Book Beginnings on Friday and Book Blogger Hop – December 9, 2022

Book Beginnings on Fridays is hosted each week by Rose City Reader. It’s a chance to share the first sentence or so of the book you are reading this week. You can check out others’ book beginnings here. I’m also going to link up with Carrie at Reading Is My Superpower for First Line Friday.

This week’s book beginning:

Synopsis:

Candles are lit and their rich vanilla scent twists its way through the cabin. The table is set for a romantic anniversary dinner with fresh roses dropping crimson petals on crisp white linen. But the woman seated at the table is cold to the touch, and there’s blood trickling down her neck…

When Denton’s most loved TV presenter returns home to find his wife dead at the dining table, it shatters the close-knit community. Beautiful and absolutely besotted with each other, Beau and Claudia Collins were idolized for being the perfect couple. But the devastating scene Detective Josie Quinn finds in their remote hideaway has her asking what dark secrets lurk beneath the surface of this seemingly flawless marriage?

Beau is grief-stricken by the loss of his kind-hearted wife who gave so much to others as a therapist, but Josie needs to know the significance of the small wooden puzzle box found clutched in Claudia’s hand. A prop in a popular game Beau played with his viewers to test the strength of their relationships, is it a twisted calling card, or a challenge from the killer?

The broken body of one of Beau and Claudia’s assistants is found the next day, a matching little box left in the dirt beside her. It’s clear that if Beau doesn’t start telling the truth about the flaws in his marriage, those dearest to him will die.

Caught in a cat and mouse chase with disturbing revelations and a mounting body count at every turn, Josie and her team work night and day to keep Beau’s loved ones safe. What kind of calculating monster would do this? A faded newspaper article about a tragic accident is the break Josie desperately needs. But she may already be too late, an innocent child is in danger…

Josie’s heart lurched into her throat as she watched a man on a bicycle fly along the sidewalk, headed directly toward seven-year-old Harris Quinn.

If y’all have followed along with me for any length of time, you know how much I enjoy Lisa Regan’s Detective Josie Quinn series. Pretty sure I’ve had about twelve posts already telling y’all how excited I am about this one. And now it’s HERE!!! I’d keep reading if her first sentence was a listing of names in the phone book, because I know there would be glorious heart-pounding suspense yet to come. But how about y’all, dear readers? Would this sentence suck you in?

Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Coffee Addicted Writer. It starts each Friday and runs through the following Thursday. Each week, there’s a new prompt featuring a book-related question. It’s designed to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, make new blogging friends, and gain followers. See what others have to say on this topic and link up your own post here.

Do you have a favorite reading nook? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)

Not really. I can plop down almost anywhere and read. Couch, comfy chair, bed, at my desk on my lunch break. Now, if I win the powerball and can build my Powerball Dream House, I’ll have a library in it, with a big ol’ chair something like this:

That would no doubt become my favorite reading nook! (And if anybody currently has the wherewithal to buy that chair, I found it on Wayfair.)

What about you? Do you have a favorite reading nook? Share in the comments!