First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if, instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

The Rules:

• Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page.
• Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first.
• Finally… reveal the book!

First Lines:

“Harsh fluorescent lighting, a two-way mirror, an incessantly ticking clock. There was no way out, figuratively or literally. My current situation couldn’t be worse if it had been planned by my mortal enemy. How did I end up here?

These opening lines make me think this might be taking place in a police precinct, just from how it is described and the way the narrator explains their situation.

Do you recognize the lines?

Here’s a hint:

This is an upcoming cozy mystery.,

Still not sure? Here’s another hint:

It’s written by Gloria Chao.

The First Lines Friday book is:

The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club.

About the Book:

• Title: The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club
• Author: Gloria Chao
• Page Length: 320 pages
• Publication Date: June 24, 2025
• Publisher: MIRA

Synopsis:

In this laugh-out-loud murder mystery, three women dating the same man band together to get revenge, but when they discover his body, they’ll need to solve his murder before they go down for it.

The body in the closet was going to be a problem. Kathryn Hu knew it. Yes, Tucker Jones was a cheating scumbag, and yes, she’d agreed to meet Olivia and Elle—Tucker’s other girlfriends—to exact revenge for all he’d put them through… But then they found him. Dead.  

Do they look guilty? Yes.

Do they feel guilty for having wished him dead just hours before? Maybe a little.

But—solid motive and a crime scene covered in their DNA aside—they’re innocent. They swear.

To clear their names, Kat, Olivia, and Elle team up to find the real killer. But as they go undercover and lie to everyone, including the hot detective working the case, they realize that every person in their ex’s life had a reason to want him dead. Will they uncover the truth before they go down for a murder they didn’t commit?

Filled with humor and shenanigans, The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club is a romp of an adventure by award-winning author Gloria Chao, perfect for fans of Dial A for Aunties, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It and John Tucker Must Die.

Links: Goodreads     

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