The Page 69 Test: "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.