Pg. 99: Paul M. McGarr's "Spying in South Asia"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Spying in South Asia: Britain, the United States, and India's Secret Cold War by Paul M. McGarr.

About the book, from the publisher:

In this first comprehensive history of India's secret Cold War, Paul McGarr tells the story of Indian politicians, human rights activists, and journalists as they fought against or collaborated with members of the British and US intelligence services. The interventions of these agents have had a significant and enduring impact on the political and social fabric of South Asia. The spectre of a 'foreign hand', or external intelligence activity, real and imagined, has occupied a prominent place in India's political discourse, journalism, and cultural production. Spying in South Asia probes the nexus between intelligence and statecraft in South Asia and the relationships between agencies and governments forged to promote democracy. McGarr asks why, in contrast to Western assumptions about surveillance, South Asians associate intelligence with covert action, grand conspiracy, and justifications for repression? In doing so, he uncovers a fifty-year battle for hearts and minds in the Indian subcontinent.

Learn more about Spying in South Asia at the Cambridge University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Spying in South Asia.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Margaret Mizushima reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Margaret Mizushima, author of Gathering Mist (A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery).

Her entry begins:

I’ve recently begun reading Den of Iniquity by New York Times Bestselling Author J.A. Jance. I try to read everything written by Jance, and this is her latest release. A couple decades ago, I started reading her Joanna Brady series, and those books inspired me to write a mystery of my own about a spunky female K-9 handler serving in a rural jurisdiction in the Colorado high country. Thus, my Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries were born. J.A. Jance has been one of my author idols ever since.

Den of Iniquity is the latest installment in a different Jance series, this one featuring J.P. Beaumont. Like most of her novels, this book focuses on families and their dynamics while delivering a suspenseful puzzle. A retired homicide cop, Beaumont has formed his own private investigation agency. When he’s asked to look into what appears like an accidental death, he uncovers evidence that leads him to believe that something more sinister happened. At the same time, he begins to investigate a case that is much closer to home—one involving...[read on]

About Gathering Mist, from the publisher:

Secrets hide within the fog deep in the mossy forests of the Pacific Northwest in this ninth thrilling installment in award-winning author Margaret Mizushima’s Timber Creek K-9 mystery series.

Deputy Mattie Wray, formerly Mattie Cobb, is summoned to Washington’s Olympic peninsula for an urgent search and rescue mission to find a celebrity’s missing child. With only a week left before her wedding, Mattie is hesitant to leave Timber Creek, but her K-9 partner Robo’s tracking skills are needed.

Dense forest, chilling rain, and unfriendly locals hamper their efforts, and soon Mattie suspects something more sinister than a lost child is at play. When one of the SAR dogs becomes ill, her fiancé, Cole Walker, suspects poison. Fearing for Mattie’s and Robo’s safety, Cole joins the search and rescue team as veterinary support.

Secrets that have lain hidden within the rugged terrain come to light, and when it is uncovered that the missing child was kidnapped, the search becomes a full-blown crime scene investigation, forcing Mattie, Robo, and Cole into a desperate search to find the missing child before it's too late.

Visit Margaret Mizushima's website and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

Coffee with a Canine: Margaret Mizushima & Hannah, Bertie, Lily and Tess.

Coffee with a Canine: Margaret Mizushima & Hannah.

My Book, The Movie: Burning Ridge.

The Page 69 Test: Burning Ridge.

The Page 69 Test: Tracking Game.

My Book, The Movie: Hanging Falls.

The Page 69 Test: Hanging Falls.

Q&A with Margaret Mizushima.

The Page 69 Test: Striking Range.

The Page 69 Test: Standing Dead.

The Page 69 Test: Gathering Mist.

Writers Read: Margaret Mizushima.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven books about places for women

Maggie Cooper is a graduate of Yale College, the Clarion Writers’ Workshop, and the MFA program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her writing has appeared in The Rumpus, Ninth Letter, Inch, and elsewhere, and her chapbook of short fiction, The Theme Park of Women's Bodies, is published in September 2024 from Bull City Press. She lives with her spouse in the Boston area and also works as a literary agent.

At Electric Lit Cooper tagged seven books that carve "out space for the pleasures, rewards, and even the radical possibilities of creating space for marginalized genders—on the page and in the world beyond our bookshelves." One title on the list:

The Garden by Clare Beams

Clare Beams’ haunting second novel takes place in 1948 at a grand old house in the Berkshires, where main character Irene, alongside several dozen other women, receives an experimental treatment for repeated miscarriages in the hope of finally carrying a baby to term. Yet as much as Irene wants a child, she’s also not a rule follower, sneaking away to discover a walled garden that appears to have uncanny powers. Inspired by the real history of mid-century fertility treatments and their chilling side effects, Beams weaves a gorgeously written account of what she’s called “pregnancy as a haunted house” and the troubled relationship of women’s reproduction and the medical establishment.

Read about another book on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: S.E. Redfearn's "Two Good Men"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Two Good Men by S. E. Redfearn.

About the book, from the publisher:

From the internationally bestselling author of In an Instant and Hadley & Grace comes Two Good Men, a searing drama about two men on a quest for justice—from opposite sides of the law.

Dick Raynes feared this day would come. Otis Parsons, a violent pedophile, has been released from prison, and Dick’s sister Dee is the one who helped put him behind bars. Dick’s marriage is over, and his career is in shambles, so with nothing to lose, he sets out to do whatever it takes to keep Dee and her son Jesse safe. But Otis is just the beginning. Dick quickly discovers the dark truth about repeat sex offenders and finds himself unable to turn away. Using his knowledge as a scientist to develop a formula able to predict those most likely strike again, he sets out to protect future victims the law is powerless to defend.

FBI agent Steve Patterson investigates crimes against sex offenders, running a department he created after his son was killed by a vigilante mother who targeted the wrong person. Recognizing a disturbing pattern of untimely deaths in recently released felons, he sets out to figure out who’s behind it. What he doesn’t expect to find is another chance at love—with the sister of the man he is chasing.

Dick’s strong sense of right and wrong is tested as he pursues and neutralizes the most dangerous threats, while Steve makes it his mission to stop this vigilante serial killer before he is labeled a hero. Both men’s pursuits are noble, but only one can prevail.

Visit Suzanne Redfearn's website, Facebook and Instagram pages, and Twitter perch.

Coffee with a Canine: Suzanne Redfearn and Cooper.

My Book, The Movie: Hush Little Baby.

The Page 69 Test: Hush Little Baby.

The Page 69 Test: No Ordinary Life.

Writers Read: Suzanne Redfearn (February 2016).

My Book, The Movie: No Ordinary Life.

My Book, The Movie: In an Instant.

The Page 69 Test: In an Instant.

Q&A with Suzanne Redfearn.

My Book, The Movie: Hadley and Grace.

The Page 69 Test: Hadley & Grace.

Writers Read: Suzanne Redfearn (March 2022).

The Page 69 Test: Moment in Time.

My Book, The Movie: Moment in Time.

Writers Read: Suzanne Redfearn (February 2024).

Writers Read: S. E. Redfearn (October 2024).

The Page 69 Test: Two Good Men.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Samantha Greene Woodruff

From my Q&A with Samantha Greene Woodruff, author of The Trade Off: A Novel:

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

This was not an easy book to name! From the moment I had the idea to write about a woman trying to be an investor in the stock market in the lead up to the Great Crash, I loved the title “What Goes Up.” For me it was fun and inviting but also foreshadowed the catastrophe that was coming (you know, because of the adage: “what goes up always comes down.”) But no one else liked it. They felt it sounded too rom-com for historical fiction and I saw that too. In the end, we came up with over fifty titles before we landed on The Trade Off. Two of the other finalists were Her Side of the Street and Rhapsody in Gold, but I felt that The Trade Off did just enough to play on Wall Street and hint at the fact that it isn’t going to be easy for the protagonist to achieve her goals, without...[read on]

Visit Samantha Greene Woodruff's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Lobotomist's Wife.

My Book, The Movie: The Trade Off.

Q&A with Samantha Greene Woodruff.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven crime titles that address the Covid era head-on

Andrew Welsh-Huggins is the Shamus, Derringer, and International Thriller Writers-award-nominated author of the Andy Hayes Private Eye series, featuring a former Ohio State and Cleveland Browns quarterback turned investigator, and editor of Columbus Noir. His stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Mystery Magazine, the 2022 anthology Paranoia Blues: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Paul Simon, and other magazines and anthologies.

[My Book, The Movie: An Empty Grave; Q&A with Andrew Welsh-Huggins; The Page 69 Test: An Empty Grave; Writers Read: Andrew Welsh-Huggins (April 2023); My Book, The Movie: The End of the Road; The Page 69 Test: The End of the Road]

Welsh-Huggins's newest novel, the eighth Andy Hayes mystery, is Sick to Death.

At CrimeReads the author tagged seven "crime novels that incorporate COVID-19 within their pages," including:

What Never Happened, by Rachel Howzell Hall

Obituary writer Colette “Coco” Weber relocates to her home on Catalina Island off the coast of California in March 2020. As the island slowly shuts down, what begins as Weber’s attempt to reset her life grows dark when Weber suspects that deaths on the island may be related to a brutal tragedy in her past. Incorporating COVID was on Hall’s mind even before she began writing the first page of the novel, published in 2023, Hall told Cara Wood of Dead Darlings.

“It was one of the first times in modern history that we had to stay away from each other, for-real-for real, or risk catching the virus and possibly dying,” Hall said. “COVID was the apex experience of isolation, even in a city as big as Los Angeles. And then, add the masks—you couldn’t see people, their expressions. You couldn’t determine if that person is a bandit or simply a guy wearing a mask because of the mandate.”

Read about another book on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Paula Munier's "The Night Woods," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: The Night Woods: A Mercy Carr Mystery by Paula Munier.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Night Woods is my own humble homage to Homer’s The Odyssey—complete with wild boar, lethal storms, and loyal dogs. Given that, it would be great fun to make a movie version directed by Ang Lee, who directed two of my favorite films of all time: Sense and Sensibility and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Lee is as adept at directing classic female- centered stories as he is action-driven tales. He’s also known for directing women—from Michelle Yeoh to Emma Thompson.

The Night Woods is action-driven, but key to the series is my heroine Mercy Carr’s extended family, not only her husband and the dogs, but also most notably her mother and grandmother and the two young women she’s taken under her wing, her teenage cousin Tandie and the young mother Amy. In The Night Woods, my heroine Mercy Carr is heavily pregnant, and the women of the family gather around her like a female energy field. I can picture Rose Leslie as Mercy, with Carolyn Hennesy as her chic mother and...[read on]

Visit Paula Munier's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Paula Munier & Bear.

My Book, The Movie: A Borrowing of Bones.

The Page 69 Test: A Borrowing of Bones.

Writers Read: Paula Munier (October 2019).

My Book, The Movie: Blind Search.

The Page 69 Test: Blind Search.

My Book, The Movie: The Hiding Place.

The Page 69 Test: The Hiding Place.

Q&A with Paula Munier.

My Book, The Movie: The Wedding Plot.

The Page 69 Test: The Wedding Plot.

Writers Read: Paula Munier (July 2022).

Writers Read: Paula Munier (October 2023).

My Book, The Movie: Home at Night.

The Page 69 Test: Home at Night.

My Book, The Movie: The Night Woods.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Julie Guthman's "The Problem with Solutions"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Problem with Solutions: Why Silicon Valley Can't Hack the Future of Food by Julie Guthman.

About the book, from the publisher:

A concise and feisty takedown of the all-style, no-substance tech ventures that fail to solve our food crises.

Why has Silicon Valley become the model for addressing today's myriad social and ecological crises? With this book, Julie Guthman digs into the impoverished solutions for food and agriculture currently emerging from Silicon Valley, urging us to stop trying to fix our broken food system through finite capitalistic solutions and technological moonshots that do next to nothing to actualize a more just and sustainable system.

The Problem with Solutions combines an analysis of the rise of tech company solution culture with findings from actual research on the sector's ill-informed attempts to address the problems of food and agriculture. As this seductive approach continues to infiltrate universities and academia, Guthman challenges us to reject apolitical and self-gratifying techno-solutions and develop the capacity and willingness to respond to the root causes of these crises. Solutions, she argues, are a product of our current condition, not an answer to it.

Learn more about The Problem with Solutions at the University of California Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Wilted.

The Page 99 Test: The Problem with Solutions.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Barbara Gayle Austin's "What You Made Me Do"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: What You Made Me Do: A Novel by Barbara Gayle Austin.

About the book, from the publisher:

An expectant mother gets more than she bargained for when she marries into a seemingly perfect family in this gripping debut novel–a must read for fans of A. J. Finn and B. A. Paris.

After surviving a nightmarish childhood, Anneliese Bakker is on the mend and searching for her birth mother. But when she meets Willem, she falls madly in love and finally finds a safe place to land. Engaged and expecting her first child, she moves into the Veldkamp mansion on a stately, tree-lined avenue in Amsterdam. And yet, nothing about Willem’s family is as it seems. Instead of the loving home she has longed for her entire life, she’s confronted with a cold and hostile household.

Increasingly isolated, Anneliese is drawn to a creepy basement shrine to Louisa, Willem’s mother. Louisa Veldkamp was a legendary Dutch pianist who presumably drowned–but whose body has never been found. Though still revered by her fans, Louisa is a taboo subject in the family home. Haunted by her own demons, Anneliese must dig into the family’s past to untangle a dark web of secrets, inadvertently putting herself and her unborn child in grave danger.

Not knowing who to trust, Anneliese has to decide just how far she is willing to go to safeguard the family life she so desperately seeks.

Visit Barbara Gayle Austin's website.

The Page 69 Test: What You Made Me Do.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is S.E. Redfearn reading

Featured at Writers Read: S. E. Redfearn, author of Two Good Men.

Her entry begins:

I’m currently listening to All the Colors of the Dark, by Chris Whitaker, and it is spellbinding. I love psychological suspense, and this one is absolutely brilliant. I’m not sure how it ended up on my radar, but I’m certainly glad it did. It is the most haunting missing person story...[read on]

About Two Good Men, from the publisher:

From the internationally bestselling author of In an Instant and Hadley & Grace comes Two Good Men, a searing drama about two men on a quest for justice—from opposite sides of the law.

Dick Raynes feared this day would come. Otis Parsons, a violent pedophile, has been released from prison, and Dick’s sister Dee is the one who helped put him behind bars. Dick’s marriage is over, and his career is in shambles, so with nothing to lose, he sets out to do whatever it takes to keep Dee and her son Jesse safe. But Otis is just the beginning. Dick quickly discovers the dark truth about repeat sex offenders and finds himself unable to turn away. Using his knowledge as a scientist to develop a formula able to predict those most likely strike again, he sets out to protect future victims the law is powerless to defend.

FBI agent Steve Patterson investigates crimes against sex offenders, running a department he created after his son was killed by a vigilante mother who targeted the wrong person. Recognizing a disturbing pattern of untimely deaths in recently released felons, he sets out to figure out who’s behind it. What he doesn’t expect to find is another chance at love—with the sister of the man he is chasing.

Dick’s strong sense of right and wrong is tested as he pursues and neutralizes the most dangerous threats, while Steve makes it his mission to stop this vigilante serial killer before he is labeled a hero. Both men’s pursuits are noble, but only one can prevail.

Visit Suzanne Redfearn's website, Facebook and Instagram pages, and Twitter perch.

Coffee with a Canine: Suzanne Redfearn and Cooper.

My Book, The Movie: Hush Little Baby.

The Page 69 Test: Hush Little Baby.

The Page 69 Test: No Ordinary Life.

Writers Read: Suzanne Redfearn (February 2016).

My Book, The Movie: No Ordinary Life.

My Book, The Movie: In an Instant.

The Page 69 Test: In an Instant.

Q&A with Suzanne Redfearn.

My Book, The Movie: Hadley and Grace.

The Page 69 Test: Hadley & Grace.

Writers Read: Suzanne Redfearn (March 2022).

The Page 69 Test: Moment in Time.

My Book, The Movie: Moment in Time.

Writers Read: Suzanne Redfearn (February 2024).

Writers Read: S. E. Redfearn.

--Marshal Zeringue

Twelve modern classic horror books

Drew Broussard is a writer, podcaster, bookseller, and producer of creative events. He spent nearly a decade at The Public Theater before decamping to the woods of upstate New York, where he lives with his wife and dog.

At Lit Hub he shared a spooky season starter kit for readers curious about horror. One title on the list:

Anne Rice, Interview With The Vampire

Maybe you’re watching the surprisingly-great series on AMC, maybe you remember the pretty-good film, maybe you’re just a goth kid at heart who also wants love—maybe you’re even just a romance reader who wonders if you might be able to jump from The Ex Hex to something a little more pulse-pounding (in every way). Let me assure you: Anne Rice’s vampires will both frighten and seduce you. Interview is not the best book in the series (for my money, that’s Queen of the Damned) and the series loses its way several times over the decades (CW: religion and lots of it) but when Rice really gets cooking, nobody can top her. There’s plenty of bloodsucking violence but also a ton of homoerotic passion: Rice doesn’t get as spicy in these books as she did in her erotica, but not by much. This book and its first few sequels helped humanize horror for me, showing that fear and arousal (and laughter!) all live quite close to one another in the body.

Read about another entry on the list.

Interview With The Vampire is among Mark Skinner's top ten vampire books, Craig DiLouie’s top ten fantasy books steeped in the Southern Gothic, Tara Sonin's five sexy novels to unleash your wanderlust, Jeff Somers's eight good, bad, and weird dad/child pairs in science fiction and fantasy, Jonathan Hatfull's ten best vampire novels, Ryan Menezes' top five movies that improved the book, Will Hill's top ten vampires in fiction and popular culture, and Lynda Resnick's six best books.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eight books about growing up through ballet

Lucy Ashe is the author of Clara & Olivia (shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger 2024), The Dance of the Dolls, and The Sleeping Beauties. She trained at the Royal Ballet School, before changing career plans and going to St. Hugh's College, Oxford University, to study English Literature. She is an English and Drama teacher and she reviews theatre for the website “Plays to See.”

At Electric Lit Ashe tagged "eight books that cut to the heart of what it means to learn to define oneself as a dancer." One title on the list:

The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan

A historical novel about the girl who modelled for Edgar Degas’s Little Dancer Aged Fourteen sculpture, this is a ballet story that reveals the dangerous power of wealthy patrons. Set in 19th century Paris, Marie van Goethem and her sister struggle to make ends meet after their father dies. Marie trains at the Paris Opéra, attracting the attention of Degas and modelling for him in his studio. Her sister Antoinette, meanwhile, faces her own challenges while working as an extra in a play. Rich with historical detail, this is a novel about the corruption and abuse of power embedded in the beautiful settings of art, dance, and theater.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Painted Girls is among Therese Anne Fowler's six favorite books and the Barnes & Noble Review's top five books on artists who have captivated our culture.

The Page 69 Test: The Painted Girls.

My Book, The Movie: The Painted Girls.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Petra R. Rivera-Rideau's "Fitness Fiesta!"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Fitness Fiesta!: Selling Latinx Culture through Zumba by Petra R. Rivera-Rideau.

About the book, from the publisher:

As a fitness brand, Zumba Fitness has cultivated a devoted fan base of fifteen million participants spread across 180 countries. In Fitness Fiesta! Petra R. Rivera-Rideau analyzes how Zumba uses Latin music and dance to create and sell a vision of Latinness that’s tropical, hypersexual, and party-loving. Rivera-Rideau focuses on the five tropes that the Zumba brand uses to create this Latinness: authenticity, fiesta, fun, dreams, and love. Closely examining videos, ads, memes, and press coverage as well as interviews she conducted with instructors, Rivera-Rideau traces how Zumba Fitness constructs its ideas of Latinx culture by carefully balancing a longing for apparent authenticity with a homogenization of a marketable “south of the border”-style vacation. She shows how Zumba Fitness claims to celebrate Latinx culture and diversity while it simultaneously traffics in the same racial and ethnic stereotypes that are used to justify racist and xenophobic policies targeting Latinx communities in the United States. In so doing, Rivera-Rideau demonstrates not only the complex relationship between Latinidad and neoliberal, postracial America but also what that relationship means for the limits and possibilities of multicultural citizenship today.

Learn more about Fitness Fiesta! at the Duke University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Fitness Fiesta!.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Margaret Mizushima's "Gathering Mist"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Gathering Mist (A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery) by Margaret Mizushima.

About the book, from the publisher:

Secrets hide within the fog deep in the mossy forests of the Pacific Northwest in this ninth thrilling installment in award-winning author Margaret Mizushima’s Timber Creek K-9 mystery series.

Deputy Mattie Wray, formerly Mattie Cobb, is summoned to Washington’s Olympic peninsula for an urgent search and rescue mission to find a celebrity’s missing child. With only a week left before her wedding, Mattie is hesitant to leave Timber Creek, but her K-9 partner Robo’s tracking skills are needed.

Dense forest, chilling rain, and unfriendly locals hamper their efforts, and soon Mattie suspects something more sinister than a lost child is at play. When one of the SAR dogs becomes ill, her fiancé, Cole Walker, suspects poison. Fearing for Mattie’s and Robo’s safety, Cole joins the search and rescue team as veterinary support.

Secrets that have lain hidden within the rugged terrain come to light, and when it is uncovered that the missing child was kidnapped, the search becomes a full-blown crime scene investigation, forcing Mattie, Robo, and Cole into a desperate search to find the missing child before it's too late.

Visit Margaret Mizushima's website and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

Coffee with a Canine: Margaret Mizushima & Hannah, Bertie, Lily and Tess.

Coffee with a Canine: Margaret Mizushima & Hannah.

My Book, The Movie: Burning Ridge.

The Page 69 Test: Burning Ridge.

The Page 69 Test: Tracking Game.

My Book, The Movie: Hanging Falls.

The Page 69 Test: Hanging Falls.

Q&A with Margaret Mizushima.

The Page 69 Test: Striking Range.

The Page 69 Test: Standing Dead.

The Page 69 Test: Gathering Mist.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six titles about the perils of memory manipulation

Margot Harrison is the author of four young adult thrillers and the adult novel The Midnight Club.

[The Page 69 Test: The Killer in Me; Q&A with Margot Harrison]

At CrimeReads she tagged "six compelling fictions about the power of memory and the dangers of manipulating our own memories—or other people’s." One title on Harrison's list:

In the Woods by Tana French

While French writes superb procedural mysteries rather than science fiction, the lure and unreliability of memory are potent themes running through her work. The narrator of her debut novel is a detective with a terrifying gap in his childhood memories: the day he and two friends went missing. He was the only one to return, with no recollection of what had happened. As the detective insinuates himself into a murder case in the same wooded area where his friends vanished, we discover how a preoccupation with unlocking the past can make it impossible to live in the present. This is a good cautionary tale for any memory obsessive!

Read about another entry on the list.

In the Woods is among Peter Nichols's six novels whose crimes & mysteries grow out of place and manners, Amy Tintera's five top thrillers featuring amnesiacs, Emily Schultz's eight top novels about memory loss, Gabino Iglesias's fifty best mysteries of all time, Kate Robards's five thrillers unfolding in wooded seclusion, Paula Hawkins's five novels with criminal acts at their heart, Alafair Burke's top ten books about amnesia, Caz Frear's five top open-ended novels, Gabriel Bergmoser's top ten horror novels, Kate White's favorite thrillers with a main character who can’t remember what matters most, Kathleen Donohoe's ten top titles about missing persons, Jessica Knoll's ten top thrillers, Tara Sonin's twenty-five unhappy books for Valentine’s Day, Krysten Ritter's six favorite mysteries, Megan Reynolds's top ten books you must read if you loved Gone Girl, Emma Straub's ten top books that mimic the feeling of a summer vacation, the Barnes & Noble Review's five top books from Ireland's newer voices, and Judy Berman's ten fantastic novels with disappointing endings.

The Page 69 Test: In the Woods.

--Marshal Zeringue

Q&A with Melody Maysonet

From my Q&A with Melody Maysonet, author of What We Wish For:

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

My working title for a long time was Out of Mind because the main character’s mom is out of her mind, but it was also a play on “out of sight, out of mind,” as in, Layla, the main character, is trying to hide who she really is.

Then I settled on What We Wish For as the title, which is a play on the phrase, “Be careful what you wish for.” Layla thinks she gets everything she wishes for when her rich aunt and uncle swoop in to save her from the homeless shelter, sending her mom to fancy addiction rehab and moving Layla into their mansion. Layla thinks all her dreams have come true but finds out that getting everything she wished for comes with its own price tag.

The title is also a reference to hope—as in, there are so many things we wish for, and oftentimes we don’t get them, but the point is to keep hope alive. In What We Wish For, Layla longs for a better life—for herself, for her mom. She longs to be a better person, to be a better friend, a better daughter. She struggles and...[read on]

Visit Melody Maysonet's website.

The Page 69 Test: What We Wish For.

Q&A with Melody Maysonet.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Richard E. Mshomba's "Africa and Preferential Trade"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Africa and Preferential Trade: An Unpredictable Path for Development by Richard E. Mshomba.

About the book, from the publisher:

Nonreciprocal preferential trade arrangements are a defining feature of the relationship between developed and developing countries dating back to the colonial era. In the late 1950s, these arrangements started to take a multilateral form when members of the European Economic Community established special trade arrangements with their colonies. Since then, several trade arrangements have featured African countries among the preference-receiving countries. Yet it is not always clear how preferential these arrangements are and whether they in fact help African countries or instead lead them to perpetual dependence on specific markets and products. Richard E. Mshomba carefully examines the history of these programs and their salient features. He analyzes negotiations between the EU and African countries to form Economic Partnership Agreements. Nonreciprocal preferential trade arrangements are often unpredictable, since the duration and magnitude of preferences are at the discretion of the preference-giving countries. However, when used in conjunction with other development programs and with laws and regulations that encourage long-term investment and protect employees, they can increase economic opportunities and foster human development. This book recognizes the potential impact of nonreciprocal preferential trade arrangements and provides recommendations to increase their viability.

Learn more about Africa and Preferential Trade at the Stanford University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Africa and Preferential Trade.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine books that imagine what a Black utopia could be

Aaron Robertson is a writer, an editor, and a translator of Italian literature. His translation of Igiaba Scego’s Beyond Babylon was short-listed for the 2020 PEN Translation Prize and the National Translation Award, and in 2021 he received a National Endowment for the Arts grant. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Nation, Foreign Policy, n+1, The Point, and Literary Hub, among other publications. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Robertson's nonfiction debut is The Black Utopians: Searching for Paradise and the Promised Land in America.

At Lit Hub the author tagged "nine key works that provide a window into the long history of Black utopian experiments, tracing it through political, social, and speculative lenses." One title on the list:

Nell Irvin Painter, Exodusters: Black Migration to Kansas After Reconstruction

Painter examines the mass migration of Black Americans to Kansas following the Civil War, as they sought to establish new lives and secure land in the face of rising violence in the South. This story highlights the role migration has played in Black utopian thinking—a search for a place where freedom is not just granted but built.

In the aftermath of Reconstruction, as the federal government withdrew its protections for freedpeople, the Southern landscape became increasingly hostile, with the rise of Jim Crow laws, racial terror, and the resurgence of white supremacist violence. The Exoduster Movement, which took place in the late 1870s, was one of the largest and most organized Black migrations of its time. Thousands of formerly enslaved people and their descendants left the South in search of refuge, with Kansas symbolizing the biblical “Promised Land.”

Painter’s work not only contextualizes this pivotal moment but also links it to the broader Black utopian impulse toward freedom, land ownership, and autonomy.

Read about another book on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Samantha Greene Woodruff's "The Trade Off," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: The Trade Off: A Novel by Samantha Greene Woodruff.

The entry begins:

Someone recently asked me for a one sentence, Hollywood-style pitch for The Trade Off and I said: “It’s The Great Gatsby meets The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Wall Street.” Not to compare myself for a single moment to Fitzgerald or Amy Sherman-Palladino, but my book is set in the roaring ‘20s and examines the “have and have nots” of the era. And, as I was writing my protagonist, Bea Abramovitz, I always had Rachel Brosnahan’s Midge Maisel in my mind. So, it might be a bit too on the nose, but it’s hard for me to envision anyone but her in the movie version of my book.

Bea is a first-generation American daughter of Russian Jews who immigrated to the US to flee the pogroms, losing everything along the way. Bea has a gift for numbers and, in the stock market boom of the 1920s, wants nothing more than to become a broker in the very male world of Wall Street. But she has three strikes against her: she’s female, she’s poor and she’s Jewish. Bea doesn’t share Midge’s background or career goals, but she has a similar spunk, likeability and determination that conjured Brosnahan’s Midge in my imagination.

For Bea’s friends, I pictured Christina Hendricks à la Mad Men for Henrietta, the dazzling rich Jewish secretary who wants to be a “modern gal” and make it on her own; Taylor Swift for Milly, the awkward girl who finds herself; and...[read on]

Visit Samantha Greene Woodruff's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Lobotomist's Wife.

My Book, The Movie: The Trade Off.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Louis Bayard's "The Wildes"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Wildes: A Novel in Five Acts by Louis Bayard.

About the book, from the publisher:

In this singularly powerful novel, bestselling author Louis Bayard brings Oscar Wilde’s wife Constance and two sons out from the shadows of history and creates a vivid and poignant story of secrets, loss, and love.

In September of 1892, Oscar Wilde and his family have retreated to the idyllic Norfolk countryside for a holiday. His wife, Constance, has every reason to be happy: two beautiful sons, her own work as an advocate for feminist causes, and a delightfully charming and affectionate husband and father to her children, who also happens to be the most sought-after author in England. But with the arrival of an unexpected houseguest, the aristocratic young poet Lord Alfred Douglas, Constance gradually—and then all at once—comes to see that her husband’s heart is elsewhere and that the growing intensity between the two men threatens the whole foundation of their lives.

The Wildes: A Novel in Five Acts takes readers on the emotional journey of this family, moving from the Italian countryside, where Constance Wilde flees from the aftermath of Oscar’s imprisonment for homosexuality, to the trenches of World War I and an underground bar in London’s Soho, where Oscar’s sons Cyril and Vyvyan must both grapple with their father’s legacy. And in a brilliant feat of the imagination, act 5 reunites the entire cast in a surprising, poignant, and tremendously satisfying tableau.

With Louis Bayard’s trademark sparkling dialogue and deep insight into the lives and longings of all his characters, The Wildes could almost have been created by Oscar Wilde himself. Lightly told but with hidden depths, it is an entertaining and dramatic story about the human condition.

Learn more about the book and author at Louis Bayard's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Black Tower.

The Page 69 Test: The Pale Blue Eye.

The Page 69 Test: The School of Night.

The Page 69 Test: Roosevelt's Beast.

The Page 69 Test: Jackie & Me.

The Page 69 Test: The Wildes.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven top fun novels that reimagine the afterlife

Maxie Dara is a writer and actor from Ontario, Canada. She has been a freelance journalist focusing on the local arts and culture scene for more than five years, with bylines in publications such as Hamilton Magazine and Beyond James, among others. She is also a two-time award-winning playwright, taking home the Best of Fringe award at the 2017 Hamilton Fringe Festival for the musical comedy This Is Not a Musical: The Musical! and the 2020 Torpedo Prize for her play Alone Together, a pandemic drama. Dara knew she wanted to be a writer at the age of seven, when she first fell in love with the written word. She also wanted to be a mermaid but has mostly focused on the writing side of things.

Her new novel is A Grim Reaper's Guide to Catching a Killer.

At Electric Lit Dara tagged "seven fun, innovative reads that really put some 'life' into the afterlife." One title on the list:

Soulless by Gail Carriger

Carriger’s steampunk take on the Victorian era is bursting at the seams with beings who could tell you a thing or two about death. In a world where vampires and werewolves are staples in polite society, protagonist Alexia Tarabotti finds herself lacking in the same supernatural spirit. Or, more specifically, lacking in a soul. This unusual affliction makes her an antidote for paranormal powers, which is a handy skill to have until it inadvertently leads to her very unceremoniously killing a vampire, which goes against all sense of propriety and etiquette. But someone or something else is harming high society vamps, on purpose no less, and Alexia teams up with a handsome werewolf government operative to solve the mystery of the disappearing immortals. This book is full of humor, intrigue, and Victorian manners, and introduces a one-of-a-kind world you’ll have to be unwillingly dragged out of.

Read about another entry on the list.

Soulless is among K.W. Colyard's twenty-five best recent vampire books, David R. Slayton's ten groundbreaking urban fantasy novels, and Darynda Jones's ten must-read crime-fighting duos.

My Book, The Movie: Soulless by Gail Carriger.

--Marshal Zeringue --Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Emily M. Farris & Mirya R. Holman's "The Power of the Badge"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Power of the Badge: Sheriffs and Inequality in the United States by Emily M. Farris and Mirya R. Holman.

About the book, from the publisher:

A sobering exploration of the near unchecked power of sheriffs in the United States.

Across the United States, more than 3,000 sheriffs occupy a unique position in the US political and legal systems. Elected by voters—usually in low-visibility, noncompetitive elections—sheriffs oversee more than a third of law enforcement employees and control almost all local jails. They have the power to both set and administer policies, and they can imprison, harm, and even kill members of their communities. Yet, they enjoy a degree of autonomy not seen by other political officeholders.

The Power of the Badge offers an unprecedented, data-rich look into the politics of the office and its effects on local communities. Emily M. Farris and Mirya R. Holman draw on two surveys of sheriffs taken nearly a decade apart, as well as election data, case studies, and administrative data to show how a volatile combination of authority and autonomy has created an environment where sheriffs rarely change; elections seldom create meaningful accountability; employees, budgets, and jails can be used for political gains; marginalized populations can be punished; and reforms fail. Farris and Holman also track the increasingly close linkages between sheriffs and right-wing radical groups in an era of high partisanship and intra-federal conflict.

Learn more about The Power of the Badge at the University of Chicago Press website.

The Page 99 Test: The Power of the Badge.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Kate Robards reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Kate Robards, author of Only the Guilty Survive: A Thriller.

Here entry begins:

Currently, I’m reading A Flicker in the Dark, the suspenseful debut by Stacy Willingham. It follows Chloe, a psychologist haunted by the crimes her serial killer father committed twenty years ago. It’s well-written and engrossing—the very definition of a page-turner. This is the second book I’ve read by Willingham, and I’m impressed by her character development and pacing.

I like to balance my reading list, alternating between fiction (mostly thrillers and mysteries) and nonfiction. I just finished...[read on]

About Only the Guilty Survive, from the publisher:

A podcaster digs into strange connections between a cult’s mass suicide and the murder of a local beauty queen in this twisty psychological thriller about true crime culture, perfect for fans of Riley Sager and Lisa Jewell.

The mass suicide of a cult known as the Flock sent shockwaves through the small rural town of Iola, Michigan. Led by the charismatic Dominic Bragg, the Flock camped at an abandoned bird sanctuary before their sudden and shocking demise. The deaths came just weeks after one of their members, Laurel Tai, a local pageant queen, was abducted.

The town turned its blame and fear onto the sole survivor, Claire Kettler–Laurel’s best friend. Burdened by grief and unanswered questions about her friend’s murder and her fellow cult members’ deaths, Claire can’t help but wonder what really happened, especially when the cult leader is nowhere to be found.

When podcaster Arlo Stone begins poking around ten years later, determined to uncover the truth about the cult and Laurel’s murder, Claire is propelled back into action. In a desperate attempt to puzzle out the past and keep her secrets from being spilled for the entertainment of thousands of listeners, Claire must dig into a tangle of unanswered questions before time runs out and history repeats itself.

Visit Kate Robards's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Three Deaths of Willa Stannard.

The Page 69 Test: The Three Deaths of Willa Stannard.

Q&A with Kate Robards.

Writers Read: Kate Robards.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six of the best fictional female detectives

Alison Gaylin is a USA Today and international bestselling author whose novels have won the Edgar and Shamus awards. Her work has been published in numerous countries and has been nominated for many awards, including the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Macavity, Anthony, ITW Thriller and Strand Book Award.

[The Page 69 Test: Into the Dark; The Page 69 Test: What Remains of Me; The Page 69 Test: If I Die Tonight; The Page 69 Test: The Collective]

Gaylin's newest book is Robert B. Parker's Buzz Kill.

At CrimeReads Gaylin tagged six of her favorite fictional female detectives, including:

Tess Monaghan (Laura Lippman): First introduced in Baltimore Blues (1997), Tess is a reporter who falls prey to newspaper downsizing and strikes out on her own as a private detective. Tough-minded, athletic and incredibly smart, Tess also has a kind heart and a strong moral compass. Yet despite all of that, she doesn’t take herself too seriously – which makes her everything you’d want in a series character. Throughout her nearly three decades (!) in print, Tess has evolved both personally and professionally, marrying and becoming a mom as she continues to tackle Charm City’s most twisted cases.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Tess Monaghan books are among Nora Murphy's six top feminist thrillers.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Melody Maysonet's "What We Wish For"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: What We Wish For by Melody Maysonet.

About the book, from the publisher:

From award-winning author Melody Maysonet, What We Wish For is a poignant YA novel that explores one teenager's coming-of-age as she struggles through homelessness, family feuds, and her mother's addiction.

Be careful what you wish for...

Fifteen-year-old Layla Freeman likes to pretend her life is fine. After all, her mother is about to celebrate thirty days sober, and yeah, they've moved into a homeless shelter, but it's only temporary, right? Her mom will get better, and in the meantime, it's important that no one at school finds out where she's been living for the past month. Layla has worked hard to build her reputation as a girl who doesn't care what others think of her, but the truth is she does care--deeply--and she's tripping over her own lies, especially to her best friend, as she tries to pretend nothing's wrong.

With their time at the shelter running out, Layla hatches a plan to get help from her rich aunt and uncle, despite the long-standing feud between their families. When the plan backfires and her mom ends up in the hospital after an overdose, the silver lining is that she's sent to fancy rehab--paid for by Uncle Scott and Aunt Tanya. Layla gets to move into her aunt and uncle's mansion while her mom is gone and begins building a tentative friendship with her snobby cousin--even as her relationship with her best friend deteriorates.

Armed with new wealth, new relationships, and even a new mother figure, Layla thinks all her dreams have come true ... But secrets have a way of coming out, and one secret above all threatens to turn her world upside down--and destroy her entire family.

Visit Melody Maysonet's website.

The Page 69 Test: What We Wish For.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Michael J. Douma's "The Slow Death of Slavery in Dutch New York"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Slow Death of Slavery in Dutch New York: A Cultural, Economic, and Demographic History, 1700–1827 by Michael J. Douma.

About the book, from the publisher:

Original and deeply researched, this book provides a new interpretation of Dutch American slavery which challenges many of the traditional assumptions about slavery in New York. With an emphasis on demography and economics, Michael J. Douma shows that slavery in eighteenth-century New York was mostly rural, heavily Dutch, and generally profitable through the cultivation of wheat. Slavery in Dutch New York ultimately died a political death in the nineteenth century, while resistance from enslaved persons, and a gradual turn against slavery in society and in the courts, encouraged its destruction. This important study will reshape the historiography of slavery in the American North.

Visit Michael J. Douma's website.

The Page 99 Test: The Slow Death of Slavery in Dutch New York.

--Marshal Zeringue