Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jul 2018
272 pages
Genre: Mysteries
Publication Information
Shamus Award–winner John Straley returns to his critically acclaimed Cecil Younger detective series, set in Sitka, Alaska, a land of perfect beauty and not-so-perfect locals.
Criminal defense investigator Cecil Younger spends his days coaching would-be felons on how to avoid incriminating themselves. He even likes most of the rough characters who seek his services. So when Sherrie, a returning client, asks him to track down some evidence to clear her of a domestic violence charge, Cecil agrees. Maybe he'll find something that will get her abusive boyfriend locked up for good.
Cecil treks out to the shady apartment complex only to discover the "evidence" is a large pile of cash - fifty thousand dollars, to be exact. That is how Cecil finds himself in violation of one of his own maxims: Nothing good comes of walking around with a lot of someone else's money.
In this case, "nothing good" turns out to be a deep freeze full of drug-stuffed fish, a murder witnessed at close range, and a kidnapping - his teenage daughter, Blossom, is snatched as collateral for his cooperation. The reluctant, deeply unlucky investigator turns to an unlikely source for help: the misfit gang of clients he's helped to defend over the years. Together, they devise a plan to free Blossom and restore order to Sitka. But when your only hope for justice lies in the hands of a group of criminals, things don't always go according to plan.
"Starred Review. Shamus Award–winner Straley humanizes slapstick mayhem in his exceptional seventh Cecil Younger mystery... Readers will hope they won't have to wait 17 years for Cecil's next adventure." - Publishers Weekly
"After 17 years, Straley checks back in with Cecil Younger and the citizens of Sitka, Alaska, and finds them as wacky as ever and even more murderous." - Kirkus
"What a wild wild ride. Straley grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go. You think left and he goes right. You think up and he goes down. Cecil Younger is a continuously great but flawed and wobbly investigating hero." - Willy Vlautin, author of The Motel Life, Northline, and The Free
"John Straley is an Alaskan treasure. Baby's First Felony is a page-turning, darkly hilarious murder mystery turned upside down...As always, Straley has brought his unflinching eye, compassionate heart and lyrical voice to the story. Northern noir at its best." - Eowyn Ivey, Pulitzer finalist and New York Times bestselling author of The Snow Child
"Straley doesn't write like anybody. He carefully lays out all the lines that the story and the protagonist aren't traditionally supposed to cross and then gleefully blows through every single one of them. Baby's First Felony is a thrilling surprise from start to finish. Seriously dark and funny as hell. I'll be giving Christmas copies to friends with good taste." - Timothy Hallinan, author of the Junior Bender mysteries
"John writes with a poet's heart, a comedian's timing, the real-life experience of a criminal investigator, and the soul of a great storyteller. He breaks my heart and heals it again in every book. John's writing is like a combination of James Lee Burke, Ken Kesey, and William Stafford. At the same time, he could be a genre unto himself." - Heather Lende, New York Times bestselling author of If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska
"Cecil Younger clutches his laid-back sense of humor like a life ring as he descends into the underworld of his genial Alaska fishing town. I love the way he wryly watches himself make every mistake in the manual for low-life klutzes he helped write - it's what makes this romp on the dark side so much fun." - Tom Kizzia, New York Times bestselling author or Pilgrim's Wilderness
This information about Baby's First Felony was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
John Straley was born in Redwood City, California. He received a BA in English from the University of Washington, but settled in Sitka, Alaska, with his wife, Jan, a prominent whale biologist. John worked for thirty years as a criminal defense investigator, and many of the characters in his books were inspired by his work. Now retired, he lives with his wife in a bright green house on the beach and writes in his weathertight office overlooking Old Sitka Rocks. The former Writer Laureate of Alaska, he is the author of ten novels, including Cold Storage, Alaska and the Shamus Award–winner The Woman Who Married a Bear, the first Cecil Younger investigation.
The Flower Sisters
by Michelle Collins Anderson
From the new Fannie Flagg of the Ozarks, a richly-woven story of family, forgiveness, and reinvention.
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
