Book Beginnings & Friday 56 -- What Alice Knew by Paula Marantz Cohen

Book Beginnings on Friday is a meme hosted by A Few More Pages. Anyone can participate; just share the opening sentence, or two, of your current read, making sure that you include the title and author so others know what you're reading.

Henry James was drunk.

The room where he was drinking looked familiar, but he could not place it.

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice. Check out the rules and join in the fun.

Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
Turn to page 56.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog. Post a link along with your post back to this blog.

Then, when another came, we thought she'd rally, but she didn't.

Set in London during the Jack the Ripper murders, this book has all kinds of name-dropping -- Oscar Wilde, Samuel Clemens, etc.  The main characters are Henry James (author), William James (psychologist & theologian) and Alice James (invalid sister).  The books follows the three siblings in their attempts to solve the Ripper case. 

A fun read, nothing spectacular.