Book Review: First Avenue

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

First Avenue     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Lowen Clausen
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Police Procedural   Noir
Onyx, Dec 2000, $6.99, 384 pp.

FIRST AVENUE is the home for bums, runaways, hookers, and girly shows. The cops who patrol the area know that even in the quiet of first watch, this part of Seattle is filled with dangerous undesirables. The police know what the odious smell in a guestroom at the squalid Donald hotel likely means before unlocking the door, bit it does not phase the cops at the scene until they look inside.

Police Officers Sam Wright and Kat Murphy are among the cops who find a dead baby inside the room. Sam normally can forget his job by kayaking away his stress. However, this time the picture of the infant etches into his soul. He vows to the dead child, the unknown mother who washed the dishes before seemingly abandoning her baby, and mostly to himself to bring to justice those individuals who committed this heinous crime. Short of manpower, the brass just wants this to be another unsolved statistic, but Sam cannot let it go as he works the mangy rundown streets of FIRST AVENUE seeking information from the wave of human rejects residing there.

FIRST AVENUE is a tremendous police procedural because of the strength of its characters, especially Sam. The investigative story line works as a darker side of Seattle is painted to the reader. As good as the description of the city and as well written is the plot, Sam and his supporting cast own this debut tale that tastes convincingly accurate in a sensitive way. In his debut novel, Lowen Clausen provides a fabulous tale that will leave sub-genre fans anxiously awaiting his next book, perhaps starring Sam again.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner