YvonneThe uniformed constable lifted the tape and waved Detective Chief Inspector Banks through the gate at two forty-seven in the morning.
Banks’s headlights danced over the scene as he drove into the bumpy farmyard and came to a halt. To his left stood the squat, solid house itself, with its walls of thick limestone and mossy, flagstone roof. Lights shone in both the upstairs and downstairs windows. To his right, a high stone wall buttressed a copse that straggled up the dale-side, where the trees became lost in darkness. Straight ahead stood the barn.
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A great descriptive opening, which is already setting the chills running down my spine, just wondering exactly what awaits Banks in the barn …
The farm sounds as though it is in such a remote location, I am also pondering on just who has called the police and how long ago any crime took place!
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WHAT IS ‘BOOK BEGINNINGS’ AND HOW CAN YOU JOIN IN THE FUN ?
Would the first few lines of your book make you want to read on?
If so, would you like to share them with us, (without revealing too many spoilers of course) ?
Click here and visit your host, Gilion @ Rose City Reader
You can then leave a link to your own book beginnings post, or just browse for some great reads, there are always plenty of new authors and titles to be discovered.
Don’t forget that Gilion and all the other contributors to this meme love to hear from you, so why not leave a comment or two at the same time?
I can’t wait to do a little blog hopping myself and check out all the great Book Beginnings you have!
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You can’t go wrong with a Peter Robinson book. 🙂 Have a great weekend.
sherry @ fundinmental Friday Memes
I agree Sherry, Banks has a way of growing on you, although I can’t believe that there are now over 20 books in the series, of which I have read but a few and none of those in sequential order I hasten to add!
It wasn’t until I checked out all of Peter Robinson’s books on Fantasticfiction, that I realised just how many novellas he has also written, so I wouldn’t mind reading one or two of those as well, just to see what they are like.
Happy Reading and thanks for stopping by 🙂
Deliciously descriptive. I love books that are so descriptive that they have the power to transport us to another time/place and with this opening sentence I’m certainly transported to this farm house.
The dark concrete corridor stretched out before him, smelling of blood and semen and terror.
Roarke had been here before, these stinking hellholes, cellblock rooms barely big enough for a mattress and bed stand.
– page 1, chapter 1: Blood Moon by Alexandra Sokoloff.
Hi Tracy,
You definitely feel a great sense of remoteness and almost desolation in Peter Robinson’s description of the farm, don’t you?
We live in rural Somerset, but that isn’t anywhere near as barren and isolated as parts of Yorkshire, where the Banks series is set. As the author also lives in that area, he is probabaly writing about places he knows firsthand and is very familiar with, which is great for readers like me, who really love descriptive writing.
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Thanks to Kelly, I already have the first book in ‘The Huntress’ series, on my ‘Want To Read’ list.
I am trying to work out just how those opening lines fit in with the premise of the book, but they are so good! I have a pretty good sense of smell, so I can imagine what the stench would have been like … UGH!
Are you reading the three books of the series sequentially, or is ‘Blood Moon’ a stand alone read for you?
I appreciate you taking the time to comment and I hope that you enjoy your weekend 🙂
I love a good murder mystery and the opening you shared sounds like it fits the bill. For that matter, Tracy’s beginning sounds quite compelling, as well.
Here’s mine, from The City by Dean Koontz (taken from the “prelude”):
“Malcolm gives me a tape recorder.
He says, “you’ve got to talk your life.”
“I’d rather live the now than talk about the was.”
Malcolm says, “Not all of it. Just the … you know.” “
Hi Kelly,
If you can get over some of Banks’s foibles and eccentricities, then I’m sure you’ll enjoy his unique way of dealing with crime and criminals on his patch!!
As the first book in this lengthy series was written right back in 1987, it might be worth while reading one of the latest episodes first, so that you can get a modern day feel for Banks, before perhaps returning to one or two of his older cases. Peter has done a great job at keeping Banks fresh and relevant to the changing times!
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I used to be an avid fan of Dean Koontz, but I don’t seem to have read any of his books for years now and I can’t say why. I was immediately drawn in by the opening lines you shared from ‘The City’ though and even more intrigued when I read these opening lines from the premise, over at Goodreads …
“The city changed my life and showed me that the world is deeply mysterious. I need to tell you about her and some terrible things and wonderful things and amazing things that happened . . . and how I am still haunted by them. Including one night when I died and woke and lived again.” ….
Definitely an author I may need to re-visit some time soon, thanks for sharing and enjoy the book 🙂
I like the beginning a lot. Giving the precise time that the detective arrived gives the scene the feeling of an official inquiry, so you know this isn’t just a social call. I’m curious about why Banks is there.
My Friday post features True Believer.
Hi Sandra,
I shouldn’t think that Banks is best pleased to have been called out to somewhere so remote in the early hours of the morning, so I guess he probably checked the time in the car as he arrived at the property, I know I would have done!
Given that uniformed officers are already on the scene, I imagine they have realised that the ‘crime’ is outside of their remit and have called in the Detectives to investigate the case!
Thanks for taking the time to stop by, I always appreciate your comments 🙂
That is a nice, creepy setting there with the farmhouse. Happy reading 😉
Hi Naida,
Farmhouse properties are traditionally quite a large and sprawling series of outbuildings, so something bad might well have happened in a barn, without anyone being the wiser for quite some time. It could be quite a shock to be the person discovering something amiss, particularly if they weren’t expecting it!
Author Peter Robinson always knows how to turn out a great police procedural, even if his protagonists don’t always bide by the rules!
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment 🙂
“A great descriptive opening, which is already setting the chills running down my spine, just wondering exactly what awaits Banks in the barn …”
Agreed! Now I also want to know…
One book I’m reading now is Ivanhoe. So far, I find it remarkable for two things – the lavish historic details (particularly what people are wearing). And a more sympathetic depiction of Jewish characters than one often sees in classic literature. On the whole, I’m enjoying it.
I’m also reading a short story collection of hard-boiled mysteries (with film noir detectives and other cynical men in a dark world…)
Hi Hila,
This particular area of the UK, can be both very beautiful and very unforgiving, changing from one to the other so quickly and catching out the unwary traveller.
At that time of night, everything would have been pitch black (no street lights out there!), except for any light now being used by the police who have started investigating the case, before Banks’s arrival.
Definitely plenty of chills in store …
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‘Ivanhoe’ is another of those classic books I have yet to read, although I do enjoy reading historical fiction from time to time, for those descriptive details, which simply don’t translate very well to contemporary fiction. By today’s standards, at over 500 pages, it is quite a chunkster read, so it is good that you are enjoying the story.
Thanks for stopping by and for taking the time to take part in the discussion 🙂