It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. Today I’m sharing from The Jazz Files by Fiona Veitch Smith. Here’s the first line of Chapter One:

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About The Jazz Files

It is 1920. Twenty-two year old Poppy Denby moves from Northumberland to live with her paraplegic aunt in London. Aunt Dot, a suffragette, was injured in battles with the police in 1910. Her contacts prove invaluable. Poppy lands a position as an editorial assistant at the Daily Globe. Poppy has always wanted to be a journalist and laps up the atmosphere of the news room.

Then one of the paper’s hacks dies suddenly and dramatically. His story was going to be the morning lead, but he hasn’t finished writing it. Poppy finds his notes and completes the story, which is a sensation. The editor, realising her valuable suffragette contacts, invites her to dig deeper. Poppy starts sifting through the dead man’s files and unearths a major mystery which takes her to France – and into danger.

(This is not a great book description—it feels more like a plot summary. But the first line is brilliant, so I will ignore the description. After all, the author probably didn’t write it!)

You can find The Jazz Files online at

Amazon | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

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Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

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