Q&A with Stig Abell

From my Q&A with Stig Abell, author of The Burial Place: A Novel:

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

I think The Burial Place is a fairly, and straightforwardly, descriptive title. Location is a central character in my story, and indeed the whole series in which Jake Jackson investigates murders in the depths of the British countryside. I've found that my working titles never make it to the book itself - I am too whimsical, publishers are (rightly) commercially-minded. Titles are almost the last thing that get agreed in my experience.

The Burial Place is set on an archaeological dig, and I called it "The Dig" as my working title. I then entered into a protracted discussion into whether the published title should have "Death" in it (the first two books of the series were respectively called "Death Under a Little Sky" and "Death in a Lonely Place"). I'm fond of series with threaded titles - I think of the colours in John D. Macdonald's wonderful tales about Travis McGee, or Kathy Reichs and her "Bones" - but I do think they can be a bit limiting. I plumped for The Unquiet Land for this one, with the whiff of fugitive poeticism about it. The publishers wanted it more prosaic, and that's...[read on]

Follow Stig Abell on Instagram and Threads.

Q&A with Stig Abell.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five fantasy books involving poison

At Book Riot Liberty Hardy tagged five "enthralling fantasy books, [in which the] main characters all deal with poison, whether as victims or perpetrators." One title on the list:

The Bane Witch by Ava Morgyn

Piers Corbin has always been drawn to poisonous things, but it is not until she flees her abusive husband and hides out with her estranged aunt that she learns that her interest in toxic things is a family legacy. Piers is a Bane Witch, destined to eat poison and dispose of evil men. But when she begins to practice her magic, like a witchy Dexter, Piers attracts the attention of a serial killer, who doesn’t like the competition.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Page 69 Test: The Bane Witch.

Q&A with Ava Morgyn.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Maria Corrigan's "Monuments Askew"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Monuments Askew: An Elliptical History of the Factory of the Eccentric Actor by Maria Corrigan.

About the book, from the publisher:

Monuments Askew: An Elliptical History of the Factory of the Eccentric Actor presents a cultural history of the Factory of the Eccentric Actor (FEKS), an avant-garde collective of Ukrainian artists whose unique approach to monumental history generated a new kind of cinema for a modernizing Soviet era. Often lost in the shuffle of this period, FEKS’s vibrant and experimental cinematic output initiated a youthful and cheeky overhaul of Soviet revolutionary culture. Monuments Askew reveals the foundational role of this understudied group of artists—including Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg—and uses their own theoretical contributions to undo the “foundations” of our understanding of Soviet media and arts. As a counter to a solely cinema-focused conceptualization of this era, Corrigan develops a transnational media theory of eccentricity. Defining eccentric circles as warped, irregular orbits that force a realignment of centers, Monuments Askew shows how FEKS’s body of work inspires an eccentric realignment of the pillars of Soviet visual culture, and indeed of monumentality itself.

Learn more about Monuments Askew at the Rutgers University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Monuments Askew.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Jamie Lee Sogn's "Always the Quiet Ones"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Always the Quiet Ones: A Novel by Jamie Lee Sogn.

About the book, from the publisher:

Fantasy and reality clash in a twisted novel of psychological suspense, where a shared moment of female outrage changes one woman’s career overnight―and her life forever.

Beatrice “Bea” Ku is sure this is it. The moment she finally receives her hard-earned promotion at the Seattle law firm where the young Filipina American attorney has toiled for five years. She can’t wait to tell her parents―and Allegra, her annoyingly perfect childhood friend. So when her boss betrays her, again, promoting a male colleague instead, she’s so angry she could kill.

Bea tries to suppress that anger, just like her anxiety. But she’s branded “too emotional,” dredging up old memories from high school and her unhealthy coping mechanisms. Allegra and her husband, Caleb, Bea’s former crush, were largely responsible for getting Bea hooked. And her family and friends paid dearly.

Tired of all the gaslighting and toxic masculinity, and emboldened by liquid courage, Bea vows to change things. When a kindred spirit suggests a murder pact, she jokingly agrees. But nobody’s laughing when their deal turns out to be all too real…

Visit Jamie Lee Sogn's website.

Q&A with Jamie Lee Sogn.

My Book, The Movie: Salthouse Place.

The Page 69 Test: Salthouse Place.

The Page 69 Test: Always the Quiet Ones.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Darcie Wilde reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Darcie Wilde, author of The Heir.

Her entry begins:

What am I reading? That’s always a complicated question. I’m an ecclectic and enthusiastic reader, not to mention a semi-pro history nerd. That means there are a whole lot of books opened at once. Here’s a sampling of the most recent:

The Wharton Plot by Mariah Fredericks

It is really hard to write a good mystery centered around a live person (something I learned while working on The Heir). But Mariah Fredericks does a fantastic job balancing the factual and the possible without straining credulity and while presenting a believable and compelling, if not always likeable, heroine. She’s also got a deft touch with the prose, bringing the reader into the time period without shading into parody of her heroine’s actual prose. But there’s something else here. One of the hardest parts of tracking a real life or real events is that reality doesn’t follow the pacing we expect in novels. This book is a master class in how to...[read on]

About The Heir, from the publisher:

For fans of The Crown, Young Victoria, and all things British royalty is a new mystery set in 1830s London and starring none other than the young Princess Victoria – future Queen of England – as a rebellious amateur sleuth.

Destined for a life beyond her wildest dreams, born fifth in succession to the throne, and determined to get to the bottom of a most foul puzzle, the future queen vows to solve the mystery of a dead man scandalously discovered on the grounds of Kensington Palace—by her!

The young Victoria remembers nothing but Kensington Palace. Arriving as a baby, she has been brought up inside its musty, mold-ridden walls. Others may see the value of Kensington’s priceless artifacts and objets d’art, but the palace is a jail cell for young Victoria. Raised with an incredibly strict regimen to follow, watched at all times by her mother, the controlling, German-born Victoire, and Victoire’s prized advisor, the power-hungry Sir John Conroy, the bright 15-year-old is allowed no freedom at any time—except that which she steals or wheedles for, always in the company of Conroy’s resentful daughter, Jane.

But one fateful afternoon, Victoria slips away from her mother to ride out on her beloved gelding, Prince. With reluctant Jane in tow, the princess gallops out from the palace green. But what would normally be an uneventful trot around very familiar terrain presents the mutinous princess with a most bewildering sight—a dead man, and on the grounds of the palace, no less.

Determined to get to the bottom of the inscrutable puzzle, young Victoria is met with shocking disrespect and any number of obstacles. Sir John lies to her, her uncles and aunts join with her mother to stonewall her questions and curtail her movements. But Victoria will not be deterred. With Jane Conroy as a tentative and untrustworthy ally, Victoria’s first “case” is underway . . .

Visit Darcie Wilde's website.

My Book, The Movie: And Dangerous to Know.

The Page 69 Test: And Dangerous to Know.

The Page 69 Test: A Lady Compromised.

Q&A with Darcie Wilde.

Writers Read: Darcie Wilde (November 2021).

The Page 69 Test: A Counterfeit Suitor.

The Page 69 Test: The Secret of the Lost Pearls.

Writers Read: Darcie Wilde (January 2023).

Writers Read: Darcie Wilde.

--Marshal Zeringue

D.W. Gillespie's "Grin," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Grin by D. W. Gillespie.

The entry begins:

Like a lot of authors, I do find it helpful, and even fun, to picture the characters as actors. It really helps to click some of those fine details into place as I write.

For Grin, I’ll admit that I don’t have a great choice for the main character Danny, just because I don’t know a ton of actors in that age group. He’s an anxious but brave early teenager who’s obsessed with video games, so I could see some of the Stranger Things crew fitting that description before they aged out of it.

The more interesting choice to consider in my mind is his Uncle Bill. Bill is…technically an adult. He runs a massive retro arcade called Pixel-works, and he (illegally) lives in a trailer in the parking lot. He’s both a big sweetheart and almost shockingly irresponsible at times, which makes for a fun mix. He also happens to be massively tall and strong, easily able to muscle around heavy arcade cabinets on his own.

Mild spoilers, but later in the story, he gets taken over by a much more malevolent personality, so we’d need an actor who can embody both the goofy boyishness along with pure, gleeful evil.

In short, he’s a fun character, and I can think of two wildly different actors that could bring him to life. My first choice would be Eric Wareheim. The name might not jump out at you, but you’ve probably seen him here and there, especially if you watched any Adult Swim. He’s half of the comedy pair of Tim and Eric, and he also just happens to be...[read on]

Visit D. W. Gillespie's website.

My Book, The Movie: Grin.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Thomas Sattig's "How Time Passes"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: How Time Passes by Thomas Sattig.

About the book, from the publisher:

Time organizes things in a dynamic fashion, whereas space organizes things in a static fashion-so things in time undergo passage, whereas things in space do not. What makes the temporal organization of things dynamic? What is the nature of the passage of time? Traditional discussions of passage have taken one of two perspectives. Some philosophers start with passage as a phenomenon that occurs in the physical world. They ask what constitutes this objective phenomenon. Theirs is a project in metaphysics and the foundations of physics. Others begin with passage as a phenomenon that is given in our experiences of the world. They ask what constitutes this subjective phenomenon. Theirs is a project in philosophy of mind and cognitive science.

In How Time Passes, Thomas Sattig gives both perspectives on passage equal weight. The first part of the book concerns the existence and nature of physical passage. The second part is concerned with the existence and nature of experiential passage. In both parts, the standard kind of explanation of passage is juxtaposed with a new kind of explanation. On the tripartite approach, which has dominated classical and contemporary philosophy of time, the denizens of time undergo passage, in virtue of changing with respect to what is past, what is present, and what is future. On the geometrical approach, the denizens of time undergo passage, in virtue of being temporally organized in a manner that does not involve the holding of any geometrical relations between them.

Learn more about How Time Passes at the Oxford University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: How Time Passes.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five speculative fiction novels with feminist themes

A graduate of Wesleyan University, Melissa Pace is a former editor and writer for Elle, as well as a past finalist for the Humanitas New Voices Fellowship for emerging film and television writers. The mother of three amazing children, Pace lives with her husband in Los Angeles, and when not writing she likes to lace up her cleats and get all her ya-yas out on the soccer field.

The Once and Future Me is her first novel.

At CrimeReads Pace tagged five favorite speculative fiction novels with feminist themes, including:

Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale

A cornerstone of feminist speculative fiction, this book is even more chilling to me now, in these times we find ourselves living in, than it was the day it was published. It takes place in a dystopian future where a totalitarian regime called Gilead has overthrown the United States in response to a global fertility crisis and fertile women called Handmaids are forced to bear children for the ruling class.

Told through the eyes of Offred, a Handmaid, the novel explores the themes of female oppression, loss of individual freedom, and resistance against a religious extremist government, and is a warning about the fragility of democracy.

When I first heard about this book way back in the fall of 1985, I had to have it, but I was earning verrrry little as an editorial assistant at Elle, so I put it on my Christmas list. Yes, I still gave my mother a Christmas list at age twenty-three. Shut up! Mom came through and I still have that first edition with its incredible cover!

This book did not disappoint. It grabbed me by the throat and literally changed how I saw the world, got me to listen for the signs and sounds of the patriarchal power structure still quietly humming away behind the scenes of my 1980s world, pulling the levers and running our society.

Most of all The Handmaid’s Tale made me realize how easily the rights I took for granted could slip away, step by step, if we don’t stay vigilant and loud. Though I read it long before I ever imagined writing a book of my own, it deposited itself in my brain and waited….

Read about another title on Pace's list.

The Handmaid's Tale made Megan Cummins's list of seven novels that prove writers can make the best protagonists, Max Barry's list of five top books that are secretly science fiction, Louisa Treger's top ten list of great boundary-breaking women of fiction, Claire McGlasson's top ten list of books about cults, Siobhan Adcock's list of five top books about motherhood and dystopia, a list of four books that changed Meg Keneally, A.J. Hartley's list of five favorite books about the making of a dystopia, Lidia Yuknavitch's 6 favorite books list, Elisa Albert's list of nine revelatory books about motherhood, Michael W. Clune's top five list of books about imaginary religions, Jeff Somers's top six list of often misunderstood SF/F novels, Jason Sizemore's top five list of books that will entertain and drop you into the depths of despair, S.J. Watson's list of four books that changed him, Shaun Byron Fitzpatrick's list of eight of the most badass ladies in all of banned literature, Guy Lodge's list of ten of the best dystopias in fiction, art, film, and television, Bethan Roberts's top ten list of novels about childbirth, Rachel Cantor's list of the ten worst jobs in books, Charlie Jane Anders and Kelly Faircloth's list of the best and worst childbirth scenes in science fiction and fantasy, Lisa Tuttle's critic's chart of the top Arthur C. Clarke Award winners, and PopCrunch's list of the sixteen best dystopian books of all time.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Arbor Sloane's "Not Who You Think"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Not Who You Think: A Thriller by Arbor Sloane.

About the book, from the publisher:

The copycat of a killer made famous by a true crime author kidnaps a classmate of the author’s daughter in this twisty thriller, perfect for fans of Paula Hawkins.

Amelia Child has devoted her life to researching Gerald Shapiro, the Catfish Killer, a man who pretended to be other people online to gain women’s trust before meeting and killing them. Her book on the Catfish Killer, Into the Glass, earned wild success and a legion of true crime fans. Years later, Amelia is pulled back into the case when a girl from her daughter’s high school disappears, and all signs point to a copycat killer mimicking the Catfish Killer’s every move.

As Amelia meets with the detective who helped her study Gerald Shapiro years ago and they become suspicious of Shapiro’s son, Amelia’s daughter Gabby receives a letter from the kidnapper threatening that she might be next. Desperate to find the culprit before her classmate is killed or she becomes the latest victim, Gabby conducts her own search for the missing girl.

With Amelia’s own family at risk and the entire true crime world obsessing and investigating online, the stakes have never been higher. Everyone wants to find the killer—but when his modus operandi is to pretend to be someone else, he’s not going to be easy to catch.

Follow Arbor Sloane on Instagram.

The Page 69 Test: Not Who You Think.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Peter Rosch

From my Q&A with Peter Rosch, author of What the Dead Can Do: A Thriller:

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

I’d say quite a bit of work. There are dead people in my book. Check. We are going to see what they can and can’t do. Check. It sounds ominous and dark, and this book is that and more. Check and check. I like the title What The Dead Can Do for a whole host of reasons, but it was not the original title. Tend was the original title. That one word drove a lot of the plot, too. This is the story of a mother tending to her child from the afterlife. My interpretation of the word had always been tinted with empathy, love, care, and all the things that society expects from perfect mothers. Amanda, the mother here, is pushing the envelope on what it means to tend to her child—she’s trying to kill him to bring him to her so she can continue to care for him and ensure his well-being. In the end, though, I came to realize that the word tend was dated. Many people think of money first when they hear the word. It was doing nothing to take readers into the story and, in many cases, was confusing them. I count myself lucky that it did, to be honest—I was forced to re-evaluate. And I think What The Dead Can Do sets up the story and, more importantly, the vibe I want people to feel when they crack open the book.

What's in a name?

Everything. And nothing. Personally...[read on]

Visit Peter Rosch's website and follow him on Facebook, BlueSky, Instagram, and Threads.

Q&A with Peter Rosch.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Maneesh Arora's "Parties and Prejudice"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Parties and Prejudice: The Normalization of Antiminority Rhetoric in US Politics by Maneesh Arora.

About the book, from the publisher:

An essential guide to how the interactions between social norms, party politics, and expressions of prejudice are driving contemporary politics.

Antiminority rhetoric in American politics has grown more overt. What were once fringe comments on Stormfront have now become typical campaign appeals from many mainstream politicians. If there was ever a doubt, this is a poignant reminder that the boundaries of what is “acceptable” and “unacceptable” to say and do are fluid and socially enforced.

In Parties and Prejudice, Maneesh Arora offers a broad framework for understanding this new political terrain. Arora argues that the interaction between social norms and party politics determines what the political consequence of prejudicial speech will be. He illuminates this nuanced relationship by showing that norms vary based on the targeted minority group and the intended audience.

Drawing on experiments, survey data, news coverage, and real-world examples, Parties and Prejudice examines the distinctive ways that egalitarian/inegalitarian norms have developed—within each party—for Black, Muslim, and LGBTQ+ Americans. It is essential reading for understanding Donald Trump’s rise to power, the modern conservative agenda (including opposition to critical race theory and transgender rights), and threats to the development of a multiracial democracy.

Visit Maneesh Arora's website.

The Page 99 Test: Parties and Prejudice.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten Ukrainian books that show its many sides

Sam Wachman's new novel is The Sunflower Boys.

He is a writer from Cambridge, Massachusetts with Ukrainian roots. His short fiction has appeared in Sonora Review, Berkeley Fiction Review, and New England Review. Before writing The Sunflower Boys, he taught English to primary schoolers in central Ukraine and worked with refugee families in Europe and the United States.

At Electric Lit Wachman tagged ten Ukrainian books that show the many sides of a nation. One title on the list:

The Orphanage by Serhiy Zhadan, translated by Reilly Costigan-Humes and Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler

Set during the first years of the war in Donbas, The Orphanage follows Pasha, a Ukrainian-language teacher who must traverse the frontlines to rescue his thirteen year-old nephew. His nephew is stranded in occupied territory in an internat, an untranslatable Soviet institution halfway between an orphanage and a boarding school. With echoes of Dante’s Inferno, Zhadan documents Pasha’s journey across the war-torn landscape with startling clarity.

Serhiy Zhadan is an unstoppable cultural force—a rock star, a poet, an activist, and one of Ukraine’s foremost novelists. Through The Orphanage, he reminds readers that the war in Ukraine did not emerge ex nihilo; Russia has occupied and tormented southern and eastern Ukraine since 2014.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Maria Malone reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Maria Malone, author of Death in the Countryside: A Novel.

Her entry begins:

The Winds from Further West by Alexander McCall Smith

“Sometimes you want to get away from something that’s become too much. You want to put something behind you.”

I picked this up recently, shortly after returning from a holiday in Scotland, during which a trip to the Isle of Mull was cancelled due to ferry problems. The book was the perfect read, leaving me determined one day to visit Mull. The story perfectly evokes island life and illustrates the ease with which something entirely innocent can abruptly get out of hand in today’s society.

During a lecture, Dr Neil Anderson unknowingly offends a student and finds himself the subject of a complaint. All he has to do to make the problem go away is apologise … for something he never said. Madness. He can’t, he won’t.

With one seemingly small event, a single flimsy allegation, everything is about to change.

Soon, his life in Edinburgh – ordered, settled, happy, unremarkable – is in a state of collapse. Discredited, facing an uncertain future, he resigns. On impulse, he decides he needs a break to get away from things, and escapes to the Hebridean island of Mull, off Scotland’s west coast, where he...[read on]

About Death in the Countryside, from the publisher:

The sudden disappearance of a local woman reopens an old case in a small English town where everyone knows everyone’s business.

This debut police dog mystery will delight fans of Ann Cleeves and Margaret Mizushima.

Sergeant Ali Wren has recently returned to her charming Yorkshire hometown of Heft, accompanied by her trusty canine companion Officer PD Wilson, a Springer Spaniel with a nose for trouble. Together they are the police force quietly serving the town.

When Brian, an older resident, reports his wife, Melody, missing, Ali at first suspects a routine case. Melody, tired of playing dutiful wife to an inattentive husband, may simply have left. But suspicion soon begins to mount when it emerges that Brian’s first wife died under tragic circumstances and Ali uncovers evidence of Melody’s recent puzzling behavior.

Visit Maria Malone's website.

Writers Read: Maria Malone.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Gabriella Buba's "Daughters of Flood and Fury"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Daughters of Flood and Fury: The Stormbringer Saga by Gabriella Buba.

About the book, from the publisher:

This powerful sequel to Saints of Storm and Sorrow brims with unruly magic and pirates, moon-eating dragons and sizzling Sapphic romance. Enthralling Filipino-inspired fantasy for fans of The Hurricane Wars, R.F. Kuang and Tasha Suri.

Five years after the fall of the Palisade in Aynila, the Codicíans are closing in with a vast armada. Lunurin and Alon have been working desperately to solidify their alliances across the archipelago, but petty rivalries, suspicion, and conflicted loyalties threaten to undermine their efforts. To stand any chance, they must unify the disparate factions of their forces at the festival of the eclipse, when the laho will swallow the moon, and the islands’ magic will be at its strongest.

Inez has been training as a tide-touched healer, but the gentle side of her goddess’s gift does not come naturally to her. When she hears rumors that her sister, Catalina, has returned to the archipelago, Inez embarks on a dangerous journey over the sea. Aboard a pirate ship, she meets the fierce firetender Umali, who has no fear of her own power, and burns brighter than anyone Inez has ever known. Yet Inez worries her untamed, hungry magic may prove too much even for a pirate captain, and the threat of the Codicíans’ return hangs heavy over both their heads.

Three goddesses stand ready to fight. But without human allies, even their power may not be enough to keep Aynila and the archipelago free.

Visit Gabriella Buba's website.

My Book, The Movie: Daughters of Flood and Fury.

Writers Read: Gabriella Buba.

Q&A with Gabriella Buba.

The Page 69 Test: Daughters of Flood and Fury.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Adam Cureton's "Sovereign Reason"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Sovereign Reason: Autonomy and our Interests of Reason by Adam Cureton.

About the book, from the publisher:

We often invoke broad ideas of reason, rationality, reasonableness, reasons, reasoning, and related concepts in commonsense and express their apparent authority through ordinary language and social practices. Despite what many philosophers, economists, psychologists, novelists, and others claim, the reason of everyday life is far more substantive than cold logic or calculating self-interest. Sovereign Reason: Autonomy and our Interests of Reason explores the idea that our power of reason includes an expansive set of governing abilities, substantive motives, and substantive principles. The volume develops this novel but partial theory of reason by drawing on a wide variety of Kant's texts and highlighting themes in our ordinary ways of speaking and thinking.

The unifying idea of the Sovereignty Conception of Reason is that of an autonomous person who governs herself by reason in all respects. The Sovereignty Conception of Reason dramatically extends traditional Kantian conceptions of rational self-governance. We are able to govern our many mental powers by reason, not just our ability to make choices, and we can legislate, execute, and adjudicate in ourselves all kinds of principles of reason, not just moral ones. The Sovereignty Conception of Reason holds that our reason includes substantive final interests in various things. Part of having a rational nature is to care about knowledge, enlightenment, explanation, happiness, the lives of persons, and solidarity for their own sake. These interests of reason do not depend on our natural desires but are instead constitutive of our power of reason itself. The Sovereignty Conception of Reason also holds that our reason includes a principle of justifiability according to which mental acts of all kinds, including choices, beliefs, desires, and even feelings, are required by reason if and because they are justifiable to rational people on the basis of their substantive interests of reason. Many specific requirements that we affirm in commonsense can be derived from this abstract principle. The book contrasts the Sovereignty Conception of Reason with other prominent theories and explores specific rational principles it grounds concerning beneficence, coercion, deception, friendship, expressing respect, education, envy, self-development, and others.

Learn more about Sovereign Reason at the Oxford University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Sovereign Reason.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight top historical thrillers with macabre medical themes

Tonya Mitchell is the author of The Arsenic Eater’s Wife, an historical true crime Gothic mystery set in 1889 Liverpool. Her debut historical novel, A Feigned Madness, won the Reader Views Reviewers Choice Award and the Kops-Fetherling International Book Award for Best New Voice in Historical Fiction.

Mitchell's latest novel is Needle and Bone, "a gothic tale of guilt, vengeance, and a girl’s fight to reclaim her soul from the shadows."

At CrimeReads the author tagged "eight novels with medical themes at their core with gothic twists you’d expect from a subgenre steeped in the creepy." One title on the list:

Jennifer Cody Epstein, The Madwomen of Paris

This finalist for the Edgar Award is inspired by true events. After Josephine is committed to the Salpêtrière asylum in nineteenth century Paris,

she becomes the patient of director Jean-Martin Charcot, an expert in hysteria. Under his thrall, Josephine is hypnotized and soon captures the attention of rapt audiences.

However, when Josephine’s memory returns, she begins to suspect she has committed a terrible crime. Will Laure, the asylum attendant who’s become close to her help her escape or should Josephine remain, having committed a horrific murder?

Read about another title on the list.

Q&A with Jennifer Cody Epstein.

The Page 69 Test: The Madwomen of Paris.

My Book, The Movie: The Madwomen of Paris.

--Marshal Zeringue

Leigh Dunlap's "Bless Your Heart," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Leigh Dunlap's Bless Your Heart: A Thriller.

The entry begins:

I’m normally (or abnormally?) a screenwriter, and I’m used to writing things with the screen in mind. However, I usually try not to be too specific about characters. With screenwriting, you don’t have a lot a space on the page to describe a character. Maybe you just have one line. Example: Birdie marches into the room and commands it. She is 45 but expects you to think she looks younger. She is average height but wills herself to look taller. That’s all you get and that’s more than you usually get in a screenplay. I like to keep it simple and let the reader (or director, or casting director) fill in the blanks. I have to admit, though, that actresses invaded my writing process and I couldn’t help but fill in the blanks myself. The number one was...[read on]

Visit Leigh Dunlap's website.

Q&A with Leigh Dunlap.

Writers Read: Leigh Dunlap.

My Book, The Movie: Bless Your Heart.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Sulari Gentill's "Five Found Dead"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Five Found Dead: A Novel by Sulari Gentill.

About the book, from the publisher:

On a train, there are only so many places to hide…

Crime fiction author Joe Penvale has won the most brutal battle of his life. Now that he has finished his intense medical treatment, he and his twin sister, Meredith, are boarding the glorious Orient Express in Paris, hoping for some much-needed rest and rejuvenation. Meredith also hopes that the literary ghosts on the train will nudge Joe's muse awake, and he'll be inspired to write again. And he is; after their first evening spent getting to know some of their fellow travelers, Joe pulls out his laptop and opens a new document. Seems like this trip is just what the doctor ordered…

And then some. The next morning, Joe and Meredith are shocked to witness that the cabin next door has become a crime scene, bathed in blood but with no body in sight. The pair soon find themselves caught up in an Agatha Christie-esque murder investigation. Without any help from the authorities, and with the victim still not found, Joe and Meredith are asked to join a group of fellow passengers with law enforcement backgrounds to look into the mysterious disappearance of the man in Cabin16G. But when the steward guarding the crime scene is murdered, it marks the beginning of a killing spree which leaves five found dead—and one still missing. Now Joe and Meredith must fight once again to preserve their newfound future and to catch a cunning killer before they reach the end of the line.

USA Today bestselling author Sulari Gentill brings readers on a heart-pounding ride filled with intrigue, suspense, and literary charm in Five Found Dead, perfect for fans of twisty mysteries and books about books.

Visit Sulari Gentill's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Sulari Gentill & Rowly, Alfie, Miss Higgins and Pig.

The Page 69 Test: Five Found Dead.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Jane S. Smith's "A Blacklist Education"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: A Blacklist Education: American History, a Family Mystery, and a Teacher Under Fire by Jane S. Smith.

About the book, from the publisher:

In A Blacklist Education, a mysterious file of family papers triggers a journey through the dark days of political purges in the 1950s. Jane S. Smith tells the story of the anticommunist witch hunt that sent shockwaves through New York City’s public schools as more than a thousand teachers were targeted by Board of Education investigators. Her father was one of them—a fact she learned only long after his death.

Beginning in 1949, amid widespread panic about supposed communist subversion, investigators questioned teachers in their homes, accosted them in their classrooms, and ordered them to report to individual hearings. The interrogations were not published, filmed, open to the public, or reported in the news. By 1956, hundreds of New York City teachers had been fired, often because of uncorroborated reports from paid informers or anonymous accusers.

Most of the targeted teachers resigned or retired without any public process, their names recorded only in municipal files and their futures never known. Their absence became the invisible outline of an educational void, a narrowing of thought that pervaded classrooms for decades. In this highly personal story, family lore and childhood memory lead to restricted archives, forgotten inquisitions, and an eerily contemporary campaign to control who could teach and what was acceptable for students to learn.

Visit Jane S. Smith's website.

The Page 99 Test: The Garden of Invention.

The Page 99 Test: A Blacklist Education.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top novels of existential shipwreck

Peter Mann is the author of the novels The Torqued Man (2022) and World Pacific (2025). A longtime resident of San Francisco, he grew up in Kansas City, went to Wesleyan University, and got a PhD in Modern European history before becoming a novelist and a cartoonist.

[Q&A with Peter Mann; The Page 69 Test: The Torqued Man]

At The Strand Magazine Mann tagged "five great, albeit wildly different, novels that explore the theme of existential shipwreck and the drama of staying afloat." One title on the list:

In the Night of Time by Antonio Muñoz Molina (2009)

Similar themes of war and exile here, only this is a novel about the Spanish Civil War and is a work of historical fiction, which always sounds like a stupid qualification, as if great fiction weren’t often historical in its focus (War and Peace? Blood Meridian? The Singapore Grip? Come on.) What I mean is that Muñoz Molina, unlike Seghers, is writing his story at some seventy years’ remove from the events portrayed. But it is to my knowledge, with the possible exception of Javier Cercas’s slim but brilliant Soldiers of Salamis, the best novel about the Spanish Civil War. It captures the shipwreck of an entire nation, and with it the millions of lives shattered and set adrift. In a sweeping, richly textured story of an architect fleeing Madrid for New York, recalling the fragments of his life in Spain leading up to the war, Muñoz Molina gives the reader not only a sense of how a society tears itself apart and the acute dispossession experienced by those who live through it, but how that sense of shipwreck persists even once you’ve reached the other shore.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Carla Malden

From my Q&A with Carla Malden, author of Playback:

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

When I landed on the title, Playback, I knew that was it. That happened relatively early on. Before that, for a brief spell, I toyed with the title Backspace which communicated the idea of going back in time, but had a writerly (typewriterly) connotation that didn’t work. Writing is not at the heart of the book; music is. Playback evokes that music element, as well as the concept of getting a do-over at a lost relationship and at life in general.

Playback also conjures the idea that you might hear something new, something missed when you listen to something second time, much like Mari’s return trip to Haight-Ashbury, 1967 reveals different aspects of that time and place from the ones that impacted her the first time.

As an aside, I also like that the word “play” is embedded in the title. Subconsciously, it provides a sense of whimsy that suits the story of time travel, tie-dye, and tender regrets.

What's in a name?

Coming up with characters’ names is great fun for me...[read on]

Visit Carla Malden's website.

My Book, The Movie: Playback.

Writers Read: Carla Malden.

Q&A with Carla Malden.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Michael Chessler reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Michael Chessler, author of Mess: A Sharp and Witty Tale of a Perfectionist Organizer Battling the Chaos of Hollywood and Her Own Heart.

His entry begins:

I recently devoured both of Robert Plunket’s novels, My Search for Warren Harding and Love Junkie. They’re riotously funny, but also moving in a tragicomic way that sneaks up on you. I was left wondering why I hadn’t heard about this great writer sooner. I just finished Old Filth by Jane Gardam, which we read in my book club. It is such a fantastic book—so rich in detail, slyly humorous and profoundly moving. It is the first novel in a trilogy, so I am looking forward to reading the next two, The Man in the Wooden Hat and Last Friends.

For inspiration for my work-in-progress novel, I have been re-reading...[read on]

About Mess, from the publisher:

Marie Kondo meets The Real Housewives in this charming and perceptive story of a professional organizer to Hollywood’s elite who learns to find love and acceptance amid the messiness of life.

To the world, Jane Brown, a Los-Angeles based professional organizer, is a model of composure and reticence. But inside, she’s fiercely judgmental and critical of herself and others. A lover of order and tidiness, she struggles to accept the world’s exasperating messiness of both her own clients—a superficial sphere of influencers and rich creatives—and her live-in boyfriend, who is becoming as aggravating as he is comforting.

When she arrives at the home of a new client, a has-been Hollywood actress—a woman opposite to her in every way—Jane finds herself unexpectedly moved. Realizing how desperately she wants to lower her defenses and open her heart, Jane decides to declutter the mess of her own mindset. Organizing her own feelings turns out to be the most daunting job she’s ever tackled, but one that promises big rewards if she succeeds, including freedom—and even love.

Set against the dazzlingly rich, beautiful, and shallow world of Hollywood money and mansions, Mess is an honest, heartfelt, and often hilarious response to the disorder of our lives today.

Visit Michael Chessler's website.

The Page 69 Test: Mess.

Q&A with Michael Chessler.

Writers Read: Michael Chessler.

--Marshal Zeringue

Fourteen of the best music memoirs

At GQ (UK edition) Brit Dawson and Josiah Gogarty tagged over a dozen of the best music memoirs, including:

Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis

Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Anthony Kiedis has lived a thousand lives – from child star and the son of a Hollywood drug dealer to the charismatic frontman of one of the world’s biggest bands – and in Scar Tissue, he recounts them all. In his unvarnished 2004 memoir, Kiedis reflects on everything that led him to stratospheric stardom, and the struggles that soon came after, specifically addiction and the tragic loss of his friend and bandmate, Hillel Slovak. It’s a rousing tale of hedonism, debauchery, and salvation.

Read about another memoir on the list.

Scar Tissue is among Rolling Stone's 25 greatest rock memoirs of all time.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Doug Most's "Launching Liberty"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Launching Liberty: The Epic Race to Build the Ships That Took America to War by Doug Most.

About the book, from the publisher:

Out of nothing but the government’s behest, a few bold men conjured a giant ship-building industry in 1940 and launched the ships that took America to war and to victory.

In 1940, the shadow of war loomed large over American life. President Roosevelt understood that it wasn’t a matter of if the United States would be pulled into battle, but when. He foresaw a “new kind of war,” one that hinged on efforts at home. Long before the attack on Pearl Harbor, German U-boats were relentlessly attacking American vessels, prompting Roosevelt to launch a monumental ship-building campaign. He knew that no matter how much weaponry and how many tanks, planes and trucks America built, the “Arsenal of Democracy” would be useless unless it could be brought in massive volume, and at breakneck speed, to troops fighting overseas.

Launching Liberty tells the remarkable story of how FDR partnered with private businessmen to begin the production of cargo freighters longer than a football field—ships he affectionately dubbed “ugly ducklings.” These colossal Liberty Ships took over six months to build at the start of his $350 million emergency shipbuilding program, far too long. The government turned to Henry Kaiser, the man who had delivered the Boulder Dam ahead of schedule and under budget, but had never built a ship in his life. Kaiser established a network of shipyards from coast to coast and recruited tens of thousands of workers eager to contribute to the war effort. Many, particularly African Americans and women, traveled from some of the most downtrodden, rural parts of the nation to help their country and to find a better life of greater equality.

As German U-boats maintained their pace of attack, Roosevelt and Kaiser initiated a bold, nationwide competition among shipyards to see who could construct ships the fastest. Driven by duty and the thrill of innovation, workers reduced the shipbuilding timeline from months to weeks and then to days. Launching Liberty is a tapestry of voices reflecting the diverse American experience of World War II. From the halls of the White House to the cramped quarters of half-finished cargo ships, we hear from naval architects, welders, nurses, engineers, daycare providers, and mothers balancing family life with the demands of wartime economy. This book uncovers the inspiring, untold stories of those who rose to the challenge during one of America’s most tumultuous times.

Learn more about the book and author at Doug Most's website, Facebook page, Instagram home, and Threads page.

My Book, The Movie: The Race Underground.

The Page 99 Test: Launching Liberty.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Elise Hart Kipness's "Close Call"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Close Call (Kate Green, book 3) by Elise Hart Kipness.

About the book, from the publisher:

In a hard-hitting thriller from the author of Lights Out and Dangerous Play, reporter Kate Green courts danger once again when the famous subject of her next story is kidnapped during the US Open.

With a hard-won Emmy now gracing her mantel, sports reporter and former Olympian Kate Green turns her energy to the action unfolding in Flushing Meadows. Working on a feature for her weekly TV show, she spotlights two of today’s biggest female tennis stars: the sunny up-and-comer and the brash veteran. But the project goes sideways when one turns up missing.

Following an interview with Kate, one player receives a sinister text with a disturbing photo of the other woman, bound and gagged. Kate calls on her estranged father, an NYPD detective, for help in launching a search. Although wary he’s hiding something, she’s not sure where else to turn.

Their investigation leads to the victim’s hometown―and a growing list of suspects. The kidnapper threatens to spill secrets that could destroy lives. Tangled up in a deadly web of deceit, Kate races to connect the dots and find the missing player…before it’s too late.

Visit Elise Hart Kipness's website.

The Page 69 Test: Lights Out.

Q&A with Elise Hart Kipness.

The Page 69 Test: Dangerous Play.

The Page 69 Test: Close Call.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven fantasy novels that masterfully blend genres

Veronica Lancet is a doctoral student by day and an author of dark, epic love stories by night. She loves to tread the line between right and wrong, exploring the many shades of morality through flawed heroes, forbidden desires, and the razor-thin edge between love and obsession.

Lancet's new novel is Fairydale.

At The Nerd Daily she tagged seven of the "best fantasy novels that masterfully blend genres." One entry on the list:

Across Time & Across Eternity by Elle O’Roark

Time travel, soul-deep romance, and WWII France? Yes, please. This duet is pure magic. Across Time and its sequel Across Eternity hit that perfect sweet spot between historical fiction and paranormal romance. O’Roark crafts a poignant, unforgettable love story that spans centuries. It’s emotional, intelligent, and absolutely addictive. I wish more authors tackled time travel this well.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Carla Malden reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Carla Malden, author of Playback.

Her entry begins:

Like half the country (thanks, Oprah!), I’m currently reading Bruce Holsinger’s Culpability. Aside from absorbing the general buzz around the book, I felt compelled to read it because my husband – who does not tend to be an avid reader of fiction – zipped through it in a few days. Now that I’m halfway through the book, I understand what snared him: the theme of AI which happens to be a particular interest of his. Regardless, as someone more interested in interpersonal relationships and the landscape of the human heart than in the insidious perils of quasi-sentience, I am absorbed by the family dynamic illuminated in the book, particularly that of the couple at its core. The shining wife, the slightly less-than husband, and the tension that...[read on]

About Playback, from the publisher:

Witty, touching, and insightful, Playback revisits the 17-year-old Mari Caldwell of Shine Until Tomorrow, now 34, to tell the story of a woman obsessed with the past who must risk the future to learn to live in the present “Once upon a time there was a summer.”

That’s the way the bedtime story starts, the one Mari Caldwell tells her little girl. It’s also her secret story of waking up one day in San Francisco, 1967, having time-traveled to the tie-dyed Summer of Love.

But she was seventeen then. Now, at 34, where Mari once saw 60’s idealism, she now sees only disillusionment. Newly divorced and stuck in a settled-for career, Mari’s failed at giving her child the perfect family she’d envisioned. That weird weekend in the sixties— the rock band she crashed with, the musician she loved, the hit song he wrote for her— lives in the way-back of her mind. Did it even happen? She’s not so sure… Until it happens again.

Playback rewinds Mari’s life as she makes a second visit to Haight-Ashbury in 1967, now autumn. The band, Mari’s rival, and her first love all see the 17-year-old girl they met in June. But inside, adult Mari faces both tender and devastating choices. What if, regardless of how the times have a-changed, love changes everything after all? What if it even changes her?

Visit Carla Malden's website.

My Book, The Movie: Playback.

Writers Read: Carla Malden.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six novels featuring women reclaiming their power and taking revenge

Katie Collom grew up in Mazatlan, Mexico, and is a life-long expat and world traveler. She spent four years in Texas and has carried a piece of it with her ever since. Currently, she resides in York, England, with her husband and three cats.

Collom's new novel is Peter Miles Has to Die.

At CrimeReads she tagged six novels for fans of “Goodbye Earl” by The Chicks; that is, novels that prove "that vengeance can come in many forms—sometimes it’s subtle, sometimes not so much—but there’s always a sense of satisfaction at seeing women take control." One title on the list:

Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye

“Reader, I murdered him.” So begins Lindsay Faye’s retelling of the beloved classic Jane Eyre, only with a bit more blood, murder and, well, vengeance. You don’t want to get on the wrong side of Jane, the protagonist, because the only thing sharper than her wits is her knife (and she’s not afraid to use it). She may be a serial killer, but she believes every death is warranted and by the end you may just end up believing it too. Even with her somewhat questionable motivations and actions, you’ll be hard-pressed not to root for a satisfying happy ending for Jane. (And if you haven’t read Jane Eyre, add it to your TBR list too, it’s brilliant!)

Read about another novel on the list.

Jane Steele is among Rachel Hawkins's five top retellings of Jane Eyre, Lorraine Berry's ten Brontë adaptations you need to read, and Kristian Wilson's seventeen books for Jane Eyre lovers.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Anna Strhan and Rachael Shillitoe's "Growing Up Godless"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Growing Up Godless: Non-Religious Childhoods in Contemporary England by Anna Strhan and Rachael Shillitoe.

About the book, from the publisher:

How children’s non-belief and non-religion are formed in everyday life

The number of those identifying as “non-religious” has risen rapidly in Britain and many other parts of Europe and North America. Although non-religion and non-belief are especially prevalent among younger people, we know little about the experience of children who are growing up without religion. In Growing Up Godless, Anna Strhan and Rachael Shillitoe fill this scholarly gap, examining how, when, where, and with whom children in England learn to be non-religious and non-believing. Drawing on in-depth interviews and extensive ethnographic fieldwork with children, their parents, and teachers, Strhan and Shillitoe offer a pioneering account of what these children believe in and care about and how they navigate a social landscape of growing religious diversity.

Moving beyond the conventional understanding of non-religion as merely the absence of religion, Strhan and Shillitoe show how children’s non-religion and non-belief emerge in relation to a pervasive humanism—centering the agency, significance, and achievements of humans and values of equality and respect—interwoven in their homes, schools, media, and culture. Their findings offer important new insight into the rise and formation of non-religious identities and, more broadly, the ways that children’s beliefs and values are shaped in contemporary society.

Learn more about Growing Up Godless at the Princeton University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Growing Up Godless.

--Marshal Zeringue