What is Catriona McPherson reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Catriona McPherson, author of The Witching Hour.

The entry begins:

The brief for this assignment is very clear: do not simply list the books you’ve read. However, if anyone’s interested, everything I’ve read since December 2019 is on this page of my website.

But what have I been reading recently that I want to shout about?

Shannon Baker, a longtime resident of the Nebraska sandhills (although she now lives in Arizona), writes the Sheriff Kate Fox series of police procedurals. Or are they? Kate is one of a large family in a small town, where old feuds and fresh gossip confound every case she encounters. The landscape and lifestyle are brutal but the writing is lush and the stories are always absorbing, whether the background is the plight of migrant workers, the intricacies of policing the reservation or, as in the one I’ve just read, the big business of bucking bulls.

Still in the crime-fiction genre, but a different kettle of fish entirely, I thoroughly enjoyed...[read on]

About The Witching Hour, from the publisher:

War is hovering on the horizon, and Dandy Gilver wants nothing more than to keep her friends and family close. But then a call in the night places her oldest friend Daisy at the centre of a murder investigation. With her friend's future on the line, Dandy and her fellow sleuth Alec Osbourne must race to prove her innocence.

But when they reach the idyllic Scottish village of Dirleton, residents confirm a woman was seen at the crime scene - an ancient stone called the louping stane, still spattered with the victim's blood. And the longer the detectives spend in the village the more they question Daisy's involvement. They're not getting the answers they need, but are they asking the right questions?...

Visit Catriona McPherson's website.

The Page 69 Test: Go to My Grave.

Writers Read: Catriona McPherson (November 2018).

My Book, The Movie: The Turning Tide.

The Page 69 Test: The Turning Tide.

My Book, The Movie: A Gingerbread House.

The Page 69 Test: Hop Scot.

The Page 69 Test: Deep Beneath Us.

Q&A with Catriona McPherson.

The Page 69 Test: The Witching Hour.

Writers Read: Catriona McPherson.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten thrilling books about women on the verge

Holly Baxter is an executive editor and staff writer at the Independent in New York. She has experience in generating clicks on both sides of the Atlantic, having worked in the Independent’s London office as a reporter for three years. Her work was shortlisted for a Press Award for Feature of the Year in 2019 and she often appears on British radio and television.

Baxter lives in Brooklyn, New York. Clickbait is her debut novel.

At Electric Lit she tagged ten thrilling books about women on the verge. One title on the list:

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

Queenie isn’t just a deep-dive into one woman’s psychological tics but also a beautiful portrait of London in all its diversity and its downfalls. Carty-Williams, in a very Zadie Smith-esque way, is able to draw attention to a plethora of social issues—gentrification, racism, misogyny, the cruelties of capitalism and the generation effects of immigration—within a few short scenes (the first chapter somehow manages to draw attention to every one of these, while remaining readable and at times heartrending).

Queenie is a protagonist who makes a lot of bad decisions, but you keep rooting for her. Carty-Williams does a good job of showing how unfairly society reacts to her even as she demands Queenie take responsibility for her own “stuff” (as Queenie continually calls it). And she also does a good job of portraying how no one truly comes back together on their own—Queenie’s imperfectly perfect support system often takes center-stage, too.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Queenie is among Lisa Zhuang's eight novels with characters who go to therapy.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Kerry Brown's "The Great Reversal"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Great Reversal: Britain, China and the 400-Year Contest for Power by Kerry Brown.

About the book, from the publisher:

A vivid history of the relationship between Britain and China, from 1600 to the present

The relationship between Britain and China has shaped the modern world. Chinese art, philosophy and science have had a profound effect upon British culture, while the long history of British exploitation is still bitterly remembered in China today. But how has their interaction changed over time?

From the early days of the East India Company through the violence of the Opium Wars to present-day disputes over Hong Kong, Kerry Brown charts this turbulent and intriguing relationship in full. Britain has always sought to dominate China economically and politically, while China’s ideas and exports—from tea and Chinoiserie to porcelain and silk—have continued to fascinate in the west. But by the later twentieth century, the balance of power began to shift in China’s favour, with global consequences. Brown shows how these interactions changed the world order—and argues that an understanding of Britain’s relationship with China is now more vital than ever.

Learn more about The Great Reversal at the Yale University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: The Great Reversal.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Asha Greyling's "The Vampire of Kings Street"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Vampire of Kings Street: A Mystery by Asha Greyling.

About the book, from the publisher:

In this gothic debut novel, perfect for fans of Tread of Angels and Gail Carriger’s Soulless, Miss Radhika Dhingra, a newly minted lawyer in 19th century New York, never expected that her first client would be a vampire accused of murder.

Having a resident vampire is just the thing for upper-class New Yorkers–besides being a status symbol, they make excellent butlers or housekeepers. The only thing they require in return is a drop or two of blood and a casket to shut out the dawn’s early light.

Tolerated by society only if they follow a strict set of rules, vampires are seen as “less than”–and as the daughter of immigrants, Radhika knows firsthand how this feels. Accused of murder, her undead client Mr. Evelyn More, knows that the cards are stacked against him.

With the help of a journalist friend and a diminutive detective inspector, Miss Dhingra sets out to prove her client’s innocence and win his freedom. Failure will mean Mr. More’s death, the end of her dreams of becoming a successful attorney, and the loss of the vampire Miss Dhingra has begun to call her friend.

Offering an alternative paranormal history, delightful characters, and insightful social commentary, The Vampire of Kings Street will thrill readers of Deanna Rayburn and Rebecca Roanhorse.

Visit Asha Greyling's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Vampire of Kings Street.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Cynthia Swanson

From my Q&A with Cynthia Swanson, author of Anyone But Her:

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

On page 7 of Anyone But Her, we hear these exact words (“anyone but her”) spoken by Alex, mom of Suzanne, the novel’s main character. Six months earlier, Alex was killed during an armed robbery of her record store on Colfax Avenue in Denver. Now, she appears as a ghost to 14-year-old Suzanne, a clairvoyant, and urges Suzanne to intervene in the relationship between Suzanne’s father James, and his girlfriend, Peggy, whom he’d dated in high school. Alex explains that after meeting Peggy at James and Peggy’s high school reunion, she’d jokingly told him that if she died, he could marry “anyone but her.”

Lost in grief and loneliness, Suzanne heeds her mother’s warnings and does what she can to break up James and Peggy. The repercussions of this decision are severe and long-lasting, both when Suzanne is a teen in 1979, and in 2004, twenty-five years later, when she returns to...[read on]

Visit Cynthia Swanson's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Bookseller.

The Page 69 Test: The Glass Forest.

Writers Read: Cynthia Swanson (February 2018).

Q&A with Cynthia Swanson.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten top heist novels

Mailan Doquang has published extensively on the art and architecture of medieval France.

She is an avid traveler, photographer, and runner.

She is a Canadian transplant and longtime resident of New York City.

Doquang's debut novel is Blood Rubies.

At The Strand Magazine she tagged ten recent standout heist novels. One title on the list:

The Pigeon, by David Gordon (2023)

This unique caper, the fifth in Gordon’s Joe the Bouncer series, centers on a stolen racing pigeon (yes, a pigeon) worth nearly a million dollars. Ex-Special Forces operative Joe Brody’s attempt to retrieve the bird from an Upper West side apartment goes sideways, putting him in the crosshairs of a group of international criminals.

Read about another entry on the list.

Also see seven heart-pounding heist tales.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Katharine Schellman's "A Scandal in Mayfair"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: A Scandal in Mayfair by Katharine Schellman.

About the book, from the publisher:

Sometimes danger lurks in plain sight, and in the cutthroat London Season socialite Lily Adler must race against time to catch a killer.

Fans of Bridgerton will delight in this Regency-era mystery featuring an intrepid sleuth, plenty of intrigue, and a touch of romance.

London, 1817. The London Season is beginning once more, and Lily Adler’s return to her home on Half Moon Street feels different this year. No longer a recent widow, she has a life and friends waiting for her. Lily also has new responsibilities in the form of her protégée Amelia, the sister of her longtime friend Jack Hartley, who is escaping her own brush with scandal and murder.

It doesn’t take long for Lily’s growing reputation as a lady of quality who can discreetly find what is missing or solve what is puzzling to bring a desperate young woman to her doorstep. But helping her means unraveling a tangled web of family secrets. Soon, a missing will, a dead body and the threat of blackmail leave Lily facing danger every way she turns.

The glittering society of Mayfair conceals many secrets, and the back alleys of London hide even more. Lily Adler will need to find the connection between them quickly if she wants to stop a killer before it’s too late.

Visit Katharine Schellman's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Last Note of Warning.

The Page 69 Test: A Scandal in Mayfair.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Roberta L. Millstein's "The Land Is Our Community"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Land Is Our Community: Aldo Leopold’s Environmental Ethic for the New Millennium by Roberta L. Millstein.

About the book, from the publisher:

A contemporary defense of conservationist Aldo Leopold’s vision for human interaction with the environment.

Informed by his experiences as a hunter, forester, wildlife manager, ecologist, conservationist, and professor, Aldo Leopold developed a view he called the land ethic. In a classic essay, published posthumously in A Sand County Almanac, Leopold advocated for an expansion of our ethical obligations beyond the purely human to include what he variously termed the “land community” or the “biotic community”—communities of interdependent humans, nonhuman animals, plants, soils, and waters, understood collectively. This philosophy has been extremely influential in environmental ethics as well as conservation biology and related fields.

Using an approach grounded in environmental ethics and the history and philosophy of science, Roberta L. Millstein reexamines Leopold’s land ethic in light of contemporary ecology. Despite the enormous influence of the land ethic, it has sometimes been dismissed as either empirically out of date or ethically flawed. Millstein argues that these dismissals are based on problematic readings of Leopold’s ideas. In this book, she provides new interpretations of the central concepts underlying the land ethic: interdependence, land community, and land health. She also offers a fresh take on of his argument for extending our ethics to include land communities as well as Leopold-inspired guidelines for how the land ethic can steer conservation and restoration policy.

Visit Roberta L. Millstein's website.

The Page 99 Test: The Land Is Our Community.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six sci-fi thrillers about Artificial Intelligence

Lois Melbourne is the author of “STEM Club Goes Exploring” and “Kids Go To Work Day,” illustrated books helping students explore careers. Formerly a global software CEO, she is a pragmatic optimist willing to push the risks for technology, when it can help people. She reads and writes in an eclectic variety of genres. Melbourne serves her community through working at the voting polls, voter registration drives, and mentoring students and entrepreneurs.

Melbourne wrote her debut novel, Moral Code in collaboration with her husband Ross.

At CrimeReads she tagged six sci-fi thrillers about AI, including:

2054: A Novel, by Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis USN

Political intrigue, reality in governmental responses, the lack of controls upon artificial intelligence and the global reaction is a Presidential assassination makes this story scary to contemplate.

Nothing is simple.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Laila Ibrahim reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Laila Ibrahim, author of Falling Wisteria: A Novel (Yellow Crocus).

Her entry begins:

At the moment I'm reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. It's been on my 'check it out list' for a long time and I grabbed it when a friend put out a pile of books that included it.

In general I strive to live intentionally. I want to notice what brings me more in line with my values and keeps me in balance physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

I'm only two chapters into the book, however I already appreciate it very much. She lays out her goal clearly as well as her methodology, and then reports on how she did. Her writing is...[read on]

About Falling Wisteria, from the publisher:

As America enters WWII, two women on the home front strive to stay strong in a heartfelt novel about hope, friendship, and family by the bestselling author of Yellow Crocus and Golden Poppies.

Kay Lynn Brooke is a wife and mother in Berkeley, California, building a solid future with her husband and family. Then on December 7, 1941, the bombing of Pearl Harbor throws Kay Lynn’s life, and the lives of everyone she knows and loves, into chaos.

Within weeks, Kay Lynn’s dearest friend, Kimiko, is forcibly relocated with her family to an internment camp. Kay Lynn’s brother, fortified with a youthful and patriotic spirit, ships out for the Pacific. Her husband enlists ahead of the draft and leaves home for basic training, while Kay Lynn’s sister works for the war effort on the home front―and holds a secret that places her in a different kind of danger.

As Kay Lynn struggles to parent, keep the household together, and challenge the social mores of the time, she both finds and gives strength through her letters to Kimiko. Over the next few uncertain years, and longing for the safe and simple clarity of the past, Kay Lynn has no choice but to find her own place and purpose in a rapidly changing world.

Visit Laila Ibrahim's website.

Q&A with Laila Ibrahim.

The Page 69 Test: Falling Wisteria.

Writers Read: Laila Ibrahim.

--Marshal Zeringue

Julie E. Czerneda's "A Change of Place," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: A Change of Place by Julie E. Czerneda.

The entry begins:

A Change of Place continues from two previous books in my Night’s Edge fantasy series. The characters are the same, though more arrive, the focal setting—Marrowdell—is always present, but in each book, we visit dramatically different places and problems. It’s, well, big.

Making it not so much a movie prospect and very much an epic series.

Just typing that makes me tremble, a little. Wouldn’t that be something?

Oh I didn’t always think that way. When I first thought of Marrowdell, my dragon, my characters and the entire scope and tone of the story it was in response to what I wasn’t finding. I wanted fantasy where the magic was wondrous and wild. With families that were whole and loving and coped together with their troubles. Characters who weren’t victims but happy or hoping to be, engaged with their surroundings and each other. There’s a mill. Farms. Dancing.

A story that feels like warm cocoa and a blanket on a chilly day, with gleeful ahas!

In other words, no grim. No gore. Okay, maybe a touch of gore and smidge of risk, but countered by a great deal more pie and joy and laughter.

As there wasn’t anything like this in movie or series form—and so much the opposite ::coughs Game of Thrones ::coughs:: as I wrote I...[read on]

Visit Julie E. Czerneda's website.

The Page 69 Test: To Guard Against the Dark.

The Page 69 Test: The Gossamer Mage.

The Page 69 Test: Mirage.

Q&A with Julie E. Czerneda.

The Page 69 Test: To Each This World.

My Book, The Movie: To Each This World.

My Book, The Movie: A Change of Place.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five of the best books about female friendship

Michaela Makusha is a freelance writer and journalist, writing about culture, politics, racial and gender politics in Britain and more.

At the Guardian she tagged five "stories about the highs and lows of female friendship," including:

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson

No group is closer than a coven. In Dawson’s alternate Britain, politics and witchcraft are intertwined: HMRC is short for Her Majesty’s Royal Coven, a covert government department of witches established to protect the country from all manner of supernatural threats. Four witches who grew up together – Leonie, Niamh, Elle and Helena – must reunite following a prophecy that may destroy the coven itself. Dormant tensions rise to the surface, threatening to tear the witches apart yet again. This fantasy book is a fun read, with plenty of Spice Girls references and sharp observations on gender and power.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Loreth Anne White's "The Swimmer"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Swimmer: A Novel by Loreth Anne White.

About the book, from the publisher:

A deviously twisty novel of psychological suspense about secrets, neighbors, a need to belong, and murder by the award-winning author of The Maid’s Diary.

Socially awkward Chloe Cooper divides her time between dog walking, bartending, caring for her ailing mother, and at a safe distance, watching people and inventing the stories of their lives. Like Chloe’s new neighbors: glamorous influencer Jemma Spengler and Jemma’s husband, Adam, a renowned surgeon. They’re attractive, wealthy, and in a house of open windows, so exposed.

A move to the Pacific Northwest is supposed to be a fresh start for Jemma and Adam. It’s a renewed commitment to a marriage fractured by secrets. A chance to work through the tragic losses in their past. For Jemma, however, this new beginning also comes with an unnerving sensation that she’s being watched.

Then, on a fog-shrouded beach early in the morning, Chloe witnesses the murder of a swimmer. Her suspicions aroused, she suddenly sees her neighbors in a sinister new light. But as a detective and her partner close in, nothing is quite as it seems. Because the Spenglers are not the only ones with secrets. And Chloe isn’t the only one who’s been watching.

Visit Loreth Anne White's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Swimmer.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Pamela D. Toler's "The Dragon from Chicago"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Dragon from Chicago: The Untold Story of an American Reporter in Nazi Germany by Pamela D. Toler.

About the book, from the publisher:

For fans of unheralded women’s stories, a captivating look at Sigrid Schultz—one of the earliest reporters to warn Americans of the rising threat of the Nazi regime

We are facing an alarming upsurge in the spread of misinformation and attempts by powerful figures to discredit facts so they can seize control of narratives. These are threats American journalist Sigrid Schultz knew all too well. The Chicago Tribune's Berlin bureau chief and primary foreign correspondent for Central Europe from 1925 to January 1941, Schultz witnessed Hitler’s rise to power and was one of the first reporters—male or female—to warn American readers of the growing dangers of Nazism.

In The Dragon From Chicago, Pamela D. Toler draws on extensive archival research to unearth the largely forgotten story of Schultz’s years spent courageously reporting the news from Berlin, from the revolts of 1919 through the Nazi rise to power and Allied air raids over Berlin in 1941. At a time when women reporters rarely wrote front-page stories and her male colleagues saw a powerful unmarried woman as a “freak,” Schultz pulled back the curtain on how the Nazis misreported the news to their own people, and how they attempted to control the foreign press through bribery and threats.

Sharp and enlightening, Schultz's story provides a powerful example for how we can reclaim truth in an era marked by the spread of disinformation and claims of “fake news.”

Visit Pamela D. Toler's website.

The Page 99 Test: Women Warriors: An Unexpected History.

The Page 99 Test: The Dragon from Chicago.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine books about women leaning into darkness to find power

Dawn Kurtagich is the award-winning author of The Dead House, And the Trees Crept In, Teeth in the Mist, and Blood on the Wind. She leaves her North Wales crypt after midnight during blood moons. The rest of the time she exists somewhere between mushrooms, maggots and mould. She is enjoying life with her new liver, Lucy, her husband, two black cats, and those moldy forest mushrooms.

Kurtagich's debut adult novel is The Madness.

At Electric Lit she tagged nine "favourite novels that feature unhinged women," including:

Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung

Let’s begin with a book of short stories to get our juices flowing, shall we? I loved some of these stories far more than others, but the ones I loved, I loved. I am an avid Weird Fiction girlie, and proudly so. The first two stories in this collection alone are worth the book—“Head” and “The Embodiment”—and both fall into my definition of Unhinged Women. In the first story, a woman finds a disembodied head in her toilet one morning, and continually attempts to flush it away. It is a nauseating examination of the disintegration of her identity after being talked into ignoring the problem by the family around her. “The Embodiment” follows a woman who becomes mysteriously pregnant after being prescribed birth control tablets to control her heavy period. It examines patriarchal power structures in a society that dictates the value of a woman through the lens of marriage and motherhood, and is delightfully gross. For short, sharp shocks, give this one a go.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: J.H. Markert's "Sleep Tight"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Sleep Tight: A Novel by J. H. Markert.

About the book, from the publisher:

The sole survivor of a serial killer might hold the key to stopping a new spree of murders in this propulsive horror thriller in the vein of The Black Phone and The Whisper Man.

Dark and twisting at every turn, fans of Catriona Ward will love this chilling new tale from the deviously inventive horror author that Peter Farris calls the "clear heir to Stephen King.”

Beware the one who got away . . .

Father Silence once terrorized the rural town of Twisted Tree, disguising himself as a priest to prey on the most vulnerable members of society. When the police finally found his "House of Horrors," they uncovered nineteen bodies and one survivor–a boy now locked away in a hospital for the criminally insane.

Nearly two decades later, Father Silence is finally put to death, but by the next morning, the detective who made the original arrest is found dead. A new serial killer is taking credit for the murder and calling himself the Outcast.

The detective’s daughter, Tess Claibourne, is a detective herself, haunted by childhood trauma and horrified by the death of her father and the resurgence of Father Silence’s legacy.

When Tess’s daughter is kidnapped by the Outcast, Tess is forced to face her worst fears and long-buried memories. With no leads to follow, she travels back to Twisted Tree to visit the boy who survived and see what secrets might be buried in the tangled web of his broken mind.

With captivating prose and an old-school horror flair, Sleep Tight is a must-read, haunting tale from a true master of the genre.

Visit J.H. Markert's website.

Q&A with J. H. Markert.

My Book, The Movie: The Nightmare Man.

The Page 69 Test: The Nightmare Man.

My Book, The Movie: Sleep Tight.

The Page 69 Test: Sleep Tight.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten notable campus novels

At B&N Reads Isabelle McConville tagged ten "books that capture the messiness of love and friendship and the uncertainty of life in your early twenties." One title on the list:

The Idiot by Elif Batuman

Set in the late 90s at Harvard, this is a new kind of coming-of-age narrative that reminds readers that to be American is to be from elsewhere. This is a brilliant, hilarious and moving novel that will resonate for some time.

Read about another novel on the list.

The Idiot is among Christine Ma-Kellams's seven books about unconventional situationships, Lauren Hutton's ten books about young women in (and out) of love, and Katherine Heiny's eight best books about modern dating.

Also see Elise Juska’s list of eight of the greatest campus novels ever written, Ali Lowe's list of six of the best campus crime novels, Kate McCusker's five top campus novels, Michael Woodson's ten top campus novels, and K.D. Walker's eight top campus novels set in grad school.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Dean Jobb's "A Gentleman and a Thief"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: A Gentleman and a Thief: The Daring Jewel Heists of a Jazz Age Rogue by Dean Jobb.

About the book, from the publisher:

A captivating Jazz Age true-crime caper about "the greatest jewel thief who ever lived" (Life Magazine), Arthur Barry, who charmed everyone from Rockefellers to members of the royal family while simultaneously planning and executing the most audacious and lucrative heists of the 1920s.

Catch Me If You Can meets The Great Gatsby meets the hit Netflix series Lupin in this captivating true-crime caper. A skilled con artist and perhaps one of the most charming, audacious burglars in history, Arthur Barry slipped in and out of the bedrooms of New York’s wealthiest residents, even as his victims slept only inches away. He befriended luminaries such as the Prince of Wales and Harry Houdini and became a folk hero, touted in the press as “the greatest jewel thief who ever lived” and an “Aristocrat of Crime.” In a span of seven years, Barry stole diamonds, pearls, and other gems worth almost $60 million today. Among his victims were a Rockefeller, an heiress to the Woolworth department store fortune, an oil magnate, Wall Street bigwigs, a top executive of automotive giant General Motors, and a famous polo player. Dean Jobb—hailed by Esquire magazine as “a master of narrative nonfiction”—once again delivers a stylishly told high-speed ride.

A Gentleman and a Thief is also a love story. Barry confessed to dozens of burglaries to protect his wife, Anna Blake (and was the prime suspect in scores of others). Sentenced to a twenty-five year term, he staged a dramatic prison break when Anna became seriously ill so they could be together for a few more years as fugitives. With dozens of historic images, A Gentleman and a Thief is page-turning, escapist, and sparkling with insight into our fascination with jewel heists and the suave, clever criminals who pull them off.

Visit Dean Jobb's website.

The Page 99 Test: A Gentleman and a Thief.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Erica Wright

From my Q&A with Erica Wright, author of Hollow Bones:

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

Hollow Bones is a retelling of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, and the title comes from the line “…thy bones are hollow; impiety has made a feast of thee.” It is a condemnation—the villain’s absence of faith has lead to an absence of character—but the phrase “hollow bones” also references birds. And a bird is a perfect symbol for the book’s protagonist Essa who is slight and fragile but determined. While not what Matthea Harvey might call a license plate title, grounded in information, I do think Hollow Bones establishes an appropriately gothic tone.

What's in a name?

This story is told in three POVs, and I decided to give Juliet the...[read on]

Visit Erica Wright's website.

My Book, The Movie: Famous in Cedarville.

The Page 99 Test: Snake.

Q&A with Erica Wright.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Christopher Cosmos's "Young Conquerors"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Young Conquerors: A Novel of Hephaestion and Alexandros by Christopher Cosmos.

About the book, from the publisher:

A boy who was never meant to be king, a horizon waiting to be explored, a love and legend that moved and created worlds, and has been erased... until now.

Pella, Greece; 341 B.C.

Alexandros is a middle child caught between two warring spouses, born to both a king and queen, but never meant to rule himself. When a mysterious young man arrives from the north, fleeing his own family, and meets Alexandros in a garden in the Macedonian capital, the bond that's created between them will soon become unbreakable and ultimately define both the direction of the Ancient World, and ours.

For fans of The Song of Achilles and Madeline Miller, Young Conquerors is a novel of the vast mysteries of the human heart that gives two of the most important figures in history the love story they deserve and shows how Alexandros, later called "the Great," was shaped, formed, and ultimately turned into the man who would go on to become the greatest conqueror and visionary the world had ever seen, all told through the eyes of the one he loved, and who knew him best.

A beautiful, sweeping, epic, and breathtaking novel from a new and important voice in Greek fiction, this is an intimate and vivid portrait of two of the most famous young men in history as they've never been seen before: caught between youthful ambition and eternal love, and on the precipice of changing the world.

Visit Christopher Cosmos's website.

The Page 69 Test: Once We Were Here.

Q&A with Christopher Cosmos.

The Page 69 Test: Young Conquerors.

--Marshal Zeringue

Four of the best screwball thrillers

Sandra A. Block graduated from college at Harvard, then returned to her native land of Buffalo, New York for medical training and never left. She is a practicing neurologist and proud Sabres fan, and lives at home with her husband, two children, and impetuous yellow lab. Her work has been published in the Washington Post. Little Black Lies is her debut, a finalist in the International Thriller Awards, and The Girl Without a Name and The Secret Room are the other books in the Zoe Goldman series. What Happened That Night is her stand-a-lone novel, and Girl Overboard a Young Adult thriller. The Bachelorette Party is her newest novel.

At CrimeReads Block tagged four favorite screwball thrillers, including:

Carl Hiaasen, Bad Monkey

If you can even say the title Bad Monkey without laughing your ever-loving entire ass off, well then good for you. If Janet Evanovich is the screwball thriller queen, I would crown Carl Hiassen the king. I could spout off the plot for you, but it would make no sense. Okay, fine. A disgraced police officer-turned-restaurant-inspector gets called to do real police work again when a fisherman accidentally catches someone’s severed arm. But the screwball element really sets in with Driggs the monkey, a washed-up actor from the Pirates of the Caribbean flicks. Driggs has no couth, unlike most monkeys, and his penchant for getting drunk, throwing poop, biting others and um, well, masturbating, leads to some hijinks along the way. Bring tissues (no, not for the monkey…sorry…sorry!) but because you will crying with laughter while reading this one.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: William T. Taylor's "Hoof Beats"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Hoof Beats: How Horses Shaped Human History by William T. Taylor.

About the book, from the publisher:

Journey to the ancient past with cutting-edge science and new data to discover how horses forever altered the course of human history.

From the Rockies to the Himalayas, the bond between horses and humans has spanned across time and civilizations. In this archaeological journey, William T. Taylor explores how momentous events in the story of humans and horses helped create the world we live in today. Tracing the horse's origins and spread from the western Eurasian steppes to the invention of horse-drawn transportation and the explosive shift to mounted riding, Taylor offers a revolutionary new account of how horses altered the course of human history.

Drawing on Indigenous perspectives, ancient DNA, and new research from Mongolia to the Great Plains and beyond, Taylor guides readers through the major discoveries that have placed the horse at the origins of globalization, trade, biological exchange, and social inequality. Hoof Beats transforms our understanding of both horses and humanity's ancient past and asks us to consider what our relationship with horses means for the future of humanity and the world around us.

Visit William T. Taylor's website.

The Page 99 Test: Hoof Beats.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Ayelet Tsabari reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Ayelet Tsabari, author of Songs for the Brokenhearted: A Novel.

Her entry begins:

I have just finished two books since I always have at least two on the go, one in audio (for walking, driving, hanging laundry, etc.) and one to read in bed at the end of the day.

The audiobook was All Fours by Miranda July, read by her, which made it an extra treat. It's a bold, un-put-down-able book about being a woman in midlife, about sex and marriage and parenthood and art. I admit that it's only through this novel that I was introduced to July's brilliance and I can't believe it took me so long. I...[read on]

About Songs for the Brokenhearted, from the publisher:

A young Yemeni Israeli woman learns of her mother’s secret romance in a dramatic journey through lost family stories, revealing the unbreakable bond between a mother and a daughter—the debut novel of an award-winning literary voice.

1950. Thousands of Yemeni Jews have immigrated to the newly founded Israel in search of a better life. In an overcrowded immigrant camp in Rosh Ha’ayin, Yaqub, a shy young man, happens upon Saida, a beautiful girl singing by the river. In the midst of chaos and uncertainty, they fall in love. But they weren’t supposed to; Saida is married and has a child, and a married woman has no place befriending another man.

1995. Thirty-something Zohara, Saida’s daughter, has been living in New York City—a city that feels much less complicated than Israel, where she grew up wishing that her skin was lighter, that her illiterate mother’s Yemeni music was quieter, and that the father who always favored her was alive. She hasn’t looked back since leaving home, rarely in touch with her mother or sister, Lizzie, and missing out on her nephew Yoni’s childhood. But when Lizzie calls to tell her their mother has died, she gets on a plane to Israel with no return ticket.

Soon Zohara finds herself on an unexpected path that leads to shocking truths about her family—including dangers that lurk for impressionable young men and secrets that force her to question everything she thought she knew about her parents, her heritage, and her own future.

Visit Ayelet Tsabari's website.

Writers Read: Ayelet Tsabari.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Elizabeth Bass Parman's "The Empress of Cooke County"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Empress of Cooke County: A Novel by Elizabeth Bass Parman.

About the book, from the publisher:

Posey Jarvis knows she’s the rightful empress of Cooke County . . . She just needs to make everyone else realize it too.

Thirty-eight-year-old Posey Jarvis is the self-appointed “empress” of rural Spark in Cooke County, Tennessee. She spends her days following every word about her idol and look-alike Jackie Kennedy, avoiding her stalwart husband Vern, and struggling to control her newly defiant daughter Callie Jane—all while sneaking nips of gin. When Posey unexpectedly inherits a derelict mansion from her quirky old aunt Milbrey, she finagles her way into hosting her high school’s twentieth reunion there. She cares nothing about seeing her classmates, but she cares deeply about seeing the love of her life, a man who dumped her nineteen years ago. Possums are nesting in the parlor and the stench of cat urine permeates the sunroom, but she must be ready for the big day, even if she has to do the work herself.

Eighteen-year-old Callie Jane finds herself accidentally engaged and is panicking about her fast-approaching wedding. She’s also had enough of her domineering mother. Even though she loves her father, the idea of working at his emporium for the rest of her life just makes her . . . so sad. She longs to escape from her mother, her job, her upcoming wedding, and the creepy Peeping Tom terrorizing the town. She dreams of leaving everything she’s ever known in her rearview mirror and starting over in California. But when her life has been mapped out for her from birth, how can she break free?

Set in a gossipy small town during the turbulent 1960s and full of Southern charm and unforgettable characters, The Empress of Cooke County is a novel about found family, what it means to be loved, and how being true to yourself can have life-altering consequences.

Visit Elizabeth Bass Parman's website.

Q&A with Elizabeth Bass Parman.

The Page 69 Test: The Empress of Cooke County.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Brian Hare & Vanessa Woods's "Puppy Kindergarten"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Puppy Kindergarten: The New Science of Raising a Great Dog by Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods.

About the book, from the publisher:

The New York Times bestselling authors of The Genius of Dogs take us into their “Puppy Kindergarten” at Duke University, a center to study how puppies develop, to show us what goes in to raising a great dog.

What does it take to raise a great dog? This was the question that husband-and-wife team Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods hoped to answer when they enrolled one hundred and one puppies in the Duke Puppy Kindergarten. With the help of a retired service dog named Congo, Brian, Vanessa, and their team set out to understand the secrets of the puppy mind: What factors might predict whether a puppy will grow up to change someone’s life?

Never has cuteness been so cutting edge. Applying the same games that psychologists use when exploring the development of young children, Hare and Woods uncover what happens in a puppy’s mind during their final stage of rapid brain development. Follow the adventures of Arthur, who makes friends with toy dinosaurs; Wisdom, the puppy genius; and Ying, who fails at cognitive games that even pigeons usually pass with flying colors. Along the way, learn about when puppies finally start to retain memories for longer than just a few seconds, or when they finally develop some self-control.

Raising dozens of puppies on a college campus means you get pretty good at answering big questions, such as: When do puppies sleep through the night? How do you stop them from eating poop? How can we help our puppies grow up to be the best dogs they can possibly be? Whether you are a new puppy parent or a perennial puppy lover, Puppy Kindergarten will answer every question you’ve ever had about puppies—and some you never thought to ask.

Visit Brian Hare's website and Vanessa Woods's website.

The Page 99 Test: The Genius of Dogs.

The Page 99 Test: Survival of the Friendliest.

The Page 99 Test: Puppy Kindergarten.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven top books about badass medieval women

Molly Aitken grew up on the south coast of Ireland. Her first novel, The Island Child, was longlisted for the Authors’ Club First Novel Award. Her short fiction has appeared in Ploughshares, for which she won the Alice Hoffman Prize for Fiction, and has been dramatized for BBC Radio 4. She is currently studying for a PhD in Creative Writing and History at Sheffield Hallam University.

[Q&A with Molly Aitken]

Aitken's "second novel, Bright I Burn, is about the loudest of ghosts: a wildly intelligent, ravenous and angry woman from history."

At Electric Lit the author tagged

a small list of fiction and non-fiction books about “badass” medieval women, so that you too, if you wish, can experience the middle ages through the eyes and ears and hearts and minds of women. Let’s remember these women, not as faultless, but complicated and messy, terrifying and clever, brilliant and badass.

One title on the list:

Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It by Janina Ramirez

‘I am the fiery life of divine substance, I blaze above the beauty of the fields, I shine in the waters, I burn in sun, moon and stars.’—Hildegard of Bingen

The pitch for this one really is in the title. Janina Ramirex highlights, in rare technicolor for a work of history non-fiction, many of the key women figures in medieval Europe: leaders, artists, scientists, spies, diplomats, entrepreneurs and outcasts. Reading this book will most likely fill you with a riotous rage that you’ve never heard of any of these brilliant women before. Ramirez explores all their wild and fascinating lives, but more importantly how they shaped the world we live in now. One brilliant example is Ramirez’s account of Hildegard of Bingen (1098 – 1179) who was a German Benedictine abbess and polymath active as a writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, visionary, and medical practitioner. Hildegard was also influential across Europe, giving counsel to all kinds of people including popes and kings. She is just one tantalizing example of the types of women you will find hidden within these pages. Yes, this is a history book, a widely and deeply researched one, but please don’t let this dissuade you. It is is vastly readable and enjoyable.

Read about another book on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

J.H. Markert's "Sleep Tight," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Sleep Tight: A Novel by J. H. Markert.

The entry begins:

I always envision “movie” when writing my novels, which means I inevitably think of certain characters when I create my stories and Sleep Tight was no exception. No budget could afford this cast, but in the spirit of sleeping tight, and sleeping right, we can dream, right?

As a Louisvillian, for the main character, I could think of no one other than Louisville’s own Jennifer Lawrence as my Detective Tess Claiborne. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit, in part, writing the story one day hoping she could play Tess!

As far as her husband Justin, I’d go with Chris...[read on]

Visit J.H. Markert's website.

Q&A with J. H. Markert.

My Book, The Movie: The Nightmare Man.

The Page 69 Test: The Nightmare Man.

My Book, The Movie: Sleep Tight.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: On Barak's "Heat, a History"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Heat, a History: Lessons from the Middle East for a Warming Planet by On Barak.

About the book, from the publisher:

Shifts the conversation from abstract “global warming” to the deeply human impacts of heat—and how our efforts to keep cool have made the problem worse.

Despite the flames of record-breaking temperatures licking at our feet, most people fail to fully grasp the gravity of environmental overheating. What acquired habits and conveniences allow us to turn a blind eye with an air of detachment? Using examples from the hottest places on earth, Heat, a History shows how scientific methods of accounting for heat and modern forms of acclimatization have desensitized us to climate change.

Ubiquitous air conditioning, shifts in urban planning, and changes in mobility have served as temporary remedies for escaping the heat in hotspots such as the twentieth-century Middle East. However, all of these measures have ultimately fueled not only greenhouse gas emissions but also a collective myopia regarding the impact of rising temperatures. Identifying the scientific, economic, and cultural forces that have numbed our responses, this book charts a way out of short-term thinking and towards meaningful action.

Visit On Barak's website.

The Page 99 Test: Heat, a History.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eleven top nonfiction books for Erik Larson fans

Jeff Somers is the author of Writing Without Rules, the Avery Cates series, The Ustari Cycle, Lifers, and Chum (among many other books) and numerous short stories.

At BookBub he tagged eleven "engrossing narrative nonfiction books that will keep you engaged and teach you something new," including:

A Gentleman and a Thief by Dean Jobb

Dean Jobb strikes the perfect balance between real-life history and crime thriller with this account of Arthur Barry, who grew up on the streets of a small Massachusetts town but parlayed a talent for mimicry into a career as a jewel thief. Able to pass himself off as a member of society, Barry infiltrated glittering parties and managed to steal an estimated $60 million worth of jewelry in the 1920s — including jewels stolen from the British royal family. David Grann calls Jobb “a master of narrative nonfiction.”

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Catriona McPherson's "The Witching Hour"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Witching Hour by Catriona McPherson.

About the book, from the publisher:

War is hovering on the horizon, and Dandy Gilver wants nothing more than to keep her friends and family close. But then a call in the night places her oldest friend Daisy at the centre of a murder investigation. With her friend's future on the line, Dandy and her fellow sleuth Alec Osbourne must race to prove her innocence.

But when they reach the idyllic Scottish village of Dirleton, residents confirm a woman was seen at the crime scene - an ancient stone called the louping stane, still spattered with the victim's blood. And the longer the detectives spend in the village the more they question Daisy's involvement. They're not getting the answers they need, but are they asking the right questions?...

Visit Catriona McPherson's website.

The Page 69 Test: Go to My Grave.

Writers Read: Catriona McPherson (November 2018).

My Book, The Movie: The Turning Tide.

The Page 69 Test: The Turning Tide.

My Book, The Movie: A Gingerbread House.

The Page 69 Test: Hop Scot.

The Page 69 Test: Deep Beneath Us.

Q&A with Catriona McPherson.

The Page 69 Test: The Witching Hour.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Hatim Rahman's "Inside the Invisible Cage"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Inside the Invisible Cage: How Algorithms Control Workers by Hatim Rahman.

About the book, from the publisher:

In a world increasingly run by algorithms and artificial intelligence, Hatim Rahman traces how organizations are using algorithms to control workers in an “invisible cage.”

Inside the Invisible Cage uses unique longitudinal data to investigate how digital labor platforms use algorithms to dictate the actions of high-skilled workers by determining accepted behaviors, work opportunities, and even success. As Hatim Rahman explains, employers can use algorithms to shift rules and guidelines without notice, explanation, or recourse for workers. The invisible cage signals a profound shift in the way markets and organizations categorize and ultimately control people.

Unlike previous forms of labor control, the invisible cage is ubiquitous, yet it is also opaque and shifting, which makes breaking free from it difficult for workers. This book traces how the invisible cage was developed over time and the implications it has for the spread of new technology, such as generative artificial intelligence. Inside the Invisible Cage also provides organizations, workers, and policymakers with insights on how to ensure the future of work has truly equitable, mutually beneficial outcomes.

Learn more about Inside the Invisible Cage at the University of California Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Inside the Invisible Cage.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight top thrillers in which the characters actually get to have fun

Rachel Koller Croft is an author and screenwriter in Los Angeles, where she has scripted projects for Blumhouse, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Comedy Central, among others. She lives by the beach with her husband, Charles, and their rescue pitbull, Juniper. Stone Cold Fox is her first novel.

Croft's new novel is We Love the Nightlife.

At CrimeReads she tagged eight favorite thrillers "that let their characters actually have some fun amidst the drama, backstabbing, murder and all that other good stuff we readers and writers love about this genre." One title on the list:

Kismet by Amina Akhtar

Anything wellness related almost always has me chortling out loud, because so much of it is so ridiculous, and Amina Akhtar lets it rip with her take on Sedona woo-woo culture. MC Ronnie really leans into the finer things of the “clean girl aesthetic” and finds herself taking to the lifestyle with aplomb—before the dead bodies start showing up. Also, I need to shout out the very entertaining ravens in this world who also go on a spree of their very own!

Read about another entry on the list.

Kismet is among Jamie Lee Sogn's eight top mysteries & thrillers set in the wellness industry, Molly Odintz's twelve wacky, weird, and wildly entertaining mysteries & thrillers and Meredith Hambrock's five recent crime novels featuring messy female characters.

--Marshal Zeringue