Murder and Sweet Tea discussion

Never underestimate a great first line.
We've all heard "It was a pleasure to burn" and "Call me Ishael." But what are some other great first lines--ones that make you want to keep reading--specifically from mystery writers.
Tag on to this post and tell us some of your favorites.

I'll start:
1. "It was one hell of a night to throw away a baby." From "In the Bleak Midwinter" by Julia-Spencer-Fleming.

Off the top of my head, a classic: "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."

Two more classics:
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a great fortune, must be in want of a wife." Pride and Prejudice

"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." Ninety Eighty-Four

Lucy wrote: "Two more classics:
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a great fortune, must be in want of a wife." Pride and Prejudice ..."

I knew you were going to get P and P in there! :)

Of course! I also must get Wodehouse in the game:

"Into the face of the young man who sat on the terrace of the Hotel Magnifique at Cannes there crept a look of furtive shame, the shifty, hangdog look which announces that an Englishman is about to talk French."

"The Luck of the Bodkins" by P.G. Wodehouse

Lucy wrote: "Of course! I also must get Wodehouse in the game:

"Into the face of the young man who sat on the terrace of the Hotel Magnifique at Cannes there crept a look of furtive shame, the shifty, hangdog ..."

Love it! I need to read more Wodehouse!

Here's one that brings up questions right away.

"Imagine you have to break someone's arm."

"The Gun Seller" by Hugh Laurie (yes, the actor)

Lucy wrote: "Here's one that brings up questions right away.

"Imagine you have to break someone's arm."

"The Gun Seller" by Hugh Laurie (yes, the actor)"

Wow! That is a good one. I'm going to look that one up.

I like this one too: "I was arrested in Eno's Diner at 12 o'clock." That's from "Killing Floor" by Lee Child.

Here's another good one:
"The morning after I raised my boss from the dead, I got up to find him sitting half-dressed in my back yard on my chaise lounge."
That's Charlaine Harris from "Dead Ever After."

Of course, one of my ver favorite first lines is the wonderful "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…" but the start of "A Christmas Carol" is much more modern:

"Marley was dead, to begin with."

What's remarkable to me is that most really good books don't have a quotable, rock-em-sock-em first sentence. So the pressure is off just a little! Now if the subject is great opening paragraphs, there are many more of those!

You got some of mine. "1984" is timely today. Like Lucy, I was surprised at how many of the books I enjoy, don't have quotable first lines. They're just setting or time related.

“When the first bullet hit my chest, I thought of my daughter.”
“no second chance” by Harlan Coben

“During the whole of dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher.”
“The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe

“The last camel collapsed at noon.”
“The Key to Rebecca” by Ken Follett

“He seemed incapable of creating such chaos, but much of what he saw below could be blamed on him.”
“The Pelican Brief” by John Grisham

Here's one that has a good opening line, but the second sentence really set the hook and caused me to read the book.

“At ten o’clock on a moonless September evening, Chris Schneider slipped toward a long-abandoned building on the eastern outskirts of Berlin, his mind whirling with dark images and old vows.”
Late thirties, and dressed in dark clothes, Schneider drew out a .40 Glock pistol and eased forward, alert to the dry rustle of the thorn bushes and goldenrod and the vines that engulfed the place.”

“Private Berlin” by James Patterson, Mark Sullivan

I wish I could say this was the first sentence in my book but it turned out to be the third for various reasons - "I went to church to practice hate and revenge."

"People disappear all the time." Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon.

"Von's hibiscus plant was dying. I had told her it would, but she’s got a stubborn streak a mile wide and she never has liked taking advice from me, especially not when it comes to her plants."
---Making Amends by Melinda Clayton

"I was arrested right after I tacked up my ad on the telephone pole outside Shop 'n' Save."
---Cupidity: A Novel by Patricia Wood