First Chapter ~ First Paragraph

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph

It's Tuesday . . . time for . . . 

                                                      

 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, now hosted by Vicki at I'd Rather Be At The Beach, where bloggers post the first paragraph(s) of a book they are currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.   

Today I'm featuring Sunburn by Laura Lippman, my current read.  The excerpt shared is from an advanced reader's copy.

  

PART ONE

SMOKE

1

JUNE 11, 1995

BELLEVILLE, DELAWARE

It's the sunburned shoulders that get him.  Pink, peeling.  The burn is two days old, he gauges.  Earned on Friday, painful to the touch yesterday, today an itchy soreness that's hard not to keep fingering, probing, as she's doing right now in an absentminded way.  The skin has started sloughing off, soon those narrow shoulders won't be so tender.  Why would a redhead well into her thirties make such a rookie mistake?

And why is she here, sitting on a barstool, forty-five miles inland, in a town where strangers seldom stop on a Sunday evening?  Belleville is the kind of place where people are supposed to pass through and soon they won't even do that. They're building a big bypass so the beach traffic won't have to slow for the speed trap on the old Main Street.  He saw the construction vehicles, idle on Sunday, on his way in.  Places like this bar-slash-restaurant, the High-Ho, are probably going to lose what little business they have.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading? 

The opening of the story creates curiosity around a mystery woman--a redhead with peeling shoulders.  I was immediately drawn in, knowing what a master storyteller Laura Lippman is.  It is quickly turning into a compelling read.

This First Chapter ~ First Paragraph post was originally composed and/or compiled and published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  It cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are appreciated.