Louise Fein

Louise Fein is the author of Daughter of the Reich, which has been published in thirteen territories, the international bestseller The Hidden Child, and The London Bookshop Affair. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from St Mary’s University. She lives in Surrey, UK, with her family.

Fein's new novel is Book of Forbidden Words.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Fein's reply:

Here are the recent books I’ve read and loved:

The Artist [US title - The Artist and the Feast] by Lucy Steeds

This is a story of a young aspiring journalist who hopes to kick start his career by travelling to rural Provence shortly after the end of World War I to interview a famous, reclusive artist. There he encounters the artist’s strange and silent niece. This is a stunningly beautiful and evocative novel, which positively drips with secrets, colour, light and the slow pace of life in 1920’s rural Provence. It is part mystery, part love story, part exploration of the twisted, painful affairs of the human heart. I loved every exquisite page.

The Lost Passenger by Frances Quinn

I loved this wonderful, uplifting page-turner about a woman taking on impossible odds. This novel is about Elinor, the unhappy wife of a British aristocrat. When she has the opportunity to travel to New York for a holiday on board the Titanic with her young son, she jumps at the chance. But when she and her son miraculously survive the ship’s sinking, she realises she has an opportunity to start a new life in America, if only she can find a way to disappear and be listed as one of those who sank without trace. But will she be able to pull it off, or will her secret rise to the surface?

A Mother’s Promise by Renee Salt and Kate Thompson

Renee Salt is a ninety-seven year old holocaust survivor and this incredible narrative non-fiction book tells the story of how she survived Auschwitz and Bergen-Belson, and then went on to live a long and purposeful life. The story is harrowing, but somehow also filled with so much love, hope and strength that I think it is a book everyone should read. I shall never forget it.

Visit Louise Fein's website.

Q&A with Louise Fein.

--Marshal Zeringue

Will Shindler

Will Shindler has spent most of his career working as a broadcast journalist for the BBC. He also spent nearly a decade working on a number of British television dramas, working for both the BBC Drama Series Department, and Talkback Thames Television as a writer and script editor. He has been writing novels since 2020, including the five-book critically acclaimed DI Alex Finn series: The Burning Men, The Killing Choice, The Hunting Ground, The Blood Line, and The Cold Case. He currently combines reading news bulletins for BBC Radio London with his novel writing and has previously worked as a presenter for ITV West, a reporter for BBC Radio Five Live, and as one of the stadium presenters at the 2012 London Olympics. He lives in London.

Shindler's new novel is The Bone Queen.

Recently I asked the author about what he was reading. Shindler's reply:

Never Flinch by Stephen King.

Given that I write a mixture of crime and horror, it’s probably no surprise that a new King novel is always an automatic purchase for me. I’ve been particularly drawn to his later work, beginning with Mr Mercedes, which introduced us to Holly Gibney - one of his most quietly fascinating creations.

As someone who’s written a series I can testify that one of the most difficult things to do is moving a character forward, without losing those essential traits that people liked about them first place. It’s an exercise in running on the spot sometimes – giving a sense of more propulsion than sometimes you as, as a writer can allow. King has managed something genuinely impressive with Holly though. All her familiar tics and anxieties remain intact, but they now sit within a character who has clearly lived, learned, and been shaped by her experiences.

The novel itself is a masterclass in weaving disparate characters and storylines into a single narrative. It also has a great deal to say about contemporary America without ever tipping into sermonising. The villain, Trig, is particularly effective: morally compromised, unsettlingly human, and written with enough psychological depth that even when sympathy is impossible, empathy isn’t.

Follow Will Shindler on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

My Book, The Movie: The Bone Queen.

Q&A with Will Shindler.

The Page 69 Test: The Bone Queen.

--Marshal Zeringue

Robert Dugoni

Robert Dugoni is a critically acclaimed New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and #1 Amazon bestselling author, reaching over 9 million readers worldwide. He is best known for his Tracy Crosswhite police series set in Seattle. He is also the author of the Charles Jenkins espionage series, the David Sloane legal thriller series, and several stand-alone novels including The 7th Canon, Damage Control, The World Played Chess, and Her Deadly Game. His novel The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell received Suspense Magazine’s 2018 Book of the Year, and Dugoni’s narration won an AudioFile Earphones Award. The Washington Post named his nonfiction exposé The Cyanide Canary a Best Book of the Year.

Dugoni's new novel is Her Cold Justice.

Recently I asked the author about what he was reading. Dugoni's reply:

I’m often asked what I’m reading.

Can I be honest? When I’m writing, I’m writing 8 hours a day. I write my first draft like I’m running a marathon. I just keep going and going and going. The goal is to reach the end, figure out what the book is about and then rolls up my sleeves, dig in and edit like crazy. Because of this, at the end of the day, the last thing I want to do is read. Sounds terrible for a writer, doesn’t it?

When I’m on vacation, I like something light, good fun and enjoyable. Harry Potter. The Lord of the Rings. But really, put any book in front of me with a good story, no matter the genre, and I’ll read it. The author doesn’t matter to me if they can tell a great story.

Visit Robert Dugoni's website and Facebook page.

The Page 69 Test: Wrongful Death.

The Page 69 Test: Bodily Harm.

My Book, The Movie: Bodily Harm.

The Page 69 Test: Murder One.

My Book, The Movie: Murder One.

My Book, The Movie: The Eighth Sister.

The Page 69 Test: The Eighth Sister.

My Book, The Movie: A Cold Trail.

The Page 69 Test: A Cold Trail.

The Page 69 Test: The Last Agent.

My Book, The Movie: The Last Agent.

Q&A with Robert Dugoni.

The Page 69 Test: In Her Tracks.

Writers Read: Robert Dugoni (March 2024).

The Page 69 Test: A Killing on the Hill.

My Book, The Movie: A Killing on the Hill.

The Page 69 Test: Beyond Reasonable Doubt.

My Book, The Movie: Beyond Reasonable Doubt.

Writers Read: Robert Dugoni (October 2024).

My Book, The Movie: Her Cold Justice.

The Page 69 Test: Her Cold Justice.

--Marshal Zeringue

Maria Tureaud

Maria Tureaud is an editor and acclaimed author of middle grade and adult fiction. Born and raised in County Clare on the west coast of Ireland, she now lives with her husband and son in New Jersey.

Her new novel is This House Will Feed, which Hester Fox called "both a luscious Gothic, as well a poignant examination of the nature of loss and collective memory in a time of unspeakable horrors," and Paulette Kennedy praised as a "gripping, multilayered tale of vengeance set against the backdrop of one of the worst genocides in human history."

Recently I asked Tureaud about what she was reading. The author's reply:

Since Gothic horror is having a “moment,” I’m delighted to have so many amazing titles to choose from. My current read is The Hunger We Pass Down, by Jen Sookfong Lee. It’s a vivid, raw, and emotional Gothic that weaves the lives of three generations together in a tale bathed in horror — both historical, and supernatural — to create a scathing narrative that deals with the pressure we place on our children, and the generational trauma we pass down. It’s a slow-burn with alternating timelines that culminates in quiet contemplation every time I put it down. Heavy, sad, terrifying, and relatable: sleep with a nightlight.

Visit Maria Tureaud's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Wendy Walker

Wendy Walker is the author of the psychological suspense novels All Is Not Forgotten, Emma in the Night, The Night Before, Don’t Look for Me, What Remains, and the Audible Originals Hold Your Breath, American Girl, Mad Love, and The Room Next Door. Her work has been translated into twenty-three languages, topping bestseller lists both in the United States and abroad, and featured by the Today show, the Reese Witherspoon Book Club, and the Book of the Month Club. Six of her titles have also been optioned for television and film.

Walker holds degrees from Brown University and Georgetown University Law School. Prior to her writing career, Wendy trained for competitive figure skating, worked as a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs, and practiced both corporate and family law. She resides in Connecticut, where she raised her three sons.

Her new novel is Blade.

Recently I asked Walker about what she was reading. Her reply:

I love reading outside the thriller genre whenever I can. While I adore suspense and psychological thrillers, reading within my own genre can sometimes feel like work I’m always analyzing structure, pacing, and technique. Reading outside of it, by contrast, is pure pleasure.

Right now, I’m listening to the audiobook of Wreck by Catherine Newman, the follow-up to her runaway bestseller Sandwich. Wreck follows a family as they navigate a series of quiet and not-so-quiet crises, told through the voice of a fifty-something wife and mother confronting middle age, empty nesting, and a recent family loss. The writing is witty and sharp, yet deeply emotional - almost every sentence makes me smile yet lands with meaning. I also adore the narrator, Helen Laser, who also performed The Wedding People by Alison Espach - another novel I couldn’t stop listening to. I highly recommend Wreck, Sandwich, and The Wedding People for anyone who wants an immersive, emotionally resonant read about the everyday joys and heartbreaks of life.

Visit Wendy Walker's website.

The Page 69 Test: Four Wives.

The Page 99 Test: Social Lives.

The Page 69 Test: Don't Look for Me.

Q&A with Wendy Walker.

--Marshal Zeringue

S.J. Rozan

SJ Rozan, a native New Yorker, is the author of twenty novels and eight dozen short stories. Her work has won the Edgar, Shamus, Anthony, Nero, and Macavity awards for Best Novel and the Edgar for Best Short Story. She’s also the recipient of the Japanese Maltese Falcon Award and has received Life Achievement Awards from both the Private Eye Writers of America and the Short Mystery Fiction Society.

Rozan's new novel, First Do No Harm, is the latest title in the Lydia Chin and Bill Smith mystery series.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Rozan's reply:

I've just finished one book and am starting another. Both are non-fiction, which I read a lot.

The first is Kate Fox's Watching the English. Fox, a British anthropologist, decided to turn the participant-observer techniques she uses on foreign societies back onto her own people, to see if she could find the essential nature of "Englishness." It's sharply observed and in places very funny. I'm writing a new series set in London so I thought I'd try to increase my understanding of my characters and their milieu. I did, too.

The book I've just started is Steven Blier's From Ear to Ear. Blier's a pianist, co-founder of the New York Festival of Song, and this is his memoir of his life in music. It's remarkably well-written, by turns gossipy and profound. I'm a music lover but also an ignoramus, and in this book I never feel talked down to or dismissed. As I read I'm comprehending some elements of music-making that I wasn't able to follow before this.

Both books highly recommended!

Visit S.J. Rozan's website.

The Page 69 Test: Paper Son.

The Page 69 Test: The Art of Violence.

Q&A with S. J. Rozan.

Writers Read: S.J. Rozan (February 2022).

The Page 69 Test: Family Business.

Writers Read: S. J. Rozan (November 2023).

The Page 69 Test: The Mayors of New York.

The Page 69 Test: First Do No Harm.

--Marshal Zeringue

Mara Williams

Mara Williams drafted her first novel in third grade on a spiral notebook—a love story about a golden retriever and the stray dog who admired her from beyond the picket fence. Now she writes about strong, messy women finding their way in the world. Williams is the author of The Truth Is in the Detours and The Epicenter of Forever. When not writing or reading, she can be found enjoying California’s beaches, redwoods, and trails with her husband, three kids, and disobedient dog.

Recenty I asked Williams about what she was reading. Her reply:

Most Eligible by Isabelle Engel.

The Bachelor meets Miss Congeniality in this hilarious romcom about a reporter who goes undercover as a contestant on a dating show and finds out the host is her one-night-stand from a year ago, and whoops…she might be falling for the wrong person. The hijinks and shenanigans in this one are unmatched. I caught myself laughing out loud and swooning in equal measure. It’s perfect for fans of reality television and classic romcoms, and for anyone looking for an infusion of joy in their fiction.

The Best Worst Thing by Lauren Okie.

This romance tackles divorce, infidelity, and infertility, and does so with unparalleled wit and warmth. It has a deep emotional range and prose so beautiful it will win over even the most hardened romance skeptic. At one point, I couldn’t read the page through my tears, and at another, my family asked me why I was laughing so hard. It breaks the writing rules in all the best ways to produce a book that’s both startlingly fresh and comfortingly familiar.

Wreck by Catherine Newman.

I was so excited when Catherine Newman released this follow-up to Sandwich, one of my all-time favorites. We join the anxious, big-hearted protagonist Rocky again—this time back home—and follow her as she navigates aging, grief, and the complexities of accepting all the imperfect versions of her loved ones and herself.

How About Now by Kate Baer.

I read this book of poetry in one sitting, with tears in my eyes and warmth in my heart. The slim volume grapples with the demands of motherhood, womanhood, and midlife in poems that are often sharp and always tender. Her poems depict struggles that are both timeless and uniquely of the moment: the unequal division of labor in modern marriage, the ephemerality of watching our children grow, and the vulnerability of being human.

August Lane by Regina Black.

This is a perfectly crafted second-chance, multi-point-of-view, dual timeline romance where each plot point and perspective is critical to the hard-won happily ever after. It’s set within the high-stakes world of country music and follows three Black country western musicians trying to break in or hang on to transient success in an industry that has forcibly excluded them. It’s heart-wrenching and soul-healing.

Visit Mara Williams's website.

Q&A with Mara Williams.

The Page 69 Test: The Truth Is in the Detours.

My Book, The Movie: The Truth Is in the Detours.

Writers Read: Mara Williams (August 2025).

My Book, The Movie: The Epicenter of Forever.

--Marshal Zeringue

Laura Carney

A writer and magazine copy editor in New York, Laura Carney has been published by the Washington Post, the Associated Press, The Hill, Runner’s World, Good Housekeeping, The Fix, Upworthy, Maria Shriver’s The Sunday Paper, and other places. She has worked as a copy editor in national magazines—primarily women’s—for twenty years, including Vanity Fair, GQ, People, and Good Housekeeping.

Carney's memoir is My Father's List: How Living My Dad's Dreams Set Me Free.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Her reply:

I hoard books, and it doesn't help that I picked up books for free when I worked full-time at a women's magazine (I also now own enough anti-aging cream to look 47 forever). But since publishing My Father's List: How Living My Dad's Dreams Set Me Free, in June 2023, I've discovered yet another reason to own too many books—publishing a successful one makes lots of people want you to blurb theirs. Or pass theirs along to your agent. I'm happy to do so, and I'm also happy to pre-order every new book a new author friend publishes. The result: I currently have about 60 books in my to-be-read pile, next to my nightstand, which probably scared my in-laws when they house-sat. Or at least tripped them.

Of the 60 or so I'm currently reading, here are the ones I'm most excited about (and keep in mind I bought about 15 more when I was on vacation after my One City, One Book award in Greensboro, NC):

Gratitude and Trust: Six Affirmations That Will Change Your Life: I bought this book before I interviewed one of my heroes, the composer Paul Williams, and I highly recommend it. Oprah liked it too. I've learned a lot from my conversations with Paul, but mainly to "view every no as a gift," one of his mottos, and to view every turn in my life as a direction from "the big amigo." The insights in this book, based on the 12-step program, are wonderful.

Myths to Live By by Joseph Campbell: I've read just about every book in Joseph Campbell's catalogue, but this one has to be my favorite. It was a big influence when I wrote My Father's List. Sometimes if there's a central idea in a book that I've built a life philosophy around, I'll scour that book again just to find it. So I'm rereading this.

In one of the chapters (which are based on his lectures), but I'm not sure which one yet, Campbell posits that the Garden of Eden was never a real place, and man was never locked out of it, that we aren't meant to look at God as a big man in the sky. He also theorizes that we aren't meant to believe that we must live our lives separated from Him until we die. Campbell explores the theory instead that the Biblical garden is a metaphor for one's heart, and so is the birth of Christ. He talks about how man's goal should be to live in accordance with his own beliefs, with the Christ figure in his heart—that when he does so, he'll be back in the garden, not cast out, and united with God while living.

I've always loved this idea of Campbell's, or at least this interpretation, though it's one put forth by lots of great thinkers, like Dr. Joseph Murphy and Florence Scovel Shinn—it's this idea that our life mirrors back to us what we radiate out, and if we radiate out wholeness, integrity, consistency and love, this is what we'll get back (or at least what we will see in our everyday experiences). "A vital person vitalizes," Campbell often said. He also said that if heaven is eternal, that means it's a place with no time, not infinite time...and it's possible, through following one's bliss, to have that experience right now. What I learned while completing my dad's bucket list (the premise of my book) was the art of being present—the list items were wholly engaging and typically meant learning new things. This is the main reason I was able to reconnect with my father, in spirit—where he is, time is eternal, and I was living in an eternal space now too.

Gratitude by Oliver Sacks: This book was given to me by John Jordan, who's in charge of public relations at my father's old high school, Archmere Academy in Delaware. I keep it next to my gratitude journal on my nightstand as a reminder. PS: I also keep five journals at once—so I guess I'm a journal hoarder, too!

After by Bruce Greyson, M.D.: My work has happily brought me in touch with a handful of psychic mediums and one near-death experiencer, Jacob Cooper, who turned me on to this book. Jacob calls me a "journalist to the dead," which I think means that in My Father's List, I only ever provided indisputable examples of communication with my father, patterns that came to me rather than my looking for them...I just thought to jot them down. It often felt like my dad was pulling strings for me, helping me along as I went. This book helps explain, scientifically, why people have those kinds of experiences. Bruce Greyson is a "scientist to the dead," I suppose.

Conversations With God (Book One) by Neale Donald Walsch: My friend Erin recommended this one, and I've only just gotten started. But I listened to an interview with the author on my friend Karen Noé's podcast, and I loved the idea he shared, that God told him what every human being wants in life is to be used to their fullest potential. My prayer most often is "use me." Or "show me." So this book will likely resonate.

The Way of the Wild Goose: Three Pilgrimages Following Geese, Stars and Hunches on the Camino de Santiago by Beebe Bahrami: I only recently bought this, and I'm excited to read it not only because I plan on finishing my own bucket list with a hike on the Camino—500 miles when I turn 50—but because this is a feminist take on the hike, one I hope to write about too. I have a theory that the pilgrimages of Europe were placed on top of ancient Druid ley lines, and that if I hike the Camino, I'll find sheela-na-gigs in ruins of churches as proof. Either way, I'm excited to explore the life of a female pilgrim (which I suppose is how I feel as a writer as it is)."

Visit Laura Carney's website.

The Page 99 Test: My Father's List.

My Book, The Movie: My Father's List.

--Marshal Zeringue

Carrie Classon

Carrie Classon is a performer and a nationally syndicated columnist with Andrews McMeel Universal. Born in Minnesota, she had a fourteen-year career in theater, performing in dozens of shows from Oregon to Maine. After founding and running a professional Equity theater for seven years, Classon earned her MBA and began working in international business. She also holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of New Mexico and has written a memoir and over six hundred columns.

In her 600-word weekly column, The Postscript, Classon writes about the transformative power of optimism and how to find the extraordinary in the ordinary. She champions the idea that it's never too late to reinvent our lives in unexpected and fulfilling ways. She performs a live show based on her writing—with lots of sequins. With her husband, Peter, and former street cat Felix, Classon splits her time between St. Paul, Minnesota, and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

Her debut novel is Loon Point.

Recently I asked Classon about what she was reading. Her reply:

At this moment, I don’t dare start to read another thing because I am smack dab in the middle of Abraham Verghese’s latest astonishing yarn, The Covenant of Water. I will have the privilege of hearing him speak at the writers’ conference in San Miguel de Allende in February, and I’ve had this book sitting on the shelf for a while because I’ve read all his previous books and he is one of my favorite writers. So why, you may well wonder, has it taken me until 2026 to read this book that came out in 2023?

The answer is simple: 715 pages! There, I’ve said it. I am a writer who hesitates before starting books this long. I’m not sure at what page count my internal hesitation kicks in, but is before 715, I know that.

And, of course, this book is utterly worth the investment of time (and the possibility my legs may fall asleep from having it rest in my lap). This truly epic novel brings us from the year 1900 and tells of the southern Indian “Thomasian” Christians living there through three tumultuous and defining generations. There are no minor characters in Verghese. Every encounter is, at the very least, a masterly sketch of an unforgettable person who could easily walk off with the story for a few pages—and frequently does. It is a book to savor, with almost unbearable moments of loss because Verghese does not spare us the pain of watching good people suffer and make mistakes.

Every book of his has left me feeling richer and humbled—and convinced I will never attempt to write 715 pages.

Visit Carrie Classon's website.

The Page 69 Test: Loon Point.

--Marshal Zeringue

Madeleine Dunnigan

Madeleine Dunnigan is a writer and screenwriter from London. She was a Jill Davis Fellow on the MFA at New York University. While there she was awarded a GRI Fellowship in Paris.

Dunnigan's new novel is Jean.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Her reply:

That They May Face the Rising Sun by John McGahern

I'm ashamed to say I had read none of McGahern's work until I picked up his final novel, That They May Face the Rising Sun. Set in County Leitrim, Ireland, it tells the story of Joe and Kate Ruttledge who have moved from busy London to this rural idyll, giving up their literary lives in order to run a farm. This novel unfurls with slow, quiet precision; days are measured by the change in seasons; lives are rituals of repetition; relationships demarcated by patterns of conversation. It has some of the most beautiful descriptions of nature I have ever read, it is also extremely funny. Nothing happens and everything happens: birth, death, love, change.

Such Fine Boys by Patrick Modiano

I am a huge fan of all of Modiano's works. Most are set in post-Occupation steeped Paris and present themselves like detective novels, yet refuse to resolve the central mystery. Such Fine Boys is set in and around Valvert, a boarding school just outside of Paris, and shares many themes with Modiano's other works. Characters seem tethered to the world by frail strings, often these snap and they float away. Shady figures loom at the periphery; people disappear; others go mad. The novel is structured around vignettes that tell the stories of the school's pupils. At the novel's centre the school remains a halcyon place; a memory of a better time when the boys were safe and protected from the strange and hostile world.

From the Fifteenth District by Mavis Gallant

I adore Mavis Gallant's short stories. There is something so expansive about them. In one story the reader can travel decades; and yet her iron-fisted hold on the narrative retains an emotional tension that sustains to the very end. This collection of short stories is set in a faded post-war Europe with figures who are all slightly disaffected and separate from society. We meet a hotelier on the French Riviera, an English family waiting for a father to die, a Jewish refugee who makes a living playing German soldiers in films. Rich, lustrous and textured, each story feels like a novel in itself.

The Killer Question by Janice Hallett

Every year for Christmas my sister buys me a new Janice Hallett novel. This is my holiday treat. I have always loved detective fiction of any kind, and Janice Hallett's innovative books – written not in straightforward prose but presented as a 'dossier' of text messages, emails, posters and signs, clues which the reader herself can piece together – are such fun. This year's novel, The Killer Question, is a murder set around a pub quiz team in rural England. It's juicy and silly and sinister, all in one!

Visit Madeleine Dunnigan's website.

My Book, The Movie: Jean.

The Page 69 Test: Jean.

--Marshal Zeringue