First Cut
A Novel
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4.2 • 17 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A Bustle Most Anticipated Book of January 2020
“Scalpel sharp.”—Kathy Reichs
A young rookie medical examiner. A suspicious case. An underworld plot only she saw coming.
From the New York Times bestselling authors of Working Stiff
For San Francisco’s newest medical examiner, Dr. Jessie Teska, it was supposed to be a fresh start. A new job in a new city. A way to escape her own dark past.
Instead she faces a chilling discovery when an opioid-overdose case contains hints of something more sinister. Jessie’s superiors urge her to close the case, but as more bodies land on her autopsy table, she uncovers a constellation of deaths that point to an elaborate plot involving drug dealers and Bitcoin brokers.
Drawing on her real-life experiences as a forensics expert, Judy Melinek teams up with husband T.J. Mitchell to deliver the most exhilarating mystery of the year. Autopsy means “see for yourself,” and Jessie Teska won’t stop until she has seen it all—even if it means that the next corpse on the table could be her own.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Forensic pathologist Melinek and husband Mitchell (Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner) make their fiction debut with a strong series launch. The case load of San Francisco medical examiner Jessie Teska, who recently relocated from L.A. after a complicated breakup with her police detective boyfriend, includes a woman who died of an apparent heroin overdose. Under pressure from her superiors to quickly close the case, Jessie sees signs that the death may be a homicide. The issue becomes even more problematic after Jessie discovers that not only was the dead woman pregnant, she was also the deputy chief medical examiner's former nanny. While Jessie's gutsy personality will endear her to readers, it's the meticulous detail that distinguishes this novel; the authors nail the (oftentimes ghastly) mundanities of life as a medical examiner ("I had spent nearly an hour sloshing through a fetid soup of decomposition fluid and liquefied organs on the autopsy table"). Fans of Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta will be pleased.
