Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #85

It's Friday . . . time to share book excerpts with:

• Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.  
• The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an ebook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

Today I'm featuring Under a Silent Moon by Elizabeth Haynes, the first book in a new British crime series, and borrowed from the library.

 

Beginning:

Day One

Thursday 1 November 2012

09:41

DISPATCH LOG 1101-0132

• CALLER STATES SHE HAS FOUND HER FRIEND COVERED IN BLOOD NOT MOVING NOT BREATHING
• AMBULANCE ALREADY DISPATCHED -- REF 01-914
• CALLER IS FELICITY MAITLAND, HERMITAGE FARM, CEMETERY LANE MORDEN -- OCCUPATION FARM OWNER
• INJURED PARTY IDENTIFIED AS POLLY LUCAS, FAMILY FRIEND OF CALLER  

 

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Page 56:  "As soon as it was all over, Lou whispered to Andy, 'I really need a drink.'"

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My thoughts:  The story jumps off the page within the first few lines, immersing the reader in the crime scene from the very start.  Who is the victim?  Who is her friend?  Who is to blame?

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From Goodreads: Two women share one fate.

A suspected murder at an English Farm. A reported suicide at a local quarry.

Can DCI Louisa Smith and her team gather the evidence and discover a link between them, a link which sealed their fate one cold night, Under a Silent Moon?

A tense, compelling and unsettling novel mystery brimming with source material and evidence set over just six days, Under a Silent Moon will keep you gripped until the very last page and asks:

Can you connect the clues and name the Killer?

In the crisp, early hours of an autumn morning, the police are called to investigate two deaths. The first is a suspected murder at a farm on the outskirts of a small village. A beautiful young woman has been found dead, her cottage drenched with blood. The second is a reported suicide at a nearby quarry. A car with a woman's body inside was found at the bottom of the pit.

As DCI Louisa Smith and her team gather evidence, they discover a shocking link between the two cases and the two deaths-a bond that sealed their terrible fates one cold night, under a silent moon.

In this first entry in a compelling new detective series, Elizabeth Haynes interweaves fictional primary source materials-police reports, phone messages, interviews-and multiple character viewpoints to create a sexy, edgy, and compulsively readable tale of murder, mystery, and unsettling suspense.

 

 

 Which book are you reading now or about to start?

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #85 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are encouraged and appreciated.