"The Tarot Reader"

Finley Turner is a thriller writer. Initially convinced she wanted to be a professor, she got her master's in religious studies at Wake Forest University, focusing on new religious movements, cults, and religious violence. During her program, she applied for a student position in the university library and quickly realized she would rather be an academic librarian than be at the front of a classroom teaching. She worked as an archivist at Wake Forest University for six years after getting her master's in library and information science from UNC Greensboro. She now writes and parents full time.

Turner applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Tarot Reader, with the following results:

On page 69 of The Tarot Reader, our main character Jade is being questioned by the police regarding her phony tip to the police:

My patience was wearing thin. “Like I said, it’s hard to keep track.” The silence in the room was stifling and it was becoming clear that at least Woolridge found my tip suspicious. “Have you found any more information about the councilman?”

“We’re not at liberty to say just yet,” McCade said.

“Well, I hope he’s found safe and sound.”

“But only if he’s found exactly where you said he’d be,” Woolridge said low and fast.

“Excuse me?”

McCade glared at him before he stuck his hand out to me. His palms were dry and rough against my clammy, nervous skin. “Thank you for your time.”

Detective Woolridge didn’t bother shaking my hand and was already walking to the door. He looked up at the shop’s sign above the door frame. “Nice speaking with you Madame Ravencroft,” he said with derision.

“You too, Detective Woodruff,” I said back, a wide, insincere smile on my face. He let out a nearly silent huff, the kind that tilts your chin up and back. I took pleasure in the fact that it doubled his chin, when he clearly cared enough about his appearance to spend hours in the gym.

They glanced at each other and walked out of the shop. My heart raced with pride in myself for jabbing back at him—making him feel he was insignificant enough that not even his name was worth remembering. When they were out of view of the shop window and I sat, my heart rate slowed, regret and embarrassment twisting their fists around my heart.

Why did I say that? What is wrong with me?

The detectives didn’t actively accuse me of anything, but Woolridge made it more than clear he held no respect for me nor my profession. The last thing I needed was to sharpen that derision into action, his dislike for me driving him to pin something on me.

I lowered my forehead on the tarot table where my cards lay scattered. As I sat there with my eyes closed, I wished I’d never submitted the tip at all.

The Tarot Reader passes the Page 69 Test with flying colors, with some caveats. In one sense it’s successful because we’re thrown right into the crux of the book: Jade, our phony psychic, doesn’t think before she acts and never considered the fact that her phony tip might look suspicious to the police. And of course, it has. Jade is a reactionary woman, raised by her parents to be cunning but rash. She’s a good person at her core, but all she’s ever known is to scam and bark at those who get in her way. She knows it’s not how she wants to behave, but she just can’t seem to change, so she often gives into the temptation of behaving badly.

The only shortfall of this test may be that the reader would expect the police investigation to be at the forefront of the entire novel. It provides a sense of urgency and panic, but in my opinion, the most stressful aspect of this book is wanting your main characters to not get caught in their lies and perhaps just once consider telling the truth.

Visit Finley Turner's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Engagement Party.

Q&A with Finley Turner.

Writers Read: Finley Turner.

--Marshal Zeringue

"When We Talk to the Dead"

Ian Chorão is a writer and psychotherapist in private practice in Brooklyn, New York. He lives with his wife, who is a filmmaker and professor; they have two children.

Chorão's new novel, When We Talk to the Dead, is his first book of horror.

Like his main character, Chorão appreciates that the space between feeling and creation, reality and imagination is often ambiguous at best.

He applied the Page 69 Test to When We Talk to the Dead and shared the following::

A group of friends, college sophomores, on a bus. Sally, our main character, Maeve, her best friend, Omisha and her boyfriend, Marcus. They’ve just watched a disturbing video Sally has posted on her YouTube channel.

“Maeve is back on the video, scrolling, freezing on the deranged figure lunging at the camera, face blurred with movement, covered in filth and hair, vicious, feral, mouth open like an attack dog.”

Maeve is deeply upset by how disturbing the video is (not on this page, the film is Sally being attacked and killed by a feral human). Omisha and Marcus laugh it off—they’re more concerned with being alone with each other. Maeve knows the film isn’t literally real, but she wants Sally to assure her it isn’t real, in emotional terms.

Sally plays it off, but Maeve’s genuine upset allows Sally to recognize how disturbed the video she made is, and she begins to wonder.

“Looking at the frozen image, Sally thinks, I made this, so whatever it is is real. But what is it? Like a flame or a wave, it is there, but trying to catch hold, it dissolves out of reach.”

This test is wild: you get so much! Obviously, all the plot isn’t on a single page (they are going to a long-deserted island where Sally lived until she was 6 when her family experienced a horrific tragedy) but you’re very much inside the emotional action propelling the story. And all the interpersonal dynamics, which will cause intense strife on the island, are right there. Also there: how much Sally is part of the group, but how much her past and hidden inner turmoil set her apart.

It was surprising to see how much can be there on a single page. The page ends with everyone laughing at Maeve for being so dramatic. Deep down, Sally knows her friend has intuited something that's cause for genuine concern. But Sally joins in laughing kindheartedly at Maeve, underscoring a major theme of the book, the tension between wanting to be seen vs. the desire to hide from what's genuinely upsetting.

Follow Ian Chorão on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

Writers Read: Ian Chorão.

Q&A with Ian Chorão.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Irish Goodbye"

Heather Aimee O’Neill is the author of two poetry collections: Memory Future (winner of the University of Southern California’s Gold Line Press Award) and Obliterations (co-authored with Jessica Piazza, published by Red Hen).

The Irish Goodbye is her debut novel.

As a developmental editor and assistant director of the Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop, O’Neill has worked with hundreds of writers who have gone on to publish with major publishing houses.

She lives in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, with her beautiful wife, two sons, and—she hopes, one day—a dog.

O’Neill applied the Page 69 Test to The Irish Goodbye and reported the following:

Though I’m familiar with this exercise, I hadn’t tried it with my own book, so it was exciting to see where it took me. Page 69 of The Irish Goodbye places the reader in the middle of a scene between Maggie, the youngest sister, and Cait, the oldest sister. They’re at a pizzeria waiting to pick up the family’s dinner and having a discussion that, in many ways, epitomizes what’s wrong with the family: no one is speaking honestly.

On the surface, the conversation is about their deeply religious mother’s reaction to Maggie bringing home her girlfriend, Isabel. But Maggie isn’t revealing the true source of her anxiety about the weekend, and while Cait pretends to listen to her sister, she’s actually preoccupied with thoughts of Luke, her first love and the real reason she’s returned home after five years.

Removing one’s mask and showing up as real and vulnerable with the people who supposedly know you best is a major theme in the book, and I think this scene captures it in a quick snapshot. Plus, what’s about to happen on the next few pages change not only the course of the weekend, but the entire family’s dynamic—so you could say that this scene sets up the story’s primary catalyst.

Visit Heather Aimee O'Neill's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Irish Goodbye.

--Marshal Zeringue

"I'll Follow You"

Charlene Wang was born in Beijing and, after immigrating to the US when she was three, has lived in seven different cities from Los Angeles to Rockville to Biloxi. Graduating with a B.A. in English from Dartmouth College and a J.D. from University of Virginia School of Law, she worked as a litigator for six years. She participated in Catapult’s Novel Generator workshop. She now lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her fiancé and their dog Winky.

Wang applied the Page 69 Test to I'll Follow You, her debut novel, with the following results:

When I agreed to do the Page 69 Test, I’d just gotten a stack of ARCs — advanced reader copies, which are usually pretty damn close to the final version of the book. Flipping to page 69, I felt a mixture of relief and vindication that there was plenty to talk about. The main conflict was there, between my protagonist Faith and her best friend from home, Kayla, who ghosts her after Faith is accepted into an elite college. There were playful nods to the dark academia subgenre, with Faith walking to her art conservation class while listening to a podcast on Donna Tartt. And there was a deepening sense of mystery and wonder, as Faith steps into the Observatory for the first time, and descends down the stairs to the drift of voices, the smell of turpentine and old canvas.

Then the final hardcovers arrived a few weeks later, and my page 69 had… moved. What had once been page 69 - my page 69; the perfect encapsulation of my themes - was now page 71.

Authors are often asked how similar they are to their characters. It occurred to me, during this mini-existential crisis, that I was more similar to Faith than I’d thought: no matter how arbitrary the test, we wanted to pass with flying colors.

Maybe that’s the point of the Page 69 Test — not the page itself, but what we as authors hope it reveals. Of course, browsers in a bookstore won’t know any of that. What they’ll see on the actual page 69 is a conversation between Faith and her supervisor, a junior named Regina, at the dining hall about rushing sororities. The dialogue is snappy, lighthearted, but Regina is also pulling at the threads of Faith’s reinvention yarn. Faith wants to be accepted, to be seen in a certain light.

Sounds like someone I know.

Visit Charlene Wang's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Vicious Cycle"

Jaime Parker Stickle is a writer, actor, podcaster, and professor of film and television at Montclair State University. She’s also the creator and host of the true crime investigative podcast The Girl with the Same Name, as well as the hilarious podcast about side hustles, Make That Paper. Stickle lives in Los Angeles with her husband, son, and fur babies.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Vicious Cycle, and shared the following:

This is fun! Reading page 69 out of context was so enjoyable! It drops you right into the brain of our protagonist Corey. I think the test absolutely works. Corey is a brand new mom suffering from mental health issues, postpartum anxiety and panic attacks. She is a former investigative reporter turned spin instructor who finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation.

No one is better at compartmentalizing jobs, people, and her own will, then Corey and we get a good glimpse of that from the interior of Corey’s brain on page 69.

The page jumps from the memory of an old story she covered about a Peeping Tom, to lying to her husband about where she’s going, to the site of a murder. It moves compulsively and that is the definition of Corey.

“Peeping Toms are just junior murderers and rapists. It’s a natural evolution from voyeurism to break-ins. Peeping is a test to see how far a perpetrator can push into someone’s personal space. I can evolve too.”

I want to give a few snaps for Corey here. Her bold call out and identification of a problem that can be often overlooked—the growth of a perpetrator!

Additionally, there is a strong sense of place, which was incredibly important to me in writing the book. The setting of Vicious Cycle is a character in the book and on page 69 we get the iconic the Northeast LA craftsmen homes, the Dodgers, and Debs Park—all three elements are iconic Northeast LA.

I love this test!

Visit Jaime Parker Stickle's website.

My Book, The Movie: Vicious Cycle.

--Marshal Zeringue

"O, Deadly Night"

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.

Delany applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, O, Deadly Night: A Year-Round Christmas Mystery, and reported the following:

From page 69:

“Okay, but one thing before we continue. When Doug called 911, he was told the police might be delayed in getting to us, as they were responding to a major incident. Anything to do with what happened to us? To Mrs. D’Angelo?”

“No. A child had gone missing. Walked out of her house in nothing but her diaper and a T-shirt into the snow. I’m happy to report she was found in the neighbor’s doghouse. Being kept warm by the dog.”

Detective Simmonds gave Mattie a fond smile.

“Good animals, dogs,” Alan said.

“Yes.” She cleared her throat. “At any time, Merry, did you see the people who moved in across the street well enough to identify them?

“Never. I wasn’t home when they initially moved in, and after that, they, or he or she, drove into the garage, and the doors shut behind them. I only know that based on tire tracks on the driveway and lack of footprints outside. Once or twice I saw someone lingering outside the house, as though they were watching it, but they didn’t stay long, and I simply assumed they were just curious. In the same way Mrs. D’Angelo was.”

“Anything noticeable about these observers?”

I shook my head. “It’s wintertime, and everyone is well bundled up. I might have seen a man once, maybe slightly on the bulky side, but I didn’t notice anything you’d call identifying about him. Might even have been a tall, overweight woman in a big coat. I have no reason to believe he wasn’t enjoying a breath of fresh night air.” I shrugged. “It’s December in Rudolph. I don’t have enough time in a day to attend to my own business, much less pay attention to anyone else’s.

O Deadly Night, passes the Page 69 Test with flying colours. As regards the plot, or the mystery the book is about, we get a good glimpse that something is wrong. New people have moved into the neighbourhood and something is ‘odd’ about them. They seem to come and go without wanting to be seen, and certainly without wanting any contact with their new neighbours. In addition, we find that someone might be ‘lingering’ in the area, watching the house in question. Might they be up to no good? And why are the new neighbours being so secretive?

But, as Merry Wilkinson points out, this is really none of her business. The reader is left to assume that it soon will be!

As this is a cozy mystery a glimpse of the lighter side for which the series is known, is provided by the very brief story of the lost child being saved by a dog. And we can all cheer for dogs!

Little in the way of description or atmosphere is provided on page 69, just enough that we know it’s coming up to Christmas in Christmas Town and the missing child walked into the snow.

Visit Vicki Delany's website, and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

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.

The Page 69 Test: A Slay Ride Together With You.

Writers Read: Vicki Delany (December 2024).

The Page 69 Test: The Incident of the Book in the Nighttime.

Writers Read: Vicki Delany (July 2025).

The Page 69 Test: Tea with Jam & Dread.

Writers Read: Vicki Delany.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Last Spirits of Manhattan"

John A. McDermott was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin. He now serves on the board of directors for the Writers’ League of Texas and teaches creative writing at Stephen F. Austin State University. Prior to teaching, he worked as an actor, bartender, house painter, and advertising copywriter. He lives in Nacogdoches with his wife and teenage daughter.

McDermott applied the Page 69 Test to The Last Spirits of Manhattan, his first novel, with the following results:

Page 69 of my novel has my protagonist, Carolyn Banks, a young woman who’s run away to Manhattan from Wisconsin to avoid an unattractive marriage proposal, and Pete Donoff, a young man who works in an advertising agency, decorating an old house for a haunted party thrown by Alfred Hitchcock. We find Carolyn reading, for the first time, the cocktail menu for the evening, a series of campy-scary drinks and hors d’oeuvres, which Pete and his colleagues have composed. The scene is flirty and hints at Pete and Carolyn’s growing attachment and also the expectations for the party—a little spooky, a lot tongue-in-cheek, as you’d expect from a guy like Hitchcock. The menu is presented in an alternative font, so readers get a sense of the actual menu.

Here the Page 69 Test works like a meat thermometer. Poking into page 69 of this novel, readers find a lighter romantic comedy moment. It’s reflective of one aspect of the novel, but certainly not the whole. If a reader enjoyed this page, they’re going to find some threads of the novel to their liking—the humor, the romance, maybe even the fun of that alternate font. (I love odd textual elements—the novel includes telegrams, a newspaper ad, and screenplay pages to shake things up). But if you poked the thermometer in a different spot, you could jab some scarier passages with a ghost or two, a more serious conversation between spouses, or a screwball ensemble piece. (Maybe my analogy just broke—are these spots hotter or colder? I guess that’s up to the reader!) I’d never heard of the Page 69 Test but now I sort of love it. Maybe it’s like the blindfolded men touching the elephant—you’re going to find a spot that belongs to the novel, but it's the parts that make up the whole.

It might be an effect of having a novel with varied elements—is it historical? Magic realism? Comedy? Romance? Horror?—that makes page 69 a good snapshot of one or two aspects, but not every element. I do think page 69 will make a reader ponder what they’d order off that menu!

Visit John A. McDermott's website.

Q&A with John A. McDermott.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Leave No Trace"

Randee Dawn is a Brooklyn-based author and journalist who writes speculative fiction at night and entertainment and lifestyle stories during the day for publications like the New York Times, NBCNews.com, Variety, The Los Angeles Times, and Emmy Magazine. Her debut novel, Tune in Tomorrow, was published by Solaris. Publishers Weekly said of Tune in Tomorrow: "Dawn balances over-the-top drama and comedy with genuine intrigue to create a fun story with plenty of heart." Lightspeed praised it as "an excellent read if you're looking for something to make you smile... well worth your time."

Dawn applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Leave No Trace, and shared the following:

If browsers open Leave No Trace to page 69, would they get a good (or an inaccurate) idea of the whole work?

Indirectly – yes. On page 69 we see one of the first collisions of the magical creature known as the Ghillie Dhu (the Green Man of the Forest in Scottish folklore); the human Lexi, who's grown up in the forests in the Rocky Mountains; and Stef, a songwriter who's come to the forest with her best friend, the spoiled pop star T.J. We also get a quick glimpse into the past of T.J.'s manager Tony, who has killed fae when he was in the military, and a sense that all humans have magic within them.

The page is surprisingly on point! It distills many, though not all, of the themes, characters, and issues all colliding in the book. The main story is about Lexi, Stef, and Tony – each of whom has a point of view in the novel – but they're all on their own journeys. There's a war going on between fae and humans over in Europe, and thanks to some of Tony's actions, it starts to come home to the States. Everyone has divided loyalties – will Lexi side with her best friend "Gil"? Will she bow to her paranoid father's fear of anything magic? And now that she's turning 18, what is it she wants from her own life? Meanwhile, several other characters are starting to learn about the specific magic they carry inside – and why the fae may want to use it for their own purposes.

There's also a big goddess bear in this story, Artio, who comes out of Irish folklore. She's also a forest protector, but I've given her an extra task: she can house souls. This works out well for some and not so much for others, but it means that while she was initially among the hunted in the forest, she can provide salvation for someone like Tony who has completely, utterly, messed up the biggest job he was ever given. Leave No Trace travels a lot of forest paths. Some go nowhere, and some go on forever. But it suggests you ask yourself: What would you do in this position? Would you side with magical interlopers? Or would you want the world to remain as it always has? And what would you do – if the bear chose you?

Visit Randee Dawn's website.

The Page 69 Test: Tune in Tomorrow.

Q&A with Randee Dawn.

My Book, The Movie: Tune in Tomorrow.

Writers Read: Randee Dawn.

My Book, The Movie: Leave No Trace.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Dying Cry"

Margaret Mizushima writes the award-winning Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries. She served as a past president of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Mystery Writers of America and was elected Writer of the Year by Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. She is the recipient of a Colorado Authors League Award, a Benjamin Franklin Book Award, a CIBA CLUE Award, and two Willa Literary Awards by Women Writing the West. Her books have been finalists for a SPUR Award by Western Writers of America, a Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award, and the Colorado Book Award. She and her husband recently moved from Colorado, where they raised two daughters and a multitude of animals, to a home in the Pacific Northwest.

Mizushima applied the Page 69 Test to her new book, Dying Cry, and reported the following:

From page 69:

After settling Robo with Brody, Mattie followed Stella to the table she’d noticed earlier where a man and two women were seated. These three were the only people who’d been at this morning’s team meeting with Tom. The man stood as they approached, folding his napkin and placing it on the table.

“Mr. Joel Taylor?” Stella said, offering a handshake.

“Yes,” Joel said as he shook hands. He was a good-looking man, maybe in his forties, with light brown hair trimmed short, a firm jaw, and an athletic physique. “You must be Detective LoSasso.”

“That’s right. I understand that you’re president of the main bank in Hightower,” Stella said, referring to a town about a half hour from Timber Creek. Since Tom had been manager of the local branch in Timber Creek, this man would be his boss. Stella turned to Mattie. “And this is Deputy Mattie Walker.”

He gave Mattie a firm handshake.

Stella turned her attention to the two women who had remained seated. “And are you the other two employees who were at the bankers’ retreat today?”

The elder of the two replied. “We are. I’m Elma Strickland, the bank’s vice president.” As she offered a fingertip handshake, she studied first Stella and then Mattie.

Elma appeared to be in her fifties, her brunette hair bearing dramatic sweeps of gray at the temples and graying strands throughout. Her skin appeared soft and without wrinkles, though her cheeks were rosy, likely

Page 69 is a good indicator of one of the roles protagonist Mattie Walker plays during the investigation of a crime in the rural mountain community of Timber Creek, Colorado. Mattie’s major role is that of K-9 handler for her German shepherd partner Robo, but when not searching for evidence or tracking down fugitives, Mattie will often assist Detective Stella LoSasso with witness interviews and suspect interrogations. The two work together along with other personnel from the Timber Creek County Sheriff’s Department to investigate crimes. And of course, Mattie’s K-9 partner Robo and her veterinarian husband Cole Walker also play a role in helping to solve each case.

In Dying Cry, Deputy Mattie Walker and her family are snowshoeing in a remote area when a shattering cry pierces the air, dying slowly as it echoes off canyon walls. Further investigation reveals a suspicious death, and the Timber Creek County Sheriff’s team springs into action, uncovering a trail of greed that leads to a killer who threatens Mattie’s cherished new family and tests her with the most difficult task she’s faced in her duty as a K-9 handler. 

Other scenes in the book depict Colorado’s snowy high country and plenty of outdoor action as Mattie and Robo try to track down a killer. If you like the outdoors, dogs, and whodunits, you might enjoy the Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries. Dying Cry is book ten in the series.

Visit Margaret Mizushima's website and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

Coffee with a Canine: Margaret Mizushima & Hannah, Bertie, Lily and Tess.

Coffee with a Canine: Margaret Mizushima & Hannah.

My Book, The Movie: Burning Ridge.

The Page 69 Test: Burning Ridge.

The Page 69 Test: Tracking Game.

My Book, The Movie: Hanging Falls.

The Page 69 Test: Hanging Falls.

Q&A with Margaret Mizushima.

The Page 69 Test: Striking Range.

The Page 69 Test: Standing Dead.

The Page 69 Test: Gathering Mist.

Writers Read: Margaret Mizushima (October 2024).

--Marshal Zeringue

"Hole in the Sky"

Daniel H. Wilson is a Cherokee citizen and the multiple New York Times bestselling author of techno-thrillers such as Robopocalypse, The Clockwork Dynasty, and The Andromeda Evolution (an authorized sequel to the Crichton classic). He earned a PhD in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as Masters degrees in Machine Learning and Robotics. Wilson lives in Portland, Oregon.

He applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, Hole in the Sky, with the following results:

From page 69:

I slow the car when I see the sign for NASA Johnson Space Center. I’m a little bit late, but that’s not such a bad thing. It’s better to give my escort some time to get inside and make an impression before I arrive.

Stopping at a security gate, I flash my badge to an armed, uniformed soldier manning the entrance. A dismayed federal marshal in a NASA security guard outfit sits next to him, looking dazed. The Army soldier is one of ours, sent ahead.

Page 69 of Hole in the Sky is the first page of the chapter called "Mission Control" — when two of my main characters meet for the first time. Gavin, the CIA weapons analyst, has been sent to investigate Mikayla, a NASA astrophysicist who has made contact with a strange object floating at the edge of our solar system.

It’s a fair introduction to special agent Gavin Clark, as he sweats through his shirt driving a rental car for yet another government mission. Although his job is pretty extraordinary—investigating unidentified anomalous phenomena—it’s actually pretty mundane and tiring to do this much traveling.

When Gavin actually meets Dr. Mikayla Johnson, the NASA astrophysicist is openly hostile to his point of view. This is the first time we see their clashing perspectives on what’s out there. Gavin is focused entirely on national security, and his instinct is to pull the trigger first and ask questions later.

What Gavin doesn’t know is that the entity has been speaking to Mikayla through the augmented reality glasses she wears to treat her face blindness. Gavin is frightened of first contact, but Mikayla is intrigued, excited, and can’t wait to meet whatever-it-is.

On the next few pages, things are about to get crazy as they realize the object has changed course and is headed toward earth at an incredible rate of speed. Once it lands in Spiro, Oklahoma, they’ll meet a local man named Jim Hardgray and the whole rest of this incredible adventure will unfold.

Visit Daniel Wilson's website.

My Book, The Movie: A Boy and His Bot.

The Page 69 Test: Robopocalypse.

My Book, The Movie: Amped.

The Page 69 Test: Robogenesis.

My Book, The Movie: Robogenesis.

Writers Read: Daniel H. Wilson (June 2014).

--Marshal Zeringue

"House of Hearts"

Skyla Arndt has always loved the creepy, crawly side of life. When she was younger, she thought that love might translate to hunting Bigfoot, but luckily for him, writing proved easier. These days, you can catch her writing stories by candlelight, splurging on candles for her office, and continuing to keep an eye out for Bigfoot (because you never know). She lives with her husband and three cats by the perpetually frozen Great Lakes.

Arndt applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, House of Hearts, and reported the following:

From page 69:

She’s a stray gust of wind down the corridor, her body so paper thin that she breezes forward without the slightest sound. I’m hypnotized by the arch of her heels and the sway of her tiptoes inches off the floor.

We enter a deserted parlor room, and the candles flicker upon our arrival. Velvet curtains billow down from the ceiling and sensuously frame a matching set of oxblood leather armchairs.

Beyond them, a fireplace sits untouched, the logs blackened behind an iron grate. Oleander Lockwell hangs like an omnipresent god above the mantle. In this painting, the gray strands from Sutherland Hall have won the battle; they dominate his hair and the fringes of his beard. He’s stern-faced and harsh in the low lighting, painted in the violent strokes of a hurried artist who couldn’t get away fast enough.

Emoree doesn’t spare the man a parting glance. Her attention is reserved for an object on an end table, her finger tracing a careful pattern in the air as she studies it. She breaks away the moment I get close and I can’t help it, my curiosity gets the best of me. I pick up what turns out to be a wooden labyrinth, a perfect miniature of the hedge maze outside. I brush my thumb across the careful ridges and chart the same path she did, starting in the clearing in the center to the exit, but I feel no residual warmth in her wake.

I don’t feel any warmth at all.

The body heat in the ballroom is a distant memory. What I’m left with is an icy pocket of frigid air. My breath clouds the late summer air, and I marvel at the ghost of it leaving my lips. It shouldn’t be this cold in here, but then again, Emoree shouldn’t be here.

I honestly didn’t know what to expect! I was 99% sure that I would randomly flip to this page and have nothing to show for it, but I was pleasantly surprised. Not only is this one of my favorite scenes in the book, but the passage perfectly encapsulates the heart of House of Hearts (pun intended). House of Hearts centers around a girl enrolling in a private academy to follow in the footsteps of her dead best friend–and on page 69, you see my MC, Violet, literally following her dead BFF’s footsteps. Only a couple pages prior, Violet Harper had been dancing in the school masquerade ball when she spotted a horrifyingly familiar face in the crowd: the unmasked, spitting image of her friend, Emoree. Readers jumping to this spot in the book will find Violet trailing after Emoree’s ghost as if spellbound.

Beyond that, I think it gives a great sense for the type of atmosphere you will find in the book. What says spooky dark academia more than a ghost leading you out of a haunted ballroom into an abandoned study?

Visit Skyla Arndt's website.

Writers Read: Skyla Arndt.

Q&A with Skyla Arndt.

My Book, The Movie: House of Hearts.

--Marshal Zeringue

"For No Mortal Creature"

Keshe Chow (she/her) is a Sunday Times bestselling author of fantasy, romance, and speculative fiction. Born in Malaysia, Chow moved to Australia when she was two years old. Her debut novel, The Girl with No Reflection, won the 2022 Victorian Premier's Literature Awards Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript and was shortlisted in the 2025 ABIA awards. Her new YA fantasy is For No Mortal Creature. Currently she resides in Naarm (Melbourne) with her husband, two kids, one cat, and way too many house plants.

Chow applied the Page 69 Test to For No Mortal Creature and shared the following:

From page 69:

He shot me a wary look, and I stared back, belligerent. What was he doing here? Why had he interrupted the physician? I was still trying to untangle his motives, when I was startled by a choked-off cry. This was followed by a strange gurgling noise. Something heavy landed on my legs.

Prince Essien’s eyes flared wide, and slowly, he turned his head. I raised my head, too. Only to see Larch slumped face down across my legs, blood soaking into the eiderdown, and—

Lin, standing behind him, holding that curved, bright-blue blade.

For a moment, I could only stare at his spectral body in shock. Then, the prince’s mouth dropped open, and I quaked. Scrambling up, the pulse in my ears thundering, I shoved the deadweight of Larch’s body off me. The corpse slid sideways and landed on the floor with an unceremonious thud.

“Careful, girl,” growled a voice, and I startled to see Larch’s ghost staring down at his dead body, frowning. He raised his gaze, piercing me with his disapproval. “You should respect the dead!”

Not stopping to answer him, I swung my legs off the bed and jumped to my feet. Essien Lancaster was staring down at the body of the now-dead physician. The prince’s face was puce, the muscles in his neck corded with tension. He’d lost the usual easy grace of his stance and was trembling with shock.

Lin’s face, on the other hand, was impassive. Almost smirking. I took in the entire scene within a mere fraction of a second. And then I noticed Lin, with the tiniest, most minute of movements, adjusting the grip of his knife. So subtly no one would notice.

No one but me, who knew him well. Or had known him well, once.

He drew back his arm to slash at the prince. For some reason, something within me snapped.

I think that this does capture many of the major elements of For No Mortal Creature. Namely, that there is death and evidence of Lin as being a morally gray character capable of murder. We have evidence of a ghost—that of the murdered man’s, who speaks directly to the main character and asks her to respect his corpse.

However, the aspect that this excerpt does not highlight is the romance that features in the book. The angst-filled romances between the main character, Jia Yi, and the ex-lover who betrayed her, Lin, are a huge driver of the story. Similarly, a burgeoning and tenuous alliance between Jia Yi and Prince Essien is also a significant part of the plot.

Lastly, this excerpt doesn’t highlight the main motivator for Jia Yi, the main character. The biggest thing driving her throughout the entire book is her desperation to save her dying grandmother, who isn’t mentioned on this page.

For No Mortal Creature is a dark, gothic young adult fantasy about a world where ghosts can die and become ghosts of ghosts. Jia Yi, a girl who possesses the gift of resurrection, must delve into the many layers of the afterlife to save her grandmother. However, to succeed, she must team up with her two mortal (and immortal) enemies: the ghost of Lin, the boy who once betrayed her; and the cold, enigmatic Prince Essien Lancaster.

Visit Keshe Chow's website.

Q&A with Keshe Chow.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Call of the Camino"

Suzanne Redfearn is the #1 Amazon and USA Today bestselling author of eight novels: Call of the Camino, Two Good Men, Where Butterflies Wander, Moment In Time, Hadley & Grace, In an Instant, No Ordinary Life, and Hush Little Baby. Her books have been translated into twenty-seven languages and have been recognized by RT Reviews, Target Recommends, Goodreads, Publisher’s Marketplace, and Kirkus Reviews. She has been awarded Best New Fiction from Best Book Awards and has been a Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist.

Born and raised on the east coast, Redfearn moved to California when she was fifteen. Currently, she lives in Laguna Beach with her husband where they own Lumberyard Restaurant. In addition to being an author, Redfearn is an architect specializing in residential and commercial design. When not writing, she enjoys doing anything and everything with her family—skiing, golf, tennis, pickleball, hiking, board games, and watching reality TV. She is an avid baseball fan. Her team is the Angels.

Redfearn applied the Page 69 Test to Call of the Camino with the following results:

I have always loved this test for how well it works. For whatever reason, page sixty-nine always seems to be highly indicative of what is at the heart of the story, and applying the Page 69 Test to Call of the Camino was no exception.

On page sixty-nine, Isabelle, one of the two protagonists, meets the love of her life, Peter, who she doesn’t know is the love of her life at the time, but their friendship and eventual romance is what will drive her storyline from that point forward. She also happens to meet him in a cathedral, where she is praying for the loss of two friends, and her relationship with her faith is also central to her journey.

Opening the book to page sixty-nine would give a reader a good sense of one of the underlying, driving forces of one of the two storylines. But since Call of the Camino is about two journeys along the path of St. James, it only gives a glimpse at half the book. It also does not show any of the Camino de Santiago, which is the backbone of the story. I think a reader might mistakenly believe, based on that single page, that the story is a romance and not the story of two women’s transformative journeys along an ancient, legendary trail told a generation apart.

Call of the Camino was inspired by my own experience walking the Camino de Santiago, a five-hundred-mile pilgrimage across Spain, and the characters were inspired by the amazing people I met along the way.

Visit Suzanne Redfearn's website, and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

Coffee with a Canine: Suzanne Redfearn and Cooper.

My Book, The Movie: Hush Little Baby.

The Page 69 Test: Hush Little Baby.

The Page 69 Test: No Ordinary Life.

Writers Read: Suzanne Redfearn (February 2016).

My Book, The Movie: No Ordinary Life.

My Book, The Movie: In an Instant.

The Page 69 Test: In an Instant.

Q&A with Suzanne Redfearn.

My Book, The Movie: Hadley and Grace.

The Page 69 Test: Hadley & Grace.

Writers Read: Suzanne Redfearn (March 2022).

The Page 69 Test: Moment in Time.

My Book, The Movie: Moment in Time.

Writers Read: Suzanne Redfearn (February 2024).

Writers Read: S. E. Redfearn (October 2024).

The Page 69 Test: Two Good Men.

Writers Read: Suzanne Redfearn (October 2025).

My Book, The Movie: Call of the Camino.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Silent Creek"

Tony Wirt was born in Lake Mills, IA, and got his first taste of publication in first grade, when his essay on Airplane II: The Sequel appeared in the Lake Mills Elementary School’s Creative Courier.

He's a graduate of the University of Iowa and spent nine years doing media relations in the Hawkeye Athletic Department. He's also been a sportswriter, movie ticket taker and Dairy Queen ice cream slinger who can still do the little curly thing on top of a soft serve cone.

He currently lives in Rochester, MN, with his wife and two daughters.

Wirt applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, Silent Creek, and reported the following:

Page 69 is the final page of chapter ten, a scene I really liked writing. There isn’t much action or suspense, so I wouldn’t say it’s a great example of what a reader would be in for, but I’d like to think it really fleshes out our characters.

It’s a scene in the gym where Jim is helping Kelli, the coach of their high school’s girls team, prep for the upcoming basketabll season, but Kyle shows up as a bit of a third wheel. He’s been hounding Jim to come on as his assistant coach for the boys team, something he has absolutely no interest in doing.

While It may not be a great example of the book, as a character building chapter it does a good job. The scene is a great example of the tug of war going on inside Jim’s head ever since he returned home. Kyle represents everything Jim wants to leave behind, while Kelli represents the future he’s always wanted. It also shows the pressure that Jim is feeling to be everything his hometown wants him to be. This struggle is what guides Jim’s actions for the whole book—for better or worse.

Visit Tony Wirt's website.

The Page 69 Test: Pike Island.

Q&A with Tony Wirt.

My Book, The Movie: Pike Island.

My Book, The Movie: Silent Creek.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Resurrectionist"

Kathleen S. Allen is a young adult writer of gothic horror, historical, fantasy, and speculative fiction. She has published poems, short stories, novellas, and novels. She prefers dark to light, salty to sweet, and tea to coffee. She is a fan of K-Pop, classic rock, and British detective shows. She loves gray, foggy, cool, rainy days; unfortunately she lives in Los Angeles which is usually sunny and warm.

Allen applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Resurrectionist, and shared the following:

On page 69 Dilly is interacting with a visiting professor, Victor Clerval who is an Anatomist based out of Scotland. Dilly finds out he knew her recently deceased father and is eager to learn more of what he knows about her father’s research. She also hopes to secure him as a sponsor to medical college since she is financially unable to pay for it. He considers it and tells her to use his name as a reference for applying to medical colleges. She is thrilled to being one step closer to her dream of becoming a surgeon like her father. Except his caveat is she must first find a college who will admit her and that is a daunting task since so few (if any) medical colleges admit women to study medicine with the idea of becoming a physician and none will admit a woman who wants to be a surgeon. But Dilly is determined to pursue her dream.

In part this page introduces the main character as someone with determination and scientific knowledge but it doesn’t address the resurrectionist part which is the crux of the book. This page shows Dilly to be serious about the medical profession, however it might lead to the browser to think the book was only about a Victorian young lady (although her age isn’t mentioned on this page) who is trying to become a surgeon. So, no, the Page 69 Test doesn’t work for The Resurrectionist.

The Resurrectionist is a young adult gothic horror reimagining of Frankenstein taking place in 1888 Victorian England. It’s about a seventeen-year-old young woman who dreams of following in her recently deceased father’s footsteps to become a surgeon. But aspiring to be a physician or even a surgeon is frowned upon in 1888. Victorian women are seen as inappropriate and unladylike to even want any career instead of being a wife and mother. Dilly defies societal rules throughout, breaking one after another until she only follows her own rules. Along the way she’s caught up in a tangled web of graverobbing, dead bodies, murder and scientific experiments gone horribly wrong.

Visit Kathleen S. Allen's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Curse of the Savoy"

Ron Base is a former newspaper and magazine journalist and movie critic. His works include twenty novels, two novellas and four non-fiction books. Base lives in Milton, Ontario. Prudence Emery worked as the press and public relations officer at the Savoy Hotel, and later as a publicist on more than a hundred film productions. She is also the author of the bestselling memoir Nanaimo Girl (2020).

Base tasked DCI Lightfoot from their Priscilla Tempest mystery series to apply the Page 69 Test to the latest installment, Curse of the Savoy, with the following results:

Detective Chief Inspector Robert Lightfoot of Scotland Yard here. I play a supporting role in the four Priscilla Tempest novels, usually accusing Miss Tempest of some misdeed or other.

I’ve been asked to take charge of the Page 69 Test investigation, the mystery surrounding it, particularly since it has been revealed that the originator of the test is none other than that famed Canadian philosopher, Marshall McLuhan. Mr. Ron Base, the co-author of the novels, reports to me that he once spent an evening with Mr. McLuhan listening to his thoughts on media theory. He is still scratching his head.

Finding my way to page 69 of Curse of the Savoy, the latest novel in the series, I soon discover that I am not mentioned. More’s the pity. I’m quite an interesting chap.

On page 69, the book’s heroine, Miss Tempest, is preoccupied with the recent murder of a well-known young British diplomat, a cad of the first order. I am the lead detective on that case and since Miss Tempest found the body, I regard her as a person of interest and highly suspicious.

Miss Tempest heads the press office at London’s iconic Savoy Hotel and is a member of the Gossip’s Bridle Club whose other members consist of three of London’s most famous theatrical figures—the renowned playwright Noël Coward and the actors Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud.

On page 69, the club has convened to discuss the gossip of the day—who is failing in a dreadful play, who is sleeping with whom, and, on this occasion, who might have murdered the diplomat.

My examination concludes that the page in question succeeds by throwing the reader into the heart of the novel’s mystery and provides insight into the character of our plucky heroine. Miss Tempest is young, lovely, prone to attracting the wrong men, and getting herself into the sort of trouble that convinces me she is up to no good.

I was pleased to see that the page also touches upon the plot that drives the novel—a mysterious curse involving a black cat, a dinner party hosted by the legendary filmmaker Orson Welles, and the movie star Cary Grant, who, it seems, is attracted to Miss Tempest.

Ah, but the mystery …What is it about the magic of page 69 that draws in readers?

That investigation is ongoing.

Visit Ron Base's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"I Am You"

Victoria Redel is a first-generation American author of four books of poetry and six books of fiction. Her newest novel is I Am You. Redel’s work has been widely anthologized, awarded, and translated in ten languages. Her debut novel, Loverboy (2001) was adapted for feature film directed by Kevin Bacon. Redel’s short stories, poetry and essays have appeared in Granta, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Bomb, One Story, Salmagundi, O, and NOON among many others. She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts and the Fine Arts Work Center. Redel is a professor in the graduate and undergraduate Creative Writing programs at Sarah Lawrence College and lives in New York and Utah.

She applied the Page 69 Test to I Am You with the following results:

I love the Page 69 Test because I’m a full-throttle believer that a potential reader should be able to open to any page in a novel and begin to tease out the threads that weave through the novel. So, I confess I was relieved to see that page 69 of I Am You stays true to my belief.

At the top of page 69, a scene where Gerta, a maid and narrator of the novel, which takes place in the 1600s, has revealed to Maria, her master and a masterful painter, that she has, in secret, taught herself to paint. She shows her new skill by boldly painting directly on a still-life of Maria’s. But true to Maria’s nature, she hardly flinches, instead moving forward as if this is not a revelation but an inevitability. Gerta reflects, “Her reaction was as I’d hoped. Pragmatic. She needed an apprentice. And she knew it. If she was annoyed by anything that morning, it was only that she hadn’t realized before me that I’d become her apprentice. Though, of course, that’s eventually what she told the others. That she’d taught her maid. That she’d done what no one else had done before and turned a servant girl into a painter.”

Over the course of page 69, a browser would encounter a few of the essential threads in the novel—the power current between the two women that keeps shifting throughout the book and the role of secrets. That secret, that Gerta is Maria’s assistant, also leads to greater intimacy between the two women, and a new facet of their relationship begins to emerge as Gerta emerges as a painter in her own right. The two women at that point in the novel have forged a union determined to increase Maria’s position in the male-dominated art world of the 17th century.

Visit Victoria Redel's website.

The Page 69 Test: Before Everything.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Man in the Stone Cottage"

Before turning to novel writing, Stephanie Cowell was an opera singer, balladeer, founded an outdoor arts series in New York City's Bryant Park, a Renaissance festival, a chamber opera company and many other things. She has lived in New York City all her life, indeed in the same apartment building for fifty-two years in the neighborhood (and sometimes down the block) where they filmed You've Got Mail. Cowell has loved England and Europe all her life and traveled there almost every year.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Man in the Stone Cottage, and reported the following:

Page 69 is one of those important scenes in a novel which I’d call place markers or linking scenes. It is from Charlotte’s point-of-view. It is a long shot which shows us the Brontë family at a celebratory Christmas dinner such as most families have. They speak of politics, the neighbors, they gossip and exchange small gifts and eat good food. Towards the bottom of the page, Charlotte draws back a little to observe how happy they are and then ruminates how to make enough money to keep them all in the house together, well-fed and contented. It then moves from the long shot to the closeup. By the following page, she is once more making determined plans.

Actually, I think page 69 and the family dinner scene is perfect to introduce the book. The moments of happy family are what they all yearn for (though the brother Branwell will wreck his part of it) and have too seldom.

For those who do not know the story of the real little Brontë family in 1844 Victorian England, they are living in a Yorkshire parsonage of the church where the father is the curate (priest-in-charge). Though there are three sisters and one wayward brother at the table, they feel the presence of their mother and two other sisters who died as children. Charlotte as the eldest was charged to keeping them altogether. But though she will of course within three years write Jane Eyre and make more money than she ever dreamed, happy scenes like this will not often come again. Grave sickness will end these dinners. And Emily while writing Wuthering Heights. will become more remote, involved with a man in a stone cottage on the moor who no one else has ever seen.

Visit Stephanie Cowell's website.

The Page 69 Test: Claude & Camille.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Book of Guilt"

Catherine Chidgey’s novels have been published to international acclaim. Her first, In a Fishbone Church, won Best First Book at the New Zealand Book Awards and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. In the UK it won the Betty Trask Award and was longlisted for the Orange Prize. Her second, Golden Deeds, was a Notable Book of the Year in the New York Times and a Best Book in the LA Times. Chidgey has won the Prize in Modern Letters, the Katherine Mansfield Award, the Katherine Mansfield Fellowship and the Janet Frame Fiction Prize. Her novel Remote Sympathy was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award and longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Her novels The Wish Child and The Axeman’s Carnival both won the Acorn Prize for Fiction, New Zealand’s most prestigious literary award. She lives in Cambridge, New Zealand, and lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Waikato.

Chidgey applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Book of Guilt, and shared the following:

From page 99:

‘No matter, no matter,’ said the Minister as Mother Morning blushed right through her face powder to the roots of her hair.

‘How was your journey down?’ asked Mother Afternoon. ‘Really rather pleasant, once we left the A4,’ said the Minister.

‘Ah, the A4,’ said Mother Afternoon, as if she travelled it regularly and knew its shortcomings.

‘Dreadful congestion around Chiswick,’ said Dr Roach. ‘You should ask the Prime Minister to do something about it.’

I thought he was joking, but his face was stony.

The Minister said, ‘Roading is on her radar, certainly. I’m so sorry I was late.’

‘Quite all right,’ said Mother Morning, waving an airy hand.

‘You could have driven down together,’ said William. ‘That would have saved time.’

‘Mm,’ said the Minister.

Mother Afternoon nodded towards the dainty sandwiches on the tiered cake stand and said, ‘They picked the watercress themselves, our boys.’

‘They’re most resourceful,’ added Mother Morning, handing a side plate to the Minister. ‘Fondant fancy?’

Only Mother Night was silent. I kept glancing at her, and I couldn’t shake the thought that she wanted to burst into tears – but perhaps that was just because I wasn’t used to seeing her in the daytime and understanding the way her face moved and changed in natural light.

The Minister ate one fondant fancy and half a sandwich. Mother Afternoon tried to persuade her to try the Dundee cake – she’d made special patterns with the almonds on top, and I knew she was disappointed to see it untouched – but the Minister insisted she couldn’t manage another bite, delicious as it looked. Being in the public eye, she said, she had to watch her figure. She held her hand over her side plate as if to deflect anyone attempting to slip her a piece of Dundee cake. ‘She’s in the newspaper,’ Mother Morning told Mother Afternoon.

Page 69 is pivotal to The Book of Guilt: this is the moment when the Minister of Loneliness visits a mysterious home for boys that she is charged with shutting down. The scene includes most of the major players – it’s narrated by Vincent, one of three identical triplet brothers who have grown up in the home, and readers get a good idea of how uncomfortable the boys’ carers – Mother Morning, Mother Afternoon and Mother Night – feel in the company of the Minister, who is just about to break the bad news. At this point, it’s all awkward small talk, but Dr Roach, who oversees the Sycamore Homes, is ‘stony’ – he knows what’s on the horizon.

This page gives just a hint of the unease that characterises the book – Mother Night’s silence suggests all is not well, as does Vincent’s slight confusion about her – but I think readers who consume the full novel will notice much more the pervasive sense that something is wrong, and the way it gradually intensifies as the story progresses. I loved turning the tension up and up, and I hope readers relish this aspect of the novel.

Mother Morning’s line ‘Fondant fancy?’ still makes me laugh, and is a small gesture towards the humour in the book. I hear my own mother in her voice – pretending at sophistication, offering some dreadful 1970s confection to a guest she wanted to impress.

Follow Catherine Chidgey on Facebook and Instagram.

Q&A with Catherine Chidgey.

--Marshal Zeringue

"A Bitter Wind"

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 his new novel, A Bitter Wind, the twentieth installment of the Billy Boyle series, with the following results:

From page 69:

“Did you check the carbon paper?” Diana said. “You never know.”

No, you never do. I remembered a clue once being found on carbon paper, but I think that was in a movie. Real life is never that easy, but I pulled out the dark, flimsy sheets to check them. The request for the Mandrel jammer was right on top, a worn, well-used sheet that had seen its final roll around the platen. Even so, I could make out the salutation to the 101 Squadron supply officer. The sheet under that was the memo to Brockman’s commanding officer at the 36th, the unit’s name clearly visible on the fresh page.

“Wait a minute,” I said, and set the sheets down side by side. “Brockman typed this one yesterday, using a new piece of carbon paper. He typed the supply request the day before, using a sheet that was on its last legs.”

“Very economical of him,” Diana said as she waited for me to make my point.

“This is how they came out of the tray,” I said, and placed the well-used sheet on top.

“Oh, I see,” she said. “It’s in the wrong order. Someone went through the carbon papers to see what the major had typed. Someone who got here before us.”

“Which means Brockman took both the original and carbon copy with him, which is why our intruder was reduced to riffling through the carbon paper,” I said.

“Or Major Brockman made a simple mistake,” Diana said with a sigh. “Out of character, but still possible. This is thin gruel, Billy.”

At first glance, this passage may look like thin gruel indeed for establishing the value of the Page 69 Test. It’s a bit dry and workmanlike, with a previously defined technical term laid out here much like a puzzling tidbit.

But then again, a murder investigation is full of tedious factchecking and the meticulous sifting of potential clues. And that’s exactly what’s going on here. Major Brockman is the murder victim—the first, that is—found early in the book. The Mandrel jammer is a piece of top secret electronic countermeasures hardware, designed to overwhelm German early warning radar systems. Brockman’s body was found with highly classified documents concerning electronic countermeasures used by the Royal Air Force in his pocket; documents that should never have left the base.

Which brings Billy and Diana sifting through routine paperwork in order to be certain all of the electronic warfare components are exactly where they should be. Dull, boring, and inconclusive, like much of real life.

So the test works well enough. The theoretical browser will know there’s already been a murder and that our detectives are searching for clues in a realistic fashion. Plus, there’s the added nostalgic sensation of handling carbon paper for those of an age to remember.

But there’s one last section of page 69 worth a mention:

“If we didn’t find him with his head bashed in, I’d agree it was just a mistake. But you’re right, it’s not much,” I said. “This must have something to do with what Conan Doyle had you investigating.”

Conan Doyle? If our browser has paid attention to the very end of the page, that name is sure to attract attention. This is a mystery, after all. The Conan Doyle in question is Squadron Officer Jean Conan Doyle, daughter of Sir Arthur, and in real life an intelligence officer with the Royal Air Force during World War II, and she plays an active role in this novel.

The Page 69 Test: passed, with flying colors.

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.

The Page 69 Test: The Phantom Patrol.

Writers Read: James R. Benn (September 2024).

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Literati"

USA Today bestselling author Susan Coll is the author of eight novels, including The Literati, Real Life & Other Fictions, and Bookish People. Her other books include The Stager, Acceptance, Rockville Pike, and Karlmarx.com.

Coll applied the Page 69 Test to The Literati and reported the following:

On page 69 of The Literati, Clemi – the 26-year-old protagonist who has just begun a new job as the programs director of a troubled literary nonprofit --- is working with Skylar, the intern, to try to guess the passwords for the nonprofit’s bank accounts so that they can pay the caterer for the forthcoming awards gala. Once they succeed, the two-step verification number is sent to the landline, which serves as an example of how antiquated the systems are at WLNP---Washington Literary Nonprofit. The two women then discover that the accounts they have managed to access have essentially been drained.

Page 69 is dialogue driven, so it doesn’t provide much context, and yet it is a surprisingly useful microcosm of the book. The page captures the comically dysfunctional state of WLNP, and it also has Clemi sneezing, which is a nod to her cat allergies and another of the novel’s plot points.

As a bonus, the page opens with the sentence, “OMG, Bob’s your uncle,” which was a line that I wanted to work into the novel. Around the time that I was writing this book I heard someone use this phrase. I was unfamiliar with it at the time, but it is apparently a British expression that means something along the lines of “and there you have it.” Or in the book, I’ve just successfully just hacked my way into the bank account.

Visit Susan Coll's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Susan Coll & Zoe.

The Page 69 Test: Acceptance.

The Page 69 Test: Beach Week.

The Page 69 Test: The Stager.

The Page 69 Test: Real Life and Other Fictions.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Room of Lost Steps"

Simon Tolkien is the grandson of JRR Tolkien and a director of the Tolkien Estate. He is also series consultant for the Amazon series, The Rings of Power. He studied Modern History at Trinity College, Oxford and went on to become a London barrister specializing in criminal defense. He left the law to become a writer in 2001 and has published five novels which mine the history of the first half of the last century to explore dark subjects – capital punishment, the Holocaust, the London Blitz and the Battle of the Somme. The epic coming-of-age story of Theo Sterling, set in 1930s New York, England and Spain, is being published in two volumes, The Palace at the End of the Sea and The Room of Lost Steps.

Tolkien applied the Page 69 Test to The Room of Lost Steps and shared the following:

From page 69:

Theo ate hunks of bread with olive oil and pieces of uncooked ham, washed down with water in a goatskin bag. Even before he’d finished, he felt his strength returning, and the men clapped him on the back. Friends now, when they would have shot him in cold blood at a nod from their leader five minutes before. They called the short man Ascaso, and Theo sensed that they would lay down their lives without hesitation if he gave them the word.

In a pew at the back, the wounded man had stopped crying out, and Theo wondered whether he was dead.

Ascaso was over by the main door of the church, which he had half opened to look out. He was smoking a cigarette, and the golden sunlight wreathed with the blue smoke to illuminate his diminutive figure as if he were an actor on a stage. The gunfire, muffled before, was now louder than ever.

Suddenly he shouted twice, calling out a name that sounded like Oliver, and ran out.

“Who’s that?” Theo asked.

“Juan García Oliver. He leads the other group,” said one of the men. “They crossed Chinatown farther up, so perhaps they didn’t lose so many when they came out. If we join together, then maybe it will be enough.” But he looked like he had no faith in what he was saying. A hundred men would be no match for machine guns protected by the walls of the barricade.

A couple of minutes later, Ascaso came back into the church. “Time to go,” he said. “We have a plan.”

He walked to the end of the church and leaned down over the man in the back pew, verifying that he’d died. He closed the man’s eyes and took his pistol and handed it to Theo with an ammunition clip. “Let’s hope you can shoot as well as you can run,” he said.

On the way out of the church, he flicked his burning cigarette into the font and laughed when he saw Theo flinch.

“This church is beautiful, isn’t it?” he said.

Theo nodded, uncertain of the right response.

“It’s the oldest in Barcelona. A thirteenth-century Romanesque jewel, but tomorrow it will burn. All of them will. You’ll see.”

Page 69 of The Room of Lost Steps, reproduced above, conveys the tension of a short still interval between two episodes of street fighting on the first day of the Spanish Civil War in Barcelona. The arresting image of the anarchist leader, Francisco Ascaso, standing in the doorway of the Sant Pau del Camp Church, wreathed in smoke and illuminated by sunlight, conveys the appeal that anarchism held for the hero of the novel, Theo Sterling, but Ascaso’s casual disrespect for the font and promise that the church will burn reveal his ruthlessness, intensified in Theo’s mind by the fact that Ascaso understands that it is unique and beautiful, “a thirteenth-century Romanesque jewel.”

Attraction and repulsion: the contradictory effect that anarchism has on Theo is a central theme of the novel. He admires the anarchists’ courageous resistance to fascism, but he distrusts the violent destruction that they espouse, and this ambivalence leads to an inability to believe and commit that undermines his relationship with the anarchist girl he loves, Maria Alvarez.

The Room of Lost Steps completes Theo’s coming-of-age journey that began in The Palace at the End of the Sea. His participation in the fighting in Barcelona cements his hatred of fascism, and convinces him that he can help to change the world. He volunteers to fight with the International Brigades and so completes the journey from illusion to disillusion that is the overarching thematic arc of the two novels. Page 69 describes an episode that is an essential step along that road and so passes Marshall McLuhan’s test with flying colors.

Visit Simon Tolkien's website.

Q&A with Simon Tolkien.

--Marshal Zeringue