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 my most recent read and the book I am blog-touring today, The Body in the Ballroom by R.J. Koreto.  The excerpt shared is from an eBook version I received from Partners in Crime, the tour host.

 

Chapter 1

St. Louis wasn't half bad.  I met some fine people there, but my job being what it was, I met a lot of bad ones, too. The Secret Service said they had found some funny business with money, and as St. Louis was a lively town, it was as good a place as any to plot something like that.  Mr. Wilkie, the Secret Service chief, said I could make myself useful in St. Louis, and I suppose I did.  Alice wrote me one letter from Washington, filled with backstairs gossip along with complaints about her stepmother and cousin Eleanor.  She told me not to write back because it was too hard to hide, and she didn't want to make it difficult to get me back home, but I was in her thoughts, and she hoped to see me again soon.  In the small hours, when I was really honest with myself, I admitted I sometimes missed her. 

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

This is the second book in the Alice Roosevelt Mystery Series, and I am completely hooked.  The book and series feature both historical and fictional characters and offer a glimpse into New York society and the city itself at a very significant time in American history.  

I hope you will visit my blog tour post for a review of The Body in the Ballroom and my review of Alice and the Assassin, the first book in the series, as well.

This First Chapter ~ First Paragraph post was originally composed and/or compiled and published by Catherine for the blog, bookclublibrarian.com.  It cannot be republished without attribution. Sharing this original post on Twitter, Google+ and/or other blogs with appropriate recognition is appreciated.