Winners! Of the Opening Lines Summer Contest.

Meet the winners of our Summer Opening Lines Contest

These opening lines really did the picture justice!
Here is the photo for the contest.

Here are the winners and their opening lines

Darlene Kapur

1st Prize – $100

“Lisa, you’re not a widow!” Mark’s alive! He’s sitting ten feet behind me, talking on
his phone at an outdoor café.”

I.D. Kapur majored in journalism and is a speech writer and prize-winning poet whose work is featured in the anthologies The Best of The Best: 2024 Literary Review, Vision and Verse, Ink Spots, and One Universe to the Left. A year’s stay in Northern India and over a dozen extended visits inspired her to write stories based on her experiences. Her latest book, A Year Without Men, was published in November 2023. She lives in Northern California with her author husband, where they manage their Kapur Scholarship Program, Light One Candle, for underserved students in Patiala, India.

Jennifer Granat

2nd Prize – $50

Disguised as an American tourist, Special Agent Db3 stopped just paces away from the local Kebab Shop and cellular “hot spot” to feign a call on her (PRODUCT) RED
iphone.

Jennifer Granat is a writer/artist living in Concord, California. Jennifer recently published a murder mystery called “Passage to Murder,” written with seven other writers from the California Writer’s Club, Mt. Diablo Branch. She is currently working on a series of poems, short stories, flash fiction and a memoir. Jennifer is editor of the Lamorinda Arts Alliance Newsletter. Her poems “Yellow” and “Tesoro Marino” were part of the CWC/LAA/LAC joint Ekphrasis exhibit at the Orinda Library Gallery in May 2023. Two more poems by Jennifer, “Foul Deceit” and “Stringybark,” were included in this year’s 2024 CWC/LAA/LAC Ekphrasis Exhibit. Jennifer has participated in “Art Embraces Words,” and “Art Embraces Poetry,” both are ongoing programs of the Lamorinda Arts Council.

Josephine Mele

3rd Place – $25

“I’m where you said to be, I have the ransom money in my bag, let me speak to my daughter.”

Josephine (Jo) Mele is a world traveler, tour director, editor, and life-long mystery reader. Author of: The Odd Grandmothers, a memoir of three generations of her Italian immigrant family. The Travel Mystery Series including Bullets in Bolivia, Homicide in Havana. Mystery in Monte Carlo, Bandits in Brussels, Death on the Danube, Corpse in the Castle, Sicilian Sanctuary, Incident in India, and her latest, 8 Days in Egypt. She co-authored with her grandson, Nick, “ABC’s of Asperger’s Syndrome,” for Parents Magazine. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and the California Writers Club.