Friday Focus: The Friday 56 and Book Beginnings

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 a current read, The Bodies in the Library by Marty Wingate, the first book in the author's new First Edition Library mystery series.

  

Beginning:  "I'll be leaving now, Ms. Burke."

I leapt up from the desk at this announcement--knocking my phone on the floor in the process--and hurried out of my office.

"Yes, Mrs. Woolgar," I said, tugging on my jacket.  "Have a lovely evening."

 

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Page 56:   "I . . . they . . . of course, I'm in no way able to . . ."

A commotion at the front door caught our attention.

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My thoughts:  This book has several appeal factors for me: it's the start of a new series; the setting is the library in a historic house in Bath, England; it has an Agatha Christie angle; and the protagonist is a woman starting over after a divorce.

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From GoodReads: Hayley Burke's fresh start as the curator of The First Edition Society's library in Bath, England, is about to take a rotten turn in this charming new mystery series from USA Today bestselling author Marty Wingate.

Hayley Burke has landed a dream job. She is the new curator of Lady Georgiana Fowling's First Edition library. The library is kept at Middlebank House, a lovely Georgian home in Bath, England. Hayley lives on the premises and works with the finicky Glynis Woolgar, Lady Fowling's former secretary.

Mrs. Woolgar does not like Hayley's ideas to modernize The First Edition Society and bring in fresh blood. And she is not even aware of the fact that Hayley does not know the first thing about the Golden Age of Mysteries. Hayley is faking it till she makes it, and one of her plans to breathe new life into the Society is actually taking flight--an Agatha Christie fan fiction writers group is paying dues to meet up at Middlebank House.

But when one of the group is found dead in the venerable stacks of the library, Hayley has to catch the killer to save the Society and her new job. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings 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 with appropriate recognition is appreciated.