Ridley Pearson: The First Victim (USA 2005)

From the Publisher:
In this gripping new novel, Lou Boldt is back and entering dark new territory. A shipping container washed ashore leads Seattle television news anchor Stevie McNeal and her reporter friend, Melissa, on the trail of a scam involving the importation of illegal aliens. A career stepping-stone for McNeal, the investigation puts her at cross-purposes with the Seattle Police Department's Lou Boldt and Sergeant John LaMoia. When Melissa disappears. perhaps at the hands of the Chinese Triad, McNeal turns from foe to ally and teams up with the detectives on an investigation that takes them from Seattle's docklands to the horrifying setting of a sweatshop employing slaves.

Ridley Pearson: The First Victim. Hyperion Books, ISBN: 140130818X (April, 2005), 431 p., $12.95.

Ridley Pearson: The First Victim (UK 2004)

From the Publisher:
Boldt plays jazz piano one night a week in a local bar, and despite his concern for his hands, he takes every opportunity he can to get away from his desk and into the streets. But money pressures, caused by his wife's recent illness, also make him think about the possibility of a better-paying job in the private sector.

Meanwhile, some extremely ruthless people are murdering illegal Chinese immigrant women and leaving their bodies buried in newly dug graves. An ambitious local TV journalist named Stevie McNeal and the young Chinese woman she thinks of as her 'Little Sister' risk their lives to investigate the killings, while Boldt and his team round up a most unusual array of suspects. This combination of hard-edged realism and softer sentiment has become Pearson's trademark, and once again it works smoothly.

Ridley Pearson: The First Victim. Orion Books, ISBN: 0752857215 (January, 2004), 446 p., £6.99.

Ridley Pearson: The First Victim (UK 2003)

From the Publisher:
Boldt plays jazz piano one night a week in a local bar, and despite his concern for his hands, he takes every opportunity he can to get away from his desk and into the streets. But money pressures, caused by his wife's recent illness, also make him think about the possibility of a better-paying job in the private sector.

Meanwhile, some extremely ruthless people are murdering illegal Chinese immigrant women and leaving their bodies buried in newly dug graves. An ambitious local TV journalist named Stevie McNeal and the young Chinese woman she thinks of as her 'Little Sister' risk their lives to investigate the killings, while Boldt and his team round up a most unusual array of suspects. This combination of hard-edged realism and softer sentiment has become Pearson's trademark, and once again it works smoothly.

Ridley Pearson: The First Victim. Orion Books, ISBN: 0752857215 (May, 2003), 342 p., £10.99.

Ridley Pearson: The First Victim (USA 2000)

From the Publisher:
In this gripping new novel, Lou Boldt is back and entering dark new territory. A shipping container washed ashore leads Seattle television news anchor Stevie McNeal and her reporter friend, Melissa, on the trail of a scam involving the importation of illegal aliens. A career stepping-stone for McNeal, the investigation puts her at cross-purposes with the Seattle Police Department's Lou Boldt and Sergeant John LaMoia. When Melissa disappears. perhaps at the hands of the Chinese Triad, McNeal turns from foe to ally and teams up with the detectives on an investigation that takes them from Seattle's docklands to the offices of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Ridley Pearson: The First Victim. Hyperion Books, ISBN: 0786889667 (June, 2000), 417 p., $7.99.

Ridley Pearson: The First Victim (USA 1999)

From the Publisher:
From the bestselling author of The Pied Piper and Beyond Recognition -- a writer who consistently receives rave reviews -- comes a new Lou Boldt thriller. The New York Times has said about Ridley Pearson, "[his] grasp of investigative knowledge is truly impressive," and Publishers Weekly commented, "A rare humanism and attention to procedural detail have marked Pearson's thrillers featuring Seattle cop Lou Boldt."

In this gripping new novel, Lou Boldt is back and entering dark new territory. A shipping container washed ashore leads Seattle television news anchor Stevie McNeal and her reporter friend, Melissa, on the trail of a scam involving the importation of illegal aliens. A career stepping-stone for McNeal, the investigation puts her at cross-purposes with the Seattle Police Department's Lou Boldt and Sergeant John LaMoia. When Melissa disappears. perhaps at the hands of the Chinese Triad, McNeal turns from foe to ally and teams up with the detectives on an investigation that takes them from Seattle's docklands to the offices of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

With a storyline that mirrors today's headlines, meticulous research, and fascinating forensic details, this latest crime novel confirms Pearson's place at the top of the genre.

With over six million copies of his work in print worldwide, Ridley Pearson is the bestselling author of eleven other novels, including the Boldt/Matthews novels The Pied Piper, Beyond Recognition, The Angel Maker, and Undercurrents. He was the first American to be awarded the Raymond Chandler/Fulbright Fellowship in detective fiction at Oxford University. In 1994 No Witnesses was selected by the American Library Association as one of that year's best fiction books. His novels have been transiated into twenty languages. Ridley lives with his wife, Marcelle, and their daughter, Paige, in the Northern Rockies.

Ridley Pearson: The First Victim. Hyperion Books, ISBN: 0786864400 (July, 1999), 381 p., $23.95.