First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature
for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words.
What if instead of judging a book by its
cover, its author or its prestige, we judged
it by its opening lines?
Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your
current read or on your TBR) and open to
the first page. Copy the first few lines, but don’t
give anything else about the book away
just yet – you need to hook the reader first
Finally… reveal the book!
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Veterinary doctor Ally Winter held Roxy’s leash firmly as she knocked at the door of the Legacy House. The Lannon stone ranch had been transformed into an assisted-living residence, and her grandfather had been living there for the past five months after breaking his hip and requiring surgery back in April. The house was located on Legacy Drive in Willow Bluff, Wisconsin, a small town on the shore of Lake Michigan.
“Good morning, Ally.” Harriet Lehman, a rectangle-shaped woman who liked to wear flowery dresses over sturdy support hose and boxy black shoes, greeted her with a wide smile, which dimmed when she saw Roxy the boxer at Ally’s side. “Oh, you brought the dog. Oscar is just finishing breakfast.” She hesitated, then reluctantly asked, “Would you like to come in?”
“Thanks, Harriet, we won’t stay long.” Harriet was one of the Willow Bluff widows, or WBWs, as Gramps liked to call them. Harriet and her sister Tillie shared the large master suite, while Lydia and Gramps each had their own room.
The Legacy House was owned by Beatrice Potter, who made sure the place was well stocked with food for Harriet to cook and managed the cleaning and utility payments. All the widows and Gramps had to do was pay their monthly stipend and find a way to get along.
The latter was often easier said than done.
************
Tailing Trouble
A Furry Friends Mystery #2
Laura Scott
Crooked Lane Books, January 2022
From the publisher—
Thirty-something veterinarian Ally Winter has found a new “leash” on life since she moved back to her hometown of Willow Bluff, Wisconsin. But when she takes Domino, the black standard poodle she’s boarding for the weekend, for a sunny September stroll along the shore of Lake Michigan, the diminutive dog dashes off, only to return with a single, polka-dotted, high-heeled shoe. Retracing Domino’s paw prints back to a weeping willow tree, they find the other shoe. It’s still on the foot of 20-year-old Pricilla Green–lying dead beneath the willow, with a silk scarf knotted tightly around her neck.
Willow Bluff’s finest–and handsomest–detective, Noah Jorgenson, is soon on the tail of the killer. But he has another worry on his mind when Ally’s grandfather, a lifelong true-crime buff, starts to suspect that the recent burglary of a local big-box store may have some connection to Pricilla’s murder. Noah cautions Ally to keep Gramps well away from the homicide investigation, but the old dog is drawn to danger like a puppy is to a squeaky ball.
The fur flies as Ally, Noah, Gramps, and Domino race the clock to fetch the felon. It will take all of their canine canniness to comb out the twists and curls in this wild and woolly case. And if they fail, they won’t live to go walkies again.
Buried Under Books 