Since We Are On the Subject

As we are talking about the importance of first lines . . . a subject I've discussed before . . . and continue to address via my posts on first lines . . . I couldn't resist adding this to the list of great first lines, even though it appeared not in a novel but in an article in the WSJ.

In his article In Mystery, Ferret Thefts Sweep Southern England, Justin Scheck opens with these lines that I dare you not to enjoy.

STONEHENGE, England—Ken Jenkins knelt on this desolate plain one recent morning, gazed at the looming stones and pondered one of the seemingly unsolvable mysteries that swirl about this prehistoric monument:

Why are people stealing ferrets?

Yes, a true question of the ages. It compelled me to read the whole article.