Sunday is for beginnings, where we take a look at the start of a Peter Abrahams novel, including those written under the Spencer Quinn moniker™. Today I’ve got this crazy thought: even though the next Chet and Bernie mystery doesn’t come out till April 14. and even though my next book, MRS. PLANSKY GOES ROGUE, is way ahead of it in line (July 15 and available for preorder), why not? So here, far in advance, is the start of CAT ON A HOT TIN WOOF (also preorderable, btw):

“Whatta we got here?” said Nixon Panero.

He popped the hood of our ride and peered inside, where the smoke was coming from. Our ride’s a Porsche, but not shiny new. Far from it! We’ve had several Porsches in my career, for sure more than two, which is where I stop when it comes to numbers, but all of them—including the brown one with yellow doors that went off a cliff and the one with the martini glass decals that got blown up—were old. This one, the newest, was the oldest, if you see what I mean. No problem if you don’t. I’m with you! Bernie calls our ride the Beast, and if you could hear it roar you’d know why. A perfect name and just one more example of his brilliance. Bernie’s always the smartest human in the room, so don’t even try.