First Cut: A Novel

by Judy Melinek M.D., T.J. Mitchell

Overview

A young rookie medical examiner. A suspicious case. An underworld plot only she saw coming.

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 an elaborate plot involving drug dealers and Bitcoin brokers. 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781335081339
Publisher:	Hanover Square Press
Publication date:	12/29/2020
Series:	A Dr. Jessie Teska Mystery , #1
Edition description:	First Time Trade
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	1,116,148
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

JUDY MELINEK, M.D., was an assistant medical examiner in San Francisco for nine years, and today works as a forensic pathologist in Oakland and as CEO of PathologyExpert Inc. She and T.J. Mitchell met as undergraduates at Harvard, after which she studied medicine and practiced pathology at UCLA. Her training in forensics at the Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York is the subject of her first book, the memoir Working Stiff.


T.J. MITCHELL is a writer with an English degree from Harvard, and worked in the film industry before becoming a full-time stay-at-home dad. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner with his wife, Judy Melinek.

Editorial Reviews

Scalpel sharp. First Cut allows a peek into the autopsy room through the eyes of a pro.”—Kathy Reichs


“Who better to deliver a genuinely compelling mystery than real-life medical examiners? Fans of CSI and Forensic Files will devour this well plotted story.”—Karin Slaughter


"All the charm, gruesome detail and surprising empathy that made Working Stiff such a delight brought back in a novel. An impressive opener to a series that deserves to run and run."—Alex Marwood, author of The Wicked Girls and The Killer Next Door


“A strong series launch…While Jessie’s gutsy personality will endear her to readers, it’s the meticulous detail that distinguishes this novel…Fans of Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta will be pleased.”—Publishers Weekly


“The married authors…expertly employ their know-how, maintaining blood-and-guts vérité while empathetically exploring what it’s like to do a job with actual life-and-death stakes. First Cut is a fascinating, entertaining series kickoff, with a particularly kickass heroine.”—BookPage

From the Publisher

11/11/2019

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. Agent: Jessica Papin, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly