Crime Fiction First Novels 2009

A list featuring selected first novels (mostly hardcover) in the mystery, suspense, thriller and crime fiction genres. This list may not be comprehensive. First novel information is collected from a variety of sources. More additions to the list are coming soon! Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram Book Magazine - unless otherwise noted.

• City of Silver
  Author: Alfieri, Annamaria
  $ 24.95 ISBN: 9780312383862 Date: 2009
  PW
  The silver-rich, Spanish-ruled city of Potos, Peru, faces brutal upheaval in this intricate mystery debut.
  Updated 6.1.09
  
• Beat the Reaper
  Author: Bazell, Josh
  $ 24.99 ISBN: 9780316032223 Date: 2009
  LJ PW
  In this wild and hilarious debut thriller, Peter Brown is a young Manhattan emergency room doctor with a past, a secret, and a gun--and he has 24 hours to save himself and beat the reaper.
  Suggested Reading: Debuts
  Updated 2.27.08
  
• The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
  Author: Bradley, Alan
  $ 23 ISBN: 9780385342308 Date: 2009
  Kirkus Booklist
  In his wickedly brilliant first novel, Debut Dagger Award winner Alan Bradley introduces one of the most singular and engaging heroines in recent fiction: eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison. It is the summer of 1950--and a series of inexplicable events has struck Buckshaw, the decaying English mansion that Flavia's family calls home. - Publisher Marketing
  Suggested Reading: Debuts
  Updated 5.1.09
  
• A Trace of Smoke
  Author: Cantrell, Rebecca
  $ 24.95 ISBN: 9780765320445 Date: 2009
  Kirkus PW LJ
  This suspenseful first novel follows an undercover crime reporter in Berlin in 1931 as she searches for her brother's killer, a trail that leads from the city's dark underbelly to the top ranks of the rising Nazi party.
  Suggested Reading: All Stars | Debuts
  Updated 5.18.09
• Sworn to Silence
  Author: Castillo, Linda
  $ 24.95 ISBN: 9780312374976 Date: 2009
  LJ PW Booklist
  Kate Burkholder, who grew up in the Amish community before leaving for the outside world, has recently been appointed Chief of Police in her former hometown. What she returns to find is a world where good and evil collide.
  Suggested Reading: All Stars | Debuts
  Updated 5.1.09
  
• Hangman Blind
  Author: Clark, Cassandra
  $ 24.95 ISBN: 9780312537302 Date: 2009
  LJ
  The stellar debut novel in a new mystery series features a brilliant and brave medieval abbess, in this work set in 1382 Yorkshire, England.
  Suggested Reading: Debuts
  Updated 2.26.09
  
• The Girl She Used to Be
  Author: Cristofano, David
  $ 22.99 ISBN: 9780446582223 Date: 2009
  PW
  When Melody Grace McCartney was six, she and her parents witnessed an act of violence so brutal it changed their lives forever. Now, Jonathan Bovaro, the mafioso sent to hunt her down in the Witness Protection Program, is insistent that she's just a pawn in the government's war against the Bovaro family.
  Suggested Reading: Debuts
  Updated 2.26.09
  
• Bad Things Happen
  Author: Dolan, Harry
  $ 24.95 ISBN: 9780399155635 Date: 2009
  Booklist PW LJ
  David Loogan finds himself drawn into a friendship with Tom Kristoll, the publisher of a mystery magazine. But as several deaths are uncovered--some of them echoing stories published in the magazine--Loogan begins to look more and more like the most promising suspect.
  Suggested Reading: All Stars | Debuts
  Updated 7.15.09
  
• Devil's Trill
  Author: Ellis, Gerald
  $ 25.99 ISBN: 9780312541811 Date: 2009
  LJ
  From concert violinist Elias comes this debut novel set in the classical music world about the theft of a priceless violin. Devil's Trill offers a peek into the world of classical music, with its backstabbing performers, venal patrons, and shady violin dealers.
  Suggested Reading: Debuts
  Updated 8.18.09
  
• Father's Day
  Author: Gilman, Keith
  $ 24.95 ISBN: 9780312383657 Date: 2009
  LJ
  Keith Gilman's provocative debut is a dark and atmospheric tale of an ex-cop from Philadelphia who must face old ghosts. - Publisher Marketing
  Suggested Reading: Debuts
  Updated 5.15.09
  
• Even
  Author: Grant, Andrew
  $ 24.95 ISBN: 9780312540265 Date: 2009
  LJ PW
  David Trevellyan is a Royal Navy intelligence operative who usually works undercover. On a late-night walk in New York City, he finds a homeless man who has been shot to death. Just then, a cop car arrives. A split second too late, Trevellyan realizes he's been set up.
  Suggested Reading: Debuts
  Updated 3.31.09
  
• Starvation Lake
  Author: Gruley, Bryan
  $ 14 ISBN: 9781416563624 Date: 2009
  Booklist LJ PW
  In the dead of a Michigan winter, pieces of a snowmobile wash up near the crumbling, small town of Starvation Lake -- the same snowmobile that went down with Starvation's legendary hockey coach years earlier. But everybody knows Coach Blackburn's accident happened five miles away on a different lake. As rumors buzz about mysterious underground tunnels, the evidence from the snowmobile says one thing: murder.
  Gus Carpenter, editor of the local newspaper, has recently returned to Starvation after a failed attempt to make it big at the "Detroit Times", In his youth, Gus was the goalie who let a state championship get away, crushing Coach's dreams and earning the town's enmity. Now he's investigating the murder of his former coach. But even more unsettling to Gus are the holes in the town's past and the gnawing suspicion that those holes may conceal some dark and disturbing secrets secrets that some of the people closest to him may have killed to keep. - Publisher Marketing
  Suggested Reading: All Stars | Debuts
  Updated 3.3.09
  
• The Enthusiast
  Author: Haas, Charlie
  $ 13.99 ISBN: 9780061711824 Date: 2009
  PW
  Henry Bay is a modern nomad, associate-editing his way from state to state, exploring the small worlds that make up modern America in a string of comic literary adventures.
  Suggested Reading: Debuts
  Updated 3.31.09
  
• Vish Puri: The Case of the Missing Servant
  Author: Hall, Tarquin
  $ 24 ISBN: 9781416583684 Date: 2009
  Kirkus LJ Booklist
  The first in an irresistible new detective series introduces Vish Puri, who styles himself as the best private investigator in India. His main gig is running background checks, but bigger, more sensational cases are coming his way.
  Suggested Reading: All Stars | Debuts
  Updated 5.15.09
  
• Black Water Rising
  Author: Locke, Attica
  $ 25.99 ISBN: 9780061735868 Date: 2009
  Booklist
  In the tradition of Greg Iles and Dennis Lehane comes a powerful new new voice in American fiction. Locke's debut thriller involves murder, greed, and redemption, set in the oil boomtown of 1980s Houston.
  Suggested Reading: Debuts
  Updated 3.31.09
  
• Rizzo's War
  Author: Manfredo, Lou
  $ 24.99 ISBN: 9780312538057 Date: 2009
  Kirkus LJ
  Rizzo's War is an introduction to a wonderful new voice in crime fiction, ringing with authenticity, full of personality, and perfect for fans of police procedurals.
  Suggested Reading: Debuts
  Updated 8.18.09
  
• Ghosts of Belfast
  Author: Neville, Stuart
  $ 24 ISBN: 9781569476000 Date: 2009
  Kirkus PW LJ
  Fegan has been an IRA killer in northern Ireland. Now that peace has come, he is haunted day and night by the ghosts of his innocent victims. In order to appease the spirits, he's going to have to kill the men who had given him orders.
  Suggested Reading: All Stars | Debuts
  Updated 9.24.09
  
• Wife of the Gods
  Author: Quartey, Kwei
  $ 24 ISBN: 9781400067596 Date: 2009
  LJ Booklist
  Lyrical and captivating, Kwei Quartey's debut novel brings to life the majesty and charm of Ghana-from the capital city of Accra to a small community where long-buried secrets are about to rise to the surface. This is a compelling and unique mystery, enriched by an exotic setting and a vivid cast. And Inspector Darko Dawson-dedicated family man, rebel in the office, and ace in the field-is one of the most appealing sleuths to come along in years. - Publisher Marketing
  Updated 5.15.09
  
• Old City Hall
  Author: Rotenberg, Robert
  $ 26 ISBN: 9780374225421 Date: 2009
  Booklist LJ
  Canada's leading radio show host, Kevin Brace, admits to killing his young wife. Detectives figure this is an open-and-shut case. With the appearance of strange fingerprints in the Brace apartment, however, the mystery gets more complex just as it should be getting simpler.
  Suggested Reading: Debuts
  Updated 2.26.09
  
• Top Producer: A Novel of Dark Money, Greed and Friendship
  Author: Vonnegut, Norb
  $ 24.99 ISBN: 9780312384616 Date: 2009
  PW
  In a world that moves as fast as finance does, top producers have to think three steps ahead and make snap decisions. Vonnegut has crafted a sharp, dark thriller that will make readers think--and then double-check their investments.
  Suggested Reading: Financial | Debuts
  Updated 8.13.09
  

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