Book Beginning: The Edwin Drood Murders by Christopher Lord

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.

EARLY BIRDS: I am experimenting with getting this post up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. We'll try it this way for a couple of months to see if people like the option of early posting. If you have feelings one way or the other, please comment.

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MY BOOK BEGINNING

Simon Alastair pushed away the barely touched breakfast that houseboy/chef Jude Hexam had laid before him.

-- The Edwin Drood Murders by Christopher Lord, to be released later this month.  

This is the second in Lord's series of mysteries set in the Dickens Junction, Oregon.  The hero, Simon Alastair, is the owner of the local book store, Pip's Passage, and an amateur sleuth.  Here, Alastair is the co-chair of the Droodist convention -- a celebration of Charles Dickens' unfinished last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood -- when murder and chicanery visit Dickens Junction.

The Christmas Carol Murders kicked off the series. I confess that I started the book, but have hit a snag. I don't like that Simon Alastair only sells books in his bookstore that he has read himself.  I know it is fiction, but the arrogance of the idea appalls me.