Yvonne
New Orleans, Louisiana
Halloween Week
“Would you care for a drink?” Clayton Gichaud’s sun-spotted hand trembled as he reached for the Macallan single malt. His silver hair lent an air of gravitas to fleshy jowls and a red-veined nose. “I’m afraid you might need one.”
Private investigator Dominic Grey declined the offer. His green eyes, always alert, swept the wood-paneled sitting room. Two open doorways led to the interior of the mansion, and a pair of towering sash windows overlooked St. Charles Avenue.
Grey’s employer, Professor of Religious Phenomenology Viktor Radek, was seated in an armchair next to Grey. Viktor eyed the cabinet of expensive liquor and looked away. “No thank you,” he said, with his clipped Slavic accent. “But you’ve piqued my curiosity – a difficult feat.”
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Clicking on the book’s cover image, will take you directly to its Amazon page..
To find out more about both book and author, click here..
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WHAT IS ‘BOOK BEGINNINGS’?
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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While I’ve never really felt this was a series for me, I do like these opening lines and love the setting. Are you actually reading it now or just featuring it for ‘Book Beginnings’? It certainly seems appropriate for the season!
Here’s mine:
“1875 Paris. City of love. City of dreams. City of splendor. City of saints and scholars. City of gaiety.
Sink of iniquity.
In two thousand years, Paris had seen it all.”
– Paris by Edward Rutherfurd
Hi Kelly,
I have to admit that I do break the rules a little with my BBOF meme, as I often feature future reads, rather than the book I am currently reading.
As you say though, as these crimes are being committed by someone dubbed ‘The Halloween Killer’, the book is very in the moment for a seasonal reader, or someone who needs a short book to complete their R.I.P. challenge for the year.
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As ‘Paris’ is another of your monster reads at over 800 pages, as are many of the other books written by this author, I think I’ll probably pass, despite the interesting storyline and opening lines.
Rutherford is another local to me author, being born as he was in the City of Salisbury, which is about equidistant from home, as the City of Bath is, but in the opposite direction.
If you have read his books ‘Sarum’ and ‘The Forest’, then you will have learned things about the places and areas which exist right on my doorstep.
Thanks for sharing and have a good weekend 🙂
I have indeed read and enjoyed both, ‘Sarum’ being my introduction to Rutherfurd’s work. I’ve only visited your part of the UK a couple of brief times, but I loved both Salisbury and Bath and would love to return. I have a great fascination with Roman Britain and cathedral architecture.
I don’t know how extensive your stay was in my little corner of England, but we are rather surrounded by beautiful cities.
Not only do we have Bath Abbey and Salisbury Cathedral, but we also have the smallest City in the country, Wells, close by, which has an amazing medieval Cathedral; and the majestic City of Winchester, with its Cathedral, one of the largest in Europe and with the distinction of having the longest nave and overall length of all Gothic cathedrals in Europe.
Quite a mix of styles and architecture and all close by to Glastonbury Abbey, with its connections to King Arthur.
Sorry! I didn’t mean to spout off a history lesson, it’s just that I sometimes forget how lucky I am to live in this part of the country 🙂
Not a genre I’m reading right now, but maybe in the future I’ll pick up a copy. I hope you enjoy it!
Hi Vicki,
I seem to be able to switch between genres, depending which book is next on the top of my review pile.
I have no idea what genre of book I would choose for myself, if I never had those committments.
I wonder if that indicates that I am no longer reading for pleasure?
I do always enjoy a Layton Green novel though, his style of writing is spot on for me.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and ‘Happy Reading’ 🙂
This sounds like an interesting beginning….here’s my Friday meme
Hi Maria,
If you are not a follower of the Dominic Grey series, I’ll let you into a little secret …. Viktor Radek does have more than an occasional problem with his intake of a spirit called absinthe, so offering him a drink was probably a big mistake!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absinthe
This is such a good series though, that for me, these ‘first lines’ are only setting the scene for what is going to be the start of a difficult case for the pair to solve 🙂
It does sound good, Professor of Religious Phenomenology sounds like an interesting line of work. Enjoy it and have a good weekend 🙂
Hi Naida,
Great to have you stop by and I hope that all is well with you 🙂
Whilst Viktor is a well renowned and respected professional in his field, these days it is his assistant Dominic Grey who does much of the ground work towards solving a case, although he is almost learning lessons too well and is more than able to support Viktor however he can.
I had no idea there might be so many different cult groups around and with such strange beliefs systems. ‘The Reaper’s Game’ has at its heart, a character known only as ‘The Halloween Killer’, making it an ideal short novel read for Halloween 🙂
I like the sound of the snippet!
Check out my Friday 56 (With Book Beginnings).
Hi Lauren,
Great to have you stop by this week, especially as I am featuring one of my favourite authors, Layton Green. I do love a great thriller and the investigative duo of ‘Grey and Radek’, make a superb team.
The only aspect of this particular book which may not be quite so appealing, is the fact that it is a novella and following on as it does from 4 full length stories, I am concerned that there will not be enough in the way of plot development and planning.
However I should keep the faith with Layton and be assured that there is another regular adventure for the pair, in planning as we speak 🙂
Sounds like my kind of book. I hope you enjoy it 🙂
Hi Nikki,
All of the books in the ‘Dominic Grey’ series can be read as stand alone stories, although as with everything else, they do ‘flow’ better if read in order and with some knowledge of the back-story.
Author Layton Green did stress that this novella doesn’t really fit into any particular sequence as part of the series, so given that information and the fact that it is only a little over 100 pages in length, ‘The Reaper’s Game’ might be a good place to meet Dominic and see if you like his style of action 🙂