Book openings

I haven’t blogged in a long time, for a variety of reasons, but I was recently given an idea for a post by a friend, thank you Anna Faversham, so here I am doing that post.

Over the past five and a half years I have published 9 books in multiple genres and one question I have never asked is which of my books has the best opening, and that is what I am asking now.

Below are the opening books in the four genres I have explored so far and I would love to hear from my followers and any other interested parties which book grabs your attention the quickest.

Where There’s A Will: Inspector Stone Mysteries #1

Side by side, as though joined at the hip, Ben and Jerry stepped through the flaps and into the pavilion. They blinked in unison as they went from the darkness of outside to the brightness of the pavilion’s interior, which was lit by portable lights that hung overhead.

They knew what to do without talking – they had been working together for so long that they would have been as close as brothers even without the bond of blood – and while Ben made for the young man busily gathering up the plastic glasses that littered the tables, Jerry threaded his way through the tables to the bar.

The Curious Cousins and the Smugglers of Bligh Island

Sunlight, warm and golden yellow, shone down from the cloudless sky, offering a promise of the heat to come, while gulls flew back and forth across the unmarred blue, their cries blending into something almost musical. Every so often a gull would dive, disappearing beneath the shallow waves briefly before soaring back into the sky. Most had wriggling fish in their beaks, which they carried away to eat, while those that were unsuccessful returned to circling and wheeling in search of a target.

Written In Blood: The Oakhurst Murders #1

“I said stop!” Georgina was as surprised as He when she slapped him, it was completely out of character.

She sat there for several long moments, too stunned by what she had done to move, while He pulled back, the hand he had been sliding up her leg now at his cheek. It was only when he reached for her again, this time with something other than lust in his eyes, that Georgina found the impetus to move.

An Unwanted Inheritance: Cas Dragunov #1

The third judge took his seat at the bench which looked down over the courtroom and the order was given for everyone to be seated. Aside from the panel of three judges there was an usher and two security officers, who remained standing, the prosecutor, who sat ramrod straight at his table, and the defendant and his legal counsel – they were in quiet conversation while they waited for proceedings to get underway.