Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings on Fridays

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 An Act of Murder by Mary Angela.  The excerpts shared are from the trade paperback version I borrowed from the library.

Beginning:   Chapter One
It was fall at the university, and the campus teemed with life—booksellers stocking tightly bound textbooks, professors copying last-minute syllabi, and freshmen hustling into the dorms with cheaply purchased furniture.

********************

Page 56: What he would be doing, I didn't know.  I felt as if everything I did know about him was either inconsistent or incomplete.

********************

My thoughts:  I'm always interested in a new (or new-to-me) cozy mystery series, and this one has the added personally desirable element of being set on a college campus.  And in this case, the opening sentence is timely and relevant, describing the scene unfolding at college campuses everywhere as the new academic year gets underway.
 

********************

From Goodreads:   In the sleepy college town of Copper Bluff, South Dakota, English professor Emmeline Prather is enjoying the start of a new semester. But when one of her students dies working on the fall musical, it disrupts life on the small, quiet campus. Although the police rule the death accidental, Prof. Prather has good reason to suspect foul play.

Unmasking the murderer proves much more challenging than finding dangling participles, so Em recruits fellow English professor Lenny Jenkins for assistance. Together, they comb the campus and vicinity for clues, risking their reputations and possibly their jobs. After an intruder breaks into Em’s house, Lenny advises caution—and perhaps a change of address. Em, on the other hand, is all the more determined to forge ahead, convinced they’re on the brink of an important breakthrough.

Book 1 in a new cozy mystery series featuring amateur sleuth Professor Prather.

********************

This Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings on Fridays 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.