Emma Garman

Emma Garman, a Brighton-based writer and critic, has been a columnist for The Paris Review and a contributor to Literary Review, The Daily Beast, Lapham’s Quarterly, and History News Network. She has an MA in creative writing from the City College of New York and an MA in literature from Queen Mary University of London.

Garman's debut novel is The Kindness of Strangers.

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

Although I mostly read novels, at the moment I happen to be reading and immensely enjoying two nonfiction books.

Like a Cat Loves a Bird is a new biographical study of Muriel Spark by the literary scholar James Bailey. Spark, in my opinion, is one of the greatest novelists of all time (I’d say she influenced me, but such is her genius it sounds presumptuous!), and Bailey is such a perceptive, witty, and clever writer. If you think you don’t need to read another book on Spark, I promise that you do. Here’s Bailey on her habit of compiling lists of character traits:

To encounter one of these pages is like stumbling upon the dossier of a murky private investigator, or overhearing the musings of a mind reader. The protagonist of her second novel, Robinson, even spots a newspaper ad for: ‘MURIEL THE MARVEL with her X-ray eyes. Can read your very soul. Scores of satisfied clients.’ A self-congratulatory cameo this early on? The nerve.

The second book I’m reading is old and sadly out-of-print. First published in 1973, Percy Hoskins’ The Sound of Murder describes a series of notorious murders and their investigations. Hoskins, who became a Fleet Street crime reporter at age 21, writes with a seasoned journalist’s knack for telling details and a novelist’s style and verve. His first case, in 1925, saw a young man hanged: a miscarriage of justice, he suggests. His final chapter is about a serial killer in mid-1960s London—“the Thameside Terror”—pursued by a 600-person murder squad. Suffice it to say that for writers of 20th century-set crime fiction, this book is a research goldmine.

Visit Emma Garman's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Kindness of Strangers.

--Marshal Zeringue

Andrew Welsh-Huggins

Andrew Welsh-Huggins, a son of the Finger Lakes, a Kenyon College graduate, and now a longtime Ohio resident, is the author of more than a dozen crime novels and multiple short stories.

Welsh-Huggins’s new book in the Mercury Carter thriller series, The Delivery, was selected by CrimeReads as one of the most anticipated thrillers, mysteries, and crime novels of 2026, while the first book in the series, The Mailman, was named one of the best mysteries of 2025 by Library Journal.

Welsh-Huggins's 2023 stand-alone crime novel, The End of the Road, was named one of the best thrillers of the first half of 2023 by Library Journal. Kirkus called it “A crackerjack crime yarn chockablock with miscreants and a supersonic pace.”

Welsh-Huggins is also the author of the Shamus Award-nominated Andy Hayes private eye series featuring a former Ohio State and Cleveland Browns quarterback turned private eye, including the most recent book, Sick to Death, which Deadly Pleasures Magazine called, " … a solid p.i. novel with likeable characters, realistic situations and good detection."

Recently I asked Welsh-Huggins about what he was reading. The author's reply:

Though I read widely, including the genres of memoir, horror, literary fiction, true crime, short fiction, and narrative nonfiction (among others), as a mystery writer, I definitely consume a lot of crime fiction. Several recent titles in that genre reflect my interests and also informed my own writing.

A Grave Deception, by Connie Berry. The sixth book in Berry’s traditional mystery Kate Hamilton series, featuring an American antiquities expert transplanted to England, where she feeds her professional passion while solving mysteries. The latest includes a several centuries-old murder that may be connected to a present-day killing. Berry masterfully layers fair play clues throughout, as well as creating original and realistic characters.

The Red Scare Murders, by Con Lehane. Lehane, a veteran crime novelist, introduces a new character, private eye Mick Mulligan, tasked in 1950 New York City with figuring out who really killed a despised cab company owner before the man wrongly arrested for the crime is executed. Set during the 1950s communist witch hunts, with a cast of brilliantly drawn characters, its themes—like Inherit the Wind—reflect on current times as well.

49 Miles Alone, by Natalie Richards. A propulsive YA thriller—and Edgar Award winner—follows two young women hiking on remote Utah trails as danger lurks around every corner. This was a master class in pacing and juggling multiple POVs.

Served Him Right, by Lisa Unger. When a misogynistic cad is found dead, police must deal with multiple potential suspects, including former girlfriends, among them one who is missing. Unger, perhaps the best current psychological suspense writer, skillfully kept me guessing right to the end.

The Last Hitman, by Robin Yocum. Adapted from a 2019 short story by Yocum, this page-turning book follows aging Ohio River Valley mob hitman Angelo Cipriani as he wrestles with his legacy and whether he can survive much longer in the business. Yocum, an Ohio River Valley native, exhibits best practices for turning a community into a character of its own.

Visit Andrew Welsh-Huggins's website.

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.

Writers Read: Andrew Welsh-Huggins (November 2024).

My Book, The Movie: Sick to Death.

The Page 69 Test: Sick to Death.

The Page 69 Test: The Mailman.

Writers Read: Andrew Welsh-Huggins (March 2025).

The Page 69 Test: The Delivery.

--Marshal Zeringue

Kayla Hardy

Kayla Hardy is a mythology expert and multi-hyphenate author and screenwriter of Louisiana Creole descent. She earned her PhD in creative writing and African American literature from SUNY Binghamton University. Hardy is an adjunct professor at SUNY Binghamton University and is an accomplished scholar of Black folklore, mythology, and Voodoo.

The Quarter Queen is her first novel.

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

I recently reread Lindsey Stewart’s The Conjuring of America: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women's Magic which is such a seminal work of art that explores the essential contributions of black conjure women through American history in respect to spirituality and health. The book does an excellent job of tracing black wellness back to the southern plantation system where black women first practiced conjure magic to cure illnesses with herbal tinctures and mixtures, whose recipes have endured to this day. The book shows that these practices have lived on to shape positive counter narratives of power in the face of slavery and the Jim Crow era as well as influencing medicinal staples used for everyday purposes. Coming off of writing The Quarter Queen which centers African-American spirituality, it is a reminder to me that black magic does not simply live within the confines of a fantasy, but has lived within our world in a plethora of forms.

Visit Kayla Hardy's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Quarter Queen.

Q&A with Kayla Hardy.

My Book, The Movie: The Quarter Queen.

--Marshal Zeringue

Catriona McPherson

Catriona McPherson (she/her) was born in Scotland and immigrated to the US in 2010. A former linguistics professor, she is now a full-time fiction writer and has published: preposterous 1930s private-detective stories; realistic 1940s amateur-sleuth stories (The Edinburgh Murders is latest); and contemporary psychothriller standalones (The Dead Room is the brand-new one). These are all set in Scotland with a lot of Scottish weather. She also writes modern comic crime capers about a Scot-out-of- water in a “fictional” college town in Northern California sneezedavissneeze. Scot’s Eggs, No. 8 just won for best humorous novel at Left Coast Crime in San Francisco. Her other novels have won Agathas, Anthonys, Leftys and Macavitys and been finalists for an Edgar, a CWA Dagger and three Mary Higgins Clark awards.

McPherson is a proud lifetime member and former national president of Sisters in Crime.

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

I’ve been having a fantastic run of reading just recently. Yes, my alphabetically-through-the-TBR policy has come good again. I’m in the Hs – Greg Herren, Mick Herron, Georgette Heyer – and these three I’m picking out today.

Edwin Hill is a pal and so I went to my local bookshop (Avid Reader, Davis) when I heard he had a new one out. Shamingly enough, though, I realised I was two books behind, rather than one, so it’s Edwin’s 2024 psychothriller Who to Believe that I’ve just devoured.

It’s a structural masterclass. I never mean that to suggest that the structure is what you’re going to notice – which sounds like no fun at all – but always that the structure is an advanced undertaking that disappears completely into an enjoyable read. That’s certainly true here. If I wrote a murder multiple times, once for each of the characters who was there at the metaphorical kill, I’d bore myself, my agent and possibly my editor. If my agent ever passed it on. I wouldn’t bore anyone else unless a burglar broke in and took it from the drawer where it belonged. But Edwin? Fantastic stuff. The murder, its lead-up and its aftermath get more fascinating with every new narrator. And, for once, even though each narrator is compelling, you’re never sorry when the change happens. I can’t recommend this highly enough. It’s a triumph.

A book I picked up because it was next on the list, but didn’t expect to gallop through with any great enthusiasm was Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. I know, I know. But doesn’t that ever happen to you? You miss the first explosion of hoopla and then you keep hearing about it and it gets on top 100 lists and then there’s an anniversary re-issue and somehow you end up thinking it’s going to feel very good for you and worthy. Like having the kale instead of the chips. In this case, the thought of a story set against the turbulent recent history of Afghanistan – understatement alert – didn’t suggest much in the way of actual pleasure either. And it was a debut. So maybe the writing would be ropey. (Mine was.) Well. If we needed more proof that I’m an idiot. The characters are beguiling, the story rips along, the twists cause gasps and the writing is so vivid I’m kind of glad I didn’t read it when I was just beginning. I’d have got disheartened and given up. So hardly breaking news, but there it is: The Kite Runner is wonderful.

And as if that wasn’t late enough to a literary party, I also recently read Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God. From 1937. And this came with an introduction, an afterword, a reading guide and a wheelbarrow load of sociological and academic contextualisation. Did it promise fun? No. But was it short? Yes. (Am I a Philistine? Three guesses.)

First off, I’m not going to lie: Hurston depicts the vernacular of her characters with a lot of novel spellings and apostrophes and it takes a while to get your eye in. But once you do, their voices ring out in your head. And her voice – in the narration – rings out like cathedral bells. It’s amazing. That said, the novel is still a tough read. Much more like what I was expecting the Hosseini to be. I mean, it’s the Jim Crow South for a start and also she’s unflinching in her treatment of colourism in the Black community she’s creating. Besides that, there’s an acceptance of domestic abuse as an expression of love and commitment that makes you glad it’s now instead of then.

I’m back nearer then than now for the next read, mind you: Michael Innes’ A Private View, where Sir John Appleby has just been persuaded by his artist wife, Judith, to attend one (a private view) at a London gallery, whereupon a valuable painting is stolen from under everyone’s eye. I’m only two chapters in, but I’m remembering why I love Innes so much. He’s just said Appleby “fed his wife into a revolving door and met her outside”. Bliss.

Visit Catriona McPherson's website.

The Page 69 Test: Go to My Grave.

Writers Read: Catriona McPherson (November 2018).

My Book, The Movie: The Turning Tide.

The Page 69 Test: The Turning Tide.

My Book, The Movie: A Gingerbread House.

The Page 69 Test: Hop Scot.

The Page 69 Test: Deep Beneath Us.

Q&A with Catriona McPherson.

The Page 69 Test: The Witching Hour.

Writers Read: Catriona McPherson (September 2024).

Writers Read: Catriona McPherson (December 2024).

The Page 69 Test: Scotzilla.

My Book, The Movie: Scotzilla.

The Page 69 Test: Scot's Eggs.

Writers Read: Catriona McPherson (November 2025).

The Page 69 Test: The Dead Room.

--Marshal Zeringue

Shay Kauwe

Shay Kauwe is a Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) author from Hawaiʻi. She grew up on the Homestead in Waimānalo but moved to Russia because she fell in love with a boy. They now live in Oʻahu. Kauwe holds an M.Ed in Education and was named an NCTE Early Educator of Color in 2021. In 2022, she was awarded an Empowering ʻŌiwi Leadership Award by the Hawaiian Council, for her work in storytelling and literacy.

Her debut urban fantasy The Killing Spell is the first traditionally published adult fantasy novel by a Hawaiian author.

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

I just finished The Reformatory by Tananarive Due, a historical horror set in the Jim Crow era, centered around the experiences of two siblings: Robbie, who’s been sentenced to a school for troubled boys, and his sister Gloria, who’s trying to get him out. The emotional intensity of this book left a lasting impact. I needed a little break from ghosts after this.

Lately, I've been drawn to Westerns, so The Great Work by Sheldon Costa was a peculiar romp through a wild American West, following a drunk alchemist and his teenage nephew as they hunt down a salamander whose blood may be the key to bringing the dead back to life. Dark and unsettling, it was a unique, new vision for the subgenre of “Weird Westerns.”

For non-fiction, I read, Who Gets to Be Indian? Ethnic Fraud, Disenrollment, and Other Difficult Conversations About Native American Identity by Dina Gilio-Whitaker which discusses the ethnic fraud of indigenous people using socio-historical analysis. Gilio-Whitaker’s deep dive on the slippery issue of “pretendians” is insightful and tracked down the historical roots of this modern phenomenon (California by the way).

And finally, Aloha Rodeo: Three Hawaiian Cowboys, the World’s Greatest Rodeo, and a Hidden History of the American West by David Wolman and Julian Smith, which is the true story of the three Hawaiian paniolo (cowboys) who triumphed at the 1908 Cheyenne Rodeo. I picked this up expecting a dry historical account, but it surprised me. Fast-paced and written in a prose that jumps off the page, I thoroughly enjoyed this!

Visit Shay Kauwe's website.

Q&A with Shay Kauwe.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jennifer Pearson

Jennifer Pearson is a former teacher and author who lives in the northeast of England with two energetic boys and her somewhat energetic husband. She’s the author of several middle grade novels, writing as Jenny Pearson, and has been short-listed for the Costa Children’s Book Award and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, and was the winner of the Lollies (Laugh Out Loud Book Awards). When she’s not writing, Pearson can either be found doing something sporty or binge-watching true crime documentaries while eating astounding quantities of cheese.

Her new novel is Drop Dead Famous.

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

The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

I picked this up after it won the Women’s prize and I absolutely adored it. Set in Holland in the 1960s, we see the main character, Isabel slowly lose control of her small, regimented life, when Eva comes to live with her. It’s a novel of buried tensions, unspoken histories and suppressed longing. It shines a light on a dark period of history and asks the question about what happened when the Jews returned from the camps after the second world war.

The Heirs by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé is a big hitter in the world of YA thrillers and I’d been looking forward to reading her latest book, The Heirs, since it was announced. The story centres around the Button siblings, who were adopted by Leontes Button and trained to become exceptional. It’s a real page turner, that explores family dynamics, sibling rivalries and the pressure of expectation. It’s dark and twisty and layered – everything a YA thriller should be!

Visit Jenny Pearson's website.

My Book, The Movie: Drop Dead Famous.

The Page 69 Test: Drop Dead Famous.

Q&A with Jennifer Pearson.

--Marshal Zeringue

Paige Classey

Paige Classey is an author and school librarian who lives with her family on the Connecticut shoreline. Her middle grade debut, Anna-Jane and the Endless Summer, is a Junior Library Guild Selection and earned a starred review from School Library Journal. Her articles on libraries and education have appeared in School Library Journal, TEACH Magazine, and Education Week.

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

I am currently reading All the Colors of the Dark (2024), by Chris Whitaker, which a trusted friend recommended to me. Set in the mid-1970s, the story follows the abduction of a boy named Patch and how his absence impacts friends, family, and acquaintances. Through short, gripping chapters, readers get a vivid glimpse into a small Missouri town rocked by tragedy. The swift pacing and heart-wrenching character depictions have made it difficult for me to put down. It would be a great fit for anyone who enjoyed The God of the Woods (2024) by Liz Moore.

I generally like to alternate reading a book for adults with reading a YA or middle grade book. Along with writing for children and teens, I am a school librarian by day, so it's important to me to have plenty of recommendations for my students. Prior to All the Colors of the Dark, I read Kill Creatures (2025) by Rory Power. I picked it up because I had really enjoyed her novel Wilder Girls (2019). It also doesn't hurt that her books always have such compelling covers! Kill Creatures is another dark and twisty story, but in this case, our narrator is the one harboring a dark secret. Nan and her three best friends went out one summer night into a nearby canyon and only she returned; the other three vanished. At the one-year anniversary vigil, one of the missing girls suddenly returns. Our narrator can't quite understand how... considering she distinctly remembers murdering all three friends. I loved the unreliable narrator and the fresh storyline.

Visit Paige Classey's website.

Q&A with Paige Classey.

--Marshal Zeringue

April Howells

With a background in magazine publishing, April Howells has built a career in global communications and employer branding.

Raised in southern Ontario, she now resides on the west coast of Canada with her husband and a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog named Chief.

Howells's debut novel is The Unforgettable Mailman.

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

I’m currently reading The Retirement Plan by Sue Hincenbergs and loving it. I enjoy books with older protagonists and the cat-and-mouse approach to this story caught my eye.

I recently finished Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley. I adored How to Age Disgracefully and picked up Clare’s backlist knowing it would be up my alley. I was right. Iona is a fun, tenacious main character others can’t help but gravitate to. She’s the perfect blend of grouchy and inspiring. The multi-POV ensemble cast kept me turning the pages to find out what happened to each of them in the end. Heartwarming and joyful, I recommend this one to anyone looking for unexpected friendships. Or, if you spend your commute imagining things about your fellow passengers.

Visit April Howells's website.

Q&A with April Howells.

My Book, The Movie: The Unforgettable Mailman.

The Page 69 Test: The Unforgettable Mailman.

--Marshal Zeringue

Leslie Karst

Originally from Southern California, Leslie Karst moved north to attend UC Santa Cruz (home of the Fighting Banana Slugs), and after graduation, parlayed her degree in English literature into employment waiting tables and singing in a new wave rock and roll band. Exciting though this life was, she eventually decided she was ready for a “real” job, and ended up at Stanford Law School.

For the next twenty years Karst worked as the research and appellate attorney for Santa Cruz’s largest civil law firm. During this time, she discovered a passion for food and cooking, and so once more returned to school—this time to earn a degree in Culinary Arts.

Now retired from the law, Karst spends her time cooking, singing alto in the local community chorus, gardening, cycling, and of course writing. She and her wife and their Jack Russell mix split their time between Santa Cruz and Hilo, Hawai'i.

Karst's latest Orchid Isle mystery is Murder, Local Style.

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

I’m currently reading Fell Murder, by E.C.R. Lorac, the pen name of Edith Caroline Rivett, who was a member (along with Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and G.K. Chesterton) of the prestigious “Detection Club.” First published in 1944, this mystery novel is set in the fells and dales of England not far from the Lake District, and concerns the murder of the patriarch of a family who’d farmed the north country for generations.

What I most love about Fell Murder is the slow pace and detailed descriptions of the tight-knit and insular farming community, the dramatic landscape, and the World War II setting. Reading this book reminds me of how much crime fiction has changed over the years. Time was, slow pace and detailed descriptions were the norm, and readers relished reading the story deliberately and thoughtfully as they tried to outwit the author and sleuth and solve the crime along with them. But of late, it seems mystery novels tend much more towards the fast-paced, with short chapters and action on most every page.

This book reminded me that it’s lovely to slow down when reading a novel and savor the individual words, the accounts of the weather, and the musings of the characters as they ponder their daily life. I think we could all use a little more of this in these complicated and frenetic times.

Visit Leslie Karst’s website.

Coffee with a Canine: Leslie Karst & Ziggy.

My Book, The Movie: The Fragrance of Death.

Q&A with Leslie Karst.

The Page 69 Test: Waters of Destruction.

My Book, The Movie: Waters of Destruction.

Writers Read: Leslie Karst (April 2025).

The Page 69 Test: Murder, Local Style.

--Marshal Zeringue

Michael O'Donnell

Michael O’Donnell is the author of the bestselling novel Above the Fire and the new novel Concert Black. In 2023, Apple Books named him a debut writer to watch. His essays and criticism have appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, The American Scholar, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and many other publications. A longtime member of the National Book Critics Circle, he practiced law in government and the private sector for over twenty years after clerking for a federal judge. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and his law degree from Boston College. O’Donnell lives with his family in the Chicago area.

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

I always seem to be reading too many books, evenly divided between fiction and non-fiction. I’m thoroughly enjoying Michael Crummey’s The Adversary, a wonderful novel about a pair of nemesis siblings—a crude, violent brother and a brilliant, amoral sister—living on a remote coast of Newfoundland in the early nineteenth century. I recently found myself traveling without a book to read and its brilliant cover design and sparkling first page jumped out at me in a local bookstore. It reminds me a good deal of Ian McGuire’s The North Water, a remarkable novel from 2016 about physical and spiritual warfare on a whaler during the age of sail.

Crummey has also clearly been influenced by Cormac McCarthy’s prose (“His father was unaccustomed to circumstances that resisted his influence and he swung wildly and uselessly in his strategies to correct the wayward youngster.”) As it happens, I’m just coming to the end of McCarthy’s Suttree—the last of his novels that I’ve read, and also the longest and the funniest. It has taken a while to get through, but I’m glad to have stuck with it, as the final quarter has some of McCarthy’s loveliest writing. I have supplemented the physical book with an excellent audiobook recording narrated by Richard Poe.

I recently finished Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North, a devastating novel about prisoners of war under Japanese control during World War Two. Flanagan writes with quiet moral force and lovely turns of phrase, and I have read several of his books over the past year.

On the non-fiction side, I recently finished Tom Junod’s extraordinary memoir In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be A Man, which I wrote about for The Wall Street Journal. Junod’s father Lou was as complicated as a character in a Saul Bellow novel, a surging metropolis of outrageous contradictions and pathos. I predict this exceptional book will make several best-of lists at the end of 2026. Finally, I recently finished The Last Kings of Hollywood, by Paul Fischer, a smart and entertaining account of Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas in the 1970s, which I wrote about for The Atlantic.

Finally, I am reading Allison Hoover Bartlett’s The Man Who Loved Books Too Much. As this summary shows, it is for me a cautionary tale.

Visit Michael O'Donnell's website.

Q&A with Michael O'Donnell.

The Page 69 Test: Above the Fire.

Writers Read: Michael O'Donnell (December 2023).

The Page 69 Test: Concert Black.

--Marshal Zeringue