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…
“No hint of the horror to come was discernible in the pure snow.”
Do you know this one?
It is the start of the second book in a cozy mystery series…
It is a historical mystery set in London…
Have you guessed?
Yes? No?
Give up?
Here it is!
A Case of Life and Limb by Sally Smith
1901. Gabriel Ward KC is hard at work on a thorny libel case involving London’s most famous music hall star and its most notorious tabloid newspaper, but the Inner Temple remains as quiet and calm as ever. Quiet, that is, until the mummified hand arrives in the post…
While the hand’s recipient, Temple Treasurer Sir William Waring, is rightfully shaken, Gabriel is filled with curiosity. Who would want to send such a thing? And why? But as more parcels arrive – one with fatal consequences – Gabriel realises that it is not Sir William who is the target, but the Temple itself.
Someone is holding a grudge that has led to at least one death. It is up to Gabriel, and Constable Wright of the City of London Police, to find out who before the body count gets any higher. The game’s afoot.
This is a great historical mystery series with a really wonderful cast of characters. I love the setting of the Temple, and all of the political machinations. This one was a little bit easier to guess who was responsible for the gruesome packages, but I loved reading how Gabriel got there. I am so looking forward to the next book in the series.
Confessions of a Serial Reader 