Opening Lines

by Posted on

Wickeds write an opening line for the picture below!

Liz: Chances were good that one of the people sitting at the bar was the murderer.

Edith/Maddie: This joint preferred male patrons to sport a mustache. After the “unpleasant incident,” I’d shaved mine so nobody would recognize me from those eerie 3D mugshots on the wall. The platinum wig helped, too.

Barb: “Never sit with your back to the door. Ya can’t see who’s coming forya.”

Sherry: I sat at my table waiting, watching the pairs at the bar. Eventually, one would peel off and that’s when I would strike.

Jessie: With its ornately carved mouldings and enormous mirror, the bar reminded her disconcertingly of the one on the ship where the unthinkable had happened. She looked around the room, eager to assess if anyone noticed the guilt she knew flickered across her face, but the only ones appearing to look at her were the two masks eerily mounted to the wall beside the bar.

Readers: Add your opening line.

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.

38 Thoughts

  1. Arthur sat at the bar nursing his third gin and tonic, wishing the throbbing pain from his hangover would go away almost as much as he wished he could forget what he did last night.

  2. Effective first lines! I like how a couple of them mention the two face sculptures on the wall — I didn’t notice them when I saw the photo. Here’s my shot at first lines:

    The old challenge rose within Jenny as she approached the bar: anticipation quickened her heart, while her head cautioned to keep her cool, which would be needed to pull off the grift on one of the bar’s customers. Preferably, more than one customer.

  3. The regulars at the saloon wouldnt be so relaxed if they knew about the bomb under the counter!

  5. She came to the bar to relax, but the washboard hanging from the rafters only reminded her of the stack of bloody laundry she left at the apartment.

  6. Normally, I didn’t like sitting with my back to the room. The giant mirror solved that problem. There was no way he’d be able to sneak up on me here.

  7. Our town hall meetings seemed slightly less contentious since Mayor Jake decided to hold them in his bar; that it boosted his bottom line did not go unnoticed.

  9. As I sat there on the porch the wind shifted and brought the smells if the approaching rain mixed with wood smoke from across the lake and the unmistakable smell if something rotting from down on the shoreline.

  10. Little did the patrons know is that in seconds their lives would change forever. The gunman was ready to strike.

  11. When I looked up, I saw the reflection of murderer as he came in. I hope he didn’t see me.

  12. The new bartender had no idea that the visit (for support) of his mom and sis would be the least of his troubles.

  13. The bar tender stood looking at the customers at the bar. They looked nice, but he couldn’t help noticing that every conversation he’d overheard as he served their drinks revolved around ways to kill people.

    Either he needed to call the police, or they were from the convention happening down the street. He just needed to decide which was true before something bad happened.

    1. Love this! Reminds me of the time I blurted out to Barb in a restaurant, that I had to find someone to kill the Middlesex County DA. At that moment the room went quiet. And every head whipped toward us.

      1. Some of the conversations that mystery readers and writers have at conventions would be worrying in any other context.

  15. It was either a bad dream or a big hangover. I was hoping it was a hangover, but it seemed more likely the Twilight Zone and I stuck out like the gorilla in the room since I was so not dressed in black and white!

  18. This is the last time I accept a tinder date from the guy who says he plays in a local wash board band. He warned me to bring my own wash board. How was I to know that the loaners over head had the edges to rival a guillotine. Those two guys on the wall? Did you read the plaque? They forgot to bring their own wash board. Talk about a final cut!

  19. Well, I am not an author, but here goes: It was colder than usual in Alaska. It seems like everyone in our small town came in to have a brew or a cocktail and talk about their day. But then the sheriff came in and said, “This is a crime scene investigation, and everyone needs to stay here to be interrogated.” Murmurs went around the room. Everyone asked questions all at once and tried to look out the frozen windows. The sheriff was agitated. He called in his team and took all of the customers into different areas to ask questions. But no one was told what had happened. Suddenly, one of the people at the bar hit the Sheriff and tried to run. All of the sheriff’s team tried to catch him, but he was a sprinter and ran out the door.

Comments are closed.