First Lines...

"The body was blue.

Not merely wearing blue, he was blue -- and not the blue pallor of death. He was sapphire from head to toe, a deep shade of mood indigo."

Shot Through Velvet by Ellen Byerrum,

part of her Crime of Fashion Mystery series

First Lines...

"The body was blue.

Not merely wearing blue, he was blue -- and not the blue pallor of death. He was sapphire from head to toe, a deep shade of mood indigo."

Shot Through Velvet by Ellen Byerrum,

part of her Crime of Fashion Mystery series

First Lines...

"I turned the key and opened the door to the apartment that was my home.

Christopher must have sent Lucinda home for the weekend. The lacquered clock chimed six thirty as I closed the apartment door behind me, my heels clicking and pivoting on the hardwood. I knew he could have heard my key turn out the lock and then the hush downt the hallway to the vestibule where I stood motionless. Through his library window, the sun must have been paling to rose, the last trace lingering along the glass that separated him from Manhattan's skyline. I know he's been sitting there, waiting for the world to darken completely, his broad back humped in front of the long row of bookshelves."

...Daughters of the River Huong by Uyen Nicole Duong

First Lines...

"I turned the key and opened the door to the apartment that was my home.

Christopher must have sent Lucinda home for the weekend. The lacquered clock chimed six thirty as I closed the apartment door behind me, my heels clicking and pivoting on the hardwood. I knew he could have heard my key turn out the lock and then the hush downt the hallway to the vestibule where I stood motionless. Through his library window, the sun must have been paling to rose, the last trace lingering along the glass that separated him from Manhattan's skyline. I know he's been sitting there, waiting for the world to darken completely, his broad back humped in front of the long row of bookshelves."

...Daughters of the River Huong by Uyen Nicole Duong

First Lines...

"Everyone has a story but I was never interested in telling my own. I was an editor of book, not a writer. I loved to find sense in someone else's chaos, uncover the intent of a sentence or paragraph that only hunted at a truth. At least that was how I felt until I met Sandy Portman.

The first time I saw him my world tilted. Ridiculous, I know, but seeing him that first time jarred me so deeply that I had to turn away, like turning away from looking directly at the sun, and pretend I hadn't noticed him at all."

...Emily and Einstein by Linda Francis Lee

First Lines...

"Everyone has a story but I was never interested in telling my own. I was an editor of book, not a writer. I loved to find sense in someone else's chaos, uncover the intent of a sentence or paragraph that only hunted at a truth. At least that was how I felt until I met Sandy Portman.

The first time I saw him my world tilted. Ridiculous, I know, but seeing him that first time jarred me so deeply that I had to turn away, like turning away from looking directly at the sun, and pretend I hadn't noticed him at all."

...Emily and Einstein by Linda Francis Lee

First Lines...

"Father Aiden O'Brien was hearing confessions in the lower church of St. Francis of Assisi on West Thirty-first Street in Manhattan. The seventy-eight-year-old Franciscan friar approved of the alternate way of administering the sacrament, that of having the penitent sit on the Reconciliation Room with him, rather than kneeling on the hard wood of the confessional with a screen hiding his or her identity."

I'll Walk Alone by Mary Higgins Clark

Release Date April 5, 2011

For mystery fans, Mary Higgins Clark is a sure bet! Always a satisfying read, and this new mystery is no different! Who walks in to confess and what they are confessing is the start of this great read! Watch for my review...

First Lines...

"Father Aiden O'Brien was hearing confessions in the lower church of St. Francis of Assisi on West Thirty-first Street in Manhattan. The seventy-eight-year-old Franciscan friar approved of the alternate way of administering the sacrament, that of having the penitent sit on the Reconciliation Room with him, rather than kneeling on the hard wood of the confessional with a screen hiding his or her identity."

I'll Walk Alone by Mary Higgins Clark

Release Date April 5, 2011

For mystery fans, Mary Higgins Clark is a sure bet! Always a satisfying read, and this new mystery is no different! Who walks in to confess and what they are confessing is the start of this great read! Watch for my review...

First Lines...

"From The Book of Fairies

If you are holding this book in your hands you are one of the chosen. You must understand that with this privilege comes great responsibility. The knowledge contained in these pages will change your life forever. But you must be very wary of who you share this knowledge with. The fate of our race depends on it. On you."

Don't Breathe A Word by Jennifer McMahon...

coming May 17, 2011

First Lines...

"From The Book of Fairies

If you are holding this book in your hands you are one of the chosen. You must understand that with this privilege comes great responsibility. The knowledge contained in these pages will change your life forever. But you must be very wary of who you share this knowledge with. The fate of our race depends on it. On you."

Don't Breathe A Word by Jennifer McMahon...

coming May 17, 2011

First Lines...

" A Chinese saying goes: "In good fortune is always some misfortune, and in misfortune, always some good fortune.

Maybe they're right. After losing both my parents at twentyeight, I was abandoned - penniless - into this treacherous Ten Thousand Miles of Red Dust.

Or so I thought... "

Song of the Silk Road by Mingmei Yip (release date March 29, 2011!)

First Lines...

" A Chinese saying goes: "In good fortune is always some misfortune, and in misfortune, always some good fortune.

Maybe they're right. After losing both my parents at twentyeight, I was abandoned - penniless - into this treacherous Ten Thousand Miles of Red Dust.

Or so I thought... "

Song of the Silk Road by Mingmei Yip (release date March 29, 2011!)

First Lines...

"I was thirteen the year everything changed with a single knock at the door.

It was a strong door, sturdy oak, the kind designed to keep the worst of the world's elements outside while keeping safe the occupants on the inside..."

...The Twin's Daughter by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

First Lines...

"I was thirteen the year everything changed with a single knock at the door.

It was a strong door, sturdy oak, the kind designed to keep the worst of the world's elements outside while keeping safe the occupants on the inside..."

...The Twin's Daughter by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

First Lines...

"I still use a manual typewriter ( a 1953 Underwood portable, in a robin's-egg blue) because the soft pip-pip-pip of the typing of keys on a computer keyboard doesn't quite fit with my sense of what writing sounds like. I need the hard metal clack, and I need those keys to sometimes catch so I can reach in and untangle them, turning my fingers inky. Without slapping the return or turning the cylinder to release the paper with a sharp whip, without all that minor havoc, I feel I've paid no respect to the dead. What good is an obituary if it can be written so peaceably, so undisturbingly, in the dark of night?"

... The Coffins of Little Hope by Timothy Schaffert coming April 2011

First Lines...

"I still use a manual typewriter ( a 1953 Underwood portable, in a robin's-egg blue) because the soft pip-pip-pip of the typing of keys on a computer keyboard doesn't quite fit with my sense of what writing sounds like. I need the hard metal clack, and I need those keys to sometimes catch so I can reach in and untangle them, turning my fingers inky. Without slapping the return or turning the cylinder to release the paper with a sharp whip, without all that minor havoc, I feel I've paid no respect to the dead. What good is an obituary if it can be written so peaceably, so undisturbingly, in the dark of night?"

... The Coffins of Little Hope by Timothy Schaffert coming April 2011

First Lines...

"The city's streets lie dark as catacombs beneath a black ceiling of moonless sky. A low fog unrolls across the harbor like a carpet of frost, pushed by a salt-laden breeze. My thin cotton gown is little protection against the chill, but no matter. The cold can no longer make me cough or shiver..."

...The Raven's Bride by Lenore Hart, coming Feb. 15th!

First Lines...

"The city's streets lie dark as catacombs beneath a black ceiling of moonless sky. A low fog unrolls across the harbor like a carpet of frost, pushed by a salt-laden breeze. My thin cotton gown is little protection against the chill, but no matter. The cold can no longer make me cough or shiver..."

...The Raven's Bride by Lenore Hart, coming Feb. 15th!

First Lines...

"It was a vibrant blue-skied Afghan morning, the kind that made Yazmina stop to loosen her scarf and tilt her face to the sun. She and her younger sister, Layla, were returning from the well, their calloused feet accustomed to repeated treks on the ancient dirt. The tiny cowrie shells that decorated Yazmina's long black dress clacked with every step. She looked toward the snow-capped peaks to the north and prayed that this winter, Inshallah, God willing, would not be as bad as the last. It was so cold, so unforgiving, killing the goats, freezing the earth, destroying any chance of a good wheat crop. Another winter like that would surely make the threat of starvation real."

...A Cup of Friendship by Deborah Rodriguez (just published!)

First Lines...

"It was a vibrant blue-skied Afghan morning, the kind that made Yazmina stop to loosen her scarf and tilt her face to the sun. She and her younger sister, Layla, were returning from the well, their calloused feet accustomed to repeated treks on the ancient dirt. The tiny cowrie shells that decorated Yazmina's long black dress clacked with every step. She looked toward the snow-capped peaks to the north and prayed that this winter, Inshallah, God willing, would not be as bad as the last. It was so cold, so unforgiving, killing the goats, freezing the earth, destroying any chance of a good wheat crop. Another winter like that would surely make the threat of starvation real."

...A Cup of Friendship by Deborah Rodriguez (just published!)