Just finished Alan Bradley’s Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and enjoyed every bite. Listen to the opening three lines: “It was as black in the closet as old blood. They had shoved me in and locked the door. I breathed heavily through my nose, fighting desperately to remain calm.”
What a hook! But what you discover just one page later about who tied her up and locked her in the closet is so surprising and funny, you’ll want to keep reading even more.
I’m working on the final revision of my first mystery, Edgar Allan’s Official Crime Investigation Notebook, which is due out this September, and reading Bradley’s book has inspired me to put everything I’ve got into it.