Pg. 99: James Garbarino's "Listening to Killers"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Listening to Killers: Lessons Learned from My Twenty Years as a Psychological Expert Witness in Murder Cases by James Garbarino.

About the book, from the publisher:

Listening to Killers offers an inside look at twenty years' worth of murder files from Dr. James Garbarino, a leading expert psychological witness who listens to killers so that he can testify in court. The author offers detailed accounts of how killers travel a path that leads from childhood innocence to lethal violence in adolescence or adulthood. He places the emotional and moral damage of each individual killer within a larger scientific framework of social, psychological, anthropological, and biological research on human development. By linking individual cases to broad social and cultural issues and illustrating the social toxicity and unresolved trauma that drive some people to kill, Dr. Garbarino highlights the humanity we share with killers and the role of understanding and empathy in breaking the cycle of violence.

Learn more about Listening to Killers at the University of California Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Listening to Killers.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Stacey Lee reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Stacey Lee, author of Under a Painted Sky.

Her entry begins:

I am reading two books, which is uncommon for me, as I usually only have the attention span for one book at a time. Making San Francisco American: Cultural Frontiers in the Urban West, 1846-1906, by Barbara Berglund (University Press of Kansas, 2007) is helping me research the social landscape in San Francisco at the turn of the 20th century for the book I'm currently writing, Unsinkable Mercy Wong...[read on]

About Under a Painted Sky, from the publisher:

A powerful story of friendship and sacrifice, for fans of Code Name Verity

Missouri, 1849: Samantha dreams of moving back to New York to be a professional musician—not an easy thing if you’re a girl, and harder still if you’re Chinese. But a tragic accident dashes any hopes of fulfilling her dream, and instead, leaves her fearing for her life. With the help of a runaway slave named Annamae, Samantha flees town for the unknown frontier. But life on the Oregon Trail is unsafe for two girls, so they disguise themselves as Sammy and Andy, two boys headed for the California gold rush. Sammy and Andy forge a powerful bond as they each search for a link to their past, and struggle to avoid any unwanted attention. But when they cross paths with a band of cowboys, the light-hearted troupe turn out to be unexpected allies. With the law closing in on them and new setbacks coming each day, the girls quickly learn that there are not many places to hide on the open trail.

This beautifully written debut is an exciting adventure and heart-wrenching survival tale. But above all else, it’s a story about perseverance and trust that will restore your faith in the power of friendship.

Visit Stacey Lee's website.

Writers Read: Stacey Lee.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Jamie Kornegay's "Soil"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Soil: A Novel by Jamie Kornegay.

About the book, from the publisher:

A darkly comic debut novel by an independent bookseller about an idealistic young farmer who moves his family to a Mississippi flood basin, suffers financial ruin—and becomes increasingly paranoid he’s being framed for murder.

It all began with a simple dream. An ambitious young environmental scientist hoped to establish a sustainable farm on a small patch of river-bottom land nestled among the Mississippi hills. Jay Mize convinced his wife Sandy to move their six-year-old son away from town and to a rich and lush parcel where Jacob could run free and Jay could pursue the dream of a new and progressive agriculture for the twenty-first century. He did not know that within a year he’d be ruined, that flood and pestilence would invade his fledgling farm or that his wife and son would leave him to pick up the pieces by himself.

When Jay Mize discovers a corpse on his property, he is sure his bad luck has come to a head and he is being framed. Were Jay in his right mind, he might have reported the body to the police at the very same moment they were searching for a missing tourist from Ohio. He might have not dragged the body back to his farm under the cover of night and spent hours disposing of it. But Jay Mize is not in his right mind. His mounting paranoia is accelerated by a hot-rod local deputy, nosing around with questions about the missing tourist and making dark comments about Jay’s estranged wife Sandy. It’s enough to make an honest man a maniac…

Drawing on elements of classic Southern noir, dark comedy, and modern dysfunction, Jamie Kornegay’s novel is about the gravitational pull of one man’s apocalypse and the hope that maybe, just maybe, he can be reeled in from the brink. Readers will “applaud the arrival of an exquisitely deranged new voice to American fiction” (Jonathan Miles, award-winning author of Want Not and Dear American Airlines).

Follow Jamie Kornegay on Twitter.

The Page 69 Test: Soil.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten of the best nature books

Tim Dee is the author of Four Fields and The Running Sky. One of his ten best nature books, as shared at the Guardian:

Moby Dick
Herman Melville, 1851

The great American novel and the best one-that-got-away-story ever told. “Fast fish and loose fish” is a term from whaling that Melville makes play with, and his huge book (which famously sold only a few copies in his lifetime) dives, as deep as its sperm whale subjects, into man’s nature, man and nature, and man versus nature. It’s about almost everything. William Blake wrote “A robin redbreast in a cage/ Puts all heaven in a rage”, and Melville’s novel takes this idea as far as it might possibly go. For an alternative odyssey around a man and the other life that surrounds him, published just three years later, see Thoreau’s equally deep-dug and fundamentally weird Walden.

Read about another book on the list.

Moby-Dick appears among the Telegraph's fifteen best North American novels of all time, Nicole Hill's top ten best names in literature to give your dog, Horatio Clare's five favorite maritime novels, the Telegraph's ten great meals in literature, Brenda Wineapple's six favorite books, Scott Greenstone's top seven allegorical novels, Paul Wilson's top ten books about disability, Lynn Shepherd's ten top fictional drownings, Peter Murphy's top ten literary preachers, Penn Jillette's six favorite books, Peter F. Stevens's top ten nautical books, Katharine Quarmby's top ten disability stories, Jonathan Evison's six favorite books, Bella Bathurst's top 10 books on the sea, John Mullan's lists of ten of the best nightmares in literature and ten of the best tattoos in literature, Susan Cheever's five best books about obsession, Christopher Buckley's best books, Jane Yolen's five most important books, Chris Dodd's best books, Augusten Burroughs' five most important books, Norman Mailer's top ten works of literature, David Wroblewski's five most important books, Russell Banks' five most important books, and Philip Hoare's top ten books about whales.

--Marshal Zeringue

Diane Thomas's "In Wilderness," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: In Wilderness by Diane Thomas.

The entry begins:

In 1966, Katherine Reid, a successful professional woman dying of a mysterious wasting disease, retreats to an isolated cabin in a southern Appalachian wilderness to live out her last days. Also in the forest is Danny, a 20-year-old former reconnaissance sniper and washout from the Vietnam War with what today would be recognized as PTSD. He stalks her obsessively from the moment she arrives and eventually makes his presence known. The two begin an erotic relationship that threatens them both.

In my film of In Wilderness, either Julianne Moore or Reese Witherspoon would play Katherine. It’s a role with a lot of range. I’m not sure I would have considered Witherspoon before Wild. Her brilliant against-type portrayal of a woman who goes so totally out of control is what won me. For Katherine’s early patrician aspects, Moore or Witherspoon might channel Old Hollywood, say Kathryn Grayson or Jennifer Jones.

There’s one hurdle for Witherspoon: She would need...[read on]

Visit Diane Thomas's website.

Writers Read: Diane Thomas.

The Page 69 Test: In Wilderness.

My Book, The Movie: In Wilderness.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Rhiannon Thomas reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Rhiannon Thomas, author of A Wicked Thing.

Her entry begins:

I'm currently trying to read The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

"Trying" is the key word there. I started it at the beginning of the year, and I have been abandoning it for other books ever since.

The writing is wonderful. It's engaging and witty while still managing to be poetic, and the protagonist is definitely an interesting character to spend time with. Friends have been pushing me to read this book for years, and one page was enough to show me why. I really enjoy reading it. Yet I can never motivate myself to pick it up again.

Is it just the sight of 600 more pages of tiny font that makes me reach for another novel I can read in two days instead? Is it that weird feeling I get with most fantasy novels, where it takes a good fifty (or more) pages to get immersed, but once I am, I fall deep into a hole of obsession? Is it the fact that, a good chunk into the book, I've yet to meet a single...[read on]

About A Wicked Thing, from the publisher:

Rhiannon Thomas's dazzling debut novel is a spellbinding reimagining of what happens after happily ever after. Vividly imagined scenes of action, romance, and political intrigue are seamlessly woven together to reveal a richly created world… and Sleeping Beauty as she's never been seen before.

One hundred years after falling asleep, Princess Aurora wakes up to the kiss of a handsome prince and a broken kingdom that has been dreaming of her return. All the books say that she should be living happily ever after. But as Aurora understands all too well, the truth is nothing like the fairy tale.

Her family is long dead. Her "true love" is a kind stranger. And her whole life has been planned out by political foes while she slept.

As Aurora struggles to make sense of her new world, she begins to fear that the curse has left its mark on her, a fiery and dangerous thing that might be as wicked as the witch who once ensnared her. With her wedding day drawing near, Aurora must make the ultimate decision on how to save her kingdom: marry the prince or run.

Visit Rhiannon Thomas's website.

The Page 69 Test: A Wicked Thing.

Writers Read: Rhiannon Thomas.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Stephanie Kegan's "Golden State"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Golden State: A Novel by Stephanie Kegan.

About the book, from the publisher:

A haunting literary drama, with a ripped-from-the headlines urgency reminiscent of Defending Jacob and Sue Miller’s While I Was Gone, Golden State asks hard questions about the limits of loyalty and the bounds of family ties.

Growing up in the 1960s in one of California’s most prominent political families, Natalie Askedahl worshipped her big brother, Bobby, a sensitive math prodigy who served as her protector and confidante. But after Bobby left home at sixteen on a Princeton scholarship, something changed between them. Now that Natalie is happily married, with a career and two young daughters, her only real regret is losing Bobby.

Then, a bomb explodes in the middle of her seemingly ideal life. Her oldest daughter is on the Stanford campus when one person is killed and another maimed. Other bombings follow across California. Frightened for her family, Natalie grows obsessed with the case until she makes an unthinkable discovery: the bomber’s manifesto reads alarmingly like the last letter she has from Bobby.

Unsure of whom to sacrifice and whom to protect, Natalie is confronted with a terrible choice that will send her down a rabbit hole of confusion, lies, and betrayals. As her life splits irrevocably into before and after, she begins to learn that some of the most dangerous things in the world are the stories we tell ourselves.

Visit Stephanie Kegan's website.

The Page 69 Test: Golden State.

--Marshal Zeringue

Fifty of the best novels about madness

At Flavorwire, Emily Temple tagged fifty of the best novels about madness. One title on the list:

The Fever, Megan Abbott

In Abbott’s novel, based on a true case study of teenagers losing control of their bodies (seizures, snarling) en masse, something is spreading through the population of adolescent girls in Dryden — something that makes them twitch, something tied up in their sexuality, something that may or may not be in their heads, or evidence of black magic. As if being a teenage girl weren’t already nearly too crazy to bear.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Fever is among Laura Lippman's four favorite reads of 2014, Christopher Shultz's top ten literary chillers where literary fiction and horror converge and Anna Fitzpatrick's four top horror stories set in the real universe of girlhood.

My Book, The Movie: The Fever.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Michael Morse's "Mr. Wilson Makes it Home"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Mr. Wilson Makes It Home: How One Little Dog Brought Us Hope, Happiness, and Closure by Michael Morse.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Story of a Small Dog Who Needed a Home and the Couple Who Needed Him

When Michael and Cheryl Morse slowly drifted apart amid an empty nest, her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, his symptoms of PTSD, and the grief of losing their two beloved dogs—put down on the same day three years prior—it became apparent their lives were in need of a little joy. Enter an energetic, white ball of fluff known as Mr. Wilson.

Mr. Wilson’s story begins in Arkansas, where he was left in a leaky, drafty barn for days—the result of a child who couldn’t care for him and a woman who wouldn’t. An escape artist, he eventually found himself on a country road where he was discovered by a neighbor. Familiar with his current living conditions, she took him in, cleaned him up, and created an online adoption profile for him. In Rhode Island, Cheryl Morse clicked on Mr. Wilson’s photo and instantly fell in love.

A few days later, Mr. Wilson arrived in Rhode Island by a tractor trailer full of dogs needing homes. Upon meeting the Morses, he was happy, affectionate, and excited—but how long would it last? Would they be able to care for him and themselves? Had he finally found his forever home? What if they had cats?

In Mr. Wilson Makes It Home, the joy Michael and Cheryl so badly needed comes in the form of an adorable schnoodle named Mr. Wilson. This animal rescue story tells of the love, recovery, faith, and hope that a pet can bring to a brokenhearted family.

Visit the Mr. Wilson Makes it Home blog.

Coffee with a Canine: Michael Morse & Mr. Wilson.

My Book, The Movie: Mr. Wilson Makes It Home.

The Page 99 Test: Mr. Wilson Makes It Home.

--Marshal Zeringue

Robert Glinski's "The Friendship of Criminals," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: The Friendship of Criminals by Robert Glinski.

The entry begins:

What crime fiction writer doesn’t dream of his or her characters hitting the big screen? Most of my all-time favorite films are novel adaptations so the evolution from page to projector has always struck me as a worthy and natural artistic progression, e.g., The French Connection, Goodfellas, Marathon Man, The Godfather, Jackie Brown, Mystic River, The Town, and Out of Sight.

I was lucky enough to option film/TV rights before publishing rights so this has been an actual discussion point we’ve mulled over with producers. One of my novel’s principal characters – a hustler named Sonny – is James Caan because Caan is the spitting image of the character’s real-life inspiration in terms of accent, mannerisms, bravado, and background. Sonny needs an actor who the audience believes can earn $100 million and spend $105 million with the same emotional trajectory. That’s Caan.

The protagonist – Anton Bielakowski, an old-school Polish mobster who stays true to his neighborhood – is either Harvey...[read on]

Visit Robert Glinski's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Friendship of Criminals.

My Book, The Movie: The Friendship of Criminals.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Jeannette de Beauvoir reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Jeannette de Beauvoir, author of Asylum: A Mystery.

Her entry begins:

I just finished a re-read, actually, of Rebecca Stott's Ghostwalk, a brilliant novel (hence the second read—it's worth going back to!). Writer Lydia Brooke has been commissioned by her former lover to finish a book his mother had begun writing before she was mysteriously drowned. Brooke find herself in effect investigating two separate series of murders: in the 17th century, several people died who stood between Isaac Newton and the fellowship he needed to continue his studies at Cambridge, while in the present day, people who offended a radical animal rights group seem to be the ones targeted. Ghostwalk centers around a real historical mystery (like me, Stott looks to the past for her mysteries!) involving Newton's...[read on]

About Asylum, from the publisher:

Martine LeDuc is the director of PR for the mayor's office in Montreal. When four women are found brutally murdered and shockingly posed on park benches throughout the city over several months, Martine's boss fears a PR disaster for the still busy tourist season, and Martine is now also tasked with acting as liaison between the mayor and the police department. The women were of varying ages, backgrounds and bodytypes and seemed to have nothing in common. Yet the macabre presentation of their bodies hints at a connection. Martine is paired with a young detective, Julian Fletcher, and together they dig deep into the city's and the country's past, only to uncover a dark secret dating back to the 1950s, when orphanages in Montreal and elsewhere were converted to asylums in order to gain more funding. The children were subjected to horrific experiments such as lobotomies, electroshock therapy, and psychotropic medication, and many of them died in the process. The survivors were supposedly compensated for their trauma by the government and the cases seem to have been settled. So who is bearing a grudge now, and why did these four women have to die?

Not until Martine finds herself imprisoned in the terrifying steam tunnels underneath the old asylum does she put the pieces together. And it is almost too late for her...in Jeannette de Beauvoir's Asylum.

Visit Jeannette de Beauvoir's website.

Writers Read: Jeannette de Beauvoir.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Andrew Klavan's "Werewolf Cop"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Werewolf Cop: A Novel by Andrew Klavan.

About the book, from the publisher:

From Edgar Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Andrew Klavan, a supernatural thriller about a good cop in the grips of an evil curse. In the tradition of Dexter and The Shield, the first in a riveting trilogy about a crime-fighter on a quest to control the beast within.

Zach Adams is one of the best detectives in the country. Nicknamed Cowboy, he’s a soft-spoken homicide detective from Houston known for his integrity and courage under fire. He serves on a federal task force that has a single mission: to hunt down Dominic Abend, a European gangster who has taken over the American underworld.

After a brutal murder gives them a lead, Zach and his tough guy NYPD partner Martin Goulart feel like they’re finally on Abend’s trail. But things get complicated—and very, very weird. Goulart’s on-the-job enemies are accusing him of corruption. And Zach is beginning to suspect that Abend’s evil goes beyond crime—perhaps to the edge of the supernatural. As his investigation continues in Germany, Zach finds himself lured into the impossible. In a centuries-old forest under a full moon, a beast assaults him, cursing him forever. In the aftermath, Zach is transformed into something horrible—something deadly.

Now, the good cop has innocent blood on his hands. He has killed—and he will kill again—in the form of a beast who can’t be controlled or stopped. Before he can free himself, he’s going to have to solve the greatest mystery of all: How can you defeat evil when the evil is inside you?

Visit Andrew Klavan's website.

Writers Read: Andrew Klavan.

My Book, The Movie: Werewolf Cop.

The Page 69 Test: Werewolf Cop.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight top YA novels that adults also should read

At the Guardian children’s literature expert Daniel Hahn recommended eight YA novels that adults also should read, including:

The White Darkness: Geraldine McCaughrean

From the Arctic to the Antarctic, with the incomparable McCaughrean. I don’t know many writers of any kind who have her apparently effortless consistency. Her books are always a thrilling read, with intricate plotting, characters you instantly feel you know personally and utterly beautiful writing; The White Darkness is no exception. It’s the story of awkward teenager Sym (who is in love with the very-long-dead Captain Oates) and her “uncle” and their lunatic mission to the Antarctic. Things surely can’t end well … The book is dark, clever, and menacing, and, if you’ve never read McCaughrean before, you’re about to make a glorious discovery.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Cindy Callaghan's "Lost in Paris," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Lost in Paris by Cindy Callaghan.

The entry begins:

My first book Just Add Magic is being made into Amazon Original TV series. I just adore the girls that are cast in that show. I would love to have all of them star in the Lost in Paris movie. And, or course, all of the tweens in my hometown!

There is a band in the book. I would love for One Direction to play those parts. We’ll all have to travel to Paris, probably on a private plane. And we’ll all stay together in a hotel that is just like the quaint Hotel de Paris in the novel.

For the adult male Etienne, obviously Mark...[read on]

Visit Cindy Callaghan's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

Writers Read: Cindy Callaghan.

The Page 69 Test: Lost in Paris.

My Book, The Movie: Lost in Paris.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Tessa Harris reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Tessa Harris, author of Shadow of the Raven.

Her entry begins:

I fear I am very ‘picky’ reader. If I don’t like a novel, I may read the first three chapters and then abandon it. That certainly wasn’t the case, however, with my latest foray into fiction. Antonia Hodgson’s debut The Devil in Marshalsea was right up my street. When I’m in the midst of writing one of my own novels, I don’t like to stray too far from my period. (I’ve heard that Hilary Mantel also follows that rule.) This book was set in early Georgian times, just a little earlier than my own particular period, but it fitted the bill perfectly. I was whisked back in time to follow the fortunes of an ill-fated but likable gambler who ...[read on]

About Shadow of the Raven, from the publisher:

Ensconced in the woods of rural England, 1784, American anatomist Dr. Thomas Silkstone hunts for justice amid a maelstrom of madness, murder, and social upheaval…

In the notorious mental hospital known as Bedlam, Dr. Thomas Silkstone seeks out a patient with whom he is on intimate terms. But he is unprepared for the state in which he finds Lady Lydia Farrell. Shocked into action, Thomas vows to help free Lydia by appealing to the custodian of her affairs, Mr. Nicholas Lupton. But when Silkstone arrives at the Boughton Estate to speak to Lupton, he finds that another form of madness has taken over the village…

Sweeping changes to the Boughton Estate threaten to leave many villagers, who are rightfully angry, destitute. After a single shot rings out and a man dies in the woods, it appears that the desperate villagers have turned to murder to avenge their cause. But for Thomas, a post-mortem on the victim raises more questions than answers. Although he manages to save an innocent man from the gallows, a second murder warns him of his potentially fatal situation. Soon he discovers a conspiracy far more sinister than anything he has ever faced…

Visit Tessa Harris's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Devil's Breath.

The Page 69 Test: The Lazarus Curse.

Writers Read: Tessa Harris.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Rhiannon Thomas's "A Wicked Thing"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: A Wicked Thing by Rhiannon Thomas.

About the book, from the publisher:

Rhiannon Thomas's dazzling debut novel is a spellbinding reimagining of what happens after happily ever after. Vividly imagined scenes of action, romance, and political intrigue are seamlessly woven together to reveal a richly created world… and Sleeping Beauty as she's never been seen before.

One hundred years after falling asleep, Princess Aurora wakes up to the kiss of a handsome prince and a broken kingdom that has been dreaming of her return. All the books say that she should be living happily ever after. But as Aurora understands all too well, the truth is nothing like the fairy tale.

Her family is long dead. Her "true love" is a kind stranger. And her whole life has been planned out by political foes while she slept.

As Aurora struggles to make sense of her new world, she begins to fear that the curse has left its mark on her, a fiery and dangerous thing that might be as wicked as the witch who once ensnared her. With her wedding day drawing near, Aurora must make the ultimate decision on how to save her kingdom: marry the prince or run.

Visit Rhiannon Thomas's website.

The Page 69 Test: A Wicked Thing.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: James J. O'Donnell's "Pagans"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Pagans: The End of Traditional Religion and the Rise of Christianity by James J. O'Donnell.

About the book, from the publisher:

A provocative and contrarian religious history that charts the rise of Christianity from the point of view of traditional” religion from the religious scholar and critically acclaimed author of Augustine.

Pagans explores the rise of Christianity from a surprising and unique viewpoint: that of the people who witnessed their ways of life destroyed by what seemed then a powerful religious cult. These “pagans” were actually pious Greeks, Romans, Syrians, and Gauls who observed the traditions of their ancestors. To these devout polytheists, Christians who worshipped only one deity were immoral atheists who believed that a splash of water on the deathbed could erase a lifetime of sin.

Religious scholar James J. O’Donnell takes us on a lively tour of the Ancient Roman world through the fourth century CE, when Romans of every nationality, social class, and religious preference found their world suddenly constrained by rulers who preferred a strange new god. Some joined this new cult, while others denied its power, erroneously believing it was little more than a passing fad.

In Pagans, O’Donnell brings to life various pagan rites and essential features of Roman religion and life, offers fresh portraits of iconic historical figures, including Constantine, Julian, and Augustine, and explores important themes—Rome versus the east, civilization versus barbarism, plurality versus unity, rich versus poor, and tradition versus innovation—in this startling account.

Learn more about Pagans at the publisher's website.

Writers Read: James J. O'Donnell.

The Page 99 Test: Pagans.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five duelists one should never challenge

Sebastien de Castell is the author of the novels Traitor’s Blade and its sequel Knight’s Shadow. At Tor.com he tagged five duelists you should never challenge, including:

Inigo Montoya—The Princess Bride by William Goldman

A childhood tragedy launched a lifetime of training in the blade, making Inigo a swordsman with few peers. Now, I know what you’re thinking…’but wait, didn’t Wesley beat him?’ That may be true, but Inigo was reticent about that fight and it soon became a test of two fencers, enamoured of their art and fascinated with each other’s skills. The true duel comes later, when Inigo finally faces the man who killed his father. Even mortally wounded, Inigo finds the strength and the raw steel inside himself to utter those immortal words: ‘My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father. Prepare to die.’

Read about another entry on the list.

The Princess Bride is among the Guardian's five worst book covers ever, Nicole Hill's eight notable royal figures in fiction, Rosie Perez's six favorite books, Stephanie Perkins' top ten most romantic books, Matthew Berry's six favorite books, and Jamie Thomson's top seven funny books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Diane Kelly's "Death, Taxes, and Cheap Sunglasses," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Death, Taxes, and Cheap Sunglasses by Diane Kelly.

The entry begins:

Death, Taxes, and Cheap Sunglasses is a humorous story in which investigators from the IRS Criminal Investigations Division go after people committing various forms of tax evasion. The main targets in this book are members of a violent drug cartel and people operating so-called charities but who are actually using the nonprofits as a shady way to cheat Uncle Sam.

The primary character is IRS Special Agent Tara Holloway. While Tara is small, standing only five-feet-two inches, she makes up for her lack of stature with determination, smarts, and more than a little sass. I could see several people in this role. Amy Adams would be a great choice for this role. She’s the perfect combination of wide-eyed innocence and beauty, but accessibility, too. I’ve enjoyed all of her movies, but especially liked her in American Hustle. Emma Stone comes immediately to mind, too. I loved her in Zombieland. I could also see Emily...[read on]

Visit Diane Kelly's website, blog, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

Coffee with a Canine: Diane Kelly & Reggie, Junior, and Brownie.

Writers Read: Diane Kelly.

My Book, The Movie: Death, Taxes, and Cheap Sunglasses.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Leah Cypess reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Leah Cypess, author of Death Marked.

Her entry begins:

I just finished two fantastic books -- The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black, a YA fantasy about a town that lives in an uneasy (and dangerous) alliance with the fae, and The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, an adult fantasy about a half-goblin who has become the emperor of an elven empire. Both are very...[read on]

About Death Marked, from the publisher:

When a young sorceress is exiled to teach magic to a clan of assassins, she will find that secrets can be even deadlier than swords. Teen Vogue proclaimed, "It's impossible not to fall deep into the dark yet alluring world of sorcery and secret assassins." A dangerous and eerie fantasy about murder, shocking discoveries, and fiery star-crossed romance that readers of Cinda Williams Chima and Robin LaFevers won't be able to put down.

Ileni is losing her magic. And that means she's losing everything: her position as the rising star of her people, her purpose in life, and even the young man she loves. Sent to the assassins' cave hidden deep within the mountains, she expects no one will ever hear from her again. The last two sorcerers sent died within weeks of each other. Accidents? Or something more sinister? As Ileni navigates the dangers—both natural and human—of the caves, she'll discover secrets that have been kept for decades. And she'll find an ally in Sorin, the deadly young man who could be the assassins' next leader. With Sorin determined to protect her, sparks—magical and romantic—will fly. But will even he understand the choice she must make in the end?

Visit Leah Cypess's website.

The Page 69 Test: Death Sworn.

The Page 69 Test: Death Marked.

Writers Read: Leah Cypess.

--Marshal Zeringue