What goes in the first paragraph of a query letter?

Short answer: Ismita Hussain’s advice: A simple salutation with the agent’s name, then your title in caps, word count, an honest genre, comp titles, and a real age range, closing with your logline.

Answered by Ismita Hussain, Senior Literary Agent, Great Dog Literary.

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The agent’s answer

The first paragraph opens with a simple salutation using the agent’s name, with no titles like Mr. or Mrs. It should include your title in all caps, word count, the genre you believe it fits, your comparable titles, and the age range. Ismita stresses being honest about genre rather than calling your book a romantasy just because it is trendy, and giving a real age range, especially for kidlit. Saying a book is for ages 9 to 99 only signals that you have not thought carefully about your intended audience. If you customize, do not waste the opening explaining what is already in the agent’s wishlist; she already knows what she is looking for, so go straight to your book and, at most, add one small specific detail rather than copying and pasting from the wishlist. The paragraph then closes with your logline.

In Ismita’s words

With the genre, I would say, be honest.
Ismita Hussain, 22:30

Source: Query Letters 101.