Five novels inspired by sensational chapters in history

Jeff Somers is the author of Lifers, the Avery Cates series from Orbit Books, Chum from Tyrus Books, and We Are Not Good People from Pocket/Gallery. He has published over thirty short stories as well. One of Somers's five most surprising books that turn out to be based on things that actually happened, as shared at B&N Reads:

The Black Dahlia, by James Ellroy
Historical Inspiration: Elizabeth Short

Ellroy’s modern classic was the book that made people sit up and take notice of him as a serious author instead of just a successful genre writer, and the novel takes its inspiration from the oldest unsolved murder in the history of Los Angeles, that of Elizabeth Short. She was nicknamed the Black Dahlia by newspapers covering her case in 1947, a case that has many theories and players but no real answers. Ellroy used the notorious murder as a jumping-off point for depicting his version of 1940s L.A. as a quagmire of corruption and sin, resulting in one of the best noir novels ever written, a story that skillfully blends fiction and fact into a mesmerizing tableau of modern horror.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Black Dahlia appears among Lynda La Plante's six best books and Jonathan Kellerman's six favorite books, and on David Bowman's list of five great noir novels from the post-Chandler generations.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Susie Steiner reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Susie Steiner, author of Missing, Presumed.

Her entry begins:

I loved Shirley Barrett's debut, Rush Oh, set on a whaling station in Australia at the turn of the century. All the detail about how killer whales and whalers worked together to hunt humbacks is riveting. It's also a coming of age novel, with a loveable narrator and lots of gentle humour.

I've also just read...[read on]

About Missing, Presumed, from the publisher:

At thirty-nine, Manon Bradshaw is a devoted and respected member of the Cambridgeshire police force, and though she loves her job, what she longs for is a personal life. Single and distant from her family, she wants a husband and children of her own. One night, after yet another disastrous Internet date, she turns on her police radio to help herself fall asleep—and receives an alert that sends her to a puzzling crime scene.

Edith Hind—a beautiful graduate student at Cambridge University and daughter of the surgeon to the Royal Family—has been missing for nearly twenty-four hours. Her home offers few clues: a smattering of blood in the kitchen, her keys and phone left behind, the front door ajar but showing no signs of forced entry. Manon instantly knows that this case will be big—and that every second is crucial to finding Edith alive.

The investigation starts with Edith’s loved ones: her attentive boyfriend, her reserved best friend, her patrician parents. As the search widens and press coverage reaches a frenzied pitch, secrets begin to emerge about Edith’s tangled love life and her erratic behavior leading up to her disappearance. With no clear leads, Manon summons every last bit of her skill and intuition to close the case, and what she discovers will have shocking consequences not just for Edith’s family but for Manon herself.

Suspenseful and keenly observed, Missing, Presumed is a brilliantly twisting novel of how we seek connection, grant forgiveness, and reveal the truth about who we are.

Visit Susie Steiner's website.

Writers Read: Susie Steiner.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five books in which special powers have unfortunate side effects

Sarah Fine is a clinical psychologist and the author of the Servants of Fate and Guards of the Shadowlands series. Her latest novel is Reliquary.

At Tor.com Fine tagged five books in which superpowers have unfortunate side effects, including:

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

In the long running and compulsively readable Sookie Stackhouse series, the eponymous heroine simply wants to live a normal life in her little home town of Bon Temps, Louisiana. Only problem—she can hear the thoughts of the people around her. Sounds like a cool power, except it means she’s privy not only to everyone’s secrets, but also their thoughts about her. Worse, she can’t always hide it, and so everyone knows there’s something off about Sookie. Having that endless cacophony in her head is sometimes more than she can take, leading her to seek the company of vampires, whose thoughts she can’t hear. Bloody shenanigans ensue.

Read about another entry on the list.

Dead Until Dark is among Rebecca Jane Stokes's top ten books about women in peril…who fought back.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Ann Patty's "Living with a Dead Language"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Living with a Dead Language: My Romance with Latin by Ann Patty.

About the book, from the publisher:

An entertaining exploration of the richness and relevance of the Latin language and literature, and an inspiring account of finding renewed purpose through learning something new and challenging

After thirty-five years as a book editor in New York City, Ann Patty stopped working and moved to the country. Bored, aimless, and lost in the woods, she hoped to challenge her restless, word-loving brain by beginning a serious study of Latin at local colleges.

As she begins to make sense of Latin grammar and syntax, her studies open unexpected windows into her own life. The louche poetry of Catullus calls up her early days in 1970s New York, Lucretius elucidates her intractable drivenness and her attraction to Buddhism, while Ovid’s verse conjures a delightful dimension to the flora and fauna that surround her. Women in Roman history, and an ancient tomb inscription give her new understanding and empathy for her tragic, long deceased mother. Finally, Virgil reconciles her to her new life—no longer an urban exile, but a rustic scholar, writer and teacher. Along the way, she meets an impassioned cast of characters: professors, students and classicists outside of academia who keep Latin very much alive.

Written with humor, heart, and an infectious enthusiasm for words, Patty’s book is an object lesson in how learning and literature can transform the past and lead to an unexpected future.

Visit Ann Patty's website.

The Page 99 Test: Living with a Dead Language.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten great foxes in children’s books

Ali Sparkes is a British children's author.

One of her top ten foxy fables, as shared at the Guardian:

Fox in Sox by Dr Seuss

In gloriously weird illustration, the fox in Dr Seuss’s superb tongue twisting tale is once again represented as a clever sweet-talker. Poor Mr Knox hasn’t a hope of escaping the Fox In Socks’s increasingly bonkers word games… or has he?

Read about another entry on the list.

Fox in Sox is among Whitney Collins's top five children’s books that make you feel like you're drunk.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Robert H. Patton reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Robert H. Patton, author of Cajun Waltz.

His entry begins:

Not unusually, I’ve got a mishmash of things on my desk, my office floor, my bedside table, and my iPad. To take them in order:

My desk is crowded with a bunch of nonfiction that I’m reading as background for a series of historical novels I’m doing for Thomas Dunne. The series is based on a book I wrote a few years back about Revolutionary War privateering, so the stuff is mostly related to maritime matters of trade, warfare, and political skullduggery in the colonial era. Atop the pile is N.A.M. Rodgers’s classic study of the Georgian Royal Navy, The Wooden World, and a fine new naval history of the American Revolution by Sam Willis, The Struggle for Sea Power, just released by Norton. Willis covers a broad canvas from Canada to the Caribbean to the European Continent with clarity, smarts, and an appealing light touch. Anyone interested in the subject should check it out.

Down on my floor there’s A Sea of Words by Dean King, a nicely arranged lexicon of nautical terms and technical jargon relating to colonial ships and seamen. King is a fanatical expert (I mean that as a compliment) on the Aubrey-Maturin novels of Patrick O’Brian. If...[read on]

About Cajun Waltz, from the publisher:

The lyrics of a Cajun waltz may be dark as midnight with heartache and trouble, but still the music swings. The same goes for what happens after a shifty musician and a lonely shopgirl let destiny sweep them into an ill-suited marriage in swampy southwest Louisiana on the eve of the Depression.

Love doesn’t much figure between Richie Bainard and Esther Block. They build a business together while dreaming opposite dreams of fulfillment. But like a gumbo simmering with peppers and spice, desires finally come to a boil.

Three generations of the volatile clan grapple with the region’s economic struggles and racial tensions. The Bainard children, twins Bonnie and R.J. and their half-brother, Seth, pursue separate cravings for money, sex, and religion. The chase in each case runs off the rails thanks to an ex-marine with a soft heart and a brutish devotion, a dazzling young stepmother of mixed race and mixed motives, and a high school tart who proves tougher and truer than all of them. Ultimately it takes the mass devastation of Hurricane Audrey in 1957 to cleanse the reckless passions. The aftermath is painful but pure, like an old blues song that puts tears in your eyes while you dance.

Visit Robert H. Patton's website.

My Book, The Movie: Cajun Waltz.

Writers Read: Robert H. Patton.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Christian McKay Heidicker's "Cure for the Common Universe"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Cure for the Common Universe by Christian McKay Heidicker.

About the book, from the publisher:

Prepare to be cured by this quirky and hilarious debut novel about a sixteen-year-old loner who is sent to rehab for video game addiction—perfect for fans of Ned Vizzini and Jesse Andrews.

Sixteen-year-old Jaxon is being committed to video game rehab…ten minutes after meeting a girl. A living, breathing girl named Serena, who not only laughed at his jokes but actually kinda sorta seemed excited when she agreed to go out with him.

Jaxon’s first date. Ever.

In rehab, Jaxon can’t blast his way through galaxies to reach her. He can’t slash through armies to kiss her sweet lips. Instead, he has four days to earn one million points by learning real-life skills. And he’ll do whatever it takes—lie, cheat, steal, even learn how to cross-stitch—in order to make it to his date.

If all else fails, Jaxon will have to bare his soul to the other teens in treatment, confront his mother’s absence, and maybe admit that it’s more than video games that stand in the way of a real connection.

From a bright new voice in young adult literature comes the story of a young man with a serious case of arrested development—and carpal tunnel syndrome—who is about to discover what real life is all about.

Visit C. M. Heidicker's website.

Cure for the Common Universe is among Shaun Byron Fitzpatrick's top seven geeky love stories that prove nerd love is the best love.

The Page 69 Test: Cure for the Common Universe.

--Marshal Zeringue

Larry Watson's "As Good As Gone," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: As Good as Gone: A Novel by Larry Watson.

The entry begins:

I’ve been asked in the past, when there’s been a flurry of film interest in a novel of mine, whom I’d like to see play certain characters. And though it’s just an exercise in fantasy (after all, the producers will decide that the female octogenarian poker player will work better as a nine-year-old boy who’s a chess genius) I’ve never been able to play along. I can see my characters very clearly, and I just can’t substitute another face in my imagination. In As Good As Gone, however, I can get in on the game because a few reviewers have already been casting the movie in their remarks about the novel.

Clint Eastwood, Sam Elliott, and Robert Duvall have all been suggested as the right actor to play Calvin Sidey, the cantankerous aging cowboy who has signed on to watch his grandchildren while their parents are away. I admire those actors, and I’m sure any of them would be terrific.

And for Calvin’s love interest, Beverly Lodge...[read on]

Visit Larry Watson's website.

The Page 69 Test: As Good as Gone.

My Book, The Movie: As Good as Gone.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Jessica Anya Blau reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Jessica Anya Blau, author of The Trouble with Lexie.

Her entry begins:

Currently I’m on page 151 of Dodgers by Bill Beverly. This is a road-story that travels from Compton to Wisconsin, but it’s not a caper and it’s not picaresque. The protagonist, 15-year-old East, has been sent out of his neighborhood for the first time on a mission to kill a man. Yes, East is in a gang and intimately knows the life of guns, drugs, murder and mayhem. But he’s got a tender soul; he’s watchful and sensitive. He worries about his mother. He wonders about his younger brother, who’s also on this mission and who knows more about how to use a gun than East wants to realize. By the time...[read on]

About The Trouble with Lexie, from the publisher:

From the beloved author of The Summer of Naked Swim Parties and The Wonder Bread Summer comes the jaw-dropping story of Lexie James, a counselor at an exclusive New England prep school, whose search for happiness lands her in unexpectedly wild trouble.

Lexie James escaped: after being abandoned by her alcoholic father, and kicked out of the apartment to make room for her mother’s boyfriend, Lexie made it on her own. She earned a Masters degree, conquered terrifying panic attacks, got engaged to the nicest guy she’d ever met, and landed a counseling job at the prestigious Ruxton Academy, a prep school for the moneyed children of the elite.

But as her wedding date nears, Lexie has doubts. Yes, she’s created the stable life she craved as a child, but is stability really what she wants? In her moment of indecision, Lexie strikes up a friendship with a Ruxton alumnus, the father of her favorite student. It’s a relationship that blows open Lexie’s carefully constructed life, and then dunks her into shocking situations with headline-worthy trouble.

The perfect cocktail of naughtiness, heart, adventure and humor, The Trouble with Lexie is a wild and poignant story of the choices we make to outrun our childhoods—and the choices we have to make to outrun our entangled adult lives.

Learn more about the book and author at Jessica Anya Blau's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

Coffee with a Canine: Jessica Anya Blau and Pippa.

The Page 69 Test: The Wonder Bread Summer.

My Book, The Movie: The Wonder Bread Summer.

The Page 69 Test: The Trouble with Lexie.

My Book, The Movie: The Trouble with Lexie.

Writers Read: Jessica Anya Blau.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Guobin Yang's "The Red Guard Generation"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: The Red Guard Generation and Political Activism in China by Guobin Yang.

About the book, from the publisher:

Raised to be "flowers of the nation," the first generation born after the founding of the People's Republic of China was united in its political outlook and at first embraced the Cultural Revolution of 1966, but then split into warring factions. Investigating the causes of this fracture, Guobin Yang argues that Chinese youth engaged in an imaginary revolution from 1966 to 1968, enacting a political mythology that encouraged violence as a way to prove one's revolutionary credentials. This same competitive dynamic would later turn the Red Guard against the communist government.

Throughout the 1970s, the majority of Red Guard youth were sent to work in rural villages, where they developed an appreciation for the values of ordinary life. From this experience, an underground cultural movement was born. Rejecting idolatry, these relocated revolutionaries developed a new form of resistance that signaled a new era of enlightenment, culminating in the Democracy Wall movement of the late 1970s and the Tiananmen protest of 1989. Yang's final chapter on the politics of history and memory argues that contemporary memories of the Cultural Revolution are factionalized along these lines of political division, formed fifty years before.

Learn more about The Red Guard Generation and Political Activism in China at the Columbia University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: The Red Guard Generation and Political Activism in China.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Sarvenaz Tash's "The Geek's Guide to Unrequited Love"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Geek's Guide to Unrequited Love by Sarvenaz Tash.

About the book, from the publisher:

John Hughes meets Comic Con in this hilarious, unabashedly romantic, coming-of-age novel about a teenager who is trying to get his best friend to fall in love with him from the author of Three Day Summer.

Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy...
Archie and Veronica...
Althena and Noth...
...Graham and Roxy?

Graham met his best friend, Roxana, when he moved into her neighborhood eight years ago, and she asked him which Hogwarts house he’d be sorted into. Graham has been in love with her ever since.

But now they’re sixteen, still neighbors, still best friends. And Graham and Roxy share more than ever—moving on from their Harry Potter obsession to a serious love of comic books.

When Graham learns that the creator of their favorite comic, The Chronicles of Althena, is making a rare appearance at this year’s New York Comic Con, he knows he must score tickets. And the event inspires Graham to come up with the perfect plan to tell Roxy how he really feels about her. He’s got three days to woo his best friend at the coolest, kookiest con full of superheroes and supervillains. But no one at a comic book convention is who they appear to be...even Roxy. And Graham is starting to realize fictional love stories are way less complicated than real-life ones.

Visit Sarvenaz Tash's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Geek's Guide to Unrequited Love.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top ten New York novels

Among Francis Spufford's ten top New York novels, as shared at the Guardian:

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker (2013)

There’s a large constituency that swears by Mark Helprin’s Winter’s Tale as the defining NY novel of the fantastic, but I’d nominate this as better Manhattan magic, with its lovely turn-of-the-20th-century immigrant encounter between a woman of clay and a man of fire. Two mythologies meet on the Lower East Side, and catch the Fifth Avenue El together

Read about another entry on the list.

The Golem and the Jinni is among seven recommended books for Game of Thrones fans and Chris Bohjalian's twenty notable books about troubled romances.

The Page 69 Test: The Golem and the Jinni.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Joy Callaway reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Joy Callaway, author of The Fifth Avenue Artists Society.

Her entry begins:

I’m actually reading a lot right now. I’m reading one of my critique partner’s contemporary YA manuscripts—it’s amazing—two historical novels, and just finished a women’s fiction.

On the historical front, I’m reading Hazel Gaynor’s latest, The Girl from the Savoy. I’m only about twenty pages in and already obsessed with Dolly and her adventures working at the famous Savoy. I’m also reading Jennifer Chiaverini’s Fates and Traitors coming in September. It’s an absolutely riveting work about the notorious John Wilkes Booth and the women in...[read on]

About The Fifth Avenue Artists Society, from the publisher:

The Bronx, 1891. Virginia Loftin, the boldest of four artistic sisters in a family living in genteel poverty, knows what she wants most: to become a celebrated novelist despite her gender, and to marry Charlie, the boy next door and her first love.

When Charlie proposes instead to a woman from a wealthy family, Ginny is devastated; shutting out her family, she holes up and turns their story into fiction, obsessively rewriting a better ending. Though she works with newfound intensity, literary success eludes her—until she attends a salon hosted in her brother’s writer friend John Hopper’s Fifth Avenue mansion. Among painters, musicians, actors, and writers, Ginny returns to herself, even blooming under the handsome, enigmatic John’s increasingly romantic attentions.

Just as she and her siblings have become swept up in the society, though, Charlie throws himself back into her path, and Ginny learns that the salon’s bright lights may be obscuring some dark shadows. Torn between two worlds that aren’t quite as she’d imagined them, Ginny will realize how high the stakes are for her family, her writing, and her chance at love.

Visit Joy Callaway's website.

My Book, the Movie: The Fifth Avenue Artists Society.

The Page 69 Test: The Fifth Avenue Artists Society.

Writers Read: Joy Callaway.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Elizabeth J. Duncan's "Murder on the Hour"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: Murder on the Hour: A Penny Brannigan Mystery by Elizabeth J. Duncan.

About the book, from the publisher:

The residents of Llanelen are brimming with excitement. Antiques Cymru, a regional take on the popular national TV show, is coming to the Welsh town and people are flocking from miles around, hoping their attic treasures turn out to be worth a fortune. On the day of filming, quiet local sheep farmer Haydn Williams brings a generations-old long-case clock for evaluation, while the woman he's always admired from afar, Catrin Bellis, turns up with a cherished handmade quilt. Will either hear surprising good news about the value of their family heirlooms? By the end of the day, Catrin turns up dead, her quilt missing.

Who could have wanted this shy, quiet woman - who had been overshadowed by her parents for her whole life - dead? Delving into Catrin's past, spa owner and amateur sleuth Penny Brannigan is surprised to discover that Catrin had at least one enemy. And as Penny's romantic life heats up with a new love interest, she realizes that a mysterious document hidden in Haydn's clock could hold the key to a long-forgotten secret and a present-day murder.

Murder on the Hour is a light-hearted traditional mystery featuring a charming heroine set in an enchanting Welsh town.

Visit Elizabeth J. Duncan's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Elizabeth J. Duncan and Dolly.

The Page 69 Test: The Cold Light of Mourning.

The Page 69 Test: A Brush with Death.

The Page 69 Test: Never Laugh As a Hearse Goes By.

The Page 69 Test: Slated for Death.

Writers Read: Elizabeth J. Duncan.

The Page 69 Test: Murder on the Hour.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Walter Shapiro's "Hustling Hitler"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Hustling Hitler: The Jewish Vaudevillian Who Fooled the Führer by Walter Shapiro.

About Hustling Hitler, from the publisher:

From acclaimed journalist Walter Shapiro, the true life story of how his great-uncle—a Jewish vaudeville impresario and exuberant con man—managed to cheat Hitler’s agents in the run-up to WWII.

All his life, journalist Walter Shapiro assumed that the outlandish stories about his great-uncle Freeman were exaggerated family lore; some cockamamie Jewish revenge fantasies dreamt up to entertain the kids and venerate their larger-than-life relative. Only when he started researching Freeman Bernstein’s life did he realize that his family was actually holding back—the man had enough stories, vocations, and IOUs to fill a dozen lifetimes. Freeman was many people: a vaudeville manager, boxing promoter, stock swindler, card shark and self-proclaimed “Jade King of China.” But his greatest title, perhaps the only man who can claim such infamy, was as The Man Who Hustled Hitler.

A cross between The Night They Raided Minsky’s and Guys and Dolls, Freeman Bernstein’s life was itself an old New York sideshow extravaganza, one that Shapiro expertly stages in Hustling Hitler. From a ragtag childhood in Troy, New York, Shapiro follows his great-uncle’s ever-crooked trajectory through show business, from his early schemes on the burlesque circuit to marrying his star performer, May Ward, and producing silent films—released only in Philadelphia. Of course, all of Freeman’s cons and schemes were simply a prelude to February 18, 1937, the day he was arrested by the LAPD outside of Mae West’s apartment in Hollywood.

The charge? Grand larceny—for cheating Adolf Hitler and the Nazi government. In the capstone of his slippery career, Freeman had promised to ship thirty-five tons of embargoed Canadian nickel to the Führer; when the cargo arrived, the Germans found only huge, useless quantities of scrap metal and tin. It was a blow to their economy and war preparations—and Hitler did not take the bait-and-switch lightly.

Told with cinematic verve and hilarious perspective, Hustling Hitler is Shapiro’s incredible investigation into the man behind the myth. By reconstructing his great-uncle’s remarkable career, Shapiro has transformed Freeman Bernstein from a barely there footnote in history to the larger-than-life, eternal hustler who forever changed it.

Visit the Hustling Hitler website.

My Book, The Movie: Hustling Hitler.

Writers Read: Walter Shapiro.

The Page 99 Test: Hustling Hitler.

--Marshal Zeringue

Robert H. Patton's "Cajun Waltz," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: Cajun Waltz: A Novel by Robert H. Patton.

The entry begins:

It goes without saying that on aesthetic principle I’m indifferent and indeed hostile to the notion that my book might get snatched up by Hollywood.

Like hell.

So yeah, is there an actor out there I’ve imagined playing a character in Cajun Waltz? Only one—and though she’s not an easy get these days, I’m sure if my people call her people and arrange a lunch date, she and I will totally hit if off and work out a deal in no time. The part would be Angela “Angel” Bainard, and the actor would be Beyoncé.

Born in Hancock Bayou, Louisiana, in 1915, Angel Bainard is mixed-race Creole and African-American. We first meet her at age thirteen, but the heart of her role occurs in her early thirties. Smart but intemperate, Angel is described in the book this way: “She was selfish and blithe but people adored her, a mystery that made sense once you took her looks into account. Beauty didn’t capture it. Knockout was more the effect.” Of Angel’s part in the tale...[read on]

Visit Robert H. Patton's website.

My Book, The Movie: Cajun Waltz.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ten of the best grandmothers in fiction

At the Guardian, Jenny Downham tagged her ten top grandmothers in fiction, including:

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Lennie lives with her Gram and her Uncle Big and all three are grieving the sudden death of Lennie’s fiery older sister. Catapulted into an uncomfortable centre stage, Lennie allows two boys to simultaneously vie for her affection whilst abandoning her best friend and behaving badly towards her family. This is a dream-like sensual book, full of poetry and vivid description. The relationship between grandmother and granddaughter is central. Gram is a gardener (she grows flowers for their aphrodisiac qualities), a painter, a keeper of secrets, a wise and intelligent woman who loves deeply and well. It is because of her that Lennie survives tragedy with her integrity and heart intact.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

What is Eleanor Kuhns reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Eleanor Kuhns, author of The Devil's Cold Dish: A Will Rees Mystery.

Her entry begins:

As usual I am reading two books at the same time. My fiction reading right now is Arena by Holly Jennings. Although I read a lot of mysteries (no surprise ), I also enjoy science fiction and fantasy. Besides that, guilty secret here, I am a passionate gamer. Arena takes gaming away from the console into a totally immersive virtual reality world. For a gamer, this would be like heaven. But Arena explores the impact of money, power and celebrity on gaming, because of course it becomes big business. Loving it so...[read on]

About The Devil's Cold Dish, from the publisher:

Will Rees is back home on his farm in 1796 Maine with his teenage son, his pregnant wife, their five adopted children, and endless farm work under the blistering summer sun. But for all that, Rees is happy to have returned to Dugard, Maine, the town where he was born and raised, and where he's always felt at home. Until now. When a man is found dead - murdered - after getting into a public dispute with Rees, Rees starts to realize someone is intentionally trying to pin the murder on him. Then, his farm is attacked, his wife is accused of witchcraft, and a second body is found that points to the Rees family. Rees can feel the town of Dugard turning against him, and he knows that he and his family won't be safe there unless he can find the murderer and reveal the truth...before the murderer gets to him first.

Learn more about the book and author at Eleanor Kuhns's blog and Facebook page.

Coffee with a Canine: Eleanor Kuhns & Shelby.

My Book, The Movie: Death of a Dyer.

The Page 69 Test: Death of a Dyer.

The Page 69 Test: Death in Salem.

The Page 69 Test: The Devil's Cold Dish.

Writers Read: Eleanor Kuhns.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 69: Jessica Anya Blau's "The Trouble with Lexie"

Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Trouble with Lexie: A Novel by Jessica Anya Blau.

About the book, from the publisher:

From the beloved author of The Summer of Naked Swim Parties and The Wonder Bread Summer comes the jaw-dropping story of Lexie James, a counselor at an exclusive New England prep school, whose search for happiness lands her in unexpectedly wild trouble.

Lexie James escaped: after being abandoned by her alcoholic father, and kicked out of the apartment to make room for her mother’s boyfriend, Lexie made it on her own. She earned a Masters degree, conquered terrifying panic attacks, got engaged to the nicest guy she’d ever met, and landed a counseling job at the prestigious Ruxton Academy, a prep school for the moneyed children of the elite.

But as her wedding date nears, Lexie has doubts. Yes, she’s created the stable life she craved as a child, but is stability really what she wants? In her moment of indecision, Lexie strikes up a friendship with a Ruxton alumnus, the father of her favorite student. It’s a relationship that blows open Lexie’s carefully constructed life, and then dunks her into shocking situations with headline-worthy trouble.

The perfect cocktail of naughtiness, heart, adventure and humor, The Trouble with Lexie is a wild and poignant story of the choices we make to outrun our childhoods—and the choices we have to make to outrun our entangled adult lives.

Learn more about the book and author at Jessica Anya Blau's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

Coffee with a Canine: Jessica Anya Blau and Pippa.

The Page 69 Test: The Wonder Bread Summer.

My Book, The Movie: The Wonder Bread Summer.

The Page 69 Test: The Trouble with Lexie.

My Book, The Movie: The Trouble with Lexie.

--Marshal Zeringue

Pg. 99: Erica Westly's "Fastpitch"

Featured at the Page 99 Test: Fastpitch: The Untold History of Softball and the Women Who Made the Game by Erica Westly.

About the book, from the publisher:

If you think softball is just a “women’s version” of the great American pastime of baseball—well, think again.

Fastpitch softball is one of the most widely played sports in the world, with tens of millions of active participants in various age groups. But the origins of this beloved sport and the charismatic athletes who helped it achieve prominence in the mid-twentieth century have been largely forgotten, until now.

Fastpitch brings to life the eclectic mix of characters that make up softball’s vibrant 129-year history. From its humble beginnings in 1887, when it was invented in a Chicago boat club and played with a broomstick, to the rise in the 1940s and 1950s of professional-caliber company-sponsored teams that toured the country in style, softball’s history is as diverse as it is fascinating. Though it’s thought of today as a woman’s sport, fastpitch softball’s early years featured several male stars, such as the vaudeville-esque Eddie Feigner, whose signature move was striking out batters while blindfolded.

But because softball was one of the only team sports that women were allowed to play competitively, it took on added importance for female athletes. Top fastpitch teams of the 1940s, ‘50s, and ‘60s, such as the New Orleans Jax Maids and Connecticut’s Raybestos Brakettes, gave women access to employment and travel opportunities that would have been unavailable to them otherwise. At a time when female athletes had almost no prospects, softball offered them a chance to flourish. Women put off marriage and moved across the country just for a shot at joining a strong team.

Told from the perspective of such influential players as Bertha Ragan Tickey, who set strikeout records and taught Lana Turner to pitch, and Joan Joyce, who struck out baseball legend Ted Williams and helped found a professional softball league with Billie Jean King, Fastpitch chronicles softball’s rich history and its uncertain future (as evidenced by its controversial elimination from the 2012 Olympics and the mounting efforts to have it reinstated). A celebration of this unique American sport and the role it plays in our culture today, Fastpitch is as entertaining as it is inspiring.

Visit Erica Westly's website.

Writers Read: Erica Westly.

The Page 99 Test: Fastpitch.

--Marshal Zeringue