First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?
- Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
- Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
- Finally… reveal the book!
Got it? Okay let’s go! Here is the quote…
“The dog was inconsolable.
He had spent the night pacing the house, lumbering on three legs, wheezing and thumping like a jug band, all thudding footsteps and panting breaths and tinkling tags. Occasionally, overcome by some canine emotion, he would topple sideways as if there was no point in going on, only to find the strength to rise again once that spot on the floor got too warm.”
Do you know this one?
Poor dog! Don’t you want to know what is wrong?
This is the start to a great mystery that just came out.
Have you guessed?
Yes? No?
Give up?
Here it is!
Where the Dead Sleep by Joshua Moehling
Publication Date: August 15, 2023
Summary from Goodreads:
When an early morning call brings Deputy Ben Packard to the scene of a home invasion, he finds Bill Sandersen shot in his bed. Bill was a well-liked local who chased easy money his whole life, leaving bad debts and broken hearts in his wake. Everyone Packard talks to has a story about Bill, but no one has a clear motive for wanting him dead. The business partner. The ex-wife. The current wife. The high-stakes poker buddies. Any of them—or none of them—could be guilty.
As the investigation begins, tragedy strikes the Sheriff’s department, forcing Packard to make a difficult choice about his future: step down as acting Sheriff and pursue the quiet life he came to Sandy Lake in search of, or subject himself to the scrutiny of an election for the full-time role of Sheriff, a job he’s not sure he wants.
There’s a hidden history to Sandy Lake that Packard, ever the outsider, can’t see. Bad blood and old secrets run deep. But an attempt on Packard’s life means he’s getting uncomfortably close to the dangerous legacy of the quiet Minnesota town. And someone will do anything to keep it hidden.
I really enjoyed both of the books in this series. They are really good mysteries with a great cast of characters. I hope there is at least one more coming at some point, but I would certainly love to see more of them as well.
Confessions of a Serial Reader 