October 2nd's Book Beginnings and Friday 56

 Here we go again - it's Friday, so it's time for Book Beginnings and Friday 56.

This week I'm featuring two first lines while also participating in the Friday 56.  How is that, you ask?  I'm featuring Chesapeake Crimes: Invitation to Murder, a short story collection from the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime.  And the way things work out, 56% into the book is the beginning of a new story, and it has a great first line.

                                                                 

The first story in the collection is "The Dame and Thaddeus Birdwhistle" by Karen Cantell.  And here is how that story begins.

Amelia Birdwhistle rarely regretted her quiet life in Back Bay as wife and mother.

That understated first line belies what is easily a favorite story from the collection.  It is so much fun.

As I said, at 56%, we are starting another story.  This one is "The Great Bedbug Incident and the Invitation of Doom" by Eleanor Cawood Jones.  That story begins this way:

I'm not normally much of a complainer, especially when I'm traveling abroad, but really, after the one A.M. Great Bedbug Incident, the dead body in my hotel bed at four A.M. was entirely too much.

That line hooked me right away.  And yes, this was another story I really enjoyed.

This collection officially comes out on Tuesday, and I hope you'll come back to read my review that day.

Until then, have a wonderful weekend.