"Hemlock Lane"

Minneapolis native Marshall Fine’s career as an award-winning journalist, critic, and filmmaker has spanned fifty years. Before his bestselling 2024 fiction debut, The Autumn of Ruth Winters, Fine wrote biographies of filmmakers John Cassavetes and Sam Peckinpah, directed documentaries about film critic Rex Reed and comedian Robert Klein, conducted the Playboy interview with Howard Stern, and chaired the New York Film Critics Circle four times.

Fine applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, Hemlock Lane, with the following results:

Here is page 69 of Hemlock Lane in its entirety:

Sol hadn’t always been afraid of his wife. There was a time when her sharp wit had been applied without a coating of acid. He remembered her being genuinely funny when they were first married, someone who could unleash a laugh that tickled his soul. Lillian could do impressions of radio stars like Fanny Brice and Gracie Allen, though only when the two of them were alone; she was too self-conscious to ever be a performer.

Something had changed in her after Amelia was born, he believed, though she had returned to her old self—mostly—after Clara arrived to help with the housework and childcare. But after Nora was born, the old Lillian disappeared for good, replaced by a sour, angrier version. In that iteration, the threat of self-destruction seemed to lurk just beneath the surface, at least in Sol’s mind.

He couldn’t confide those fears about his wife to anyone—not even Stan, his closest friend, because Stan would tell his wife Delia, who would inevitably say something to Lillian. Sol knew what a betrayal that would be in Lillian’s eyes.

No matter how he felt about his wife at that point, he couldn’t even think about divorce. In Sol’s world, divorce was a word whispered in shame, almost as shameful as marrying out of the faith. It was a nonstarter, not even to be considered. “Till death do us part.” No other options were available. It didn’t matter how unhappy you were; your only escape from a miserable marriage was death—yours or your spouse’s. No one cared if you wanted to stab each other in the neck with butcher knives. There simply was no way out.

But after her “accidental” overdose, Lillian became moodier in every way. That included sharp-edged comments—not just to him but to the girls and Clara. At those moments, he tried to focus on the things about her that had first attracted him: her humor, but also her insecurity, which always seemed so close to the surface, and her vulnerability, which she tried to mask with an all-encompassing sense of authority. Though they seldom made an appearance, Sol knew that her vulnerable qualities were there, deeply hidden beneath the haughty surface.

I was surprised how well page 69 encapsulates the emotional dynamics of my novel, Hemlock Lane. If you dip into my book at that point, you get an illuminating snapshot of the way one family has learned to accommodate its most volatile member.

Hemlock Lane looks at a flashpoint weekend in the life of a suburban New York family in the summer of 1967. The story takes place over the course of four days, with each day told from the viewpoint of one of the four central characters: mother, father, daughter, housekeeper. All of the characters figure in each day’s present tense, as well as the flashbacks from that person’s point of view. My goal was to create moments in which new information changed the readers’ perspective on something they thought they knew.

Page 69 puts the reader directly into the center of the emotional conflict: a family in which the father—and everyone else—lives in fear of triggering the mother’s bad moods, and spends their time walking on eggshells around her. It provides a glimpse of the father’s past and present with his wife, and the way he sees her effect on everyone else in the household.

Hopefully, the long-burning fuse on the novel’s central conflict sizzles all the way through this page—and this section.

Visit Marshall Fine's website, and follow him on Facebook and Instagram.

My Book, The Movie: The Autumn of Ruth Winters.

Q&A with Marshall Fine.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Sunshine Man"

Emma Stonex is the author of The Lamplighters, which was a Sunday Times bestseller and has been translated into twenty-five languages. Before becoming a writer, she worked as an editor at a major publishing house. She lives in Bristol with her family.

Stonex applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Sunshine Man, and shared the following:

From page 69:

‘He’d grown accustomed to seeing the change in the weather from an up-high window in his flowery dell, a postage-stamp square of cloud and sun and pale white light, deep purple at night, but to be in it and feel it and smell it were things he’d forgot, not forgot exactly for the detail was still there, still in him, buried beneath the thickets of the years, delayed but not lost, rising notes he recognized from when he’d been a boy and the rain had smelt the same then, of a ha’penny kept too long in his pocket, but Donna said it wasn’t ha’pennies any more, it was pounds and fivers, and he wasn’t a boy now, he was a man.

It was true what they said, that you didn’t know up from down, left from right, spin him around and tell him which way and he wouldn’t know still, not a fegging clue, would likely go stumbling out into the road and that would be curtains, day one and then done, and sure they’d say after it was destined that way, he’d had a dent in him right from the start, stupid too, gone in the head, evil and dumb (what it was to be both), as evil and dumb as they come. But he’d been banged up an eight-stretch in a cell it took five seconds to circuit, five point five to be precise, two steps down one side, three down the other, back to the door where the voices came in – “Open up, Walsh! Open up, Parker! Open up, Maguire!” – then slop-out in the troughs and back to his bunk for a diet can of porridge, an ounce of sugar if he was lucky, trapped in the walls and the hours and the fug of his brain, in the haze of weed and the waste of his life, slow and slack and forever stopped still, yet out here it was everything everywhere, all in a hurry in a place too busy, too many, lights changing and rain chucking and the world tremendous and too much.’

The Page 69 Test works eerily well for The Sunshine Man. Page 69 is the first time we get our male protagonist, Jimmy Maguire’s, perspective, on the day he’s released from prison; from this point on the plot deepens and becomes more complex. It’s uncanny how the gear of the book shifts from page 69 and readers are invited into the dual narrative.

The Sunshine Man is a revenge thriller about a woman, Birdie Keller, who hunts down her sister’s killer after he’s freed from jail. Up to page 69 we receive Birdie’s viewpoint only, and side with her radical mission: she’s an ordinary wife and mother, sending her children off to school and seeing her husband off to work, then she puts a gun in her handbag and heads off to London to meet and pursue her adversary. We’d imagined the picture was clear – Birdie’s in the right, Jimmy’s in the wrong – but page 69 changes everything. We see inside Jimmy’s head, and, as the novel progresses, we start to question all we’ve been told.

Although page 69 is written in the third person, it’s an involved third person because it taps into Jimmy’s train of thought and manner of speaking (in other chapters we hear from him in the first). This gives the reader a fine idea of the tone of the book and the significance of this unreliable narration: neither Jimmy nor Birdie are trustworthy protagonists and their ‘truths’ shouldn’t always be believed; their pasts are inextricably entwined and each one has an agenda.

My greatest hope with The Sunshine Man was to complicate the idea of a villain – is anyone ever a hundred percent evil? Can a villain also be a victim? Is it possible to retain, every time, those binaries of right and wrong, good and bad, or can there be an in-between? Jimmy’s entrance on page 69 captures this element for me, because Birdie has portrayed him thus far as an out-and-out devil, yet here we see somebody human, vulnerable and overwhelmed. From here Jimmy is unknowingly chased down to the south coast of England by his shadowy predator, and soon he and Birdie will meet again. Who will walk away from their confrontation, and which will win out – forgiveness or revenge?

Follow Emma Stonex on Instagram.

Q&A with Emma Stonex.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Bleeding Woods"

Brittany Amara is an author, screenwriter, actress, and model with a passion for science fiction and fantasy that ventures beyond space and time. She loves writing about curious aliens, morally gray protagonists, other dimensions, rifts in reality, and all things playfully wicked. When she’s not working on something new, Amara can be found stargazing, collecting stuffed animals, and baking pumpkin bread. She grew up in Bronx, New York, and graduated summa cum laude from SUNY New Paltz in 2021 with a degree in digital media production, creative writing, and theater arts. In 2024 she furthered her storytelling journey at Queen’s University Belfast. Since then, her work in various genres has been recognized by film festivals and writing competitions across the globe.

Amara applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Bleeding Woods, and reported the following:

From page 69:

“Thanks, guys,” he whispers.

“Good night, Joey,” we reply in choral synchronicity.

An exchange of goodnights circles through the space. Finally, we fall quiet, but it’s obvious our internal monologues are ripe with terror. To look outside the windows would be to face fear incarnate. The light of the moon effuses only a feeble stream of light, and that stream illuminates a minuscule fraction of our surroundings. The rest is pure, inky darkness. Chthonic chaos. Shadows and silhouettes.

Eventually, Grayson’s and Jade’s breath patterns turn slow and cyclic. They were able to drift off, even with something so caliginous watching from between the gaps in the trees. Every hair on my body stands at attention, antennae detecting danger. Still, the most unnerving aspect of this impromptu sleepover is the fact that I am not nearly as afraid as I should be. I can’t stop replaying the way Jasper called to me. It claws at every corner of my consciousness, creating a sensation similar to when one first allows alcohol past their lips. Intoxication. Euphoria. A welcome loss of control.

I should be as scared as Joey. I should be masking my fear like Grayson and Jade are. I should be upset by the possibility that we may never see bars on our phones again. I should feel something, just like I should have felt something when my parents’ eyes stared lifelessly into mine.

“I saw it.” Joey’s voice shakes me from my thoughts, as tiny and timid as a mouse’s squeak.

“The thing you were hearing. I saw it.”

“What did you see?” I whisper.

“It. I didn’t say anything because I—I didn’t want it to hear me.” His breathing turns ragged.

I pause too long for any of my incoming reassurances to be reassuring. “Nothing is going to happen, Joey.”

“You don’t know that,” he whimpers.

“I know not all scary things are bad. What if he’s just lost like us?”

He stays silent, and after fifteen or so minutes pass, I turn to face my window.

As though I’d given some sort of nonverbal consent, something squirms within the abyss.

I'm delighted to say that I believe the Page 69 Test works well for my book! By some uncanny magic, it actually feels like exactly the kind of scene I'd hope to see in a teaser trailer if it ever gets adapted for film. Horror stories rely so heavily on tense, atmospheric build-up to their most terrifying moments. In The Bleeding Woods's case, much of the opening is designed to set the stage for exactly what we arrive at beyond this very page. Fear hangs in the air. A monster waits beyond a car window. The main character cannot help but empathize with him, even though her travel companions think otherwise. Is there more to him than meets the eye? More to this forest altogether? The essence of the story lives in the flavor of fear, trepidation and internal conflict woven through this brief section. Needless to say, I'm positively mystified by Marshall McLuhan's advice to book browsers.

Page 69 of The Bleeding Woods has revealed itself to be special for another reason. In rereading it, I can see how this is precisely when I discovered a sense of rhythm and confidence in my writing. At the cusp of when everything begins to go downhill for the characters, I felt a flare of bravery in me. I realized that, though The Bleeding Woods is a horror story, it was mine. There was nothing to be afraid of, especially not the chaotic joy of experimenting with my own unique voice. Right before making the world terrifying for Clara and her companions, I became fearless.

Visit Brittany Amara's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Bleeding Woods.

Writers Read: Brittany Amara.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Daughters"

Corinne Demas is the author of 39 books including two collections of short stories, seven novels, a memoir, a collection of poetry, two plays, and numerous books for children. She is a professor emeritus of English at Mount Holyoke College and a fiction editor of the Massachusetts Review.

She grew up in New York City, in Stuyvesant Town, the subject of her memoir, Eleven Stories High, Growing Up in Stuyvesant Town, 1948-1968. She attended Hunter College High School, graduated from Tufts University, and completed a Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. She lived in Pittsburgh for a number of years, teaching at the University of Pittsburgh and at Chatham College.

Demas applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Daughters, with the following results:

From page 69:

Meredith hadn’t seen Wylie for several years, but even with his hair cut shorter (and by the looks of it, done by a barber rather than himself) and some grey in his mustache, he still looked like the gawky teenager who hadn’t gotten used to his newly acquired height, his arms too long for his sleeves.

“How’ve you been, Merry?” he asked.

“Not bad, and you?” She’d come out to the driveway after Wylie’s truck had pulled up. He always used to drive disreputable pickups, their bumpers plastered with so many stickers it looked as if that’s what held them together, but this was a new truck, clean enough to drive into the city.

“She prefers Meredith, now,” said Evan, then he added, “but around here, with family, she’s still Merry.”

“Do I count as family?” asked Wylie, and he gave her a smile that seemed a little sad too.

“Sure, why not?” she said. She stepped behind Eloise, put her hands on her daughter’s shoulders, and gave her a little nudge forward. “And this is Eloise.”

“Hi, Eloise,” said Wylie. “I heard about you from your uncle.”

“What did he say?”

“He said you were, let me see . . . ten years old?” He winked at Meredith.

The Page 69 Test works beautifully for Daughters. It gives readers a taste of the novel, and it’s the enticing opening page of Chapter 8 where Wylie first makes his entrance. Hints about him earlier in the novel suggest he will influence the course of the story.

Daughters centers on the relationship between Delia, a Suzuki violin teacher on the cusp of retirement, and her adult daughter, Meredith, an artist, who gave up playing the violin as a teenager, a sore point between them. Meredith has fled her home in L.A. and her marriage, and she turns up at her old home in New England—where Meredith’s mother and step-father still live--with her seven- year-old daughter, Eloise in tow.

Wylie is Meredith’s older brother Evan’s best friend, and she had a crush on him when she was younger. We suspect there might be something still going on between them. Earlier in the novel (page 16) when Eloise discovers a “good luck” rabbits foot on a key chain in her mother’s old bureau, Meredith reveals it was given to her by Wylie. Meredith “wasn’t ready to think about Wylie, but now that was impossible. She hadn’t let him know she was back, but he’d find out from Evan soon enough. And then what?”

The “then what?” is what fiction is all about. And here, on page 69, we see how things begin to unfold in Daughters.

In the chapter preceding page 69 we learn that Wylie is a controversial figure from Meredith’s past. When Delia hears that he’s coming over she “felt a little stirring of fear.” She wonders if Wylie has anything to do with Meredith’s leaving her husband, and is anxious about the possibility they could have a relationship now. One of the questions that fuels Daughters is how do mother/daughter dynamics change—or need to change- -when the daughter in question is now an adult.

Dialogue is an essential ingredient in Daughters, and page 69 is primarily dialogue. In this scene we get to witness the subtle sexual tension between Wylie and Meredith, and we also get to see Wylie meet Eloise for the first time. Wylie’s interactions with Eloise are crucial to the plot of the novel and influence whether he and Meredith have a chance for a future together. Of course we hope they do.

Visit Corinne Demas's website.

Q&A with Corinne Demas.

The Page 69 Test: The Road Towards Home.

My Book, The Movie: The Road Towards Home.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Deeper than the Ocean"

Born in Havana, Mirta Ojito is a journalist, professor, and author who has worked at the Miami Herald, El Nuevo Herald, and the New York Times. The recipient of an Emmy for the documentary Harvest of Misery as well as a shared Pulitzer for national reporting in 2001 for a series of articles about race in America for the New York Times, Ojito was an assistant professor of journalism at Columbia University for almost nine years. She is the author of two award-winning nonfiction books: Finding Mañana: A Memoir of a Cuban Exodus and Hunting Season: Immigration and Murder in an All-American Town. Currently, Ojito is a senior director on the NBC News Standards team working at Telemundo Network.

She applied the Page 69 Test to Deeper than the Ocean, her debut novel, and shared the following:

From page 69:

[My senses were on high alert as if I was covering a] protest or a revolution. I felt cold but was sweating. My mouth tasted like copper, and I realized I was chewing the inside of my cheek. I tried to bring my attention back to the phone now that I could finally hear my mother clearly.

“I was asking if you had found the place with the mulberry trees? I know what they are for,” my mother was saying.

The trees! Yes, of course. I had forgotten to google them.

“And what are they for?” I asked impatiently. It seemed somehow important, though I wasn’t sure why.

“They’re the only food silkworms eat. Apparently, they used to weave silk on the islands. Maybe that’s something to investigate, right?”

The answer both surprised and deflated me a little. Worms? Really? I was confused and my clothes were thoroughly drenched. Beyond the lobby windows, I could see the timid rays of the sun pushing through the dark clouds. The storm had passed as quickly as it had come. All was calm outside, but inside I felt strangely agitated.

Although page 69 in my book begins mid-sentence and continues for just a few more paragraphs of dialogue, the test works because it gives readers a sense of foreboding and a sense of the dynamic between two important characters. The page comes at the end of an intense and important scene in what, if the chapters were numbered, would be chapter 9.

My book is written in two voices -a contemporary one, the voice of Mara Denis, a 55-year-old freelance journalist who is searching for her family history in Spain’s Canary Islands- and that of Catalina Quintana, her elusive great grandmother who carries a secret that has haunted and altered the story of the family.

Chapter 9 is crucial because it describes the moment when Mara begins to uncover the clues that will eventually unravel the mystery of her grandmother. The scene described on page 69 gives the reader a glimpse of Mara’s relationship with her mother, and it alludes, somewhat, to her phobia of the sea. In this case, she is drenched because of a passing rainstorm, but she is agitated -a state that refers both to her reporter’s sense that she is about to discover something important (the sun pushing through the dark clouds) and to her ancestral fear of the water.

Visit Mirta Ojito's website.

My Book, The Movie: Deeper than the Ocean.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Scot's Eggs"

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, Scot's Eggs, and reported the following:

From page 69:

no reason for the killer not to leave the bodies there in the car.’

‘How can she know there was no reason to—?’ I said.

‘She can’t!’ said Kathi. ‘I’m not agreeing, I’m just reporting. She’s feeling hurt and helpless and she’d rather feel hurt and like she’s doing something. If she’s willing to pay us to find her mom and pop, who are we to turn down work?’

‘What am I missing?’ I said.

‘Highlighter, contouring, a really good blow-out, a well-fitting bra . . .’ said Todd. ‘Just kidding. Not. Yeah, Kathi, what are we missing? Because everything you’ve said so far sounds like we’d be taking money under false pretences from vulnerable people and probably getting arrested for interfering with a police investigation too.’

‘Not false pretences,’ said Kathi. Then she ruined it. ‘Not exactly. What I think we should do is defer the retainer until the case is closed to the Millers’ satisfaction. They’re going to think that means finding their mom and pop alive and well and rebuilding their iron levels on a tropical island. We know it means giving them proof that their parents are dead, even if it’s the cops who take over and work out whodunnit. I can live with that.’

‘But what makes you think we can do either quicker and better than Molly?’ I said.

‘For one thing, we’ll be trying,’ Kathi said. She held up a hand as I started to interrupt her. ‘I’m not saying Molly won’t be trying to solve the case; I’m sure she will, but she’ll be working for the deceased, the state, and her own promotion prospects. Not the kids. They’re orphaned in more ways than one.’

‘Like DC,’ I said. ‘Gotcha.’

‘What?’ said Kathi. ‘DC . . . Universe, you mean?’

‘If only she did,’ said Todd.

Page 69 strikes again! I think it's fair to say that anyone who's completely uninterested and unentertained by this page from Scot's Eggs probably wouldn't get much from the book as a whole. The page opens in the middle of one point and ends in the middle of another, but the people on page 69 are central to the series and we find them very much doing what they tend to do. There are two running jokes represented here too and a nod to an important recurrent character.

Trinity for Trouble is the PI wing of a complex joint business venture that also includes Trinity for You (make-overs), Trinity for Home (de-cluttering) and Trinity for Life (counselling). Todd, Kathi and Lexy (the narrator) do a lot of bickering as they solve crimes so the conversation they're having here is typical. Molly, referenced in this particular bicker-fest, is a detective in the local PD and one of my favourite characters outside the Last Ditch crew themselves.

One of the running jokes started in book one (when Todd caught sight of Lexy's knicker drawer and disapproved of her penchant for comfortable cotton) and will carry on as long as the series does. Scot's Eggs is book eight. The other running joke is Eggs-specific. In this novel, Lexy is studying for her US citizenship test, which includes learning the constitution. Much to the exasperation of her friends she finds shoe-horning in allusions to the amendments - here it's the twenty-third - is the best way to cement them in her memory. I had a lot of fun getting an amendment Easter egg into every chapter. This was one of the longer reaches. Some of them were just sitting there.

Visit Catriona McPherson's website.

The Page 69 Test: Go to My Grave.

Writers Read: Catriona McPherson (November 2018).

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.

The Page 69 Test: The Witching Hour.

Writers Read: Catriona McPherson (September 2024).

Writers Read: Catriona McPherson (December 2024).

The Page 69 Test: Scotzilla.

My Book, The Movie: Scotzilla.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife"

Martin Edwards has been described by Richard Osman as "a true master of British crime writing." His novels include the eight Lake District Mysteries and four books featuring Rachel Savernake, including the Dagger-nominated The Puzzle of Blackstone Lodge. He is also the author of two multi-award-winning histories of crime fiction, The Life of Crime and The Golden Age of Murder. He has received three Daggers, including the CWA Diamond Dagger (the highest honour in UK crime writing) and two Edgars from the Mystery Writers of America. He has received four lifetime achievement awards: for his fiction, short fiction, non-fiction, and scholarship. He is consultant to the British Library’s Crime Classics and since 2015 has been President of the Detection Club.

Edwards applied the Page 69 Test to his newest novel, Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife, and reported the following:

Of the 24 crime novels I’ve written, Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife is the trickiest when it comes to applying the Page 69 Test. In fact, it’s the trickiest book I’ve ever written in a variety of ways – above all, because it’s a novel about game-playing, which is garnished with puzzles. The idea was to create a twisty contemporary mystery novel in the finest Golden Age traditions, with a small group of guests and their hosts cut off from the outside world by snow in the village of Midwinter at Christmas. The book has an interactive element, so that readers can play along if they want to. They can do this in one or more of three ways. First, by following the Rules of the Game at the start of the book and trying to solve the main mystery; they can also check out how many clues they spotted because there’s a Cluefinder with page references (as they are in my Rachel Savernake historical mysteries). Second, by trying to solve the game that the six main characters are competing to win, a challenge set them by the mysterious Midwinter Trust. Third, by solving the incidental puzzles that are found in the first half of the book - before the body count in the village of Midwinter starts to rise.

With so much going on, no single page can capture every aspect of the story. Page 69 forms part of the main story – and I was always determined to make sure that, regardless of all the interactive ingredients of the book, it had to be a good read as a novel. On page 69 there’s a conversation between two of the key characters at Midwinter, Harry Crystal, a failed crime writer, and Baz Frederick, a podcaster. All the guests are connected with the publishing business and all have fallen on hard times. There are a lot of jokes about books and the world of writing. On page 69, there is a sense of fun and also danger, and that captures the spirit of Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife.

Visit Martin Edwards’s website.

Writers Read: Martin Edwards (April 2013).

The Page 69 Test: The Frozen Shroud.

The Page 69 Test: Dancing for the Hangman.

The Page 99 Test: The Arsenic Labyrinth.

The Page 99 Test: Waterloo Sunset.

My Book, The Movie: Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife.

Writers Read: Martin Edwards.

Q&A with Martin Edwards.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Hear Her Howl"

Kim DeRose writes dark, magical stories about strong, magical girls for teens and former teens.

She is the author of Hear Her Howl and For Girls Who Walk Through Fire, which was selected for ALA’s 2025 Rise: A Feminist Book Project List, received a starred review from School Library Journal, praise from Kirkus Reviews and Booklist, and was the recipient of the 2024 Millikin Medal for Excellence in Young Adult Fiction.

She grew up in Santa Barbara, California, earned her MFA in film directing from UCLA, and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY as a recovering Catholic and ex-good girl.

DeRose applied the Page 69 Test to Hear Her Howl with the following results:

I was familiar with this test, having done it for my debut, For Girls Who Walk Through Fire, but it was really interesting to once again do it for Hear Her Howl.

On page 69 we are with our main character, Rue Holloway (who has been sent away by her mother to an all-girl’s Catholic boarding school for kissing another girl) and Charlotte Savage (the school’s rebellious outcast, who is Rue’s semi-foe but soon-to-be love interest) as they are approached by Mother Superior. Rue has secretly acted out, and the school has blamed Charlotte, and in this moment we discover whether or not Rue is going to fess up and clear Charlotte’s name.

While this scene doesn’t tell you the full story of Hear Her Howl (for example, we have no idea about why Rue has been sent away, or the book's speculative element, i.e. that the girls within this book are reclaiming their wild and can or will turn into wolves), what it does reveal is a pivotal turning point between Rue and Charlotte - and their relationship is central to the book. It also establishes the strict system that they are both operating within, in the form of Mother Superior. And, without giving any plot points away, this page also leaves us with a big question about how things are going to move forward between Rue and Charlotte.

Visit Kim DeRose's website.

Q&A with Kim DeRose.

The Page 69 Test: For Girls Who Walk through Fire.

My Book, The Movie: For Girls Who Walk through Fire.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Deadly Trade"

Sara Driscoll is the pen name of Jen J. Danna, coauthor of the Abbott and Lowell Forensic Mysteries and author of the FBI K-9 Mysteries and NYPD Negotiators series. After over 30 years in infectious diseases research, Danna hung up her lab coat to concentrate on her real love—writing “exceptional” thrillers (Publishers Weekly). She is a member of the Crime Writers of Canada and lives with her husband and four rescued cats outside of Toronto, Ontario.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her latest FBI K-9s novel, Deadly Trade, and shared the following:

From page 69:

“How fast will it work?”

“Within a couple of minutes. Once I’m sure it’s stopped, I’ll hydrate and bag this one.”

Todd walked back to the circle of the clearing. “Meg called it, then? We’re looking at wildlife trafficking?”

“Definitely,” Byrne agreed. “And it’s not the first we’ve seen of it here.”

“Most people think of wildlife trafficking as the trade in animal parts,” said Hale. “Rhinoceros horns, shark fins, bear gallbladders. Many of these animal parts are used in Eastern medicine or are considered delicacies. But what happens is animals are killed, or worse, stripped of those parts and left to die a slow and agonizing death. We don’t have as much of that happening here because we’re a remote archipelago. Our wildlife either flew, swam, or were brought here as an invasive species. We don’t have the kind of desirable land mammals a lot of wildlife trafficking revolves around. We don’t have pangolins, rhinoceroses, or elephants. We do, however, have seahorses and endangered sea turtles. Then there’s the birds.”

“They’re trafficking the birds for parts?” Meg asked.

“It’s not all about parts of animals.” Hale came to stand behind Byrne, his eyes on her hands. “There are streams of wildlife trafficking. Some animals are used as food delicacies—shark fin soup, pangolin meat, or eels as unagi, a celebratory treat that’s supposed to increase stamina. Some are used in medicine—bear gallbladders, seahorses, and pangolin scales, bones, and heads.”

“Sounds like it’s unlucky to be a pangolin,” Todd murmured.

“It’s why they’re nearly extinct.” Byrne’s tone was scathing. “It’s a tragedy. And their value is incredibly overblown. There’s no scientific evidence it’s effective medicine, yet they continue to die.”

Deadly Trade passes the Page 69 Test with flying colors as it strikes at the heart of the novel—wildlife trafficking.

Meg Jennings and her new husband Todd Webb are on their Hawaiian honeymoon with Meg’s search-and-rescue canine, Hawk. Their first week is spent in relaxed seclusion on Lanai, but then they fly to the Big Island to delve into the island’s natural beauty and to start working out so they don’t lose their edge as a K-9 team or firefighter, respectively. But trouble always seems to find them, and in the middle of a remote fern forest on the eastern slope of Mauna Loa, Hawk alerts to something alarming. Not able to ignore the alert in case Hawk is sensing someone in trouble, they investigate and find themselves coming face-to-face with wildlife traffickers attempting to capture and bag endangered birds for a buyer on the black market.

Local FBI and US Fish and Wildlife agents are called in after the traffickers scatter, and while the wildlife agent works to rehydrate and stabilize injured birds, the teams discuss the issue of wildlife trafficking in Hawaii. This is where we are on page 69, as Special Agent Jeremy Hale, an agent of Hawaiian descent out of the Honolulu field office, explains wildlife trafficking as the world knows it. He then goes on to describe the trade in exotic birds, the rarer the better. Hawaii is the extinction capitol of the world and is a target for bad actors who dabble in the capture of extremely endangered species, selling the creatures to the highest bidder, lining their pockets while pushing species ever closer to extinction.

Sadly, this is not a fictitious issue. Real species are under threat not only from loss of habitat and climate change, but from wildlife traffickers looking to make sky-high profits no matter the cost. Deadly Trade is an exciting thriller, but it also offers a glimpse into a horrifying, all-too- real ongoing crisis alongside the hope given by those who fight against it.

Visit Sara Driscoll's website.

The Page 69 Test: Lone Wolf.

The Page 69 Test: Storm Rising.

The Page 69 Test: No Man's Land.

The Page 69 Test: Leave No Trace.

The Page 69 Test: That Others May Live.

The Page 69 Test: Echoes of Memory.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Ganymedan"

Originally from Nigeria, R.T. Ester moved to the United States in 1998 and, catching the creative bug early on, studied art with a focus on design. While working full time as a graphic designer, he began to write speculative fiction in his spare time and, since then, has had stories published in Interzone and Clarkesworld.

Ester applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, The Ganymedan, and reported the following:

From page 69:

The guide was saying something about the protein manufacturer that owned most of the factory buildings. Minutes elapsed while he prattled parrot-like in V-Dot’s ear. They zipped past water towers and power plants, past new housing developments erected shoddily over what had been public parks, past storage facilities, shops with heavy foot traffic in and out of them, hospital buildings, train stations with long lines of passengers waiting to board.

They passed between a row of spokes reaching like monoliths toward the hub. The guide waved back at children inside a lift car going up a spoke. A beamcar overtook them. Then another. V-Dot began to plot his escape from this one.

This is a passage from page 69 of the paperback copy of The Ganymedan, and I would say it paints a good picture of the wider work, but only in broad strokes. On its own, it maybe gives the impression that the story's antagonist might be a protein manufacturer, which at least sounds like something the actual antagonist may have controlled through an investment company. The lift car in a spoke and the mention of a 'beamcar' will probably drive away anyone in the science fiction aisle by accident, so I think it succeeds as well.

In a way, The Ganymedan is about people plotting their escape from all kinds of vehicles. V-Dot has his own method, and the contrast between how he goes about it and how other characters he encounters find their own escape is something I tried to explore here and there.

Visit R.T. Ester's website.

Writers Read: R.T. Ester.

--Marshal Zeringue

"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