June 18th's Book Beginnings and Friday 56

 Welcome to Friday!  Must be time once again to dive into Book Beginnings and Friday 56.

This week, I'm featuring A Distant Grave by Sarah Stewart Taylor.

This is the second book in a series about homicide detective Maggie D'arcy.  And, like the first book, it partially takes place on Long Island and partially in Ireland.

With that out of the way, shall we get to how the book beginnings?  I'm actually offering two teasers this week, one from the prologue and one from chapter one.  Up first, the prologue:

The cold was different here.
It got inside you, the raw knife edge of it slipping beneath your clothes at your collar and your cuffs, taking your breath and setting your nerves to alarm.  The skin on his face and neck stung; his hands and feet were going about the business of going numb, but until they did, they were going to do their best to warn him.

Isn't that wonderfully evacuative?  Now, from chapter one:

Marty is waiting for me in the parking lot.  I know he's nervous because he can't keep his hands off the buttons of his coat and even from across the parking lot I can see that hsi forehead is creased with worry.

Jumping ahead to page 56, we find this.  To get the scene, Maggie is talking to her daughter, Lilly:

"Lil?  One thing I need to tell you.  Marty wants us to be a bit careful the next few days, until we go.  So that means keeping doors locked and alarms on.  You know the drill.  Okay?"
"What happened?"  Lilly's used to periodic upgrades to our home security because of something going on with my work.  She's not overly concerned.
"Nothing specific.  Just a precaution, okay?"

This book is great.  It officially comes out on Tuesday, and I'll have a review of it ready to go that morning, so I hope you come back then.

In the meantime, have a great weekend.