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Booklists

Lists of books, many of which received at least one starred review (indicating a work of unusual merit) from the following review sources: Booklist , Publisher's Weekly (PW), Kirkus and Library Journal (LJ). Additional titles of interest may be included on the lists. Titles are generally listed alphabetically by author.

 

 

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Booklists and Suggested Reading

Crime Fiction First Novels 2002

 

Page Modified: February 11, 2008

 

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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>

More First Fiction lists (novels and short story collections).

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Mystery, Suspense, Thrillers & Crime Fiction First Novels: 2002

• Sleepyhead
  Author: Billingham, Mark
  Publisher: Morrow $ 24.95 ISBN: 0066212995
  Booklist Library Journal
  Alison Willetts can't move or communicate, but she's aware. Her survival of a deliberately induced stroke convinces police her attacker made an error. But Detective Tom Thorne discovers that Alison is the psychopath's masterpiece; the three women he killed before her were mistakes. Thorne must find a criminal whose agenda is terrifyingly unique.
  
• The Best Murder of the Year
  Author: Bloch, Jon P.
  Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312280904
  PW
  Gossip columnist Rick Domino is hosting a live telecast of the Academy Awards the same night that his secret lover, actor Shane Kirk, is a nominee for Best Actor. Soon Domino finds himself a prime suspect for a murder that occurs during the ceremony.
  
• The Smoke
  Author: Broadbent, Tony
  Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312290276
  Kirkus Booklist
  Set in post-World War II London, a young cat burglar is blackmailed by MI5 into helping them with an investigation involving international espionage. A Minotaur First Edition Selection.
  
• Blood Junction
  Author: Carver, Caroline
  Publisher: Mysterious $ 24.95 ISBN: 0892967706
  PW Library Journal
  The outstanding thriller from the winner of the Crime Writer's Association's Debut Dagger Award is set in the unforgiving landscape of the Australian outback. When journalist India Kane is framed for the murders of a friend and a cop, she resolves to find out why they died.
  
• Money Wanders
  Author: Dezenhall, Eric
  Publisher: Dunne $ 24.95 ISBN: 031228753
  Kirkus
  Get Shorty brought the mob to Hollywood. In this hilarious debut, Dezenhall brings a wiseguy mentality to Washington spin, media, and image as a Beltway pollster is "persuaded" by a mob boss to launch a PR campaign to help improve his image.
• Rain Fall
  Author: Eisler, Barry
  Publisher: Putnam $ 24.95 ISBN: 0399149104
  PW
  John Rain is a fresh new thriller hero destined to be one of the most talked-about of the season. Rain is based in Tokyo, trained by the U.S. Special Forces and a veteran of Vietnam, he is a cool, self-contained loner--and he has built a steady business over the past 25 years specializing in death by "natural causes."
  
• The Love of Stones
  Author: Hill, Tobias
  Publisher: Picador $ 25 ISBN: 0312287739
  PW
  The Love of Stones follows three lives all linked by one precious jewel. An epic story spanning two continents and six centuries, at the heart of their quests is the Three Brethren, a legendary jewel that binds them together in an irresistible narrative.
  
• The Snowman's Children
  Author: Hirschberg, Glen
  Publisher: Carroll & Graf $ 24 ISBN: 0786710829
  Kirkus
  The Snowman's Children is a moving, psychologically intense first novel that tells the story of an incident from one man's childhood in the 1970s, when a serial killer called The Snowman stalked the streets of suburban Detroit.
  Updated 9.9.02
• The Blue Edge of Midnight
  Author: King, Jonathan
  Publisher: Doubleday $ 22.95 ISBN: 0525946438
  PW
  Featuring Max Freeman, an ex-cop from Philadelphia, The Blue Edge of Midnight marks the debut of a powerful new crime series.
  
• The Emperor of Ocean Park
  Author: Carter, Stephen L.
  Publisher: Knopf $ 26.95 ISBN: 0375413634
  Kirkus Booklist PW
  The Emperor of Ocean Park is as brilliant in its suspense as in its acute social observation. Set in the privileged world of New York-Washington-Martha's Vineyard upper-crust African-American society and the inner circle of an Ivy League law school, it tells the story of a complex family with a single seductive and dangerous link to the shadowlands of crime.
  
• Beware the Solitary Drinker
  Author: Lehane, Cornelius
  Publisher: Poisoned Pen $ 24.95 ISBN: 1590580168
  PW
  Updated 11.05.02
• Lying, Crying, Dying
  Author: Martell, Dominic
  Publisher: Carroll & Graf $ 24 ISBN: 0786709553
  Booklist
  A debut thriller features the elite counterterrorist operative Pascual in a treacherous race from the past he betrayed. The lying has again begun; the crying--and the dying--are yet to come.
  
• Angel Fire
  Author: Miscione, Lisa
  Publisher: Minotaur $23.95 ISBN: 0312283040
  LJ
  Memories of her mother's brutal murder 15 years ago plague a reclusive true crime writer on the trail of a serial killer--a compelling debut novel of a talented new writer.
  
• Tropical Heat
  Author: Miller, John
  Publisher: Forge $ 23.95 ISBN: 0765301652
  PW
  When an army officer is found dead in the small Virginia town of Hopewell, it sets in motion a sequence of events that will forever change the life of Sheriff A.G. Farrell.
  
• Deeper Waters
  Author: Morgan, Mary
  Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312290357
  Kirkus
  Attorney Noah Richards moves to a peaceful island near Seattle only to land in the middle of a tribe's racial dispute--and murder.
  
• The Distance: A Crime Novel Introducing Billy Nichols
  Author: Muller, Eddie
  Publisher: Scribner $ 25 ISBN: 0743214439
  Kirkus
  The demimonde of professional boxing resounds with echoes of film noir in this thrilling debut novel from an author renowned in both fields.
  
• Violence, Nudity, Adult Content
  Author: Passaro, Vince
  Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 24 ISBN: 068485726x
  Kirkus Library Journal Booklist
  With Violence, Nudity, Adult Content, the noted essayist and short story writer Vince Passaro offers a revelatory first novel of crime, sexual damage, and personal redemption--in a story that combines the grit of a Scott Turow courtroom thriller with an astute vision of a crumbling marriage, worthy of Russell Banks or Lorrie Moore. With present-day New York City teeming darkly as a backdrop to the relentless action, this thriller fires on all cylinders as a compelling literary page-turner.
  
• Decipher
  Author: Pavlou, Stel
  Publisher: Tor $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312280750
  Kirkus
  In this fascinating blend of science, mythology, and language, ancient monuments the world over are being awakened by a signal emanating from deep within the ice of Antarctica. The signal contains secrets that threaten to destroy the world.
  
• The Patient's Eyes
  Author: Pirie, David
  Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312290950
  Booklist PW
  This compelling new Victorian mystery reveals the untold story behind the creation of the world's most celebrated detective: Sherlock Holmes.
  
• Buck Fever: Blanco County Texas
  Author: Rehder, Ben
  Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312291140
  PW Library Journal
  It's the beginning of a crazy weekend in Blanco County as deer hunting season gets underway--and already a man in a deer suit has been shot. A sidesplittingly funny debut that does for Texas what Carl Hiaasen and Tim Dorsey have done for Florida.
  
• Open and Shut
  Author: Rosenfelt, David
  Publisher: Warner $ 23.95 ISBN: 089296748x
  Booklist
  Defense attorney Andy Carpenter manages to sail through any tough situation, whether inside the courtroom or in his personal life. But this all changes when his marriage breaks up and his father suddenly dies, leaving him distraught--and 22 million dollars richer.
  Suggested Reading: Legal Stars
  
• In the Bleak Midwinter
  Author: Spencer-Fleming, Julia
  Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312288476
  PW
  It's a cold, snowy December in the upstate New York town of Millers Kill. When a newborn baby is abandoned and a young mother is brutally murdered, newly-ordained Clare Fergusson has to pick her way through the secrets and silence that shadow the town like the ever-present Adirondack mountains.
  
• Precenct Puerto Rico: Book One
  Author: Torres, Steven
  Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312285809
  Kirkus Library Journal
  In a small Puerto Rican beachfront town of Santa Domingo, arrangements are being made to smuggle illegal immigrants into the U.S. Soon, however, the bodies of those same immigrants wash up on a beach, and Sheriff Luis Gonzalo sets out to investigate.
  
• If Looks Could Kill
  Author: White, Kate
  Publisher: Warner $ 22.95 ISBN: 0446530239
  PW
  Bailey Weggins, a clever writer for a leading women's magazine, Gloss, is dragged into a murder investigation by her editor-in-chief and boss from hell, Cat Jones. The investigation takes Bailey from New York City to the Connecticut suburbs and Bucks County retreats--and everyone is a suspect.
  
• The Execution
  Author: Wilcken, Hugo
  Publisher: HarperCollins $ 23.95 ISBN: 0060188235
  PW
  From one of England's hottest new writers comes a smart, suspenseful tale about a self-assured young man's descent into madness and despair.
  

 

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