First Words = Bury Your Dead

by Louise Penny is this year's One Book One Community Pick.

I have read the first paragraph of more books than I have read books in their entirety! There is something that makes or breaks a first impression with a potential new read that is cushioned within the first line, paragraph or even page. The way a book begins sets up everything that comes after. Often, when I have finished a book, I will go back and read the first page again, with hindsight, and it is a great experience!

Up the stairs they raced, taking them two at a time, trying to be as quiet as possible. Gamache struggled to keep his breathing steady, as though he was sitting at home, as though he had not a care in the world.
'Sir?' came the young voice over Gamache's headphones.
'You must believe me, son. Nothing bad will happen to you."
He hoped the young agent couldn't hear the strain in his voice, the flattening as the Chief Inspector fought to keep his voice authoritative, certain.
'I believe you.'
They reache the landing. Inspector Beauvoir stopped, staring at his Chief. Gamache looked at his watch.
47 seconds.
Still time.
In his headphones the agent was telling him about the sunshine and how good it felt on his face.
The rest of the team made the landing, tactical vests in place, automatic weapons drawn, eyes sharp. Trained on the chief.

As Quebec city shivers in the grip of winter, its ancient stone walls cracking in the cold, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache plunges inot the strangest case of his celebrated career. A man has been brutally murdered in one of the city's oldest buildings - a library wher the English citizens of Quebec safeguard their history. And the death opens a door into the past, exposing a mystery that has lain dormant for centuries... a mystery that Gamache must solve if he's to catch a present day killer.