John Burdett's "Vulture Peak"

John Burdett practiced law for 14 years in London and Hong Kong until he was able to retire to write full time. He has lived in France, Spain, Hong Kong and the U.K. and now commutes between Bangkok and Southwest France.

Here he writes about the actor he'd like to see play the lead in an adaptation of Vulture Peak, the fifth and latest novel in his series featuring Royal Thai Police Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep:

I have always wanted Tony Leung (The Lover) to play Sonchai. That bony face and the way he can play the put-upon Asian to perfection seems right to me. Also, that obvious intelligence strikes me as fitting for my central character. Of course, I'm thinking of the movie as something with psychological content - which is not a popular idea with the studios. These days the only movies that make money seem to be crude action flics which I cannot say I dislike, because I simply never watch them (I never go to cock fights either, or shoot up cans in my backyard with a Colt 45) - I guess I'm just not cut out for Hollywood. If they gave me the desert island, though, with a film crew and an unlimited budget, I'd send for Leung.

Learn more about the book and author at John Burdett's website.

The Page 69 Test: Vulture Peak.

Writers Read: John Burdett.

--Marshal Zeringue

Stephanie Deutsch's "You Need a Schoolhouse"

Stephanie Deutsch's new book is You Need a Schoolhouse: Booker T. Washington, Julius Rosenwald, and the Building of Schools for the Segregated South.

Here she explains which actors might play the main roles in a big screen adaptation of the book:

When my friend Tony Rizzoli asked me what Julius Rosenwald looked like I gave a rather flip response. I said, “kind of nebbishy.” But even as these words were leaving my mouth I realized they were incorrect. In his later years Rosenwald actually looked like Tony – thin, not much hair, angular face, friendly, open expression. Twenty five years ago, Tony’s performance in Larry Shue’s play The Foreigner was one of funniest things I’ve ever seen on stage. The sense of humor that lurks behind Tony’s own intelligent eyes was, I realized, a feature in Rosenwald as well. The millionaire president of Sears, Roebuck turned race conscious philanthropist could seem a rather wooden figure on the printed page. But Tony would save him from such a fate by showing his more energetic, playful, humorous side. I had long since decided that Booker T. Washington’s role would go to a rather more prominent actor -- either Morgan Freeman or Denzel Washington. Both have the gravitas, not to mention the acting skills, to play the man who, one hundred years ago, was by far the most well-known black in America. Freeman’s physical resemblance is closer and his wonderful voice would provide the screen Washington with an asset he, in fact, lacked; his own voice was not particularly distinguished. But Denzel Washington -- younger, darker, fiercer – could give the role an intriguing intensity. The calm reasonableness that made Booker T. Washington such an appealing and acceptable figure at the time surely masked growing alarm as, his optimism notwithstanding, Jim Crow tightened its grip on the country in the early years of the twentieth century. The man who played the angry Civil War recruit in Glory and the unyielding coach in The Great Debaters might endow Washington with a complexity of feeling that many of his contemporaries, both white and black, assumed he did not have.

The intriguing relationship between the two men is not the only screenworthy aspect of my story. Rosenwald’s first visit to Tuskegee would surely light up the screen. In October of 1911 he travelled south with a trainload of friends and family members from Chicago. His visit to the hilly campus culminated in an evening service in the school’s elegant red brick chapel where he and Washington spoke. Then, as they often did for visitors, the students sang spirituals. Rosenwald, who had never before heard this music, was moved to tears. The same song could be reprised for the scene, just a year or two later, when the two men visited one of the small rural schoolhouses built as a result of their collaboration, encouragement and financial assistance. Then parents, teachers, children, community members lined the rutted country road to the school, dressed in their best and waving pine boughs in greeting, singing what one member of the party called “plantation songs.”

And there would have to be a scene where Washington reads a telegram from Rosenwald apologizing for missing a meeting of the Tuskegee Board of Trustees. He explained his absence using the words of his favorite of the spirituals the students sang. He said he could not come because he was “walking in Jerusalem, just like John.” Cue the music.

Learn more about the book and author at Stephanie Deutsch's website and blog.

--Marshal Zeringue

John Lescroart's "The Hunter"

John Lescroart's many novels include Damage, Treasure Hunt, The Betrayal, The Suspect, The Hunt Club, The Motive, The Second Chair, The First Law, The Oath, The Hearing, and Nothing But the Truth.

His new novel is The Hunter.

Here the author shares his pick for the actor to play the lead in an adaptation of the series:

The Hunter is my third Wyatt Hunt novel, and I’d love to have Taylor Kitsch (the Tim Riggins character from Friday Night Lights) take on the role of Wyatt. He would be perfect. In fact, Taylor, if you’re out there reading this, call my agent. Seriously.

Learn more about the book and its author at John Lescroart's website.

Writers Read: John Lescroart.

The Page 69 Test: The Hunter.

--Marshal Zeringue

Sandra Balzo's "Triple Shot"

Sandra Balzo's novels have been nominated for both the Anthony and Macavity awards and received starred reviews from Kirkus and Booklist. In addition to her books about coffee-maven Maggy Thorsen and displaced journalist AnnaLise Griggs, Balzo writes short stories, two of which have been published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, winning the Macavity, Derringer and Robert L. Fish awards.

Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of the Maggy Thorsen mysteries:

Uncommon Grounds, the first Maggy Thorsen coffeehouse mystery, was published in 2004. Since then, I've written six more, the most recent being the just-released Triple Shot.

Over the course of my series, Maggy has weathered countless storms (including a "thunder-snow" that destroyed her shop), the loss of business partners in very different ways and, of course, the obligatory deaths of a dozen friends and neighbors. I have put the poor woman through the proverbial wringer.

What I haven't done, though, is describe her. And I didn't realize it until just now.

Sheesh.

I suppose since Maggy was my earliest fictional creation--and a first-person one, at that--I saw her as my alter ego. And who describes themselves in dialogue? ("Hi honey, I--your petite, red-haired wife, with the scar on my left knee--am home!")

Accidental omission or not, I admit I'm intrigued by the idea of readers deciding for themselves what Maggy looks like. But ... how do you cast a movie centering around a character even the author knows inside, but not out?

Well, what facts do we have? Maggy, in her mid-forties, quit a public relations job to open a gourmet coffeehouse with two friends, but only after her husband left home--and Maggy--the day their son went off to college. She loves red wine, craves caffeine and, on occasion, runs a mile or two.

Maggy's funny, cynical and very, very human. Not everyone's cup of tea--or, more to the point, coffee. The woman's a non-cozy hero in a cozy series. She has hard edges and, even now in Book Seven, they haven't been smoothed over.

So cast a comedic leading lady in the role, say Sandra Bullock or Julia Roberts? Only problem: Maggy is not the star of her life--especially in her own mind. She's just scratching by, her humor coming more from friction with the outside world. A little ticked, Maggy's much more Katherine than Audrey on anybody's Hepburn-scale.

The names Julianne Moore and Rene Russo come to mind, but the actresses are a little too old (sorry, ladies--believe me, I feel your pain). So ... I'm going to go with the suggestion of a reader at my most recent booksigning:

Diane Lane. Think Under the Tuscan-roast Sun. The Perfect Grind or Uncaffeinated.

Now we can turn to supporting characters. They're much easier, frankly, since Maggy has seen and described them.

Her new business partner is Sarah Kingston, a prickly real estate broker who packs a gun. Good thing, too, because in Triple Shot, three fellow sales agents have been killed on the job. Sarah has a long face and a neighing laugh and wears trousers under long, flappy jackets.

Jane Lynch. Before Glee.

Jake Pavlik is the county sheriff and Maggy's love interest. He rides a Harley and wears a buttery leather jacket for which Maggy--who's never called him anything but "Pavlik"--has a borderline fetish. The sheriff is nearly six-feet tall, with dark, wavy hair and eyes that go from sunny blue, through "dirty-Chevy" gray, all the way to abyss-black, depending on mood.

Dylan McDermott, of course.

Whew, did it! There are more regulars to be cast, of course, but for now, get me those three franchise players and we'll talk.

My people will call your people.

Learn more about the book and author at Sandra Balzo's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Michael T. Cannell's "The Limit"

Michael T. Cannell is a former editor of The New York Times Home section, publisher of thedesignvote.com, and author of I.M. Pei: Mandarin of Modernism.

Here he dreamcasts an adaptation of his new book, The Limit: Life and Death on the 1961 Grand Prix Circuit:

Believe it or not, I sold the movie rights to The Limit: Life and Death on the 1961 Grand Prix Circuit before writing its first sentence. It was pure luck.. Another book about mid-century racing was soon to be published with its own movie deal. My agent managed to sell the rights to The Limit up front so the rival project wouldn’t get too far ahead. Two books about racing were, in effect, waging their own race.

Columbia Pictures bought the rights to The Limit with a commitment from Tobey Maguire who would play Phil Hill, the lowly Santa Monica mechanic who eventually won the Formula One World Championship. Word reached me in New York that Maguire’s resemblance to Hill impressed the studio folks. Uncanny, they said. I don’t see it, but whatever. Columbia recently chose to let their option lapse, so all bets are off. For me, it’s been an education in the mysterious ways of Hollywood.

In December Tobey Maguire will appear in The Great Gatsby with Leo DiCaprio. Naturally, my greatest wish would be for them to reunite in The Limit with DiCaprio playing the ebullient but doomed German Count Wolfgang von Trips.

Watch the trailer for The Limit, and learn more about the book and author at Michael T. Cannell's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Helen Landalf's "Flyaway"

Helen Landalf’s debut YA novel, Flyaway, released on December 20, 2011 from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Her other books include the award-winning picture book The Secret Night World of Cats (Smith and Kraus, 1998), illustrated by her autistic brother, Mark Rimland, and Movement Stories for Young Children (Smith and Kraus, 1996), a guide for teachers.

Here she shares her preferences for the lead actors in an adaptation of Flyaway:

In order to cast my contemporary realistic YA novel, Flyaway, which is about a 15-year-old girl struggling to come to terms with the fact that her mom is a meth addict, I’d need to find three strong actresses. For the main character, Stevie, who remains fiercely loyal to her mom in spite of mounting evidence that her mom is not only a drug addict but also a neglectful mother, I’d cast Abigail Breslin, who won an Oscar for her role in Little Miss Sunshine. Breslin, who’s now 15, would bring the necessary intensity to the role of Stevie.

Another strong actress would be needed to play Stevie’s Aunt Mindy, who takes her niece in and shows her – initially against Stevie’s will – how a caring parent actually behaves. For this role I’d choose the lovely Sandra Bullock, who has the combination of poise, warmth, and steel that the role demands.

And to complete my trio of powerful women, I’d cast Toni Collette in the role of drug addicted, narcissistic Mom. Collette’s work as a suicidal mother in About a Boy has me convinced that she could play Mom to a T.

Visit Helen Landalf's website and blog, and watch the Flyaway trailer.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eben Miller's "Born along the Color Line"

Eben Miller teaches at Southern Maine Community College and lives in Lewiston, Maine.

Here he dreamcasts an adaptation of his new book, Born along the Color Line: The 1933 Amenia Conference and the Rise of a National Civil Rights Movement:

Casting my book as a movie, I'll start with the easiest role to fill. In this collective biography, the role of a distinct place—the Troutbeck estate in Amenia, New York—actually nears in significance to some of the main figures involved. Happily, the sylvan setting where the men and women I write about gathered together in 1933 remains largely intact as the Troutbeck Inn and Conference Center.

Of the roughly two dozen up-and-coming African American leaders invited to Troutbeck in 1933, my book explores the lives of five key individuals. Their biographies, woven together with the story of the conference they attended at Troutbeck, illuminate a generational struggle to secure civil rights for African Americans.

I can see Derek Luke as Louis Redding, a graduate of Harvard Law School and the first African American admitted to the bar in Delaware. To portray him, Luke could capture Redding's professionalism, intellect, and commitment to social justice—all the while conveying the young man's struggle to meet the expectations of his small, middle class community in Wilmington.

As Abram Harris, a brilliant young economist who taught at Howard University, I'd expect Michael Ealy to cause a run on tweed and wire-rimmed spectacles. Beyond the vintage props, Ealy could offer something nearly as antiquated by voicing passionate advocacy for an interracial movement among American industrial workers.

Few who met Juanita Jackson failed to comment on her buoyant character and impressive dedication to the cause of African Americans' civil liberty, whether as a church-based youth organizer in Baltimore or as the founding coordinator of the NAACP's national youth movement during the mid-1930s. As Jackson, Kerry Washington could ably project these qualities, but also offer the role a necessary, thoughtful gravity.

Anthony Mackie could play a perfect Moran Weston, a divinity school graduate who served as an organizer with the Harlem-based Negro Labor Victory Committee. Extant during World War II, the committee was most noted for putting on spectacular "Negro Freedom Rallies" at Madison Square Garden designed to fuse entertainment and political action. What an opportunity to feature today's stars as celebrities from the past—Duke Ellington, Pearl Primus, Murial Rahn, and Josh White.

Seeking black freedom during a reactionary era was not without political peril, though. I envision Jeffrey Wright as Ralph Bunche, the Nobel Prize winning United Nations diplomat who in 1954 was forced to account for his loyalty to the nation. Did his belief that African Americans deserved equal economic opportunity make him a Communist? Wright could enliven Bunche's righteous indignation to this accusation.

As for cameo roles, I'll continue this marvelous daydream by picturing a supporting cast featuring Giancarlo Esposito (as W.E.B. Du Bois), Sam Waterston (as Joel Spingarn), Alfre Woodard (as Alice Dunbar-Nelson), Andre Braugher (as Lews "PaPA" Redding), Terrence Howard (as Walter White), Lance Reddick (as Roscoe Dunjee), and Glenn Close (as Mary White Ovington).

John Sayles, David Simon, and Oprah Winfrey—this project awaits your talents and influence.

Learn more about Born along the Color Line at the Oxford University Press website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Beth Fantaskey's "Jessica Rules the Dark Side"

Beth Fantaskey is the author of Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, Jekel Loves Hyde, and the newly released Jessica Rules the Dark Side.

Here she explains her difficulty in imagining any particular actors portraying her characters on the big screen:

I can’t, for the life of me, choose actors to play my characters. As I write, the people I create become very vivid in my imagination, and they never look like anyone but... themselves. Every now and then, readers will send me pictures of actors and say, “This is who I imagine as Lucius Vladescu.” Or, “This actress would be perfect as Jessica Packwood.” And I think that’s great. But inevitably, I look at the images and think, “No, Lucius has a different nose,” or “Jess’s eyes aren’t quite like that.” I can’t even seem to speculate on choosing actors, myself. It’s almost like I’m afraid I’ll start writing dialogue that I think would be suited to the actor, not the character. I suppose I need to really believe in the unique people I’ve tried to create, or they won’t come across as genuine on paper. I’m not a very “quirky” writer, and I usually don’t over think things, but that is one strange habit that I have. Keep sending me photos, though. I love to see who other people are picturing as they read!

Learn more about the author and her work at Beth Fantaskey's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Charlie Price's "Desert Angel"

Charlie Price's novel, The Interrogation of Gabriel James, was hailed as “top-notch” by Kirkus Reviews, “surprising” by Booklist, and “gripping” by BCCB, and won the 2011 Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Mystery.

Here he shares some suggestions for casting an adaptation of his latest YA novel, Desert Angel:

When I learned about this blog I was surprised to realize I don't think about my characters as movie actors. I usually build them from an early quixotic impression and they grow more distinct as I write. I start with an overall person in mind --- fourteen year-old girl, spiky blond hair, waif-like, tomboy features, etc. and that character gets clearer as she responds to situations page by page.

Though I love movies, usually watch two per week in theaters, and several more on Netflix, I'm sixty-six. My movie conversations go like this: God that guy is good. Greg … uh, no that's not it. Wasn't he in … um, the military movie about time shifts? Oh, come on, you know, he was with what's-her-name in that love story ... and so on. Hardly enlightening, but I know what I like and whom I like, even if the details escape me. Senility has its drawbacks. It turned out to be a Googlean task to decide on the actors but I thoroughly enjoyed the process lumbering along memory lane.

Kirkus gave my new book, Desert Angel, a starred review and called it a "relentless and heart-stopping thriller," so I want charismatic, engaging actors who can keep a tight edge in fast turns.

The story follows Angel’s flight into barren country near the Salton Sea in Southern California as she tries to escape the man that abused her and murdered her mother. When the man, Scotty, finds Angel, he will kill her, too. She may not survive without help from the illegal immigrant community that she encounters as she flees. I have a great deal of respect for the breadth of the Mexican-American community and after living in Michoacan a while ago, it is particularly important to me to portray that community with depth and dignity.

The cast and director:

Angel needs to be gritty, tenacious, and almost terminally self-reliant. – Kristen Stewart (The Runaways)

Scotty, slick and venomous. (the killer) – John Hawkes (Winter's Bone)

Rita, steadfast and perceptive. (the woman that takes Angel into her home) – Rosario Dawson (Unstoppable)

Vincente, a hard-working fun-loving hot-head. (Rita’s husband) – Michael Peña (Tower Heist)

Momo, strong, good-looking, inexperienced but willing to risk. (the boy that tries to help Angel) – Victor Rasuk (Stop-Loss)

Ramon, kind but tough and unflappable. (a leader in the immigrant community) – Edward James Olmos (Battlestar Galactica)

The Director, a person who can blend the combination of edgy thriller and the marvelous, impossible enigma of adolescent girls. – Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight)

Learn more about the book and author at Charlie Price's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

J.H. Trumble's Don’t Let Me Go"

J.H. Trumble is a Texas native and graduate of Sam Houston State University.

Here she shares some ideas for casting an adaptation of her debut novel, Don’t Let Me Go:

Casting for Don’t Let Me Go has proven to be more difficult than writing the book! Believe me, I’d much rather write. I think everyone forms an image of a character in their minds. Movies really have to sell the casting to the people. Take Robert Pattinson as Edward. At first, I thought no, no, no, no, no. Halfway through the movie, though, I’d changed my mind. Robert Pattinson is the perfect Edward.

So I’m going to cheat a little. I think casting should come from a lesser-known group of actors, so lesser known that I don’t know them either! Instead, I’ll suggest types.

Nate is probably the easiest for me to cast. Nice looking, athletic, brooding but funny. I think a younger Nate Berkus-type would make a great Nate.

Adam is a no-brainer—American Idol-era Adam Lambert all the way. Sexy, open, talented, passionate, loyal, beautiful.

Luke could be played by any number of blonde, goofy, boyishly charming young men. A Justin Bieber type.

Danial is Pakistani. But I do think someone like Ukrainian Dancing With the Stars pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy is the right type--rugged, confident, fiercely loyal.

Curtis is a very minor character, and we only meet him at the very end. I’m including him because he’s so clearly in my mind a doppelganger for Daniel Tosh.

Learn more about the book and author at J.H. Trumble's website and blog.

--Marshal Zeringue