Murder in the First Degree
Mystery/Thriller Debuts
| Carved in Bone: A Body Farm Novel by Jefferson Bass The founder of the Body Farm, a laboratory devoted to the study of human composition, Dr. Bill Brockton is staggered by what he discovers about an unusual corpse — an almost perfectly preserved mummy discovered in East Tennessee’s mountainous Cooke County. |
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| The 37th Hour by Jodi Compton A detective specializing in missing persons cases, Sarah Pribek becomes involved in a case that hits all too close to home — the mysterious disappearance of her own husband, a fellow police officer. |
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| The Meaning of Night: A Confession by Michael Cox Convinced that he is destined for great wealth and power, Edward Glyver — booklover, scholar, and murderer — will do anything to reclaim a prize that is rightfully his, following a trail from the underworld depths of Victorian London to an ultimate showdown with his rival, poet-criminal Phoebus Rainsford Daunt. |
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| Immoral by Brian Freeman The disappearance of a teenage girl from the streets of Duluth, Minnesota, the second in a year, draws Lieutenant Jonathan Stride into a dangerous conflict with the heart of evil as his search for a serial killer captures him in a web of secrets, lies, obsession, illicit desire, and death. |
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| Run the Risk by Scott Frost In the wake of a series of bizarre crimes, Los Angeles homicide detective Alex Delillo is baffled by a tangle of ambiguous clues and follows leads that become increasingly violent. |
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| The Color of Law: A Novel by Mark Gimenez Scott Fenney is forced to choose between his conscience and his privileged lifestyle when he’s assigned to defend pro bono Shawanda Jones, a heroin-addicted prostitute, who is accused of murdering the son of a millionaire Texas senator and presidential candidate. |
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| Tilt a Whirl by Chris Grabenstein Having recently joined the Sea Haven police department after his tour of duty in Iraq, former MP John Ceepak investigates the murder of a billionaire real estate tycoon at a seedy amusement park. |
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| Haunted Ground: A Novel by Erin Hart The Irish landscape holds secrets past and present as archaeologist Cormac O’Callaghan and pathologist Nora Gavin encounter a mystery when a decapitated woman is found in the bogs who may be related to a recent mother/child disappearance. |
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| The Ghost Writer by John Harwood Plagued with unpleasant memories of his mother’s death, shy Gerard Freeman is obsessed with the manuscript of a century-old ghost story written by his great-grandmother and entrusted to his care. |
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| Dark Harbor by David Hosp Rising from his disadvantaged youth to obtain a position at a Boston law firm, lawyer Scott Finn works for the defense of a high-profile client after the murder of a co-worker and former flame, a case involving billions of dollars, Scott’s own credibility, and a determined police lieutenant. |
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| Sunstroke by Jesse Kellerman When Carl, the boss she has secretly loved for years, goes missing during his annual visit to Mexico, Gloria Mendez begins a search for answers that reveals hidden, sinister aspects of her employer’s life. |
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| The Hundredth Man by Jack Kerley When cryptic messages are discovered on the bodies of a pair of murder victims, Alabama police detective Carson Ryder and veteran officer Harry Nautilus find themselves embroiled in a mysterious public relations debate that forces Ryder to seek help from his murderer convict brother. |
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| Dating Dead Men by Harley Jane Kozak As part of her research for talk-show host Dr. Cookie Lahven’s upcoming book How to Avoid Getting Dumped All the Time, L.A. greeting-card artist and gift-shop manager Wollie Shelley is dating 40 men in 60 days, but her assignment is complicated by an unexpected corpse, a “doctor” on the run from the Mob, her paranoid schizophrenic brother, and her investigation into the crime. |
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| The Dead Sit Round in a Ring by David Lawrence Detective Stella Mooney deals with personal and professional turmoil as she investigates the case of Jimmy Stone, found murdered and left sitting in a circle with three other corpses in a London flat. |
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| Darkly Dreaming Dexter: A Novel by Jeff Lindsay Hiding a secret life as an assassin while working as a murder analyst for the Miami police, Dexter Morgan is intrigued by the work of a new serial killer whose style mimics his own and who Morgan realizes is inviting him into a deadly competition. |
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| A Field of Darkness by Cornelia Read A tough-talking, shotgun-toting debutante gets in over her head investigating a pair of cold case murders in this assured, thrilling first novel. |
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| Suspect by Michael Robotham Joe O’Loughlin, a psychologist faced with a recent diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, confronts a conspiracy against him after he becomes the prime suspect in the brutal murder of a woman with whom he once had a relationship. |
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| Skin River by Steven Sidor Hoping to escape his dark past by working as a tavern keeper in a small Wisconsin town, Buddy Bayes stumbles into a brutal missing persons case and makes a wrong conclusion that has disturbing consequences. |
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| Isolation Ward by Joshua Spanogle Called in by the CDC after three mentally handicapped women with the same mysterious symptoms check into the same Baltimore hospital, Dr. Nathaniel McCormick becomes caught in a puzzling web of deceit and conspiracy as he follows the trail of a lethal virus to California and discovers terrifying links to a former mentor and an old love. |
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| Monkeewrench by P. J. Tracy Grace McBride and the team at her software company are horrified when events in their murder mystery computer game are replicated in the real world by a ruthless killer, a situation that prompts them to analyze the game in order to anticipate his next move. |