Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for The First to Die by Suzanne Trauth. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!

The First to Die

by Suzanne Trauth

The First to Die
Psychological Suspense
Setting – New Jersey
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Willow River Press
Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 18, 2025
Print length ‏ : ‎ 334 pages

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.

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.

Excerpt

“They found Mom. You need to come home.”

Her older sister Gaby wasn’t one to waste words.

Connie should have been relieved, comforted, something. Unfortunately, it was fifteen years too late for that. And anguish she had buried deep in her body, and mind, erupted with a vengeance.

She cooled her heels in San Diego until the last possible moment to return for the funeral. The less time spent there, the better. New Jersey triggered chilling images tethered to that night. To the last time she saw her mother.

The plane thumped to earth, delivering Connie Tucker to the past with a bounce. Everything about this state was a rude wake-up call. She couldn’t wait to board the return flight to California. At fifteen, she left New Jersey in a rage, thrown out of the only home she’d known, dumped thousands of miles away on a relative she’d never met. Nerves twitching, her insides were a stew of anxiety and bitterness, wondering how people here would react to seeing her. Connie shook her head to tamp down the unruly thoughts and scold herself. They were the ones who should be nervous.

Author Guest Post: Transitioning from Cozy Mysteries to Domestic Suspense

     My new book, The First to Die, is a departure for me. I am shifting sub-genres of crime fiction. This is not unusual. You can find many authors who shift writing genres for any number of reasons: sometimes a story demands a particular category, sometimes an author simply wants to broaden creatively and expand the types of novels she writes. In my case, I wanted to flesh out a narrative that had been on my mind for a while and I could only satisfy my writing goal through domestic suspense.

     I began my crime fiction career writing cozies: The Dodie O’Dell mysteries. My protagonist lives in a small town in northern New Jersey and manages a restaurant that sits next door to a community theatre. Each of the six books in the series features a production—and the hijinks of the rehearsal process—alongside a theme food menu, based on the content of the play, that my protagonist creates in order to promote the restaurant and the theatre. There is a lot of fun involved. The cozy mystery tropes are in plain sight: an amateur sleuth, a small town, quirky characters, and a healthy dose of humor. The pace is quick, all violence is basically offstage, the romance is fairly innocent, and sexual activity exists only in the imagination of the reader. I enjoyed writing each of these novels. But when it came time to satisfy the needs of a new, more complicated mystery, I had to turn to domestic suspense.

     The First to Die is written in two timelines—present day and fifteen years earlier. It features some standards of the domestic suspense sub-genre: 

–Family relationships at the core of the story (mine focuses on an estranged daughter returning home after fifteen years to attend the funeral of her mother, whose remains were discovered recently, and the tensions that arise between her and her father and sister).

–Action plus character development (though the pursuit of the identity of the killer drives the plot, the development of my protagonist as she faces her past in her home town and confronts personal demons she buried fifteen years earlier, is a significant aspect of the narrative).

–A setting that confines characters to a place that can prove claustrophobic and create conflict, defining the parameters of the protagonist’s journey as she fights her way toward a resolution of her goal as another touchstone of domestic suspense (my protagonist returns home to a neighborhood that holds painful memories as well as being a reminder of better family days—the combination makes her question who she can trust, where she can truly call home). 

–Characters that are relatable and human (the characters who populate The First to Die are related to each other by blood or deep friendship; they are, by turns, helpful, sympathetic, harmful, and dangerous; but above all, they are recognizable humans).

–Both internal and external conflict (my protagonist struggles with law enforcement, witnesses, and her own memories as she fights to find her mother’s killer; at the same time, she battles inner demons originating in her past and surfacing now that she is home; the internal and external conflicts finally merge at the climax of the book).

     Often the themes of domestic suspense revolve around home, identity, and family. This is true in The First to Die. Since leaving the east coast when she was fifteen, my protagonist has wrangled with where she can call home, where she belongs: The New Jersey town where she grew up and lived in for fifteen years or her aunt’s house in San Diego where she was sent after getting in repeated trouble as a rebellious teenager? Her return visit to New Jersey leads her to question who she can trust, if she can ever find her way back into her estranged family.

     Writing The First to Die was a challenging and gratifying experience and I am excited to witness its launch November 18. I also feel as though I have the cozy mystery sub-genre as a permanent fixture of my creative inventory. My next novel—in early draft form—features an amateur sleuth in a small town with a cast of unusual characters…I guess I am writing the beginning of a cozy series again!

About Suzanne Trauth

Suzanne Trauth is a novelist and playwright. Her 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 most recent novel, The First to Die, a domestic suspense, will be released in November 2025. She is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, the Dramatists Guild, and the League of Professional Theatre Women.

Author Links
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/suzannetrauth/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SuzanneTrauth
Website https://suzannetrauth.com/
GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6187623.Suzanne_M_Trauth

Purchase Link – Amazon 

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The First to Die TOUR PARTICIPANTS

November 10 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT

November 10 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT

November 11 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR GUEST POST

November 11 – Wine Cellar Library – SPOTLIGHT

November 12 – Guatemala Paula Loves to Read – SPOTLIGHT

November 12 – Infinite House of Books – SPOTLIGHT

November 12 – Sarandipity’s – CHARACTER GUEST POST

November 13 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW

November 13 – Baroness Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT

November 14 – Deal Sharing Aunt – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

November 14 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

November 15 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT

November 16 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – SPOTLIGHT

November 17 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT

November 17 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

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