Murder Season in the Big City
Murder Season, the third book in the Lena Gamble series,
has always stood out. Maybe it’s the simplicity of the opposition, the humanity
of the characters and their plights, or even the glorious depravity of the
crooks and scoundrels that make this book and series what they are.
Here are the first 166 words.
***
Chapter 1
She could smell it in the pillow as she
pulled it closer. On the sheets as she rolled over in the darkness and searched
out cool spots that were not there.
Murder season.
She
was floating, drifting. Cruising through an open seam between sleep and
consciousness.
She
glanced at the clock radio but didn’t really see it, then fell back into the
stream and let go. It was somewhere after midnight, sometime before dawn. Early
spring, and the air inside the house was already deadened from the oppressive
heat. A steep, lifeless desert wave had swelled over Los Angeles two days ago,
pushing the marine layer and the cool breezes out over the ocean where they
could be burned up and erased without a witness.
The
city that was left behind felt dusty and canned in. Vacuum-packed. The air
perfumed with spent diesel fuel and gasoline.
Murder
season would come early this year. It would roll in with the heat like they
were best friends. Lovers.
***
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ROBERT ELLIS
WRITERS BLOG
09/06/2025
https://www.robertellis.net
