered. But what was the message? The answer began to emerge from its eighteen-year-old chrysalis, unfolding fledgling wings within her soul: Choose your dreams and then do all in your power to conjure them into being, before someone else does the choosing for you. Now she just had to figure out what those dreams were.

And with this realization, Callie Jane begins her journey of self-discovery.

Visit Elizabeth Bass Parman's website.

Q&A with Elizabeth Bass Parman.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Witching Hour"

Catriona McPherson was born in Scotland and lived there until 2010, then immigrated to California where she lives on Patwin ancestral land. A former academic linguist, she now writes full-time. Her multi-award-winning and national best-selling work includes: the Dandy Gilver historical detective stories, the Last Ditch mysteries, set in California, and a strand of contemporary standalone novels including Edgar-finalist The Day She Died and Mary Higgins Clark finalist Strangers at the Gate. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, The Crimewriters’ Association, The Society of Authors and Sisters in Crime, of which she is a former national president.

McPherson applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Witching Hour, and reported the following:

From page 69:

to be getting back. I’ve done him up the best I can, the poor soul. It was the least I could offer him.’

‘The least . . . ?’

‘A winding sheet and a posy of herbs,’ she said. ‘I’m not an undertaker. It’s a black day for Dirleton this. And we didn’t need another one. Well, I don’t need to tell you.’

She bobbed a polite curtsy then and left me. As her footsteps faded on the stairs, ringing out like knocks on a door from her wooden pattens, I heard a latch and turned to see Alec’s face peering out. ‘What the dickens?’ he said. ‘I didn’t see whoever that was, Dandy, but I heard her. There is something very odd going on around here. What on earth do you suppose these fabled writers are coming to write?’

‘I haven’t the faintest clue,’ I said. ‘But that’s the second time someone’s spoken of “her”.’

‘Well we must find her, wouldn’t you say?’

‘How?’ I demanded. It came out like a howl, as it so easily does if one’s tone of voice is not quite under one’s command.

‘The landlord’s back,’ Alec said. ‘He just brought a coffin into the yard on a little cart. I saw him from my window.’

‘Let’s ask him who “she” is then,’ I said. ‘Better than asking Miss Clarkson.’

‘Why’s that?’ said Alec.

It was not until I opened my mouth to answer him that I realised I did not know. Not for the first time since arriving in Dirleton, I shivered. I decided not to look around for open windows or doors ajar. I decided to believe there was a draught and not dislodge that belief by checking.

Page 69 is spookily efficient at indicating the tone and content of The Witching Hour, actually.

There's enough historical detail to let a prospective reader know this isn't present-day. There's a corpse being laid out in a winding sheet with a posy of herbs (which couldn't have done much, in my opinion) and Dandy and Alec, my detectives, are skulking about overhearing mystifying references to persons unknown, which tells you this is in the crime genre. There's mention of "her" - and not the first - which is gratifying for a book with the word "witch" right there in the title. And there's Dandy's subconscious knowing more than the rest of her. She's clocked Miss Clarkson as problematic, and blurts it out, with no idea why. Finally, there's a hint of the book's tone: a bit of creep and Dandy's attempt at briskness in the face of it. I think if someone found page 69 tedious, they'd be well-advised to swerve the rest of the story. But if someone felt intrigued, they wouldn't be sorry for committing.

Visit Catriona McPherson's website.

The Page 69 Test: Go to My Grave.

My Book, The Movie: The Turning Tide.

The Page 69 Test: The Turning Tide.

My Book, The Movie: A Gingerbread House.

The Page 69 Test: Hop Scot.

The Page 69 Test: Deep Beneath Us.

Q&A with Catriona McPherson.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Divorce Towers"

Ellen Meister is a novelist, book coach, screenwriter, and creative writing instructor who started her career writing advertising copy. Her novels include Take My Husband; The Rooftop Party; Love Sold Separately; Dorothy Parker Drank Here; Farewell, Dorothy Parker; The Other Life; and more. Meister’s essays have appeared in publications such as the New York Times, Newsday, the Wall Street Journal blog, the Huffington Post, the Daily Beast, Long Island Woman, Writer’s Digest, and Publishers Weekly. Career highlights include appearing on NPR, being selected for the prestigious Indie Next List by the American Booksellers Association, having her work translated into foreign languages, and receiving a TV series option from HBO.

Meister lives in New York and publicly speaks about her books, fiction writing, and America’s most celebrated literary wit, Dorothy Parker.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Divorce Towers, and reported the following:

Thank you for inviting me to put Divorce Towers to the Page 69 Test. I think it passes!

Three of the novel’s central themes are captured on this page. It opens with my main character, Addison Torres, training for her new job as concierge at a luxury Beverly Hills condo nicknamed Divorce Towers. A male resident approaches to ask Addison and her boss, Frankie, to send a birthday gift to his eight-year-old daughter and put his name on the card. He has no idea what the child might like—only that he wants it to cost about $500. After Addison presses him with questions, they decide to send the child an expensive basket of goodies that will encourage her artistic abilities.

Addison didn’t know how they would find art supplies for an eight-year-old that came anywhere close to $500, but with Frankie’s guidance she called a Beverly Hills toy store and asked them to put together a package and have it delivered that afternoon. Remembering the hours she’d spent at the kitchen table with a box of crayons and a coloring book, Addison imagined an eighteen-wheeler backing up to the little girl’s house to dump an Everest of Crayolas.

Here, in addition to highlighting the entitlement of the wealthy residents Addison encounters throughout the book, the narrative depicts her as a fish-out-of-water, which is central to Addison’s story.

Addison’s matchmaking background is also central to her story. It’s what she did in New York before her life fell apart. Now she wants to use those skills to find an appropriate match for her dear Uncle Arnie, who’s pining for his wretched ex-wife. Addison’s determination to find a more suitable love match for her uncle is the narrative engine that drives the whole book. This plot point makes an appearance on the bottom of the page, when a woman approaches the concierge desk to ask for plastic surgeon recommendations.

Addison didn’t think the lovely blond looked like she needed to have any work done, but kept that to herself. She did, however, want to stall her for a quick conversation to assess her suitableness for Arnie.

“Good luck with it,” Addison said. “I’m sure you’ll look spectacular for whatever event you’re getting ready for.”

“The only event I’m looking forward to is my divorce.”

“In that case,” Addison said, “I hope he eats his heart out.”

“Maybe if I show up with some stud on my arm,” the woman said with a bitter laugh.

“What kind of stud are you looking for?” Addison asked, hoping she wasn’t pushing it too far.

“Why? You know someone?”

I hope readers of this blog agree that this passes the test… and maybe even gets an A!

Visit Ellen Meister's website.

The Page 69 Test: Dorothy Parker Drank Here.

The Page 69 Test: Love Sold Separately.

The Page 69 Test: Take My Husband.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Them Without Pain"

Chris Nickson is the author of eleven Tom Harper mysteries, eight highly acclaimed novels in the Richard Nottingham series, and seven Simon Westow mysteries. He is also a well-known music journalist. He lives in his beloved Leeds.

Nickson applied the Page 69 Test to the newest Simon Westow mystery, Them Without Pain, an reported the following:

Page 69 of Them Without Pain doesn’t offer the reader any insight into the main plot of the book. However, it does provide the first crucial insight into the subplot, about a strange, dangerous newcomer who’s latched on to a beggar that Jane, one of the main characters, likes. The beggar is an old soldier, a veteran of the Napoleonic wars, a man with a wooden leg who’s sometimes given her information she can use as an assistant to Simon Westow, the thief-taker.

There are other street people who watch and learn things, many of them the homeless children who gather together for protection, looked after by Sally, another girl who works for Westow. Jane, who grew up on the streets, wants to discover what they’ve learned. But finding them can be difficult.

The homeless made their camps where they could. They chose empty buildings that would soon be demolished before factories started to rise from their ashes. But there was nobody in the spots she used to know. Jane wandered along the river. Ten minutes passed before she felt someone watching her. She drew out of sight into the entrance of a court, pulling out the knife and holding it down by her side. She was surprised: no worry, only the sense of anticipation. A small figure stood in the gloom. ‘Sally says you’re to come along with me.’ She put the weapon back in her pocket and followed. The girl skipped along, as if she was playing a game. They passed Cavalier Hill, then took a track that led towards the river. Jane smelled the smoke of a bonfire and started to pick out the silhouettes. She’d entered Sally’s kingdom, a shifting place the girl visited as often as she could. ‘They saw you right away,’ she said. ‘They haven’t used those old places in months.’ ‘I wanted them to find me.’ She turned her head towards the group gathered by the fire; even on a warm night, the blaze felt like comfort and safety. Boys, girls, men, women, from four years old to twenty. Some sleeping, others talking softly. Nothing had really changed from the years she’d lived this way, Jane thought; it simply felt like another age now. Maybe it would stay this way until the end of time. She was aware that many of them were observing her. ‘Have they come up with anything on the man with Dodson?’ ‘His name’s John,’ Sally told her. ‘None of them have heard him called more than that. No surname. He arrived in Leeds a few days ago. They’re scared of him.’

It's a page of background, of information, of the atmosphere of Leeds in 1825, and what life was like for these feral kids. The sense of place can be as important as the events, helping to transport the reader into the book; certainly for me it’s always been vital. An idea that life is dangerous, and often brief for the poor and the powerless. This is a page that focuses on the utterly powerless.

While it does nothing to further the book’s main story, page 69 does offer the first step in unmasking a very deadly character; that makes it important.

Visit Chris Nickson's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Constant Lovers.

The Page 69 Test: The Constant Lovers.

The Page 69 Test: The Iron Water.

The Page 69 Test: The Hanging Psalm.

Q&A with Chris Nickson.

The Page 69 Test: The Molten City.

My Book, The Movie: Molten City.

Writers Read: Chris Nickson (August 2021).

The Page 69 Test: Brass Lives.

The Page 69 Test: The Blood Covenant.

The Page 69 Test: The Dead Will Rise.

Writers Read: Chris Nickson (March 2023).

The Page 69 Test: Rusted Souls.

Writers Read: Chris Nickson (September 2023).

The Page 69 Test: The Scream of Sins.

Writers Read: Chris Nickson (March 2024).

--Marshal Zeringue

"Falling Wisteria"

Laila Ibrahim is the bestselling author of After the Rain, Scarlet Carnation, Golden Poppies, Paper Wife, Mustard Seed, and Yellow Crocus. Before becoming a novelist, she worked as a preschool director, a birth doula, and a religious educator. Drawing from her experience in these positions, along with her education in developmental psychology and attachment theory, she finds rich inspiration for her novels. She’s a devout Unitarian Universalist, determined to do her part to add a little more love and justice to our beautiful and painful world. She lives with her wonderful wife, Rinda, and two other families in a small cohousing community in Berkeley, California. Her children and their families are her pride and joy. When she isn’t writing, she likes to cuddle with her dog Hazel, take walks with friends, study the Enneagram, do jigsaw puzzles, play games, work in the garden, travel, cook, and eat all kinds of delicious food.

Ibrahim applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Falling Wisteria, and reported the following:

This is the totality of page 69 of Falling Wisteria:

regretted showing her the Fujiokas were not next door. Now when she escaped, Hazel searched further and further away, hoping to find her beloved family. Kay Lynn understood. She also ached for the warmth and laughter of the Fujiokas' home, and for the friend she so dearly missed.

This incomplete passage is a great representation of the novel. It starts in the middle; there is a lot that came before that you have to fill in for yourself. It also speaks to Kay Lynn's lack of confidence in her own actions--no matter what she does things are wrong. And it shows that she is as emotionally confused as the beings she must care for--in this case her neighbor's beloved dog that they had to leave behind when they were sent to an internment camp during World War 2.

Visit Laila Ibrahim's website.

Q&A with Laila Ibrahim.

--Marshal Zeringue