Publication Date: January 7, 2020

Publisher: Hanover Square Press

Wife and husband duo Dr. Judy Melinek and T.J. Mitchell first enthralled the book world with their runaway bestselling memoir Working Stiff—a fearless account of a young forensic pathologist’s “rookie season” as a NYC medical examiner. This winter, Dr. Melinek, now a prominent forensic pathologist in the Bay Area, once again joins forces with writer T.J. Mitchell to take their first stab at fiction. 

The result: FIRST CUT (Hanover Square Press; Hardcover; January 7, 2020; $26.99)—a gritty and compelling crime debut about a hard-nosed San Francisco medical examiner who uncovers a dangerous conspiracy connecting the seedy underbelly of the city’s nefarious opioid traffickers and its ever-shifting terrain of tech startups.

Dr. Jessie Teska has made a chilling discovery. A suspected overdose case contains hints of something more sinister: a drug lord’s attempt at a murderous cover up. As more bodies land on her autopsy table, Jessie uncovers a constellation of deaths that point to an elaborate network of powerful criminals—on both sides of the law—that will do anything to keep things buried. But autopsy means “see for yourself,” and Jessie Teska won’t stop until she’s seen it all—even if it means the next corpse on the slab could be her own.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Dr. Stone struck me as an overgrown nerd, brilliant and opinionated and completely unfiltered. I like nerds, and I’ve been told many times— many times— that I could use a stronger filter myself.

He speaks Bengali like I speak Polish— fluent in curse words, proverbs, and food.

People from happy families can’t comprehend what it’s like to live in a hostage situation with people who tell you they love you.

We don’t work in a justice system, Jessie. It’s a legal system. We take what we can get.

My Review:

This multi-layered tale was cunningly plotted, cleverly complicated, and shrewdly paced.   I suspected everyone, and for good reason, as each had their own hidden agendas and they were all actually up to something. While the storylines and characters were complex, I enjoyed the authors’ surprising wit and engaging and descriptive writing style. Their contributions meshed seamlessly and I never would have guessed it was a team effort.   The book was written in the first person POV of a newly hired medical examiner in San Francisco, a place I’ve never been and a vocation that gives me the willies to contemplate, yet I was as intrigued by the story as much as the oddly compelling characters and I was truly fascinated by her delightfully unusual living accommodations in a cable car house.