Yvonne
This is a meme for all you ‘First Page Browsers‘
MYSTERY BY THE SEA – (Lady Eleanor Swift #5)
by VERITY BRIGHT
BOOK BEGINNINGS / FIRST LINES
ONE
” ‘Tis terrible bad luck,’
Lady Eleanor Swift smiled. ‘Really, Polly, whatever do you mean? You’ve no need to back up whenever we happen to meet each other. You could fit six people across the width of each stair with ease.’
‘Musn’t cross on the stairs, your ladyship,’ her young maid whispered. ‘Begging your pardon for saying so, but ’tis terrible bad luck.’
‘Ah, I see!’ Eleanor frowned. ‘Well, we definitely don’t need any more of that!’ She tucked some of her wilder red curls behind her ear. ‘Perhaps we had better coordinate our ups and downs this morning then, Polly? Otherwise’ – she peered over the polished oak bannisters at Clifford, her impeccably turned out butler who was consulting a meticulously handwritten list in the hall below – ‘we might both be in trouble.’
Her young maid swallowed hard and fiddled with the lace at the top of her apron. ‘Oh lummy, Mr Clifford will be spitting feathers if things get late.’
Eleanor smiled at the image this conjured up. ‘Don’t worry, he’s just keen to make sure everything goes to schedule because we’re all going… on holiday!’
Polly squealed, then clapped her hand to her mouth. Clifford peered up at them disapprovingly. He pulled a fob watch from his pocket, consulted it with a sniff, and then shut the case with a resounding snap that echoed round the marble entrance hall.
‘Oops!’ Eleanor whispered, gesturing to Polly that they had better both get moving.”
So, you have taken a sneak peek, would you read the book?
Let me know what you think in the comments section below.
Just to give you an extra helping hand, here is the book’s premise …
MYSTERY BY THE SEA – (Lady Eleanor Swift #5)
A magnificent seaside hotel, striped deckchairs, strawberry ice cream… and a rather familiar dead body? Lady Swift is on the case!
Spring, 1921. Lady Eleanor Swift, explorer extraordinaire and accidental sleuth, hasn’t had a vacation since she arrived in England a year ago. Being an amateur detective can be a rather tiring business and she is determined to escape any more murder and mysteries. So she books into the Grand Hotel in the fashionable resort of Brighton for some fresh air, fish and chips and, of course, a dip in the ocean.
Eleanor is enjoying her view of the waves and trying to find her bathing suit when calamity strikes: a guest has been found dead at her beautiful hotel. The distraught manager, who can’t afford a scandal, asks Eleanor to solve the case as swiftly as possible. Thank goodness she has her partner in crime – Gladstone the bulldog – to help her sniff out the dastardly culprit.
But when Eleanor enters the dead man’s room, she receives a shock big enough to make her forget even the finest ice cream sundae. The body is that of her husband, who supposedly died six years ago on the other side of the world. Has he been alive all these years? Why does he have a copy of their wedding photograph with a cryptic message written on the back? If Eleanor can keep herself safe long enough to find her husband’s killer, she might discover that everything is not quite as it seems beside the seaside…
You might also like to visit the meme host, Gilion, over at ‘Rose City Reader‘, where you can share links to the book beginnings from her own reading schedule and that of many of our fellow bloggers.
There are always plenty of new authors and titles to be discovered and you never know where that next ‘must read’ is going to come from!
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I’m afraid I am not convinced by the plot. Her husband’s death is presented too casually and that makes me think the book lacks depth.
Hi Anca,
Ah! There is a lot more to this plot than first meets the eye and Eleanor is a definitely more affected than the premise might indicate, although having now finished reading this one ready for the Blog Tour, I personally don’t know why she is bothered, I’m not sure that I would be!
Take into account it’s also very much a ‘cozy’ mystery too, great if you enjoy the style and era of Agatha Christie’s ‘Poirot & Hastings’ or ‘Tommy & Tuppence’.
Still working on WordPress issues, but they are on hold until the weekend. I hope to catch up with you then! 🙂
Hi Yvonne – thanks so much for this – I’m so glad you enjoyed the book 🙂
Hi Verity,
Enjoy the book I certainly did, although I can’t give away any ‘spoilers’ as my review will be following in March, as part of the Bookouture Blog Tour!
I particularly liked that I could step straight into this, book #5, as a new reader and not feel too ‘short-changed’ about any ongoing back-story.
Thank you so much for taking the time to engage with us today, I appreciate your support! 🙂
I actually like the opening and I do enjoy cosy mysteries every now and again so one to keep in mind.
Lynn 😀
Hi Lynn,
That opening does set the scene quite nicely and neither the style of narrative or people waver out of character at all during the story. Eleanor isn’t your usual ‘lady’ material though, but even she is a consistent voice throughout.
I tend to only read ‘cozies’ when they are part of a Blog Tour I have committed to and there have been a few particularly good ones around of late.
Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate your support 🙂
Glad you like the opening, Lynn – if you do read it, I’d love to know what you think
I wonder if this is a series that could easily be dipped in and out of, without reading them in order? I look forward to more posts about it.
Hi Kelly,
I definitely think so, as I commented to the author, I didn’t feel short-changed by the amount of back-story at all, as I found out all that was pertinent to this particular case. If you just want some light murder/mystery reading to pass a few hours, then this one works great standing alone.
However, knowing you as I think I do, you might not be of the same opinion, as our amateur sleuth, Lady Eleanor, does have something of a past by the sound of things! 🙂
My review is due up in March as part of the organised Blog Tour 🙂