Lilith Saintcrow's "Dante Valentine series"

Lilith Saintcrow is the author of five novels in the "Dante Valentine series" as well as other books.

If the Dante Valentine series is adapted for the movies, here are Saintcrow's ideas about the principal cast members:

Since I'm a very visual writer, I usually do play the game with myself -- "who would I cast in my books?"

For the Valentine series, some of it is simple. I would love Fairuza Balk or Rachel Weisz as Dante, since both have that edge of competence. I would also, if I'm dreaming, like Cate Blanchett for the role, since Dante isn't traditionally pretty.

For Japhrimel, I would pick Karl Urban. There's a scene in The Bourne Supremacy where Karl, as the bad guy, shoots Bourne -- and that, right there, is Japh. He's also got the correct eyebrows. Though I would love to see what Adrien Brody would do with the part. Christian Bale would be pretty to look at, but if push came to shove it would be Brody. He just has the talent to play a demon, you know.

Other parts include: Kate Beckinsale as Gabriele Spocarelli, Tilda Swinton as Lucifer (the ONLY choice!) and Jason Statham as Jace. Giovanni Ribisi would be my first choice for Eddie, and as Santino? Brad Dourif. No question.

Can you tell I'm a film buff too?

The Dante Valentine series opens with Working For The Devil and closes with the fifth and final volume, To Hell and Back.

Learn more about the author and her books at Lilith Saintcrow's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Patricia Gussin's "Twisted Justice"

Patricia Gussin is the author of Shadow of Death, which was nominated for Best First Novel in the Thriller Awards sponsored by International Thriller Writers, and the recently released Twisted Justice.

Here she develops some ideas for actors and director should Twisted Justice be adapted for the movies:

The heart wrenching drama of Kramer vs. Kramer and the violent scenario of The War of the Roses bracket the domestic deception and betrayal that explode onto the scene in Twisted Justice. No one ever really knows what goes on in another’s marriage and in Twisted Justice what appears on the surface to be the ideal family, in the blink of an eye implodes, spiraling out of control toward devastation.

The perfect lives of Laura, a surgeon mother – Steve, a television news anchor father – and their five great kids – disintegrate into a nightmare when Steve’s sexy co-anchor is murdered. Both Laura and Steve are successful professionals and dedicated parents. Each in their own way. Each motivated by their own agenda. Each with dark secrets they are desperate to protect. But how does Steve react when Laura is accused of killing Kim?

The part of Laura would best be played by a mom-actress. A great choice because she is a dedicated mother and such a versatile leading actress is Gwyneth Paltrow. At the crux of the drama in Twisted Justice is a mother’s worst fear. Separation from her children is a visceral emotion for any mother, an emotion that would surely evoke genuine empathy from a woman who loves her children as much as Gwyneth Paltrow does.

Steve turns out to be the character everybody loves to hate. He has his reasons, and because Twisted Justice is a mystery, they cannot be revealed here. Steve’s character could be played very well by Kevin Costner. He’s handsome, egotistical, yet insecure and vulnerable. It is Steve who sets off the downward spiral and tangled web of intrigue as he turns on Laura in the worst imaginable way when she is charged with Kim’s murder.

As Laura’s fight for freedom dissolves into a bitter battle, pitting husband against wife, five innocent children are caught in the crossfire. Fourteen year old, Mike; eleven year old Kevin; ten year old identical twins, Natalie and Nicole; and the most victimized of them all, eight year old Patrick. Five casting opportunities open to young actors and actresses to play the children. It is difficult to imagine the pain that these kids go though as their parents’ betrayals and deceptions plunge them into a world of mortal danger.

The action is fast paced in Twisted Justice. The emotional stakes are high. And just as in real life, justice can be twisted, but it is seldom ever thwarted.

The last question: Who could best direct Twisted Justice? Steven Spielberg, of course.

Visit Patricia Gussin's website and view the Twisted Justice trailer.

The Page 69 Test: Shadow of Death.

--Marshal Zeringue

Sandra Parshall's "Disturbing the Dead"

Sandra Parshall is the author of The Heat of the Moon, winner of the Agatha Award for Best First Novel of 2006, and Disturbing the Dead, which came out in March 2007 to favorable reviews.

Should Disturbing the Dead ever be adapted for the movies, here are Parshall's thoughts -- with a little help from her friends -- about who might star in and direct the picture:

I’m probably a rarity in that I have difficulty picturing actors playing my characters – with one exception. Meryl Streep would be a natural to play Judith, Rachel’s mother in The Heat of the Moon.

I often clip photos of models from catalogs to inspire me when I begin writing new characters, but along the way my mental images diverge from those in the photos, and the pictures are discarded. “Casting” my second book, Disturbing the Dead, with models proved impossible because many of the characters are Melungeon – mixed race with dark skin and hair and, in a few cases, blue eyes.

Some of my friends have no trouble naming actors to play my characters, and their choices remind me that writing long, detailed descriptions of the people in a novel is a waste of time, because regardless of what I write, every reader will see the characters in his or her own way.

Gigi Pandian suggested Adam Beach for the role of Tom Bridger. My immediate reaction was, “He’s much too short!” I also think his features aren’t sharp enough. Tom is part Cherokee and looks it. Beach doesn’t have an angular Cherokee face. (I agree with Gigi, though, that he’s cute.)

Kim Striker thought Joe Lando could play Tom – and my immediate reaction to this suggestion was, “He’s much too old!” I looked Lando up on the internet, and sure enough, he’s more than 10 years older than Tom. I appreciate Kim’s comment on her choice, though, because it tells me I did a good job of presenting the character: “He has the same quiet competence, self-confidence and vulnerability I see in Tom.”

Kim nominated Kimberly Williams-Paisley from the Father of the Bride films and TV’s According to Jim to play Rachel Goddard, my young veterinarian heroine, because the actress has “an energy and enthusiasm I associate with Rachel” as well as the right physical appearance. True enough, but I could also accept Michelle Williams, suggested by Carol Baier, in the role.

Who would I want to direct the movie of Disturbing the Dead? No contest: the Coen brothers. With them in charge, I could be sure the book’s brooding, rather gothic tone would be conveyed whole to the screen. To tell you the truth, though, if anyone made a film of one of my books I would have no expectations. A book is a book and a movie is a movie, and any similarity between the two is purely coincidental.

Learn more about the author and her writing at Sandra Parshall's website.

The Page 69 Test: Disturbing the Dead.

--Marshal Zeringue

Kristy Kiernan's "Catching Genius"

In March 2007 Kristy Kiernan applied the Page 69 Test to Catching Genius, her debut novel.

Here she develops some ideas for actors and director should the book be adapted for the movies:

When I go to a baby shower I know that when they pass me a roll of toilet paper I'm supposed to tear off however many squares I think will go around the mommy-to-be's belly. It's an expected party-game, and I know how to play it.

In much the same way, when I attend a book club function, I know that as soon as someone says "movie" I'm going to be asked to cast Catching Genius. Though it's an expected game, I haven't gotten nearly as good at it as I have the whole toilet paper/pregnant belly game.

The truth is I didn't have actors in mind when I wrote the book. I envisioned sisters Connie and Estella, their mother June, the men in their lives, Luke, Tate, and Paul, and Connie's sons, Gib and Carson as wholly original beings. But after so many conversations about who readers thought should play my characters, I admit that I have finally given it some serious thought.

For Connie, a mix of resentment and love on the edge of a dangerous boiling point, I like the idea of Robin Wright Penn. There's a lot of depth there that could be easy to overlook because of her beauty, just like Connie.

For Estella, the damaged math genius who made her own life the way she wanted it (or thought she did), come on, who else but Jodie Foster? That scary intelligence mixed with vulnerability? Perfect! Plus she has the right hair for it.

June, fiercely loving, but demanding and occasionally unsympathetic, with a shocking story about her past that she kept from her own daughters, I struggle with. I think Glenn Close comes, well, close, but I keep seeing Jane Seymour tilting her head, June's quasi-haughty move, just so and think she might be perfect.

Luke, perpetual man-boy, whose infidelity pushes Connie over the edge, has a lot of contenders in Hollywood, but there must be a sad quality there, too, a history that he can't escape, no matter how much money he has, or how many baristas he fools around with. Possibly Rob Lowe?

Paul, Estella's love, tall, rangy, gentle. Smells like wood shavings and varnish, dances with Estella standing on his feet so she doesn't have to touch the grout lines. He's lovely, isn't he? I'm thinking Anthony Edwards.

And Tate, oh, all the women do love Tate. He's got problems, there's no question there, but he knows what they are, he knows where they came from, and once in a while he even owns up to them. Plus he brings fresh seafood over all the time and can build a bonfire. We need someone a little rough around the edges, someone with calluses on his hands who might take off to the woods for three days with nothing but a pocketknife. Luke Wilson has a quiet strength I like for Tate.

Gib, the troubled teenaged son of Connie, infuriated with his father, uncertain of his mother, jealous of his younger brother. He's a good kid, but what's going to become of him? I think Jason Dolley, star of a series on the Disney channel, would be an interesting choice.

And sweet Carson, concerned about everyone around him, into jazz clarinet and composing, unaware that he's a little prodigy. Nathan Gamble from Babel has just the right look, the right voice.

And the director? Please, does anyone do dysfunctional better than Jodie Foster? Watch Home For The Holidays before you suggest another director. She is exquisitely talented and does sibling relationships beautifully.

Read an excerpt from Catching Genius.

Curious about the inspiration for Catching Genius? Read Kiernan's backstory.

Visit Kristy Kiernan's website. Her new novel, Matters of Faith, comes out in August 2008.

The Page 69 Test: Catching Genius.

--Marshal Zeringue

Sarah Langan's "The Missing"

Sarah Langan received her MFA in fiction writing from Columbia University. She studied with Michael Cunningham, Nicholas Christopher, Helen Schulman, and Maureen Howard, among others, all of whom have been instrumental to her work. She is currently a master's candidate in environmental medicine at NYU.

Earlier this year Langan applied the Page 69 Test to The Keeper, her first novel.

Here she develops a few ideas about the cast and crew for a film adaptation of her new novel, The Missing:

I’d love for The Missing to be made into a movie, mostly because it would get more people to read the book. Also, I would become a rich and famous bizillionaire, and replace all my teeth with gold!

For directors, and we’re talking crazy mad dream here, I love Marty (in my dreams, I call him Marty) Scorsese. He’d handle the violence in the book with honesty, so that it never got campy or gleeful. Also, he understands intelligent women. His actresses fight the camera until it sees things their way, while lesser directors are happy to fill the screen with pretty (boring) smiles. Under his direction, Meg and Fenstad Wintrob’s love would be poignant, and Lois’ bitterness sympathetic.

For screenwriters, I love Brent Hanley (Frailty). He understands that horror comes from within, and his stories engage with the world. I’m also pretty thrilled with Ido Mizrahy and David Meyer -- the guys currently working on a screenplay (well, up until the strike) for The Keeper.

As for actors, Philip Seymour Hoffman would make a great Fenstad. I think he’d bring a quiet turmoil to the role. Fenstad Wintrob is the town psychiatrist in The Missing. While he madly loves his wife Meg, their marriage is unraveling. A year previous to the opening of the novel, she engaged in a short affair, which she regrets. Still, she remains unfulfilled, and he’s miserable, because he can’t figure out why she can’t enjoy life now that their nest is empty, and they’ve finally got time to themselves. Actually, Donald Sutherland thirty years ago would have been perfect. Then again, when is Donald Sutherland NOT perfect?

I wrote Meg’s character with Nicole Kidman in mind, mostly because Kidman is so frigging cool. But Maria Bello, Vera Farmiga, Linda Fiorentino, Rachel Griffiths, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Téa Leoni all have that same smart, type A sexiness that I envisioned for my heroine. She’s comfortable in her own skin, and accustomed to being in charge. Her weakness is her inability to be vulnerable, which I think is a nice twist, and more common than often gets written about.

Lois Larkin is the hero-turned-villain, and probably the most fun to imagine casting. Upon being dumped by her boyfriend of seven years for her best friend, and losing her job, Lois’ personality takes a turn toward the dark side, and her carnal appetites are unleashed. She’s gorgeous, wounded, angry, and infected with a virus that allows her to read other peoples’ thoughts. I like Angelina Jolie for the role. She’s great in everything she does. Or Rita Hayworth — she would have been amazing! Also, I can only imagine the crazy stuff Rita put up with, while living with Orson. I like to imagine she was the genius behind the genius all those years.

Learn more about The Missing at Sarah Langan's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Keeper.

--Marshal Zeringue

Penni Russon's "Undine"

Tasmania-born Penni Russon is the author of The Undine trilogy, published by Random House in Australian and Greenwillow in the US, a series of magical books set in Hobart’s streets and the surrounding bush and seascapes.

Here she shares some ideas about film adaptations of the novels:

When I first imagined Undine as a movie (which was as I was writing the book!) I pictured it as a live action, but my four year old has recently fallen deeply in love with anime – films like My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away and Whisper of the Heart. When I started watching these with Frederique I definitely thought that it would be a great way to make Undine into a film. The dialogue in Totoro is some of the best I've ever heard in a film, the spirit of childhood is so perfectly captured. I think the Tasmanian landscape would be inspirational to a film-maker and Tasmania and Japan have a special relationship, maybe because we both know what it's like to see your country as fractured into islands – an image of Australia that 'mainlanders' don't share.

So without further ado, here's the cast list, bearing in mind that because its animation, age doesn't matter so much!

Undine: Emilie de Ravin

Trout: Richard Wilson

Lou: Rachel Griffiths

Prospero: Sam Neill

Richard: Hmm … someone from an Aussie soap probably (but I don't watch soaps). But someone young and smooth.

Jasper: An undiscovered, yet brilliant, yet balanced and happy in himself child actor

Max: Audrey Tatou

Grunt: Heath Ledger

I've mostly chosen Australians with international starpower because I want the movie to make LOTS of money. But Trout is a local, the first time I saw Richard Wilson on an ABC Kids show called Out There I knew he was Trout, he has the right blend of geeky and funny and vulnerable and self-possessed. Heath Ledger is exactly the kind of Australian boy I was picturing Grunt to be. I love Emilie as Clare in Lost, I love that she can look little and breakable but powerful and resilient too – her facial features are just right for Undine, so the illustrators should model Undine on her. Rachel Griffiths looks nothing like Lou but she would make a great Lou, she's got the energy and the shades of darkness Lou needs. Audrey Tatou would give Max an air of mystery (and not just because she has an accent!). I chose Sam Neill for Prospero just because I'd like to meet him. But I think he'd be great.

The music by the way, would be mostly supplied by The Waifs. But Kate Rusby's song 'Who Now Will Sing Me Lullabies?' is Undine's song in Drift.

It feels very naughty and fun playing this game! Now I should go and do something sensible. Sigh.

Learn more about the author and her novels at Penni Russon's website and her blog, Eglantine's Cake.

The Page 69 Test: Penni Russon's Breathe.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ray Banks' "The Big Blind"

Ray Banks is the author of The Big Blind (his debut), Saturday's Child, and Donkey Punch.

Should The Big Blind be adapted for the big screen, here are the author's suggestions for the principal cast and director:

The Big Blind, the movie?

Okay, let's say I had it all my own way: The Big Blind would keep its northern British roots, that big Manchester rain and the grey concrete bleakness of modern trading estate Britain. If it ever made it to the screen, the visuals should make people think of wet dog - that's the best olfactory summary I can come up with. Maybe wet dog with the hint of stale lager.

For Alan Slater, our humble narrator and perpetually harassed double-glazing salesman, there's really no other choice than the De Niro of the Midlands, Paddy Considine. He's possibly a little old for the part, but he'd still nail it. Few other actors have that complete non-ego in their roles as Paddy, or as much variety - take a pinch of Dead Man's Shoes and mix it in with the terror of his slow fade in Coldplay's "God Put A Smile" video, glaze that over with the man's uncanny knack for realism, and Bob's your auntie's live-in lover.

Now for his hopelessly drunk and casually racist only friend, Les Beale. Here's a man I'd use in everything if I could, because he's not only the perfect Beale, but I could see him easily wearing DS Donkin's shoes, too. John Henshaw's name might not mean much to people, but Brits will know him from The Cops and Early Doors, and possibly the Post Office ad he's doing at the moment. He's a Manc, which helps, and he's got that nice mixture of benevolence and potential violence which'll be great for the part.

As for the rest. I don't know enough young British actresses to cast Lucy, really. Perhaps, given two or three years, a good post-Potter role for Emma Watson? Anyone snotty and young would be fine - they don't even have to be particularly good-looking. Ahmad, the Bollywood king and target of most of Beale's bigotry, would be Sanjay Dutt, a controversial Bollywood actor who specialises mostly in the tough-guy, and who's old and haggard enough to carry off those diamonds Beale covets so much. And finally, Stevie the unfortunate Scottish croupier - I can't think of anyone I'd rather see try to lick their way out of a bin bag than James McAvoy. After The Last King Of Scotland, it's obvious the lad can do pain, and I'm sure the budget will stretch to a ginger wig. Everyone else, make 'em non-actors - keep some verisimilitude.

Director: Well, my first choice for everything now is Simon Hynd, who just finished up a startling adaptation of a startling novel (Senseless) and who I'm sure would make this just as startling. Failing that, I think if we're using the De Niro of the Midlands, we could do a lot worse than use his Scorsese, Shane Meadows (Dead Man's Shoes, This Is England). Failing that, bring back Alan Clarke (The Firm, Scum) from the dead and make him work on my movie. I'm sure he'll work cheap in exchange for a new life.

Catch up with Ray Banks at his website and at Crimespace and MySpace.

The Page 69 Test: The Big Blind.

--Marshal Zeringue

David Wellington's "13 Bullets" & "99 Coffins"

David Wellington is the author of the Monster Island trilogy, 13 Bullets, and 99 Coffins.

Here he shares some ideas about the casting for film adaptations of the vampire novels:

My novels, 13 Bullets and the upcoming 99 Coffins, are set in a world where vampires have long been a historical fact, having always lived beside, and preying on, the human population. They’re bigger than us, much faster, and almost impossible to kill even before they start drinking blood. Afterwards they’re virtually bulletproof. They can only be brought down by destroying their hearts — all other wounds heal instantly. They are hairless, pigment-free freaks with rows of wicked teeth and they don’t read poetry and date cute vampire hunters, and they don’t daintily sip blood from a pair of hickeys on your neck. They’d rather tear off your head and suck the blood from your spurting stump.

Needless to say humanity tries to fight back — and though we’re severely outmatched, the numbers are on our side. Over the centuries we’ve managed to turn the tide, ferreting out vampire lairs during the light of day and exterminating these predators wherever we find them. By the 1980s vampires are believed by most people to be extinct. Then, in the twenty-first century, evidence comes to light that this was nothing more than a fond hope. A cadre of vampires are back and slaughtering the good people of Pennsylvania. It falls on a pair of law enforcement agents to put them back in their coffins for good. One is an aging U.S. Marshal, the only living American who has fought a vampire before and lived. The other is a young State Trooper, a member of the Highway Patrol who has never discharged her weapon outside of a firing range.

The Fed is Jameson Arkeley, who has spent the last twenty years researching vampires and watching for them to come back — after what he saw in 1983 he alone knew they’d never really gone away. He’s described this way: “The man behind her wore a tan trench coat over a black suit. His hair was the color of steel wool, cut short and close to his head. He looked to be in pretty good shape but had to be at least sixty. Maybe seventy. In the flickering light of four in the morning, the creases on his face could have been wrinkles or they could have been scars. His eyes were hooded by deep, pouchy lids and his mouth was nothing more than a narrow slot in the bottom half of his face. ‘Good evening,’ he said, his voice thick and a little hoarse. His face folded up like a gas station road map. He was smiling, the kind of smile you give a child you don’t particularly like.”

I had a lot of different actors in mind when I wrote that description: Lee Marvin, Tommy Lee Jones, definitely Robert Mitchum. In a perfect world, one, that is, where time machines worked and were cheaply available, I would go back in time, kidnap John Hurt, make him beef up and learn how to do a perfect American accent.

Arkeley’s partner is Laura Caxton, a twenty-five year old lesbian State Trooper who rescues Greyhounds and turns out to be far more than she seems. There was never any doubt in my mind about what actress she looked like: Laura Linney, in a role similar to the one she played in The Mothman Prophecies.

Read more about 13 Bullets and 99 Coffins, and visit David Wellington's website.

The Page 69 Test: Monster Nation.

--Marshal Zeringue

Alex Scarrow's "A Thousand Suns"

Alex Scarrow is the author of the thrillers A Thousand Suns and Last Light.

About A Thousand Suns:

Off the coast of New England, a trawler tangles its nets on wreckage from sixty years ago - a B17 'flying fortress' , perfectly preserved and containing the final and most terrifying secret of WWII. When freelance photographer, Chris Roland, enters the sunken plane , what he discovers in the dark, tomb-like interior changes everything he knows about the end of the war and how desperately close it came to being the end of everything.

A Thousand Suns is a tale that cuts breathlessly between the present, as a long dormant and sinister agency stirs once more, readying to preserve the secret at any cost - and the past, as a young crew of German airmen, the very last of Hitler's Luftwaffe, fight impossible odds to save their country. As both plots race towards a conclusion, this most horrifying wartime revelation hangs in the balance.

Scarrow shares some casting ideas for a potential film adaptation:

The book started out as a screenplay anyway, so writing it as a novel, it already had the movie pace, and chapters that were effectively scenes. As I wrote the book, from page one I already had the cast in my head - something screenwriters do, more than novel writers I think. Anyway then, let's get on with casting...

Chris Roland, a wildlife photographer who explores the submerged ruins of a B-17 bomber off the coast of America. That role was always going to be played by Paul Bettany (Wimbledon, Da Vinci Code, Master and Commander). He's very English and self-effacing.

Max Kleinman, pilot and leader of a Luftwaffe crew, tasked with flying a captured B-17 bomber to America to drop the Nazis' one and only atom bomb on New York in the last few days of the war. I saw this character being played by a Kiefer Sutherland ten years younger. But obviously since we can't rewind the clock, I'd look at someone like Clive Owen.

Major Rall, a major in the Luftwaffe who puts together the audacious mission plan. Well now, I kept seeing Robert Duvall in The Eagle Has Landed. He'd be too old to play this similar role, so in his place I'd look at someone like Gary Oldman.

Hauser, an anti-semitic scientist who develops the Nazi bomb. A nasty, slimey, self-serving piece of work, this chap. I could only think of one bloke to play him, Doug Hutchison (the really nasty little prison guard in The Green Mile).

Wallace, an old man in the present who's spent a life working for the SOE, the CIA, comes out of the woodwork to reveal to Chris Roland the events that happened in the dying days of WWII. Obviously someone in their 80's, to be plausible. However, I think Anthony Hopkins could be aged ten years to look frail enough for the role.

As it happens, there are a couple film 'suits' sniffing around the movie rights, so it's always a possibility. Maybe one day. Whilst I'm still alive would be nice.

Visit the Scarrow Brothers' website, Alex Scarrow's blog, and read reviews of A Thousand Suns.

The Page 69 Test: A Thousand Suns.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jack Getze's "Big Numbers"

Jack Getze, a former reporter for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner and the Los Angeles Times, covered financial and economic issues for more than 15 years; then he switched professions and later sold stocks and bonds for a regional securities firm on the New Jersey Shore.

Big Numbers, his first published novel, is based on his experiences as a retail broker, sales manager, and financial executive.

Here Getze shares some ideas about the casting for a film adaptation of Big Numbers:

I can't remember who I had in mind as Austin Carr twenty years ago when I started Big Numbers. But I rewrote Austin's first-person account two years ago with several pictures of Vince Vaughn pinned above my computer. I even have a shot of Vince posted on my Austin Carr's Crime Diary blog. The headline -- Only a Rumor Vince Wants the Part.

In fact, since Big Numbers is the first in a series, and I'm working on number three right now, the pictures of Vince Vaughn are still up. He's obviously my choice to play Austin in any movie. Vince's ability to crack wise with a straight face, the natural way he wears a business suit, and his ability to charm the ladies make him perfect for the part.

For the part of Kelly Burns, the pretty redhead who lures Austin astray, I've always had in mind Molly Ringwald. Molly starred in the John Hughes movies Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink, but the thing a lot of people remember about her is that she turned down the leading role of Julia Roberts' part in the 1990 smash Pretty Woman, and also Demi Moore's leading role in the film Ghost.

Molly's aged very well and now sports a mature sexiness that was missing in those teenage roles. I think she'd make a perfect seductress for the screen.

Austin's sidekick, bartender Luis Guererro, is tough to cast. He was based on a real bartender I knew twenty-five years ago in Red Bank, New Jersey, so I have a picture in my mind that's impossible to duplicate. But twenty years ago, Edward James Olmos came awfully darn close. Tough and intimidating with just a look, but soft-spoken and wise, I thought Olmos would -- like Luis -- would make Austin feel safe sitting at Luis's bar. Olmos is too old now, I suppose, but it's still his picture I have pinned on the board next to Vince Vaughn's.

As for Psycho Sam Attica, the former professional wrestler enraged by Austin's disastrous investment advice, I saw him on television last night as I was channel surfing. It's Hulk Hogan, who now has his own reality show.

Learn more about Jack Getze, Big Numbers, and Big Money -- the second Austin Carr Mystery due out in February 2008 -- at Getze's website and The Crimes of Austin Carr blog.

The Page 69 Test: Big Numbers.

--Marshal Zeringue