Front Page Fridays Week-42

Front Page Fridays Week-42

Welcome to Front Page Fridays Week-42. On Fridays I showcase the first page of a new book.

My Front Page Fridays Week-42 guest is Katharine Johnson with the first page of her historical thriller, The Alibi.

Here’s the opening:

JACK, 1950

“Tell me everything.”

I rubbed my hands over my face. For weeks I’d had a creeping awareness that someone was on my tail. There had been all the usual signs – the phone going dead when I picked up the receiver, a shadow shifting at the corner of my gaze, footsteps in the street behind me that died when I turned round. So, I should hardly have been surprised he’d caught up with me.

I’d seen him standing in the park, a tall figure shrouded in mist, hands in the pockets of his overcoat, head turned up towards the window where I stood to close the shutters. I watched him cross the road, heard his foot on the stairs, even though I’d told my secretary I wasn’t to be disturbed. Heard the floorboards creaking outside my door.

Even as he stepped into the room, I’d thought about running. Swinging myself out of the window, edging along the parapet to the drainpipe and dropping down to the street. But then what? Where would I go? It would only postpone the inevitable.

About The Alibi

Some secrets never stay buried…

When Jack, a disillusioned Cambridge graduate stuck in a dead-end job, meets the enigmatic Giselle on a train from Paris and she agrees to accompany him to a wedding, he believes he’s found the answer to his problems.

But things take a chilling turn when a blizzard traps the guests in a desolate Northumbrian guesthouse. Snowed in with a cast of odd, watchful strangers, suspicion builds as lies begin to unravel.

As the blizzard rages outside, so too does the tension inside. Whispers in the night. Locked doors. A mounting sense of being followed.

When the snow finally thaws, one truth becomes terrifyingly clear: not everyone trapped in the house will leave.

Gripping, elegant and unsettling, The Alibi is a haunting mystery about lies we tell, love we can’t forget and consequences we can’t outrun. Perfect for readers of Laura Purcell, Kate Morton and Louise Douglas.

Purchase links

The Alibi is published by Bloodhound Books in paperback and digital and by Dreamscape Media in audio, available here

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FNW9KF6B

Listen to an audio sample read by George Reid here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/arya/webplayer?asin=B0FR6PVWR6

 

About Katharine Johnson

Katharine Johnson is the author of four page-turning psychological suspense novels, and a history book. Fascinated by flawed characters, she’s always intrigued by the whydunit, and her books often feature good people who get caught up in bad things.

Born in Bristol, she currently lives in Berkshire. Before turning to fiction, she worked as a journalist and editor for national magazines. She’s also been a guide in a stately home, a school dinner lady and a Christmas elf. When not writing, she can be found reading, fixing up a rickety house in Italy or thinking about her next chapter on a plot walk with ever-enthusiastic writing buddy, Monty the spaniel.

She blogs about books and writing at Katy's Writing Coffee Shop

Follow Katharine on Facebook  Instagram and Bluesky

https://www.facebook.com/Katharinejohnsonauthor

https://www.instagram.com/katharinejohnsonauthor/

https://bsky.app/profile/kjohnsonwrites.bsky.social

 

Other books by Katharine Johnson:

The Silence https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silence-Katharine-Johnson-ebook/dp/B0DHLRHVBP

The Secret https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Katharine-Johnson-ebook/dp/B0DGXT6VJQ

The Suspects https://www.amazon.co.uk/Suspects-Katharine-Johnson-ebook/dp/B0DLGL94KH

 

I hope you enjoyed reading Front Page Fridays Week-42. Please come back next time when I’ll be featuring a different author and the first page of their book.

And please take a look at books already featured on Front Page Fridays:

1.   Blood Ribbons by Lin Le Versha – https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/front-page-fridays-week-1/

2.   Fatal Blow by Brian Price – https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/front-page-fridays-week-2/

3.   Can I Trust You? by Rob Gittins – Front Page Fridays Week-3 – Rachel Sargeant

4.   The Last Bird of Paradise by AJ Aberford – Front Page Fridays Week-4 – Rachel Sargeant

5.   Never Forgive You by Hilly Barmby –  Front Page Fridays Week-5 – Rachel Sargeant

6.   The Mists of Pencarrack Moor by Terri Nixon – Front Page Fridays Week-6 - Rachel Sargeant

7.   The Thief of Joy by Stacey Murray – Front Page Fridays Week-7 - Rachel Sargeant

8.   Edge of the Land by Malcolm Hollingdrake – Front Page Fridays Week-8 - Rachel Sargeant

9.   The Mind of a Murderer by Michael Wood - https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/front-page-fridays-week-9/

10. The Midnight Man by Julie Anderson – Front Page Fridays Week-10 - Rachel Sargeant

11. Dark Road Home by Sheila Bugler – Front Page Fridays Week-11 - Rachel Sargeant 

12. Her Charming Man by Rachel Sargeant – Front Page Fridays Week-12 - Rachel Sargeant

13. Wedding Bells at the Lakeside Hotel by Linda Huber – Front Page Fridays Week-13 - Rachel Sargeant

14. Dark Island by Daniel Aubrey – Front Page Fridays Week-14 - Rachel Sargeant 

15. The Shame by Maureen Myant – Front Page Fridays Week-15 - Rachel Sargeant

16. Dead Mile by Jo Furniss –  Front Page Fridays Week-16 — Rachel Sargeant

17. The Violin and Candlestick by David Jarvis – Front Page Fridays Week-17 — Rachel Sargeant

18. New Memories by S.E. Shepherd – Front Page Fridays Week-18 — Rachel Sargeant

 19. Young Blood by Victoria Gemmell – Front Page Fridays Week-19 — Rachel Sargeant

 20. Private Investigations by Rob Gittins –  Front Page Fridays Week-20 — Rachel Sargeant

21. The Car Horn revolution by A.J. Aberford – Front Page Fridays Week-21 — Rachel Sargeant

22. What Lies Beneath by Maureen Myant – Front Page Fridays Week-22 — Rachel Sargeant

23. A Safe Place by Stephanie Carty – Front Page Fridays Week-23 — Rachel Sargeant

24. Fatal Image by Brian Price – Front Page Fridays Week-24 — Rachel Sargeant

25. Run For Your Lies by A.A. Abbott – Front Page Fridays Week-25 — Rachel Sargeant

26. A Walk in the Park by Natalie Kleinman – Front Page Fridays Week-26 — Rachel Sargeant

27. A Storm in a Teacup by Rachael Gray – Front Page Fridays Week-27 — Rachel Sargeant

28. The Midnight Bookshop by Amanda James – https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/blog/front-page-fridays-week-28

29. A Death in the Afternoon by Julie Anderson – Front Page Fridays Week-29 — Rachel Sargeant

30. Justice by Madalyn Morgan – Front Page Fridays Week-30 — Rachel Sargeant

31. Let Me Out by Amanada Brittany –  https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/blog/front-page-fridays-week-31

32. A Pocketful of Poisons by Brian Price –  https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/blog/85orb6bc15cs2voyn37yv3jprw0jec

33. Tribute by Madalyn Morgan – Front Page Fridays Week-33 — Rachel Sargeant

34. Mistress of the Manor by Cara Clayton – https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/blog/front-page-fridays-week-34

35. Waves of Change in Pelican Crossing by Maggie Chistensen – Front Page Fridays Week-35 — Rachel Sargeant

36. A French Inheritance by Jennifer Bohnet – Front Page Fridays Week-36

37. Beneath the Same Moon by AS Andrejevic – Front Page Fridays Week-37 — Rachel Sargeant

38. The Fallen by Maureen Myant - Front Page Fridays Week-38 — Rachel Sargeant

39. The Bad Women by Jennie Ensor –  Front Page Fridays Week-39 — Rachel Sargeant

40. Lies Between Friends by AA Abbott – Front Page Fridays Week-40 — Rachel Sargeant

41. Fatal Shot by Brian Brice – My Front Page Fridays Week-41 — Rachel Sargeant

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My Book Reviews for November 2025