What is Eva Gates reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Eva Gates, author of Whose Body in the Library: A Lighthouse Library Mystery.

Her entry begins:

It’s been a great spring so far for reading. Two of my favourite writers have new books out, one right after the other. And they did not disappoint.

Last One Out by Jane Harper:

Jane Harper’s books are set in different parts of Australia, and the sense of place is outstanding. This is not a thriller and it's certainly not a cozy. It's more about people and community and what happens when people lose that community than the details of the plot itself, although it is a good one....[read on]

About Whose Body in the Library, from the publisher:

A new librarian’s first day goes terribly wrong when she finds a dead body on the front steps of the library.

In the thirteenth installment of the beloved Lighthouse Library mysteries, a new character takes the reins.

While Lucy McNeil is enjoying her new job as the mother of twin boys and library director, new librarian Nichelle Gilchrest has just arrived at the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library, reporting for duty. But life throws a wrench on Nichelle’s first day when she finds a body on the steps—a body that bears a startling resemblance to her father, who disappeared on a fishing trip to the Outer Banks thirty-eight years ago.

Fingerprints confirm the dead body is indeed Nichelle’s father, now living in Nags Head under the name Brian Saunders. Brian had been befriending older lonely women in exchange for money, but was he working alone?

Detective Rhonda Thomas is on the case, and the suspect list is only getting longer. Sorting through the wronged women and their relatives, Detective Thomas discovers Nichelle’s own brother, Brad, had been in Nags Head a few days before the murder happened and has been lying about his whereabouts.

Hoping to clear her brother’s name, Nichelle decides to investigate what happened. With seasoned sleuth Lucy’s gentle encouragement for the amateur, Nichelle is in for an exciting and dangerous first week at the library.

Follow Eva Gates on Facebook, and visit Vicki Delany's website.

The Page 69 Test: Death By Beach Read.

Writers Read: Eva Gates (June 2022).

The Page 69 Test: Death Knells and Wedding Bells.

Writers Read: Eva Gates (June 2023).

Writers Read: Eva Gates (May 2024).

The Page 69 Test: The Stranger in the Library.

The Page 69 Test: Shot Through the Book.

The Page 69 Test: Whose Body in the Library.

Writers Read: Eva Gates.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten books that bring back the magic of the ’80s

At Oprah Daily Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorne tagged ten standout "books about the nightlife scene, late-night culture, and comedy of the ’80s." One title on their list:

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The name Taylor Jenkins Reid—or TJR, as her fans call her—has become synonymous with immersive, unforgettable historical fiction, and this ’80s surf saga is no exception. Set during the course of one night in a Malibu mansion that meets its end in a catastrophic fire, Malibu Rising primarily focuses on the Rivas, a dynastic surfer family of four very different adult siblings, each of whom has captured the public’s fascination and each of whom holds closely guarded secrets from the others. Featuring a captivating blend of partying actors, artists, athletes, and musicians, this juicy novel showcases the Hollywood side of the ’80s fame machine to spectacular, dishy effect.

Read about another entry on the list.

Malibu Rising is among Sara Ackerman's seven top books that feature surfing, Olivia Petter's five top novels that examine celebrity culture, Shilpi Somaya Gowda's ten novels with rotating perspectives, Laura Griffin's seven suspense titles in which paradise is not what it seems, and María Amparo Escandón's eight top books about living in Los Angeles.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Craig S. Simpson's "Television is Where You Find It"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Television Is Where You Find It: A History of Feature Filmmakers in TV by Craig S. Simpson.

About the book, from the publisher:

Television Is Where You Find It is a revelatory journey into the overlooked world of feature filmmakers who brought their cinematic vision to the small screen between 1955 and 1990―long before directing for television became trendy in the age of “Prestige TV.” With ten compelling case studies―from legends like Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch, and Orson Welles to trailblazers like Ida Lupino, Melvin Van Peebles, and Martin Scorsese―author Craig S. Simpson uncovers how these directors reshaped the language of television with style and imagination.

Far from simply dabbling in a “lesser” medium, these filmmakers pushed the boundaries of what TV could do, crafting bold, innovative work that challenges the old notion that television belongs solely to writers and producers. In this fresh, critical study, Television Is Where You Find It makes a case for rediscovering and reevaluating a rich chapter of television history―one in which cinematic artistry quietly flourished, often hidden in plain sight.

Learn more about Television Is Where You Find It at the Rutgers University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Television Is Where You Find It.

--Marshal Zeringue

Thirteen top mysteries and thrillers from 2025

NPR staff and critics tagged thirteen of the best mysteries and thrillers from 2025. One title on the list:

The Stalker, by Paula Bomer

The antihero of Paula Bomer's novel is Doughty, a liar, misogynist and dyed-in-the-wool sociopath who manages to fail upward by preying on women who fall for his deceit. The novel chronicles his time in New York City, where he hurts everyone he can, with no semblance of guilt or even basic humanity. This is, in part, a darkly funny novel, and Bomer walks a fine line brilliantly – the moments of humor don't detract from the book's important themes.
— Michael Schaub, book critic

Read about another novel on the list.

The Page 69 Test: The Stalker.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Eva Gates's "Whose Body in the Library"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Whose Body in the Library: A Lighthouse Library Mystery by Eva Gates.

About the novel, from the publisher:

A new librarian’s first day goes terribly wrong when she finds a dead body on the front steps of the library.

In the thirteenth installment of the beloved Lighthouse Library mysteries, a new character takes the reins.

While Lucy McNeil is enjoying her new job as the mother of twin boys and library director, new librarian Nichelle Gilchrest has just arrived at the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library, reporting for duty. But life throws a wrench on Nichelle’s first day when she finds a body on the steps—a body that bears a startling resemblance to her father, who disappeared on a fishing trip to the Outer Banks thirty-eight years ago.

Fingerprints confirm the dead body is indeed Nichelle’s father, now living in Nags Head under the name Brian Saunders. Brian had been befriending older lonely women in exchange for money, but was he working alone?

Detective Rhonda Thomas is on the case, and the suspect list is only getting longer. Sorting through the wronged women and their relatives, Detective Thomas discovers Nichelle’s own brother, Brad, had been in Nags Head a few days before the murder happened and has been lying about his whereabouts.

Hoping to clear her brother’s name, Nichelle decides to investigate what happened. With seasoned sleuth Lucy’s gentle encouragement for the amateur, Nichelle is in for an exciting and dangerous first week at the library.

Follow Eva Gates on Facebook, and visit Vicki Delany's website.

The Page 69 Test: Death By Beach Read.

Writers Read: Eva Gates (June 2022).

The Page 69 Test: Death Knells and Wedding Bells.

Writers Read: Eva Gates (June 2023).

Writers Read: Eva Gates (May 2024).

The Page 69 Test: The Stranger in the Library.

The Page 69 Test: Shot Through the Book.

The Page 69 Test: Whose Body in the Library.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five excellent near-future sci-fi novels

At Book Riot Liberty Hardy tagged five “great near-future novels that may be coming soon to a reality near you!" One entry on the list:

The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami

This recent novel is similar to 1984 and its Thought Police because it depicts a surveillance state in which people are locked up for their dreams. While going through airport security, Sara is pulled out of line by the Risk Assessment Administration. They tell her that according to data from her dreams, she is going to commit a crime against her husband. Sara is swiftly locked up in the Dream Hotel with other unfairly accused women, and months go by with no hope of leaving. That is, until a new resident arrives with ideas for fighting back.

Read about another title on the list.

The Dream Hotel is among the Christian Science Monitor's top twenty-five books for 2025 and Fred Lunzer's ten realist novels that integrate futuristic topics.

--Marshal Zeringue

Peter Colt's "The Driftwood Bones," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: The Driftwood Bones (Detective Tommy Kelly) by Peter Colt.

The entry begins:

If my book were a movie there are several characters I would like to see cast.

The protagonist Tommy Kelly is State Police Detective, who is a hot mess. His marriage is over, his love life is a mess, his career is on the ropes and he's been exiled to Nantucket Island by the State Police. I want an actor who can portray Kelly and his problems without turning it into the cliched "divorced, alcoholic" cop performance. I can see two potential leading men playing Kelly, Alexander Skarsgård, who gives outstanding performances in Generation Kill and Murderbot. Or Milo Ventimiglia whose performance in the series This Is Us shows the range he is capable of. Both actors could convincingly play a troubled police detective without turning it into a cliche.

The second character I want to see cast is Detective Jo Harris. Jo is neither a sidekick nor a typical film love interest. She is...[read on]

Visit Peter Colt's website.

My Book, The Movie: Back Bay Blues.

The Page 69 Test: Back Bay Blues.

Q&A with Peter Colt.

The Page 69 Test: Death at Fort Devens.

My Book, The Movie: Death at Fort Devens.

Writers Read: Peter Colt (June 2022).

My Book, The Movie: The Ambassador.

The Page 69 Test: The Ambassador.

The Page 69 Test: The Judge.

My Book, The Movie: The Judge.

Writers Read: Peter Colt (May 2024).

Writers Read: Peter Colt (March 2025).

My Book, The Movie: The Banker.

The Page 69 Test: The Banker.

The Page 69 Test: Cold Island.

Writers Read: Peter Colt (September 2025).

My Book, The Movie: Cold Island.

My Book, The Movie: The Driftwood Bones.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine queer books in which animals take on a mythical importance

Joseph Osmundson is a scientist and writer. His research has been published in leading scientific journals including Cell, PNAS, and most recently, Nature Communications. His writing has been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. His previous book Virology was a finalist for the NBCC and Lambda Literary Awards in Nonfiction. His latest book is Spawning Season: An Experiment in Queer Parenthood.

At Electric Lit Osmundson tagged nine "books by queer writers [in which] animals play an essential, mythical role, inextricable from the narrator or the story." One entry on the list:

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

I only read Moby Dick recently, as a middle-aged bisexual man, and, wow, it’s the gayest book I’ve ever read. I’m glad I didn’t attempt it as a pre-queer high school kid, as so much of the queerness of the text—not the subtext, the text itself—might not have landed for me. I don’t know how to write a list about queer animal books without including Moby Dick, in which Melville details the ill-fated search for Ahab’s white whale, famously a fish. From the opening scene of Ishmael sharing a bed with Queequeg and waking as “his wife” to the orgasmic definitely-not-sex the whalers share as they extract spermaceti from the head of a sperm whale by sperm squeezing, not only does the white whale represent the hubris of man against nature, but the all-male ship becomes a space wherein the desire for touch becomes not just allowed but a part of the labor:

Squeeze! Squeeze! Squeeze! All the morning long; I squeezed that sperm till I myself almost melted into it; I squeezed the sperm till a strange sort of insanity came over me; and I found myself unwittingly squeezing my co-laborers’ hands in it, mistaking their hands for the gentle globules.

There are two wolves inside me, and they are both gay, and their names are Ishmael and Queequeg.

Read about another book on the list.

Moby-Dick appears among Daniel Poppick's seven books about work, GQ's green flag books, Eiren Caffall's ten titles on maritime disasters and ecological collapse, Emily Temple's ten notorious literary slogs that are worth the effort, Aidan Cottrell-Boyce's top ten novels & stories about prophets, James Stavridis's five best books to know the sea, Robert McCrum's top ten Shakespearean books, Bridget Collins's top ten Quakers in fiction, John Boyne's six best books, Kate Christensen's best food scenes in fiction, Emily Temple's ten literary classics we're supposed to like...but don't, Sara Flannery Murphy ten top stories of obsession, Harold Bloom's six favorite books that helped shape "the American Sublime,"  Charlotte Seager's five well-known literary monomaniacs who take things too far, Ann Leary's top ten books set in New England, Martin Seay's ten best long books, Ian McGuire's ten best adventure novels, Jeff Somers's five top books that will expand your vocabulary and entertain, Four books that changed Mary Norris, Tim Dee's ten best nature books, the Telegraph's fifteen best North American novels of all time, Nicole Hill's top ten best names in literature to give your dog, Horatio Clare's five favorite maritime novels, the Telegraph's ten great meals in literature, Brenda Wineapple's six favorite books, Scott Greenstone's top seven allegorical novels, Paul Wilson's top ten books about disability, Lynn Shepherd's ten top fictional drownings, Peter Murphy's top ten literary preachers, Penn Jillette's six favorite books, Peter F. Stevens's top ten nautical books, Katharine Quarmby's top ten disability stories, Jonathan Evison's six favorite books, Bella Bathurst's top 10 books on the sea, John Mullan's lists of ten of the best nightmares in literature and ten of the best tattoos in literature, Susan Cheever's five best books about obsession, Christopher Buckley's best books, Jane Yolen's five most important books, Chris Dodd's best books, Augusten Burroughs' five most important books, Norman Mailer's top ten works of literature, David Wroblewski's five most important books, Russell Banks' five most important books, and Philip Hoare's top ten books about whales.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Kieran J. O'Keefe's "Suffering for the Crown"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Suffering for the Crown: The Hudson Valley Loyalists and the Violence of Revolution by Kieran J. O'Keefe.

About the book, from the publisher:

A groundbreaking look at the chaos and carnage of the American Revolution at the local level

In many respects, the American Revolution was a civil war, pitting Americans loyal to the Crown against other Americans loyal to the vision of a new nation they sought to create. Neighbor fought against neighbor, brother against brother, father against son. One of the epicenters of this desperate struggle was New York’s Hudson Valley.

In Suffering for the Crown, Kieran O’Keefe offers an in-depth, long-term look at what many scholars consider the most fiercely contested region of the entire conflict, analyzing the effects of violence on Loyalist communities―which included white, Black, and Native peoples―in stunning detail. O’Keefe reveals the brutal reality of the war and examines its enduring psychological and social legacies, providing readers with a nuanced understanding of the Revolution’s human cost. Caught up in this crucible, he shows, suffering became central to how Loyalists came to define themselves and their ordeal, as the dark side of the nation’s birth fundamentally and permanently reshaped American civil society.

Learn more about Suffering for the Crown at the University of Virginia Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Suffering for the Crown.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Linda Kass reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Linda Kass, author of the forthcoming World News from Waverley High: A Novel.

Her entry begins:

I recently picked up The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits after receiving an email invite from Al Filreis, a Faculty Director at UPenn’s Kelly Writers House, to join a small book group to discuss this novel in in the fall—I must have been on their mailing list. While I couldn’t participate, my interest to read the book, shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize, was piqued. This is a tender story about a middle-aged man fighting illness and marital woe who heads on a road trip, east to west. Tom Layward, a 55-year-old academic, is at a crossroads in his life. When his wife had an affair twelve years earlier, he vowed to leave her as soon as his youngest child left the nest. The story takes place at the time when daughter Miri is headed for Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, and Tom and wife Amy are not on good terms. His decision to keep driving after dropping Miri off at school is an impulsive act for Tom, a man of reason. As Tom keeps driving west, he visits people from his past—an old college friend, his ex-girlfriend, his brother, his son. As he moves toward some unknown future during this extended road trip, he...[read on]

About World News from Waverley High, from the publisher:

A tale of identity, activism, and finding your voice in a world on fire, this coming-of-age novel set at an urban high school captures a singular moment in American history—through the eyes of one unforgettable girl.

1969. Lena Rosen is an intelligent, observant teenager torn between spontaneity and self-consciousness. During her junior year, she becomes attuned to the pulse of her times in her first-period Current History class, where rebellion, social change, and musical innovation of the 1960s dominate discussion. When Lena becomes the associate editor of the school newspaper The Beacon, she is drawn into the swirling discourse surrounding the Vietnam War, civil rights, environmental disasters, and campus protests—while also grappling with her growing attraction to Jack Stone, the paper’s editor.

As the year progresses and the antiwar movement gains momentum, the unrest builds at Waverley High. Lena wrestles with her own cultural and religious identity as a Jewish teen while she and her fellow students struggle to cope with racial discord, a bomb threat, and the emotional toll of a world that seems to be unraveling. When tragedy collapses the distance between headlines and Lena’s own life, she must decide what it means to stand for peace—and to hope for a better world.

Set during one school year against the backdrop of an America on the brink of change, World News from Waverley High reveals the crossroads of personal growth and national unrest.

Visit Linda Kass's website.

Writers Read: Linda Kass.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five mysteries that skewer the worlds of wellness & self-help

Asia Mackay is the author of A Serial Killer's Guide to Marriage and two additional novels published in the UK. After a career in television in China, she returned to London, where she worked for Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman on their round-the-world motorbike documentaries. She started writing her debut novel, Killing It, on maternity leave—it was the runner-up in Richard and Judy's Search for a Bestseller competition and runner-up and exceptionally recognized for the Comedy Women In Print Prize.

Mackay's latest novel is Self-Help for Serial Killers.

At CrimeReads the author tagged five "excellent books [that] focus on what happens when the wellness world and the criminal world collide." One title on the list:

Liane Moriarty, Nine Perfect Strangers

Masha is the enigmatic leader of Tranquillum House, a luxury wellness resort. Nine city-dwelling strangers arrive at Tanquillum to de-stress, sweat out their inner demons and realign their chakras. But Masha is a wellness guru who doesn’t just practice mindfulness, she weaponizes it.

Using the core pillars of a wellness retreat—confiscating phones, restricting food, and mandating silence—she manipulates them into compliance, turning a practice meant for inner peace into a tool for total psychological dominance. The strangers might have come there to find ‘better versions of themselves’ but now they must fight to leave the way they came—alive.

Read about another entry on the list.

Nine Perfect Strangers is among Benjamin Percy's five titles about dangerous plants and Sherri Smith's six thrillers that feature toxic perfectionism.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Chloe Chapin's "Suitable"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Suitable: The Sartorial Revolution and the Fashioning of Modern Men by Chloe Chapin.

About the book, from the publisher:

The surprising story of how the plain black suit became a symbol of masculinity, democracy, and modernity.

How did black suits become so ubiquitous? Why has men's business clothing been so plain for the last 250 years? How did a style adopted by the Founding Fathers to differentiate themselves from European contemporaries become the dominant style for men around the globe?

Suitable traces the shift from the colorful, flamboyant attire of the eighteenth century to the plain dark suit of the nineteenth century, characterizing this style evolution as a "Sartorial Revolution." In this book, American historian and costume designer Chloe Chapin traces the evolution of masculine style from the American Revolution through the Civil War and shows how men's suits shaped relationships of gender and power. Drawing on a wealth of visual and written sources, she shows how the plainness of suits symbolized new ideals of rationality and democracy and played a crucial role in framing the lasting identity and authority of American men. This richly illustrated book analyzes fashion history's impact on gender dynamics and emphasizes the dynamic relationships between bodies, clothing, and personal identity.

Suitable demonstrates the significance of fashion beyond mere appearance, illustrating the key role modern men's suits have played in shaping the modern world.

Visit Chloe Chapin's website.

The Page 99 Test: Suitable.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Tracy Lynne Oliver's "Magician"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Magician by Tracy Lynne Oliver.

About the novel, from the publisher:

A dark magic debut novel featuring the Boy who becomes the Magician and the villainous Mother whose sadism might end it all—for fans of Our Share of Night and The Changeling

First, he is a Boy, born to a Mother who cannot abide his existence. Despite her torments, the Boy finds a way to survive and create a small space for himself in the world.

The Boy endures unspeakable cruelties, saved only by a mysterious magic that intervenes in moments of need: magic he learns is his to command. When he finally escapes the Mother, a beguiling circus troupe welcomes him into their family and the Boy begins to imagine a life beyond survival, one where circus lions roar and enchanted forests spiral far into the distance. For the first time, he discovers chosen family, community, and love. He eagerly apprentices under the circus’s conjurer—only to realize his gifts far outstrip his mentor’s. Thus the Boy becomes the Magician. But as ambition bends his power, a primal threat stalks, determined to destroy not just the Magician, but all he holds dear.

Echoing the fairytale cadence of Helen Oyeyemi and Gerardo Sámano Córdova’s disquieting excavation of grief and trauma, Tracy Lynne Oliver has created a spellbinding world of twisted patriarchal darkness and a powerful magic that threatens to consume everyone, including its wielder. A debut novel of uncommon accomplishment, Magician establishes its author as a new voice that will hold readers rapt.

Visit Tracy Lynne Oliver's website.

Q&A with Tracy Lynne Oliver.

Writers Read: Tracy Lynne Oliver.

The Page 69 Test: Magician.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven top dark academia thrillers

Ande Pliego began writing stories when she discovered she could actually wield her overactive imagination for good. A lover of stories with teeth, she writes books involving mind games, dark humor, general murder and mayhem, and most importantly, finding the hope in the dark.

When not reading or writing, she can usually be found dabbling in art, scheming up her next trip, or making constant expeditions to the library. Born in Florida, raised in France, and having left footprints all over the globe, Pliego is settled in the Pacific Northwest, USA, with her craftsman husband and little son.

She is the bestselling author of You Are Fatally Invited and The Library After Dark.

At Oprah Daily the author tagged seven top dark academia thrillers. One title on the list:

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl

The award for one of the most brilliantly plotted and uniquely executed novels has to go to Marisha Pessl’s debut. Incredibly layered, peppered with references to classical literature, history, and the humanities, this is a character-driven story for academia lovers, pure and simple.

After an unusual childhood bouncing from place to place for her eccentric father’s academic career, Blue van Meer and her father finally settle in one spot for her entire senior year. Under the keen eye of a magnetic teacher, the precocious teenager becomes enmeshed in a group of friends as eccentric as she is. The coming-of-age story shifts into a murder mystery when Blue stumbles upon the body of their beloved teacher, and she discovers the darker ways friendship, family, and academia can collide. With sumptuous prose and poignant descriptions you can make a meal of, this is the kind of book you can read again and again, unraveling new pieces of the mystery each time.

Read about another thriller on the list.

Special Topics in Calamity Physics is among Tom Ryan's top six adult novels featuring young sleuths, Caroline Wolff's seven mysterious & unsettling novels set on campuses, Erin Mayer's eleven disturbing cliques in literature, Kiley Reid’s five top novels with incredible child caregivers and Brian Boone's fifty essential high school stories.

The Page 69 Test: Special Topics in Calamity Physics.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Shana Galen

From my Q&A with Shana Galen, author of A Shop Girl's Guide to Wooing a Lord:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

A Shop Girl’s Guide to Wooing a Lord tells readers exactly what they are getting in this book. It’s a class divide romance featuring a lower-class woman and an upper-class man. Of course, there is so much more to the book than this trope, but my publishing team and I saw the title as a window into one of the central conflicts in the novel. When you’re titling a book set in the past, additional points to consider are what words were in use in that time and whether those words are still in use today and how much the connotation of those words has changed. For example, as the book opens the female main character sells flowers for a living; she’s a flower girl. But today a flower girl is a little girl who scatters flowers before the bride walks down the aisle, so that description wouldn’t work. There’s a lot of brainstorming and discussion and trial and error before...[read on]

Visit Shana Galen's website.

The Page 69 Test: A Shop Girl's Guide to Wooing a Lord.

Q&A with Shana Galen.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six historical fiction novels set in the Middle East

Katie Moench is a librarian, runner, and lover of baked goods. A school librarian in the Upper Midwest, Moench lives with her husband and dog and spends her free time drinking coffee, trying new recipes, and adding to her TBR list.

At Book Riot she tagged six historical fiction titles set in the Middle East, including:

The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer

Set during and after the Iranian Revolution, this book begins when rare gem dealer Isaac Amin is arrested on suspicion of being a spy. As Isaac navigates the terror of prison, his family must try and keep their life together while desperately trying to find him and navigate a society where they are no longer able to trust those around them. Through one family’s story, readers see the history of the Iranian revolution and its long-term impacts within Iran and within the Iranian diaspora.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Sarah M. S. Pearsall's "Freedom Round the Globe"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Freedom Round the Globe: A World History of the American Revolution by Sarah M. S. Pearsall.

About the book, from the publisher:

In a groundbreaking global exploration of the ideas that drove the American Revolution, a prize-winning historian shines a light on the defiance of marginalized peoples all over the world.

In her powerful new history of the American Revolution, Sarah M. S. Pearsall argues that the American Founding Fathers did not have a unique claim on the revolutionary spirit. The thirteen colonies that became the United States, she reminds us, were not even half of the British colonies that existed in the eighteenth century. In her sparkling and original Freedom Round the Globe, Pearsall uncovers the insurgents, freedom lovers, and dreamers in India, West Africa, North America, Europe, China, and West Indian islands who shaped the nature of American rebellion and nationhood.

In each fresh and compelling chapter of Freedom Round the Globe, Pearsall plucks a keyword from the Declaration of Independence—security, happiness, respect– finding its spark in a far-flung place. In an Edinburgh club where women were first invited into philosophical conversations, she explores what the pursuit of happiness meant to women and men of all sorts. She traces how novel forms of slavery provoked a new use of the word liberty in Connecticut petitions as well as in cries of “liberty or death.” On a Kolkata street where Indians protested relentless taxes, Pearsall finds a critique of oppressive imperial government that galvanized Americans in their protests and parties against the tea of the English East India Company. In rural Germany, boy soldiers sent abroad to die for Britain complicate who can lay claim to being civilized in a brutal war.

In telling the extraordinary tales of Friends of Liberty protesting tyranny around the world, Pearsall restores these individuals and movements to their rightful place in the vital story of the American Revolution and the nation it created. The result is a stirring and surprising revisioning of our history.

Learn more about the book at the publisher's website.

The Page 99 Test: Polygamy: An Early American History.

The Page 99 Test: Freedom Round the Globe.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six top crime fiction books set in Florida

Erica Wright's novel Hollow Bones, a contemporary retelling of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, came out in 2024. Daniela Petrova called it a "twisty and engrossing thriller." Snake was released as part of Bloomsbury's Object Lessons series. Her mystery Famous in Cedarville received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and was called "a clever little whodunnit" in The New York Times Book Review. She is the author of five other books, including the poetry collections Instructions for Killing the Jackal and All the Bayou Stories End with Drowned. Her poems have appeared in Blackbird, Denver Quarterly, New Orleans Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. Wright was the senior poetry editor at Guernica Magazine for more than a decade and currently teaches at Bellevue University. Her latest novel is The Museum of Unusual Occurrence.

[My Book, The Movie: Famous in Cedarville; The Page 99 Test: Snake; Q&A with Erica Wright]

At Novel Suspects Wright tagged some her favorite crime fiction books set in Florida, including:

Lightwood by Steph Post

Lightwood is the first of Steph Post’s Judah Cannon trilogy, a masterclass in Southern noir. After being released from prison, Judah is determined to straighten up and fly right. His crime-happy family has other ideas and soon ropes him into a robbery. As if angering a local biker gang isn’t bad enough, that gang is also in cahoots with an unhinged Pentecostal preacher named Sister Tulah. When she’s not handling snakes or drinking poison, she’s building a crime empire. Post uses her Central Florida backdrop to great affect, the heat radiating off her carefully plotted pages.

Read about another entry on the list.

My Book, The Movie: Lightwood.

The Page 69 Test: Lightwood.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Tracy Lynne Oliver reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Tracy Lynne Oliver, author of Magician.

Her entry begins:

Have you ever heard the name Ingo Swann? He was a man that worked with a ‘deep black’ agency that handled UFO’s, aliens on the moon and telepathic mind control. Ingo Swann was an extraordinarily talented remote viewer which means he can be given ‘targets’ which he can access with his mind. These targets can be physically located here on earth or even other planets. The book is called, Penetration: The Question of Extraterrestrial and Human Telepathy. I love shit like this. And, after reading, well, let’s just say, what he saw on other planets...[read on]

About Magician, from the publisher:

A dark magic debut novel featuring the Boy who becomes the Magician and the villainous Mother whose sadism might end it all—for fans of Our Share of Night and The Changeling

First, he is a Boy, born to a Mother who cannot abide his existence. Despite her torments, the Boy finds a way to survive and create a small space for himself in the world.

The Boy endures unspeakable cruelties, saved only by a mysterious magic that intervenes in moments of need: magic he learns is his to command. When he finally escapes the Mother, a beguiling circus troupe welcomes him into their family and the Boy begins to imagine a life beyond survival, one where circus lions roar and enchanted forests spiral far into the distance. For the first time, he discovers chosen family, community, and love. He eagerly apprentices under the circus’s conjurer—only to realize his gifts far outstrip his mentor’s. Thus the Boy becomes the Magician. But as ambition bends his power, a primal threat stalks, determined to destroy not just the Magician, but all he holds dear.

Echoing the fairytale cadence of Helen Oyeyemi and Gerardo Sámano Córdova’s disquieting excavation of grief and trauma, Tracy Lynne Oliver has created a spellbinding world of twisted patriarchal darkness and a powerful magic that threatens to consume everyone, including its wielder. A debut novel of uncommon accomplishment, Magician establishes its author as a new voice that will hold readers rapt.

Visit Tracy Lynne Oliver's website.

Q&A with Tracy Lynne Oliver.

Writers Read: Tracy Lynne Oliver.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six top suspense novels about art, museums, and forgers

Called “an author to watch” by Booklist, Carol Snow has written numerous novels for teens and adults. A former contributor to Salon’s “Mothers Who Think” column, her writing has also appeared in The Los Angeles Review of Books and Park City Magazine.

Snow holds a BA in psychology from Brown University and a MAT in English from Boston College. A native of New Jersey, she now splits her time between Cape Cod and Southern California.

[My Book, The Movie: Just Like Me, Only Better; My Book, The Movie: What Came First; The Page 69 Test: Bubble World]

Snow's new novel is The Girl on the Beach.

At CrimeReads the author tagged six "suspenseful reads about art and artists worth checking out." One title on the list:

Antoine Wilson, Mouth to Mouth

Come for the behind-the-scenes look at the world of elite Los Angeles art galleries; stay for Wilson’s gorgeous, taut prose and propulsive
Wilson uses a chance encounter, twenty years after the near-drowning, to frame the narrative.

Read about another title on the list.

Mouth to Mouth is among Laura Leffler's ten top literary thrillers set in the artworld and Maris Kreizman's twenty-three wonderful short books.

Q&A with Antoine Wilson.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Stig Abell's "A Twist in the River"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: A Twist in the River: A Jake Jackson Mystery by Stig Abell.

About the novel, from the publisher:

Former London detective Jake Jackson finds his new life in the country threatened when women start disappearing in this beautifully written and deeply immersive novel that will challenge even the most diehard mystery lover’s deductive skills.

A beautiful summer’s day

When young nurse Claire Davidson goes missing on the riverbank, the only clues left behind are her phone and shoes.

A mystery that sweeps the nation

People disappear all the time, but this case sparks an online frenzy. Amateur investigators descend on the rural idyll. Everyone has a theory. Is Claire Davidson just the story of a swim that went wrong, or could there be truth to the conspiracies?

A killer growing bolder

But when another woman is discovered dead in the river, signs point to murder. Jake Jackson, a former detective who came to the countryside searching for peace, must investigate before more lives are taken.

Follow Stig Abell on Instagram and Threads.

Q&A with Stig Abell.

The Page 69 Test: The Burial Place.

Writers Read: Stig Abell.

The Page 69 Test: A Twist in the River.

--Marshal Zeringue