Description
Product Description
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.
Review
Finalist for the 2019 Shamus AwardPraise for Baby's First Felony
“Straley knows how to wrap deadly violence in a bubble of black humor that suits the novel's beautiful but harsh setting, where whales open their maws to dine on oceans of salmon fry and men kill one another while ravens fly overhead, screaming with laughter.”
—
New York Times
"Inimitable."
—The Seattle Times
"Happily, both Straley and Younger are back, and they are in fine form. Not only that, but Soho Press has republished the whole series with striking new matching covers."
—Anchorage Daily News
"It started like a heavy-footed drag racer hitting the gas pedal before the light turned green and it was a Gonzo joy ride from there . . . Buy it, shut off your devices, call in sick, and get a babysitter for however long it will take you to read Straley's latest page-turner,
Baby's First Felony."
—Daily Sitka Sentinel
"Straley writes with a poet's ear and a quirky, Zen sense of humor . . . The story is at times brutally violent, but never gratuitous, and is as entertaining as it is moving and honest."
—Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
"Most welcome . . . It’s good to have Cecil back."
—South Florida Sun-Sentinel
"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
"Masterfully balances semi-comic crime-caper elements with pitch-black criminal activities."
—Seattle Review of Books
"It has been 17 years since the last Cecil Younger novel from John Straley. That’s a long hiatus, to be sure, but
Baby’s First Felony proves more than worth the wait, as Alaska’s erstwhile writer laureate dusts off his suspense fiction chops to craft the finest installment of the series thus far."
—BookPage, Top Pick in Mystery
"Straley humanizes slapstick mayhem in his exceptional seventh Cecil Younger mystery . . . Hilarious."
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
"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 Reviews
"Excellent."
—Library Journal
"John Straley is an Alaskan treasure.
Baby’s First Felony is a page-turning, darkly hilarious murder mystery turned upside down. With the help of a crazy cast of characters, investigator Cecil Younger is taking on the criminal underbelly of an Alas