Publication Date: November 18, 2025
Connie Tucker, a free-spirited beach bartender, has been estranged from her family in New Jersey ever since her actress mother, Simone, disappeared one night during a violent storm at the theatre where she was rehearsing. Uncontrollable and in a rage at the loss of her parent, fifteen-year-old Connie is exiled to California, due to her delinquent behavior, to live with an aunt she doesn’t know.
Now, fifteen years later, Simone’s murdered remains are discovered at a construction site and Connie returns to the east coast for the funeral—she owes it to her mother. The cold case unit will take over now and solve the crime. But then she discovers a message her mother left behind. It feels like a dispatch from the grave.
Connie must face her tortured past, the guilt of concealing a devastating secret, and the part she played in her mother’s disappearance. Unearthing buried family history and childhood demons, she confronts the agonizing reality that she doesn’t know where she belongs, where to call home. Who to trust. When a second suspicious death occurs, Connie races to unravel the events of the night Simone disappeared. Her mother was the first to die…but not the last.
Connie Tucker returns to New Jersey to find closure after her mother’s remains were found, 15 years after a sudden disappearance.
The past and present collide in The First to Die by Suzanne Trauth. Having been sent to live with a relative in California in the aftermath of Simone’s disappearance, Connie doesn’t exactly have warm and fuzzy feelings about seeing her sister and father, much less the entire town.
However, Connie is determined to find answers and launches her own investigation. Trying to remember the last moments with her mother as a 13-year-old might offer potential clues.
With her uncanny resemblance to her late mother, Connie stirs up old secrets that put her in danger. The author effectively weaves in plenty of suspense as the storyline unfolds.
The First to Die serves up a twisty mystery along with a race against time.
Suzanne Trauth’s novels include What Remains of Love (a first-place winner in Women’s Fiction, Firebird Book Awards; a finalist in General Fiction, American Book Festival; and a finalist for the Hemingway Prize) and the Dodie O’Dell mystery series–Show Time, Time Out, Running Out of Time, Just in Time, No More Time and Killing Time. Her suspense novel, The First to Die, was released in November, 2025. She is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the Dramatists Guild.
Thanks for this review Amy! Much appreciated.
Suzanne