specialized recording equipment, checks remote cameras, creates maps, and undertakes wildlife surveys to determine what species are present on preserves, while ensuring there are no signs of poaching. She’s surveyed for the presence of grizzlies, wolves, wolverines, jaguars, endangered bats, and more.
Henderson applied the Page 69 Test to her latest Alex Carter mystery thriller, The Vanishing Kind, and reported the following:
On page 69 of The Vanishing Kind, my protagonist Alex Carter, a wildlife biologist, has just helped drive off a dangerous group of anti-immigrant vigilantes from an archaeological dig site. The police have responded and she's giving her account of what happened. She hopes they'll be able to track down the dangerous men. In the meantime, after checking on the archaeology team and saying her goodbyes, she heads back into the wilderness of the New Mexico wildlife sanctuary where she's been tasked with locating elusive jaguars.Visit Alice Henderson's website.
I think page 69 would give readers an excellent idea of the whole work. It hints to the action that has just preceded the scene, and shows Alex as a caring, brave person who will stand up to injustice. It also describes the sanctuary where she's at work, giving readers a sense of the nature that suffuses the book:Then she continued on, hiking through a juniper forest and climbing up to the top of a steep plateau. A space between the trunks of Mexican piñon pines allowed her a glimpse at the dry valleys below. She pulled at the collar of her T-shirt, fanning it, inviting a breeze. The heat clung to her, pressing in on her.This depiction of nature that carries throughout the book is very important to me, as I want to share my love of wilderness with readers, and even inspire them to get outside to our amazing natural spaces.
--Marshal Zeringue
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