THIS IS A MEME FOR ALL YOU ‘FIRST PAGE BROWSERS’
WILDFLOWER GRAVES by RITA HERRON
BOOK BEGINNINGS / FIRST LINES
PROLOGUE – WHITE LILIES CEMETERY
“The angel’s voice echoed in the mountain wind as he knelt and traced a finger over her tombstone. But the devil’s sinister laughter rose above it. The devil had won. He had snatched her life before she even had a chance to live it.
Images of the dead children that had been found along the Appalachian Trail three weeks ago flashed before his eyes. Their killer was in prison. But where was the justice? It didn’t bring the little girls back.
His heart aching, he dropped tiny wildflowers over the small mound. Although lilies marked the front entrance of the graveyard, purple was her favorite color. She liked purple popsicles and purple headbands and her purple comforter. He pictured her smiling at him as he read her bedtime stories, mimicking the animal noises in the tales. She would giggle as he tickled her belly.
He’d grown up seeing the worst in life. He’d been beaten, taught to make the weak ones suffer. To make the women obey. To punish them.
Then she had come along.
He’d never thought he had a soft bone in his evil body. That he could care about anyone as much as he cared about her. And he’d tried his damnedest to save her.
But he’d failed.
No one knew the truth about what had happened. And if he told them, they wouldn’t believe him.
Anger made him cold inside, cold all over. She shouldn’t be dead. But she was gone. And it was time to make someone pay for it”
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 …
WILDFLOWER GRAVES – (Detective Ellie Reeves Book #2)
by RITA HERRON
Detective Ellie Reeves heads into the wilds of the Appalachian Mountains when she wants to get lost––to forget the whispers chasing her and the past that keeps her up at night. She’s sick of having to prove herself to her small town.
But hiking in the endless miles of woods isn’t the escape she was hoping for. One night, as dusk falls, a gust of wind blows some petals on to Ellie’s path. Following the trail, she finds a golden-haired young woman dead on a bed of daffodils, with a note: Monday’s child is fair of face.
When Ellie emerges from the forest, there is a message on her phone. Someone has sent her a picture of her colleague, Officer Shondra Eastwood, with the words: Can you find her, Detective Reeves? Ellie is racked with guilt––while she was busy hiding from life a killer was on the loose, and he has taken her beloved friend.
The wilderness, and its shadows, are the perfect hunting ground for a criminal––but what does the sinister nursery rhyme mean? It soon becomes clear when another dead woman, Tuesday’s Child, is found.
Ellie is up against a serial killer who will claim a victim for every day of the week, and in the next twenty-four hours there will be another body. As this ruthless murderer closes in on her, can she save more innocent women––and Shondra––from his clutches? Or will he get to Ellie first?
You might also like to visit 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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Wow! Beautiful, sad, and tempting. I love the cover, too.Thanks for sharing, and here’s mine: “FINDING MRS. FORD”
Hi Lorraine,
Taking that prologue extract in conjunction with the portion of the book I have read so far, I have narrowed down my suspect list to a couple of names, as the perpetrator of the current set of horrendous murders.
However, this story is action all the way, so anything could happen before I get to the end!
Thanks for stopping by and I hope that all is well with you 🙂
I think I would really enjoy the setting for this novel…. and the premise sounds quite good, too!
Hi Kelly,
This book is scheduled for a Blog Tour Review in early December, so I have started reading it.
Just about three quarters done and I think I have worked out from my suspect list who the perpetrator is.
But Wow! this one is definitely action all the way! and the descriptive narrative about the area in and around the Appalachian Mountains is excellent for a complete ‘newbie’ like myself.
Thanks for stopping by and have a peaceful weekend 🙂
Sounds like a very intense read – I love that. Thanks for the sneak peek – I think this is one I’d enjoy. Happy reading and have a great weekend!
Hi Joy,
Definitely non-stop action and the bodies are piling up nicely!
I really need the author to put me out of my misery soon and get the perpetrator unmasked. If it is who I think it is, I can’t work out why no one has spotted the clues before, as all the other characters know this person! – Come On people!!! 🙂
I seriously can’t turn the pages fast enough and I am really enjoying the read.
Thanks for stopping by and have a peaceful weekend 🙂
That opening holds so much emotion, doesn’t it? Grief and anger. Such strong emotions too. This sounds like an emotional read–and intense. I hope you are enjoying it! Have a great weekend!
Hi Wendy,
I am now almost certain that this prologue somehow ties my perpetrator from this story, to events in the first book in the series.
However, ‘Wild Flower Graves’ certainly works fine as a stand alone story, as all previous events are fully fleshed out as we journey through the book and so far, I in no way feel that I have missed out on anything, or that I need to backtrack and read the first book before going any further.
This is definitely an all action storyline, although the trail of death and destruction is making me wonder at the powers of this small town police department.
Thanks for stopping by and have a good weekend 🙂