The Bouchercon 21 -- 2009 First Novelists -- Part 1

As promised, this week I'll be introducing debut novels of the new authors I met during the Bouchercon 2009 First Novelists speed-dating event sponsored by Mystery Scene. In an earlier post, I described how the event worked: mystery fans fan out and sit at round tables in a big room. The first-time novelists are sent from table to table to give three-minute pitches about their books and pertinent information about their backgrounds.

I'll be talking about the authors in the order they pitched at my group's table.

VINCENT MCCAFFREY
Author Vincent McCaffrey wrote Hound:

"A bookhound, Henry Sullivan buys and sells books he finds at estate auctions and library sales around Boston and often from the relatives of the recently deceased. He’s in his late thirties, single, and comfortably set in his ways. But when a woman from his past, Morgan Johnson, calls to ask him to look at her late husband’s books, he is drawn into the dark machinations of a family whose mixed loyalties and secret history will have fatal results."

Hound is available from Small Beer Press, amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, or may be ordered through most bookstores.


TRACY KIELY

The second new author to talk about her debut novel in three minutes was Tracy Kiely, author of Murder at Longbourn:

"Set in a picturesque Cape Cod B&B on New Year's Eve, the story follows Elizabeth Parker, a young woman on the mend from a bad breakup. Instead of a peaceful retreat, she finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation and in the company of the nemesis of her youth, Peter McGowan - a man she suspects has matured in chronological years only."

Murder at Longbourn was published by Minotaur Books and can be purchased at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com or ordered through your favorite bookseller.

SETH HARWOOD

Jack Wakes Up is the title of Seth Harwood's debut mystery release.

"In the three years since Jack Palms went clean: no drugs, no drinking, no life, he's added fourteen pounds of muscle, read 83 books, and played it as straight as anyone can ask him. Now, when an old friend from L.A. calls, he hits the streets of San Francisco to help a group of Czech drug buyers make one big score, a single drug deal that he hopes will set him up for life. But when people start turning up dead, and an old nemesis on the police force calls, Jack finds himself with just 24 hours to track down San Francisco's biggest drug supplier or face charges that will put him behind bars."

The publisher is Crown Publishing. Buy at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com, or order from your favorite bookseller.

BRYAN GILMER

Bryan Gilmer had two 2009 paperback releases through CreateSpace:

Felonious Jazz: is a a crime thriller novel about a disturbed musician committing the perfect jazz album of burglaries and killings in suburban Raleigh, North Carolina.

Kill the Story: A night-shift newspaper crime reporter must solve the murder of his rival at the local TV station -- before the people the dead man was writing about can stop him, too.

Both novels may be purchased through amazon.com.

Meet four more new authors and their debut novels here tomorrow.