You've Got Five Pages, The Big Sugar by Mary Logue, to Tell Me You're Good.

The first chapter can make or break a reader's engagement with a story. We as writers must craft brilliant opening pages in order to hook those picky readers, so let's study the stories of others to see how they do it! It’s prologue time, folks, but I’ll give Mary Logue props here for effectively using a prologue to tackle a LOT for her book The Big Sugar: A Brigid Reardon Mystery. The first section provides a vivid description of the Wyoming Plains and Rocky Mountains and how they contrast with protagonist Brigid’s Irish homeland. Since this novel is set in the 1880s, this opening prose not only gives readers a sense of time and place, but of the narrator’s own voice, too. It feels fitting for the period while remaining accessible for the modern reader, which is always important. The remaining sections of the prologue (there are four total) each carry their own job to prepare readers for this second installment of Logue’s Western Mystery series. The second section provides a quick rundown of the first book’s events so that readers aren’t wondering about how’s who and why folks would listen to this pioneering narrator in the first place when it comes to crime-solving. The third section brings up to the present day for Brigid and a grisly discovery of her neighbor’s body hanging in a tree. It’s not clear if this neighbor was present in the first book; I’ll presume it, as the fourth section gives Brigid a chance to work through the emotional weight of losing her neighbor (let alone discovering her hanging dead in a tree). There are allusions to cattle barons and Ella’s own small herd, which promises a “David and Goliath” style story of the lone soul seeking justice against the wealthy and powerful. It’s a common Western kind of conflict, and I’m sure those who love a mystery will appreciate Logue’s careful research and eloquent voice to build a compelling story. And what will you learn from these opening pages? Let's find out! Cheers!