Today we’re reading a collection of short stories, Rough Day by Shelley Coriell for Book Beginnings on Fridays.
Book Beginnings is a fun meme hosted by Rose City Reader blog. To participate, share the first sentence or so of a novel you are reading and your thoughts about it. Then add your URL to the Book Beginnings page linked above. Hope to see you there!
Rough Day: Detective Lottie King Mystery Short Stories*
(*Amazon Affiliate link)
Summary: Author Shelley Coriell introduced Detective Lottie King as a minor character in the first book of her Apostles series, The Broken (reviewed here). Lottie was so popular, Shelley decided to write more about her. By the way, Shelley is a bit of a foodie and she includes some Lottie-inspired recipes in this volume, as well.
The stories range from Lottie working with her granddaughter’s Girl Power group to solve a locked room mystery, to helping a twelve-year-old boy find his missing grandfather.
First Sentence:
Forty years ago Lottie King buried a Smith and Wesson 9mm under a peach sapling in her back yard.
Discussion:
Given that Lottie is a police detective, we have to wonder what’s going on here. What else has the author told us about Lottie in a subtle way?
I started this book last year, but other obligations got in the way and I never finished it. How many books do you read at once? Do you think collections of short stories are easier to put aside than novels?
Lottie sounds like a character I would enjoy. Thanks for sharing…and here’s mine: “THE DRY”
The Dry seems like a perfect book for this blog. I’ll be looking for it.
Hi Roberta,
Thanks for stopping by Fiction Books today. I enjoy ‘meeting’ new people, so your visits and comments will always be appreciated.
Only this week, I entered a Goodreads Giveaways competition for ‘The Broken’, so it is good to know that you enjoyed it so much and I have my fingers well and truly crossed for a win!
I don’t read much in the way of short stories, but as this is the first book in the series and I am notoriously bad at reading a series in sequence, it is definitely one I shall be looking into.
Is the gun that Lottie has buried one she shouldn’t have and if so, why not?
Thanks for sharing the intrigue and enjoy your weekend 🙂
Yvonne
Good luck with the GoodReads competition. Shelly’s Apostles books are labelled romantic suspense but they tip towards being thrillers. I really liked them.