This week I had the long-delayed pleasure of browsing for books. Murder in the Marais caught my eye with a stylish cover, several sequels shelved beside it, and, of course, an intriguing first sentence.
That first sentence reads, "Aimée Leduc felt his presence before she saw him." It's short. It's unsettling. It raises questions. Let's look at how the author, Cara Black, pulled me into her story.
First, we have a person. Her name is Aimée Leduc. That name has a French form. It's not quite enough to prove that the character is French – she could be of French descent, or belong to a different group that now uses French, or named by someone who likes French. It creates the possibility that she is French, and draws in whatever associations we have with France and being French.
We have a first name and a last name, slightly formal. Aimée means "loved" and Leduc means "the duke," both marking her as valued.
We have the bare bones of a situation: A man is present.
Then we have her perception of his presence: She felt him before she saw him. And this is where we begin to worry.
Normally, we can see much farther than we can feel. It's strange to feel before we see. When would a woman feel a man before she saw him? Here are some possibilities: If he was hidden behind a corner or in shadows and close enough that she could feel his body heat or the movement of his breath. If he had been staring intently at her until the back of her neck cringed. If she was a woman of unusual perceptions.
All of these options are ominous. The first two put her in danger. In the third case, it is danger that usually calls forth such extra alertness. One way or another, something is not right here.
One more thing – because we read of what Aimée Leduc feels and sees, we are close enough to her to share those senses. Already Cara Black is drawing us very close to her story.
I haven't read the book yet. I'm looking forward to it. I can tell the prose is good, and the seventeen sequels show that the books have captured an audience. That's potentially well over a million words for me to enjoy.
Yet, like all series, it starts with a single sentence.
Graphic elements by Ken Silbert
Photo by Léonard Cotte on Unsplash