What is Jon St. Denis reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Jon St. Denis, author of Killer Art: A Novel.

His entry begins:

I am spending the summer months in Hong Kong as usual and while here I always try to fill in some of my many blank spots in Chinese history and culture. This summer I am finally digging into a book I have long been looking forward to reading, Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China’s Last Golden Age, by Stephen R. Platt.

This is a great read, filled with a legion of characters on the British, American, and Chinese sides of what became a deciding event in the creation of modern China.

At the time, the end of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, China was the fourth- largest empire in world history, a respected and wealthy land under the Qing (the ‘Q’ is pronounced like ‘ch’) dynasty. However, by the early nineteenth century, that Empire...[read on]

About Killer Art, from the publisher:

A pair of newbie academics find themselves reluctant sleuths and even more reluctant targets when a fellow professor turns up dead.

When art professor Vika Chen discovers the strangled body of Professor McGuire in a campus art studio, she becomes the prime suspect in a murder connected to an exhibition exposing AI-generated art.

Since local law enforcement fails to find any optional leads, Vika and her partner, journalism professor Sam Worthing, take the investigation into their own hands. Vika, who until recently worked as a curator at MoMA, and Sam, a former crime reporter for the New York Times, find themselves uniquely suited for the job.

Much to the chagrin of the police chief, the pair’s investigation pinpoints multiple suspects who might have felt threatened by the exhibition. But the stakes become deadly when someone tries to run Vika off the road.

As more bodies pile up, Vika and Sam uncover a collage of secrets that someone would kill to keep buried.

Visit Jon St. Denis's website.

The Page 69 Test: Killer Art.

Writers Read: Jon St. Denis.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five books that inspired Emily Wilson’s translation of the "Odyssey"

Emily Wilson is Department Chair and Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, holding the College for Women Class of 1963 Term Professor in the Humanities. Wilson attended Oxford University (Balliol College B.A. in Classics and Corpus Christi College M.Phil. in Renaissance English Literature) and Yale University (Ph.D. in Classics and Comparative Literature). She has been named a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome in Renaissance & Early Modern scholarship, a MacArthur Fellow, and a Guggenheim Fellow. She has published four books on ancient literature, philosophy and translation, an edited volume on tragedy, and many essays and articles, as well as verse translations of Seneca, Sophocles, Euripides and Homer.

For Vogue Wilson tagged five books that aided her translation of the Odyssey. One title on her list:

War Music by Christopher Logue

Logue was a jack-of-all-trades who knew no Greek, and yet managed to create a pretty amazing set of poetic riffs on the Iliad, designed in the first instance for oral performance on the radio. I read this (like [A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K.] Le Guin) at a formative age, and Logue helped inform my sense of what I might be able to do to evoke the energy of Homeric similes and a sense of the specifically Homeric sublime, without the padding and verbosity that have plagued many twentieth and twenty-first century translations.

Read about another book on Wilson's list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Carol Lin's "When News Breaks"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: When News Breaks: A Memoir of Love and War by Carol Lin.

About the book, from the publisher:

CNN anchor Carol Lin is at the height of her career after becoming the first network journalist to break the news of the 9/11 attacks.

A month later, she finds herself in the crosshairs of a Taliban sniper along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, a stark reminder of the sacrifices she made to succeed in a white-centric, male-dominated journalism career. For Lin, breaking news and the defining split second when lives change is a drug—and a love that her traditional Chinese mother warned would never love her back. But when devastating news breaks apart her own life, Lin is forced to question a career that demands everything, a marriage marked by infidelity and cancer, and the sacrifices required to become the mother her daughter needs her to be.

Told with fierce wit and candor, When News Breaks is the story of a woman who has been places and seen things but still has to discover who she really is behind the headlines.

Visit Carol Lin's website.

The Page 99 Test: When News Breaks.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven top historical novels set on islands

Connie Pan is a writer from Maui, Hawai‘i. She holds an MFA in fiction from West Virginia University and a BA in creative writing from Grand Valley State University. Her words have appeared in Bamboo Ridge, The Billfold, Carve, HelloGiggles, and Salamander, among other places. An excerpt from her novel-in-progress was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

At Book Riot Pan tagged "seven historical novels unfolding, mostly, on islands around the world and covering almost two hundred years." One novel on the list:

Green Island by Shawna Yang Ryan

During the February 28 uprising of 1947, Li Min’s contractions intensify, and she births the novel’s narrator on the night martial law begins in Taiwan. For making an impassioned speech in public, her father, Dr. Tsai, is imprisoned for 11 years. He spends some of that time on a “tiny place just off the eastern coast of Taiwan” called Green Island—“[a] beautiful name for the home of the Oasis Villa, the political prison.” Later, living the “American Dream” in Berkeley, the protagonist’s mind dwells on Taiwan, and she returns again and again. Reflecting on deceit, estrangement, and love, Ryan’s captivating sophomore title won the American Book Award in 2017.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Page 69 Test: Green Island.

My Book, The Movie: Green Island.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Brianna Labuskes's "Clean Slate"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Clean Slate (Book 1 of 1: Olive Hunt) by Brianna Labuskes.

About the novel, from the publisher:

A crime scene cleaner is on the trail of a serial killer in a breathtaking novel of psychological suspense by USA Today bestselling author Brianna Labuskes.

Death pays well for Olive Hunt, a crime scene cleaner who channels her childhood traumas into erasing the suffering of others. After nearly ten years, she’s seen it all. Nothing rattles her anymore.

Until now.

Two back-to-back suicides. A seedy motel. An upscale Atlanta hotel. No connection―except that Olive discovers the same strange item at each scene. Then a third body drops. Olive knows what the police refuse to see: These aren’t suicides. They’re murders staged to perfection.

Then the roses arrive. A vase of bloodred blooms on her doorstep. An anonymous note: Thank you.

She’s found him. A serial killer who’s been leaving breadcrumbs only she can see. A killer who’s been cleaning up his work―knowing she’ll clean up after him. A killer who wants her to follow.

And follow she must. No matter how terrifying the trail becomes.

Visit Brianna Labuskes's website.

The Page 69 Test: Clean Slate.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Violaine Roussel's "Data-Driven Hollywood"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Data-Driven Hollywood: The New Data Professionals in the Age of Streaming by Violaine Roussel.

About the book, from the publisher:

In Hollywood today, thousands of data specialists work for streaming video platforms, playing a role not just in distribution and marketing but also in decisions about content and production. In Data-Driven Hollywood, Violaine Roussel examines the emergence of this new category of professionals at the heart of the Hollywood dream factory. Roussel shows how the rise of data and algorithm specialists has transformed organizations and rearranged power relationships within them. Drawing on extensive interviews and in situ observations, she describes the ways that technical “data work” carried out by professionals at streaming platforms including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ has had a significant effect on creative decisions.

Rather than fetishizing data and algorithmic models, Roussel explores the practices of the professionals who shape them, manipulate them, and give them power. She examines the relationships of these workers with traditional producers, describing legitimacy struggles and the eventual stabilization of new professional arrangements. Roussel’s account of the ways that data specialists deploy algorithmic models to reinvent their industry’s approach to content, artists, and the market—the first in-depth sociological study of the rise of this new profession—reveals the new forms of power and knowledge at play in today’s Hollywood.

Learn more about Data-Driven Hollywood at the Princeton University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Data-Driven Hollywood.

--Marshal Zeringue

Katie Tallo's "Where Her Secrets Lie," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Where Her Secrets Lie by Katie Tallo.

The entry begins:

If they make my book, Where Her Secrets Lie, into a film, I’d love to see Helen Mirren play the fiesty, wild-haired, beer-drinking protagonist, Lenny Bird. Helen is ten years older than Lenny but she’s got the vibe, the look, the sexy energy and the agency to pull off this edgy grandmother who takes on a ruthless crime boss. Her work in Mobland — hell, all her work — proves she’s got the gritty chops to be the perfect Lenny Bird.

While writing the novel and developing the lead character, I...[read on]

Visit Katie Tallo's website.

The Page 69 Test: Dark August.

Q&A with Katie Tallo.

Writers Read: Katie Tallo (June 2022).

The Page 69 Test: Buried Road.

Writers Read: Katie Tallo (December 2024).

My Book, The Movie: Where Her Secrets Lie.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Callie Rowland

From my Q&A with Callie Rowland, author of Fields of Asphodel:

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

My favorite thing about the title Fields of Asphodel is its double meaning: Asphodel is the name of the protagonist, and the Fields of Asphodel – where the souls of unremarkable mortals reside in the Ancient Greek underworld – plays a major role in the story. The title suits its genre's convention (think of books like The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller and Ariadne by Jennifer Saint), but my publisher initially wanted to swap it for something more pronounceable, which I completely understand. I've met many people who don't know how to pronounce "Asphodel," and I secretly didn't either until I looked it up. We toyed with a few options, but in the end, nothing better prepared readers for a book about the daughter of Hades and Persephone, who, upon being forcibly engaged to the god of death, attempts to escape her mother's fate by kidnapping her husband-to-be – thus...[read on]

Visit Callie Rowland's website.

Q&A with Callie Rowland.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top missing-persons novels

Ellis Blake is the pseudonym of Ben Sanders, award-winning author of American Blood and other books in the Marshall Grade series. He lives in New Zealand.

His new novel is No Prisoners.

At CrimeReads the author tagged his top five "missing-persons novels that I’ve read in the past twenty years—thrillers and mysteries that in different ways were both a treat, and a lesson in how to write." One entry on the list:

Tana French’s THE SEARCHER centers on Cal Hooper, formerly of the Chicago PD, now living in rural Ireland in the wake of a marriage separation. He’s an instantly likeable character, bruised but resilient, passing his time with the hard labor of renovating his cottage. But with twenty-five years’ experience as a police detective and a moral compass that does not wobble, he’s well placed to help local kid Trey find his missing brother.

The story has a masterly, unrushed confidence about it. French takes her time filling in Cal’s backstory, showing us the rural Irish landscape and its people: wary, streetwise Trey; Cal’s droll, eccentric neighbor Mart; the local pub and its patrons. But behind the atmosphere of geniality and cheer is a darker quality that French draws inexorably into focus as Cal works his witnesses and his clues. The Searcher is a deliberately slow, stunning burn from one of the very best crime and mystery writers in the world.

Read about another novel on the list.

The Searcher is among Laura Griffin's six suspense novels and twisty thrillers set in small towns.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Rachel Peterson reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Rachel Peterson, author of Killing Sadie.

Her entry begins:

I love to vary my reading between commercial and literary fiction, as well as a healthy dose of historical nonfiction. My only rule as a thriller author is that I avoid reading the genre while in the middle of writing one! During writing breaks, I jump right into the massive thriller stack that has no doubt been accumulating. A few of my latest reads (and yes, these brilliant non-thrillers were read while working on a new manuscript … more on that soon!) include:

Kin by Tayari Jones: This story truly swept me away, and the deep female friendship at the heart of it felt as real and urgent today as it did within the mid-century setting of the novel. I love being transported by historical fiction, and this novel delivered in spades! I finished it when I was halfway through a flight from New York and I spent the last half of the flight just staring out the window thinking about it. It’s such a joy when a book can...[read on]

About Killing Sadie, from the publisher:

Perfect for fans of How to Survive Your Murder and Dead Girls Can’t Tell Secrets, this young adult thriller unspools the truth behind a tragic murder through multiple unreliable narrators who all have secrets to keep.

Here’s what we do know: there was another infamous barn party at the McClain family farm last night, and things went horribly wrong. By the end of the night, there were two dead bodies in the old barn: seventeen-year-old Sadie Cooper and her killer, Mason Vreeland. The murder was heartbreakingly witnessed by Sadie’s twin sister, Jayne, and Sadie died in her arms. Mason was killed by Sadie’s boyfriend, Ben, in an attempt to save Sadie.

Aside from figuring out Mason’s motive, it should be an open and shut case.

But it’s not.

The story unfolds just after the murders, and Jayne, Ben, and Sadie’s best friend, Liz, are telling the cops what transpired at the party and the events leading up to it. But little details don’t match. And those little details start to add up to big discrepancies. But who’s lying, and why?

The shocking truth is revealed in the third act, when the POV shifts to victim Sadie herself, in the days leading up to the party. Witness exactly what happened—and see if you can piece it all together. Because poor Sadie totally missed what was right in front of her.

Visit Rachel Peterson's website.

My Book, The Movie: Killing Sadie.

Writers Read: Rachel Peterson.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five novels that get at the truth of true crime

Claire Fuller is the author most recently of the novel Hunger and Thirst. Her previous novels include Our Endless Numbered Days, which won the Desmond Elliott Prize; Swimming Lessons; Bitter Orange; Unsettled Ground, which won the Costa Novel Award and was a finalist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction; and The Memory of Animals.

[The Page 69 Test: Our Endless Numbered Days]

At Oprah Daily the author tagged five novels "that weave in real crimes and real questions about literature’s most controversial genre." One title on the list:

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

This ambitious literary thriller covers power, privilege, and the #MeToo movement. Bodie Kane is nearly 40 when she takes a short-term job teaching a podcasting course at the New Hampshire boarding school she once attended. Returning brings back memories of the murder of her roommate, Thalia, when they were both 17. Two of Bodie’s students take on Thalia’s murder as a subject for their own podcast, looking at whether the school’s sports technician was wrongfully convicted. Bodie can’t help but fall down her own rabbit hole, re-examining everything she had once accepted about the murder.

Just as with the title, I Have Some Questions for You is addressed throughout to “you,” an alternative perpetrator, but it could of course, also be us, the readers. In doing so, Makkai manages to make us queasily complicit as she examines some of the tropes of true crime, including objectifying the victim, the role of amateur detectives, and an imperfect justice system.

Read about another entry on the list.

I Have Some Questions For You is among Melissa D’Agnese's seven best dark academia books, Allie Tagle-Dokus's eight titles that reckon with the impacts of cancel culture, Jo Firestone's five top laugh-out-loud mysteries, Jacqueline Faber's seven top thrillers about the role of the witness, Kat Davis's top ten feminist crime novels subverting the Dead Girl trope, Elise Juska’s eight best campus novels ever written, Nicole Hackett's six top mysteries about motherhood and crime, Brittany Bunzey's ten books that take you inside their characters’ heads, Anne Burt's four top recent titles with social justice themes, and Heather Darwent's nine best campus thrillers.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Joy Dixon's "Sexual Heresies"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Sexual Heresies: Religion, Science, and Sexuality in Modern Britain by Joy Dixon.

About the book, from the publisher:

In Britain at the end of the nineteenth century, the new sexual sciences―from anthropological accounts of religion as rooted in ancient fertility cults to psychoanalytic theories that explained religious experience in terms of psychosexual development―characterized religion as closely connected to the sexual. The outcome, as Joy Dixon argues, was a new sense that religion itself could be sexually suspect. One result was an increasing concern to police "sexual heresies" to produce a supposedly normal (healthy, monogamous, and heterosexual) religiosity. The overall effect was a narrowing of the sexual possibilities inside "orthodox" religion and the association of alternative forms of religion with dissident sexualities that continues to shape both religion and secularism today. Drawing on a wide range of materials from diverse elements of British society, this book emphasizes the dynamic relationships between the histories of religion and of sexuality and the historical contingency of the categories we use to understand the relationship between the two.

Learn more about Sexual Heresies at the Stanford University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Sexual Heresies.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Arvind Ethan David's "The Great Game"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Arvind Ethan David's The Great Game: A Thriller.

About The Great Game, from the publisher:

An outsider in London investigates a series of brutal murders targeting English aristocrats in a timely and provocative historical novel brimming with intrigue, wit, and rage.

London, 1905: Law student and military veteran Balvinder dev Singh has found an extralegal way to fund his studies. As friend and accomplice to the infamous gentleman thief AJ Raffles, he rubs shoulders with the upper crust―and steals their valuables. That is, until their next mark, an imperialist general, is grotesquely murdered in the library of his Mayfair mansion. Bal and Raffles find themselves implicated in a series of killings that soon attracts the attention of Scotland Yard―and the aging Sherlock Holmes himself.

As Bal works to clear his name, he must hide his checkered past from a new acquaintance, the beautiful Irish violinist Maud Adler. Her fiery views lead Bal to question his own place in the world. But when he comes face-to-face with a plot to strike at the very heart of the British government, he must decide how much he’s willing to risk for his adopted city.

Visit Arvind Ethan David's website.

Q&A with Arvind Ethan David.

Writers Read: Arvind Ethan David.

The Page 69 Test: The Great Game.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six of the most polarizing mystery & crime books

Jeffrey Davies is a professional introvert and writer with imposter syndrome whose work spans the worlds of pop culture, books, music, feminism, and mental health. His work has appeared on HuffPost, CBC Arts, Collider, Slant Magazine, PopMatters, and other places.

At Book Riot Davis tagged six of the most polarizing mystery and crime books ever written. One title on the list:

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Here’s a perfect example of a polarizing mystery book, in that it generated controversy among readers and governments alike. Without spoiling anything, Gone Girl is known for its one big, supposedly mind-blowing plot twist that continues to divide readers (a plot twist that resulted in me declaring my hatred against this book for life and rating it one star on Goodreads circa 2014). And when you tell your friends a book has a mind-blowing plot twist, they’re all going to want to read it. Gone Girl was also adapted into a feature film starring Rosamund Pike and Ben Affleck, for which Pike was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Outside the literary community, this book was also banned in at least two U.S. states. Objections included sexually explicit material, LGBTQ references, suicide, drugs, violence, and profanity, to name only a few. Reminder: book bans are bad, and the censorship news cycle takes no days off.

Read about another entry on the list.

Gone Girl made Taylor Hutton's list of five novels with tantalizing anti-heroes, Nadia Khomami's list of five top psychological thrillers by women, Kaley Rohlinger's list of fifteen of the best books with unreliable narrators, Katherine A. Olson's list of five books with righteous female rage, Azma Dar's list of five dark novels that explore the sinister side of marriage, Jonas Jonasson's top ten list of books about revenge, Suzanne Redfearn's list of six novels about women trying to outrun their past, Max Manning's top ten list of psychopathic crime & thriller characters, Steven L. Kent and Nicholas Kaufmann's list of six favorite literary human monsters, Elizabeth Macneal's list of five sympathetic fictional psychopaths, Jo Jakeman's top ten list of revenge novels, Amanda Craig's list of favorite books about modern married life, Sarah Pinborough's top ten list of unreliable narrators, C.A. Higgins's top five list of books with plot twists that flip your perception, Ruth Ware's top ten list of psychological thrillers, Jane Alexander's top ten list of treasure hunts in fiction, Fanny Blake's list of five top books about revenge, Monique Alice's list of six great fictional evil geniuses, Jeff Somers's lists of the top five best worst couples in literature, six books that’ll make you glad you’re single and five books with an outstanding standalone scene that can be read on its own, Lucie Whitehouse's ten top list of psychological suspense novels with marriages at their heart and Kathryn Williams's list of eight of fiction’s craziest unreliable narrators.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Libby Adler's "Governing the Terrain Called Beauty"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Governing the Terrain Called Beauty: The Queerness of Political Economy in Cuba and the United States by Libby Adler.

About the book, from the publisher:

Revolutionary Cuba does not recognize the liberal rights on which LGBTQ advocates in the United States rely. How then, has legal progress occurred for LGTBQ people in Cuba? This book traces the history of LGBTQ identity and law in Cuba and the US from the turn of the twentieth century through the legalization of same-sex marriage. It investigates material and discursive conditions during and after the Cold War and the under-recognized importance of legal consciousness. Applying comparative legal analysis, genealogy, critical social theories, and interviewing, the book produces an encounter between Cuba and the US that directs attention to the millions of constitutive run-ins that occur daily between the global and the local. Rich and insightful, it reveals how law and identity evolve under imperialism, anxious nationalisms, racial stratification, and economic hardship.

Learn more about Governing the Terrain Called Beauty at the Cambridge University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Governing the Terrain Called Beauty.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Anthony Peckham

From my Q&A with Anthony Peckham, author of The Law of Solitude:

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

I love titles; they’re random attractors and can do a lot of work for you, especially if you’re not a household name. Finding a title that “clicks” is a wonderful feeling. After all, they’re the name of the book and names penetrate deep into the subconscious. When I browse in a bookstore, titles and cover art definitely influence what I reach for.

There should be a clear and dynamic relationship between title and book; in my opinion, you should never reach the end of a book and ask “Why was it called that?”

For my trilogy, I started with a simple descriptive title, Children of the Black Glass, then an evocative title, Winter’s Fire, then, hopefully, a slightly mysterious and alluring title in The Law of Solitude. Each introduces its book and each book justifies its title upon reading.

What's in a name?

A name is your first and best chance to give a character color and...[read on]

Visit Anthony Peckham's website.

Q&A with Anthony Peckham.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five mysteries set in the cut-throat world of literary gatherings

Carol Goodman’s rich and prolific career includes novels such as The Widow’s House and The Night Visitor, winners of the 2018 and 2020 Mary Higgins Clark Award. Her books have been translated into sixteen languages. She lives in the Hudson Valley, NY.

Goodman’s new novel is Our Marriage Is Murder.

At CrimeReads the author tagged five mysteries set at literary events, conferences, and retreats. One title on the list:

Laura Zigman, The Author Weekend

Frenemies play a prominent role in Laura Zigman’s The Author Weekend, envy apparently being the besetting sin of writers in many of these books. Bestselling mystery writer Faye Wader is inspired to throw her own Author Weekend to compete with her nemesis Abby Schuss. Zigman captures that special rivalry that exists when two writers debut together and continue to chart their successes against each another.

Faye’s assistant Jade, an aspiring writer herself, stirs the pot (and the plot) by suggesting they also invite Abby to the weekend. Complications ensue when Faye’s Number One Fan discovers a discrepancy in Faye’s origin backstory and things go precipitously downhill from there. The meta-commentary on the publishing world is at times brutal. “Nobody loves anyone in this business!” Faye’s agent exclaims. “This is publishing!”

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Patrick Sullivan's "Stay Tuned"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Stay Tuned: Listening to the Network Era by Patrick Sullivan.

About the book, from the publisher:

Since the 1950s, television flooded the American soundscape with not just pictures but sounds, a constant aural stream infiltrating domestic life. In Stay Tuned, Patrick Sullivan treats network-era television sound not as background noise or auxiliary signal but as a formative texture of aesthetic life in postwar America. He theorizes how television’s sonic forms―asynchronous audiovisuals, noises, affective rhythms, what he collectively terms “network aurality”―trouble traditional aesthetic theory. Stay Tuned takes up critiques of television sound and repurposes them as evidence of a deeper philosophical discomfort: Namely, that television sound does something to aesthetic categories that they weren’t built to handle. From the laugh track to the cartoon “boinks,” from noises to the jingle, Sullivan reads television sounds not as cultural detritus but as formal interventions―forcing a redefinition of what aesthetics means when form is mass-produced, commercial, and built for syndication. What emerges is not just a new theory and history of television sound but a reimagined account of aesthetic experience itself―expanded, recalibrated, and a little wacky.

Learn more about Stay Tuned at the Rutgers University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Stay Tuned.

--Marshal Zeringue

Rachel Peterson's "Killing Sadie," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Killing Sadie by Rachel Peterson.

The entry begins:

As a Midwestern kid who spent her early days dreaming of becoming an actor or author, my mind is constantly buzzing with who would play my characters!

We have quite a few characters to cover for Killing Sadie, so let’s focus on our twins, Sadie and Jayne Cooper. Sadie is our Midwestern golden girl with the personality to match, while Jayne is far edgier. But like most twins, they share an unspoken bond and are two sides of the same coin.

My mind jumps instantly to Isabel Gravitt (Tori Cooper in Your Friends and Neighbors), or Sadie Sink to play our twins! These two actresses have range for days, and can flip from polite to sinister in a second. And who are we kidding, every character in Killing Sadie needs to have this attribute! For their parents,...[read on]

Visit Rachel Peterson's website.

My Book, The Movie: Killing Sadie.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Jon St. Denis's "Killer Art"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Killer Art: A Novel by Jon St. Denis.

About the novel, from the publisher:

A pair of newbie academics find themselves reluctant sleuths and even more reluctant targets when a fellow professor turns up dead.

When art professor Vika Chen discovers the strangled body of Professor McGuire in a campus art studio, she becomes the prime suspect in a murder connected to an exhibition exposing AI-generated art.

Since local law enforcement fails to find any optional leads, Vika and her partner, journalism professor Sam Worthing, take the investigation into their own hands. Vika, who until recently worked as a curator at MoMA, and Sam, a former crime reporter for the New York Times, find themselves uniquely suited for the job.

Much to the chagrin of the police chief, the pair’s investigation pinpoints multiple suspects who might have felt threatened by the exhibition. But the stakes become deadly when someone tries to run Vika off the road.

As more bodies pile up, Vika and Sam uncover a collage of secrets that someone would kill to keep buried.

Visit Jon St. Denis's website.

The Page 69 Test: Killer Art.

--Marshal Zeringue

Three must-read titles about colonialism

Edna Bonhomme is a critic, journalist, and historian of science. She is the author of A History of the World in Six Plagues (shortlisted for Best Science Book in Austria) and co-editor of After Sex. Her latest book is Tending To Our Wounds: A Diasporic Memoir. Bonhomme is the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships, from the Andy Warhol Foundation, the Camargo Foundation, the Max Planck Institute, the Robert Silvers Foundation, and more. Most recently, she was a 2026 finalist for the 2026 Nona Balakian Award from the National Book Critics Circle. Her essays have appeared in The Atlantic, The Guardian, Le Monde Diplomatique, London Review of Books, The Nation, The New Republic, Scientific American, and elsewhere. She has been based in Berlin since 2017.

At Book Riot Bonhomme tagged three books on colonialism that "are not only case studies of the psychological cost of colonialism but also testaments that the colonized are not passive victims." One title on the list:

The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon

Fanon’s text is a revolutionary pamphlet and a psychiatrist’s diagnosis of French colonialism in Algeria, and it also makes a firm case that colonialism can psychologically impair the minds of colonizers. Wretched of the Earth has inspired anti-colonial movements, largely for its thorough analysis of imperial violence and for the ways that class is produced in the colonial context. This is a polemical text precisely because of imperialism’s attempts to degrade and discredit the colonized. Nevertheless, Fanon shows that freedom is possible when people resist through collective struggle and socialism.

Read about another book on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue