Opening Lines

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A ghost hunter visits Frog Ledge, Connecticut in The Icing on the Corpse by Liz Mugavero. What would he think of this house? Add your opening line. HousePhoto by Dixie Westphal Kurtz

Edith: The telltale stripes on the siding were a dead giveaway, so to speak, that the cottage was occupied by a force not of this world. And with the tornado blowin’ in, I might or might not survive to record it.

Liz:  My friend and I had accepted a dare to spend a night in an abandoned house in the middle of nowhere. We were looking forward to it, even though it looks a little creepy. It’s not like this is a horror movie or something.

Julie: They drove up, and parked outside the house.
“What?” he asked.
“I never should have put you in charge of the vacation rental,” she hissed.
“It’s going to be fine,” he said.
Boy, was he ever wrong.

Jessie: When she bought a fixer-upper, sight-unseen, she was prepared to hire a roofer, a plumber and a mason. What hadn’t been part of her plan was the need for an exorcist.

Sherry: I stood looking at the house that had haunted my dreams for the past ten years. I’d thought coming back would end them but I was wrong. Dead wrong.

Barb: She pulled the front door closed and locked it. The Dodge was already packed. “Good-bye, house.” She kissed her fingertips and rubbed them lightly on the door frame. “I’ll be back soon.”

Readers: Add yours!

Published by Sherry Harris

Sherry Harris is the author of the Agatha Award nominated Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery series and the Chloe Jackson Sea Glass Mystery series.

21 Thoughts

  1. “You sure this is the right address, sister?” The cab driver didn’t look convinced, as I paid him and got out. “320 Sycamore?”
    “It’s the right place,” I assured him, with more confidence than I felt.
    I squared my shoulders and watched the taillights of the cab disappear, then grabbed my carpetbag and faced the house and my new job.
    “A captain and seven children,” I whispered. “What’s so fearsome about that?”

  2. The floor boards creaked and groaned as I made my way through the house, tapping walls and looking for hidden cupboards and trapdoors. I checked the dirt cellar, attic, and tool shed. The stash wasn’t here. I walked under the trees and through remnants of the gardens. They must have buried it somewhere.

  3. The winds echoed hollowly through the empty halls…no signs of the life that had once filled the house with laughter…

  4. The howling wind rattled the siding. The gray swirling clouds threatened rain. But with this house as the only shelter I could find after my car broke down, I had a feeling that the bad weather would be the least of my problems.

  5. When she arrived in town, everyone was surprised and even moreso that she wanted to go back to the house.To anyone else, the house seemed abandoned, but she knew it was full of life, in a manner of speaking.

    I love all of the first lines.Julie’s made me LOL!

    My 12 yr old grandson ‘s contribution is:
    My friend and I decided to go ‘play’ ghosthunting. “C’mon, It’ll be fun” , my friend said. I thought differently, and I was dead right.

    His second one, as an addition to Julie’s: As they drove up to the house the wife said, “Honey, I thought I told you to get a vacation house by the sea.” He replied, “I did. By the Dead Sea.”

      1. He likes to write. When he was younger, he wrote a few manuscripts, fantasies based on our cats. I bound them with construction paper and lacing.He showed them to writer friends at a bookfest.He has a teacher who is making him work on writing. I’ll tell him; he will be pleased. Thanks.

  6. It hadn’t changed. But did she really expect it to? A sense of regret washed over her. Why? She wasn’t the one who opened the door. She wasn’t the one to let it out. She wasn’t …… What did it matter? That was a long time ago and yet felt like just yesterday.

    So many restless nights. So many nightmares.

    Losing the light. Better get inside. As she walked toward the from door it slowly began to open. Funny. She wasn’t surprised. It new she would be back. It new she wouldn’t, couldn’t stay away. But what it didn’t know was she was better prepared this time.

    As the door closed behind her she immediately felt it. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Let the games begin.

  8. It was a longer walk from the busstop than Lo Lo had imagined. But she hiked up her bra strap. Grabbed her backpack by the metal frame. Sniffed at the wind. And marched up the dirt pathway.

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