Track of the Cat
Nevada Barr
1993
An Anna Pigeon mystery |
Teaser:
There hadn't been a god for many years. Not the nightgown-clad patriarch of Sunday school coloring books; not the sensitive young man with the inevitable auburn ringlets Anna had stared through in the stained-glass windows at Mass; not the many-armed and many-faceted deities of the Bhagavad Gita that she'd worshipped alongside hashish and Dustin Hoffman in her college days. Even the short but gratifying parade of earth goddesses that had taken her to their ample bosoms in her early thirties had gone, though she remembered them with more kindness than the rest.
Tag:
If the Old Ones had not died and they'd not left of their own volition and they'd not been driven out...
Then what? Anna thought.
Food for thought.
Plots for Von Daniken. |
Icy Clutches
Aaron Elkins
1990
A Gideon Oliver mystery
Out of print |
Teaser:
Glacier Bay Lodge, September 10, 1989
"I think it only fitting," Professor Tremaine said, rising with a feline grace not often seen in a man of sixty-nine, "I think it only fitting that we conclude our first dinner with a toast."
Tag:
"Yeah, well..." John said with a grin. "No offense, Doc, but I don't always believe everything you tell me.
Gideon smiled. "A good thing, too." he said. |
Slay Ride
Dick Francis
1973 |
Teaser:
Cold gray water lapped the flimsy-looking sides of the fiberglass dinghy, and I shivered and thought of the five hundred feet straight down to the seabed underneath.
Tag:
You could have sworn that around the snowy cliffs you could hear crashing chords of Beethoven echoing in the wind. |
Dead North
Sue Henry
2001
A Jessie Arnold mystery
|
Teaser:
The old man woke still tired from a restless sleep in the back bedroom of his small house on the outskirts of Cody, Wyoming, and grumbled to himself as he rolled over, seeking comfort in a new position. His legs were aching again and there was a charley horse in his right foot. He slid down far enough in the bed to brace it against the footboard and push hard against the cramped muscles of the arch, stretching them until the spasm finally eased, then for a while longer, just to make sure it wouldn't immediately return.
Tag:
He slept very well that night, waking only once to visit the bathroom, but he did not bother to open the window to peer across at the empty house next door. |
Cop O.U.T.
Nancy Herndon
1998
An Elena Jarvis mystery |
Teaser:
Tuesday, October 22, 10:10 am
On the day the road to the future collapsed under her, Monica Ibarra was twenty-three years old, eight months out of the Los Santos Police Academy, and still relishing her new assignment. Monica had spent her first half year of probationary duty in a patrol car with the Westside Regional Command, answering calls from strangers. Then she'd been transferred to the foot patrol at Central Command.
Tag:
Elena walked over and sat down on her bed, smiling. She could sleep in her own house tonight. She was O. K. And maybe she would take that sergeant's exam. Maybe she'd start studying tomorrow. |
Listening Woman
Tony Hillerman
1978
A Joe Leaphorn mystery
|
Teaser:
The southwest wind picked up turbulence around the San Francisco Peaks, howled across the emptiness of the Moenkopi plateau, and made a thousand strange sounds in windows of the old Hopi villages at Shongopovi and Second Mesa.
Tag:
Leaphorn opened his mouth and closed it. Ben did it to save himself, he thought. But he didn't say it. It wsn't something he could explain to her if she didn't already understand it. |
The Plain Old Man
Charlotte MacLeod
1985
A Sarah Kelling mystery |
Teaser:
Letter from Miss Mabel Kelling
to Mrs. Appolonia Keling:
Dear Appie,
I presume you expect to be thanked for the gift which I have not yet been able to identify. Never let it be said that I am remiss in my social duties. Speaking of which, you had better not plan on staying with me overnight when you come to attend Emma's latest venture into amateur theatricals. You know she will be miffed if you don't allow her to play lady of the manor offstage as well as on, though I'm not sure where she's going to park you if Sarah's still there. It looks to me as if she'll be around a good deal longer than Emma expects. Sarah claims that new husband of hers is off on another of his so-called business trips. Surely even you can read between the lines!
Tag:
Sarah and Max didn't answer. They were already up the stairs. |
Death on the Agenda
Patricia Moyes
1962
A Henry Tibbett mystery
Out of print |
Teaser:
"In short, gentlemen, my country has taken - an is taking - the most active steps to prevent the illegal importation of narcotic drugs. As we see it, the problem confronting our excise authorities divides itself into two facets..."
Tag:
She went out, and Henry heard the lid of the dustbin rattle, and bang shut. When Emmy came back, she was smiling. "Oh dear," she said, "we did both get out of our depths, didn't we? I suppose we're just too dull and ordinary."
"And I thank God for it," said Henry.
"Amen," said Emmy piously. She climbed into bed and took him gently in her arms. |
Trophies and Dead Things
Marcia Muller
1990
A Sharon McCone mystery |
Teaser:
On summer mornings San Francisco is often shrouded by a heavy fog. It billows through the Golden Gate and moves insidiously about the city, transforming familiar places and ordinary objects into things of beauty, mystery, or - in certain cases - evil.
Tag:
And after that I would initiate a call of my own. I couldn't go on fooling myself: it was high time I told Ted to drop Ralph and Alice off at their new home. |
The Virgin in the Ice
Ellis Peters
1982
A Brother Cadfael mystery
|
Teaser:
It wa early in November of 1139 that the tide of civil war, lately so sluggish and inactive, rose suddenly to sweep over the city of Worcester, wash away half its livestock, property and women, and send all those inhabitants who could get away in time scurrying for their lives northwards away from the marauders, to burrow into hising wherever there was manor or priory, walled town or castle strong enough to afford them shelter.
Tag:
Cafael rode mute and content, still full of the wonder and astonishment, all elation and all humility. Eleven more days to the Christmas feast, and no shadow hanging over it now, only a great light. A time of births, of triumphant begettings, and this year how richly celebrated - the son of the yound woman from Worcester, the son of Aline and Hugh, the sonof Mariam, the Son of Man...,br>
A son to be proud of! Yes, amen! |
Murder Must Advertise
Dorothy L. Sayers
1933
A Peter Wimsey mystery
|
Teaser:
"And by the way," said Mr. Hankin, arresting Miss Rossiter as she rose to go, "there is a new copy-writer coming today."
"Oh, yes, Mr. Hankin?"
"His name is Bredon. I can't tell you much about him; Mr. Pym engaged him himself; but you will see that he is looked after.
"Yes, Mr. Hankin."
Tag:
Tell England. Tell the world. Eat more Oats. Take Care of your Complexion. No More War. Shine your Shoes with Shino. Ask your Grocer. Children Love Laxamalt. Prepare to meet thy God. Bung's Beer is Better. Try Dogsbody's Sausages. Whoosh the Dust Away. Give them Crunchlets. Snagbury's Soups are Best for the Troops. Morning Star, best Paper by Far. Vote for Punkin and Protect your Profits. Stop that Sneeze with Snuffo. Flush your Kidneys with Fizzlets. Flush your Drains with Sanfects. Wear Wool-fleece next to the Skin. Popp's Pills Pep you Up. Whiffle your Way to Fortune...
Advertise, or go under. |
