March 1st's Friday Post

 Welcome to March!  Time for this week's Friday Post.  As usual, I will be linking up to:

Book Beginnings
First Line Friday
Friday 56
Book Blogger Hop

My teasers for the first three will be coming from Black List, White Death by Steve Hockensmith.

This is a book that features two novellas with his Holmes on the Range characters.  The series takes place in the American West in the 1890's.  The two main characters are former cowboys who have turned detectives inspired by the tales of Sherlock Holmes that they've read.

Thanks to the eARC of this book, we will have a teaser from both stories.

The book begins with Black List.  And here's how it starts:

Dear Mr. Smythe: 

In the spring, they say, a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts  of love…

Well, I’m hoping you know who “they” are, because I’d like a  word with them. I don’t think they know much about young men.  Or old men. Or in-between men.

Your typical man has his fancy turned to love—or women  anyway—year-round.

Yes, these are mysteries, but they have a nice sense of humor to them.

Meanwhile, at 56% we get this quote from White Death.

The trail wasn’t long. Perhaps fifty curving yards at the most.  After I’d been on it half a minute, I could see where it ended—  and why it existed at all.  

Why did it exist?  I'll leave it for you to figure out.

I have fun with these stories, which is no surprise since I enjoy the series.  I'll be back on Tuesday with my review.

Time to turn to this week's Book Blogger Hop.  This question is:

What was your gateway book—the book that made you want to read more—into reading or into a specific genre?

I honestly can't remember a time when I didn't enjoy reading.  I do remember in early elementary school, I got hooked on Little Pilgrim's Progress, a retelling of the classic Pilgrim's Progress but with the main characters being kids.  I would read that back to back multiple times.

In third grade, I got hooked on The Chronicles of Narnia.  Which is ironic since I set aside a Hardy Boys book to read them.  It wasn't until a few years later that I got hooked on mysteries, although even though I would read a wider spectrum of books than I do today.

These days?  As I like to say, I've fallen into mystery and I can't seem to get out.  Not that I'm trying that hard.  There are other books in other genres that do catch my eye, but I have so many mysteries I want to read, I just don't seem to have the time.

Have a great weekend!