Chet The Dog

Posts Tagged ‘beginnings’

Beginnings

Last night I dreamed I was being driven somewhere in a CIA car. There weren’t enough cupholders. (I had orange juice, coffee, ham sandwich.) So since Sunday is when we do beginnings, taking a look at the start of a Peter Abrahams novel, including those written under the Spencer Quinn moniker™, how about we look for something with espionage in the story. There are a few possibilities but let’s go with Nerve Damage. (Its obituary related premise was one of my hookiest in my opinion, although I’m probably wrong since I don’t recall any critics noticing. This first sentence actually applies as well to Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge – coming July 25, preorderable) – but in a very different way.

Sometimes the dead live on in your dreams.

 

 

Beginnings

On Sunday we do beginnings, taking a look at the start of a Peter Abrahams novel, including those written under the Spencer Quinn moniker™. As a kind of a shout out to the very entertaining Indian Wells tennis tournament, which concludes today, let’s do a book where tennis plays a role. There are a few, including The Tutor, Lights Out, A Perfect Crime, and – coming next summer! Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge. And there’s this one, Thereby Hangs A Tail:

The perp looked around – what nasty little eyes he had! – and saw there was nowhere to go. We were in some kind of warehouse, big and shadowy, with a few grimy high-up windows and tall stacks of machine parts. I couldn’t remember how the warehouse fit in, exactly, or even what the whole case was all about; only knew beyond a doubt, from those nasty eyes and that sour end-of-the-line smell, a bit like those kosher pickles Bernie had with his BLT’s – I’d tried one; once was enough for the kosher pickles, although I always had time for a BLT – that this guy was the perp. I lunged forward and grabbed him by the pantleg. Case closed.

 

Beginnings

On Sunday we take a look at the start of a Peter Abrahams novel, including those written under the Spencer Quinn moniker™. Today we won’t quite do that. Instead – call it a special sneak peek – here’s the beginning of Chapter Two of Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge, where Mrs. P herself first appears. (Pub date is July 25 but you can pre-order anytime, preferably this very minute.)

Something amazing happened on Court #2 of the New Sunshine Golf and Tennis Club just before lunch time on the day after New Year’s, although it was amazing to only one person, namely Loretta Plansky, a seventy-one year old widow of solid build and the only female player in the whole club with a one-handed backhand.

Beginnings

On Sunday we take a look at the start of a Peter Abrahams novel, including those written under the Spencer Quinn moniker™. How about To Fetch A Thief? I’ve heard recently from readers who’d like to see more of Peanut, an elephant who plays an important role in the story. It’s got me thinking of some sort of future cameo appearance, the kind thing Marlene Dietrich used to do. Meanwhile here’s how To Fetch A Thief begins:

“I smell trouble,” Bernie said.

Better stop right there. Not that I doubt Bernie. The truth is I believe everything he says. And he has a nice big nose for a human. But what’s that saying? Not much.

It’s a fact that trouble has a smell – human trouble especially, sour and penetrating – but Bernie had never smelled trouble before, or if so he hadn’t mentioned it, and Bernie mentioned all kinds of things to me. We’re partners in the Little Detective Agency, me and Bernie, Bernie’s last name being Little. I’m Chet, pure and simple.