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...

"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...

"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...

"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...

"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...

"Everyone has a secret.

Like the oyster with its grain of sand, we bury it deep within, coating it with opalescent layers, as if that could heal our mortal wound. Some of us devote our entire lives to keeping our secret hidden, safe from those who might pry it from us, hoarding it like the pearl, only to discover that it escapes us when we least expect it, revealed by a flash of fear in our eyes when caught unawares, by a sudden pain, a rage or hatred, or an all-consuming shame."

... The Tudor Secret by C.W. Gortner (coming Feb. 1st!)

First Lines...

"Alpina Lindsay breathed a sigh of relief. It hadn't been easy locating a vampyre none of them had ever met, but finally, after nights of searching for the man, there he was! He certainly matched the description of the man Fiona Macleod had seen in her vision. Leaning against the stone facade of the old inn, Lord Kettering drew deeply on his cheroot as he gazed up at the crescent moon, seemingly without a care in the world."

... It Happened One Bite by Lydia Dare (coming March 2011)

First LInes...

"Josianne's gift is a simple square box, its sides about as long as her forearm. It is about as deep as her hand is wide. The white plastic lid has a quaint red crosshatch pattern on it, like the sort you might see on a tablecloth is a small family-owned restaurant. The box in nothing extraordinary, though its contents have been known to induce fevers. At least, that is one of the effects it had on Josianne when it first came to her-perhaps she decided to pass on her gift as much from a need to get it away from herself as to share it with another. At least, the box let her think she decided." ...13 rue Therese by Elena Mauli Shapiro coming February 2011

First Lines... and the Origins of a Special Little Reindeer

"'Twas the day before Christmas, and all through the hills

The reindeer were playing, enjoying their spills.

While every so often they'd stop to call names

At one little deer not allowed in their games.

Ha ha! Look at Rudolph! His nose is a sight!

It's red as a beet! Twice as Big! Twice as Bright!"

... Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by Robert L. May, 1939

It was 1939 and Montgomery Ward department stores was looking for an inexpensive way to draw customers into their store during the Christmas season. Robert May was an advertising executive with Montgomery Ward, had a natural flair with words, and was asked to create something. The result was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, a story "of Rudolph, a young reindeer who was teased by the other deer because of his large, glowing, red nose. But, When Christmas Eve turned foggy and Santa worried that he wouldn't be able to deliver gifts that night, the former outcast saved Christmas by leading the sleigh by the light of his red nose. Rudolph's message-that given the opportunity, a liability can be turned into an asset-proved popular." May used a rhyming pattern similar to Clement Moore's, 'Twas Night Before Christmas, and a Christmas icon was born! Montgomery Ward gave away almost 2.5 million copies of the poem, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, when it was first published. In 1947, Montgomery Ward gave the copyright to May, who published the poem in book form, which instantly became a best seller.

In 1949, Johnny Marks, Robert May's brother-in-law, wrote a short song based on Rudolph's story. It is rumored that at first no one wanted to record the song because the story itself was a cherished Christmas tradition. But eventually country-western singer Gene Autry recorded the song and the rest is history. The song's popularity has even surpassed the books popularity- almost anyone can sing along to the song, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, but how about the book by the same name? 71 years later, we are still enjoying Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

And tonight we'll be watching for that little red glow in the night sky, that will be our favorite reindeer leading Santa's sleigh to all the homes of all the good little boys & girls all over the world... Merry Christmas!

First Lines...

"It has been sixty-four years since the president and the Consortium identified love as a disease, and forty-three since the scientists perfected a cure. Everyone else in my family has had the procedure already. My older sister, Rachel, has been disease free for nine years now. She's been safe from love for so long, she says she can't even remember its symptoms. I'm scheduled to have my procedure in exactly ninety-five days, on September 3. My birthday."

... Delirium by Lauren Oliver (release date Feb. 1, 2011)

First Lines...

In a terraced house in Battersea, Ester Hammerhans came tearing down the stairs with one arm through a cardigan sleeve, the rest flapping at her legs, and turned off the hob. The kettle stopped its screaming, throwing out hysterical clouds of steam. Ester found the teapot and filled it with hot water, some spilling over the work surface. The tea leaves had been forgotten, something she discovered five minutes later, after a wild campaign with the washing up. "Idiots!" she cursed the tea leaves, beating them into the water with a spoon.

... Mr. Chartwell by Rebecca Hunt (coming Feb. 2011!)

First Lines...

"Like the luxury co-ops and five-star French eateries located in Manhattan's Silk Stocking District, Benchley East Side Parking was outrageously exclusive. Tucked side by side and bumper to bumper within its four temperature-controlled underground levels beneath East 77th Street were several vintage Porsches, a handful of Ferraris, even a pair of his-and=hers Lamborghinis."

...Tick Tock by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge ( this is an alert for all you James Patterson fans that a new book is coming your way! This will be published in January!)

First Lines...

"Jack Rosenblum switched off the wireless and nestled back into his leather armchair. A beatific smile spread across his face and he closed his eyes. "So there is to be more rain," he remarked to the empty room, stretching out his short legs and giving a yawn. He was unconcerned by the dismal prognosis; it was the act of listening to the bulletin that he savored. Each evening during the weather forecast he could imagine he was an Englishman." ...Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English by Natasha Solomons

First Lines...

"On the day that Nan Gilbert decided to kill herself, she awoke sometime after noon to the sound of her neighbor playing the radio in his backyard. The song was new to her, but the voice was familiar. It was Paul Simon singing without Garfunkel. And though "Kodachrome" was a rueful song about the bright-colored days of youth, it seemed quaint to Nan, who couldn't imagine that people still experienced the world in any kind of light." ... The Other Life by Ellen Meister (coming Feb. 2011)

First Lines...

"All afternoon her cries could be heard throughout the small wooden enclosure they called Fort Mandan, winter quarters for the expedition across the river from one of the tribe's villages. Two rows of huts faced each other at an oblique angle within the stockade, and from one of these the guttural shrieks emerged with a grim regularity. In and around the other huts the men kept to their business - skinning game, cutting wood, cleaning guns - but each flinched inwardly when the next cry reached his ears." ...Across The Endless River by Thad Carhart