Yvonne
Dartmoor, England, 3 Months Earlier
The odor of waterlogged peat filled the air. Lucius Sofistere drew his coat tight, his eyes roving the mist-enshrouded worksite as the geologists labored to extract a tarnished silver container buried deep beneath the fen.
The moors were different at night. The silence, unnerving during the day, became deafening after sunset. Tendrils of fog caught the moonlight, turning the moorland into an eerie, dreamlike tableau of hidden menaces and imagined dangers. The fog didn’t hide him, Lucius realized – it hid the moors.
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Would the first few lines of your book make you want to read on?
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I wonder if it smells like the bottom of the bay when the tides goes out. Ugh.
sherry @ fundinmental Friday Memes
Hi Sherry,
If your bay is anything like our UK tidal inlets, when the tide goes out, there is a distinct stench of silt and mud.
Peat has its own very distinct aroma, which is as strong and pungent, but is much more earthy, as befits its make-up of rotting and decaying vegetation.
I’m not sure that either smell is very palatable 🙂
Thanks for visiting this week and have a ‘Happy Reading Weekend’
Sounds different! Today I’m featuring The Underachieving Ovary by JT Lawrence.
Hi Bev,
This storyline is very much Layton’s trademark style, developed along with the characters in his ‘Dominic Grey’ series.
‘The Letterbox’ is not part of that series, but a stand alone novel, however I can well imagine Dominic and Viktor becoming embroiled in this kind of saga and adventure.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by, I always appreciate your comments 🙂
These opening lines set up a nice, creepy atmosphere! I’d want to read on….if anything, to learn what’s in the silver container. Jewels? Ashes? Bones? Papers? A blood-stained knife?
Here’s mine:
“Everyone knew a dead barmaid was burned in the courtyard.
The Garden of the Hesperides was a large but otherwise typical eating house on a busy street corner, with two marble counters, five potholes for containers of food, three shelves of cracked beakers, an unreadable price list on a flaking wall and a faded picture of nude women.”
– The Graveyard of the Hesperides by Lindsey Davis
Hi Kelly,
The phrase Layton uses in those opening lines …
“The silence, unnerving during the day, became deafening after sunset.” …
Just about sums up the moors of Somerset, Devon and Cornwall in one sentence. They are quiet and largely desolate for most of the time, but even more so when the mists and fogs descend, as they are prone to, with no prior warning!
Given a bright sunny day however, then there are surely no more beautiful landscapes in the country and the stories of long ago highwaymen and smugglers, seem nothing more than the myths of an over active imagination.
The one disappointment about your comment, is that, if you check out the synopsis, the answer to your question about the silver container, is explained in full … I can also say that your guesses aren’t right 🙂
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Lindsey Davis is an author both yourself and many other of my blogging friends have been recommending to me for some time.
Having checked out the synopsis for ‘The Graveyard of the Hesperides’, because I was quite intrigued by your opening lines, I can see just what a prolific author she is and I am very doubtful that I could ever catch up with either of her series, unless each story works okay as a stand alone?
I see that Flavia Albia Mystery #7 comes out in hardback April 2017 and is called ‘The Third Nero’
https://www.fantasticfiction.com/d/lindsey-davis/third-nero.htm
I hope that you are enjoying the book and have a good Sunday
Now that I’ve looked at the synopsis at Amazon, I remember it from before! Still…a very intriguing find. 🙂
Lindsey Davis has written a stand-alone which was just okay, but I really like her two series. Yes, best read in order for the full effect. I’ll admit I wasn’t impressed with her first Flavia Albia installment, but the ones that have followed it have been quite good.
Lindsey is probably going to be one of those authors I shall keep in reserve, just in case I ever run out of a good book to read!!! 🙂
Ha! I think the danger of that happening in your case is about as likely as in mine! 😉
I like the sound of this book. I hope you enjoy it!
Hi Vicki,
If you are in the mood for a story with a slightly Dan Brownish sounding synopsis, then this one should definitely fit the bill nicely.
I have really enjoyed all the Layton Green books I have read to date and he is now one of my favourite new authors, a genuine 5* act.
I hope that you are keeping well and thanks for taking the time to comment 🙂
This sounds interesting – I like the description – it’s just exactly how I imagine the moors to be – I’ll have to add this to my list. Here’s my Friday meme
Hi Maria,
I know that author Layton Green did spend some time in the UK, so I wonder if he visited the Dartmoor area, which made him decide to set the opening scenes from one of his books there.
I live fairly close the the area and can vouch for the authenticity of that descriptive beginning. Dartmoor is renowned for its pockets of fog, which can descend quickly upon the unsuspecting traveller, making it very difficult to see so much as a hand in front of your face and masking the complete solitude and breath-taking beauty of one of our major National Parks.
I’m sure you will enjoy Layton’s style of writing, should you decide to give ‘The Letterbox’ a try for yourself. Meanwhile, thanks for taking the time to stop by this week 🙂
I really like the sound of that snippet. Thanks for sharing!
Lauren @ Always Me
Hi Lauren,
Author Layton Green can always be relied upon to set the scene for his stories in a way that hooks you and makes you want, no need, to keep on reading.
He is definitely one of those authors whose work I shall continue to follow for some time to come.
Dartmoor is just one of the many National Parks and Areas Of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in this part of the UK and I am very lucky to be able to get to most of them in just a couple of hours, which we do quite regularly.
Thanks for taking the time to visit and comment, it is always good to chat with you 🙂