FIRST DEGREE BURN

FIRST DEGREE BURN REVIEWS

"Fire Marshal Eddie Burke Jr. leads a dangerous life. Rough around the edges, trying to keep himself going after his wife has divorced him, he lives in the shadow of his father, Big Eddie, a decorated hero retired from the NYPD. In his family FDNY is only second best.

When a young art restorer dies in a suspicious fire in her loft, Eddie is drawn into a series of fatalities
involving a WPA mural, a web of secrets and an aristocratic blonde from Sutton Place who may hold the answers.

Lance, a former Emmy-winning ABC journalist, paints a picture of the city that is rich in detail and variety. The colliding worlds of rich and poor, parents and children, cops and criminals all come crashing together as he closes in for the finish of this smashing debut. There's no question - Eddie Burke is here to stay."

PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY
6/30/97

"First Degree Burn is a superlative, fast-paced, roller-coaster, off-beat mystery featuring Fire Marshal Eddie Burke, Jr. who is called upon to find an arsonist in a big, impersonal city populated with the good, the bad, and the deadly! "

The Midwest Book Review Internet Bookwatch

"Eddie Burke comes at you like Popeye Doyle in THE FRENCH CONNECTION."

Sonny Grosso,
former NYPD detective and producer of TOP COPS

"Peter Lance delivers on every level. He takes us into the world of fire investigation like no other writer. I couldn't put it down"

Stephen J. Cannell,
Emmy winning T.V. producer and author of THE PLAN, FINAL VICTIM, and KING CON.

"Eddie Burke is the most fascinating new hero of the nineties. He blisters the pages. Smell the smoke. Feel the heat. FIRST DEGREE BURN is a winner!"

Edna Buchanan,
Pulitzer Prize winning reporter and mystery author

"Peter Lance has a reporter's instinct for vivid, authentic detail and a natural storyteller's gift. FIRST DEGREE BURN takes you deep inside fascinating New York City subcultures ranging from Fire Marshals to art restorers. This is the kind of book you'll pick up casually and end up swallowing in one big gulp."

Tony Schwartz,
best selling author of TRUMP, THE ART OF THE DEAL
and the forthcoming biography of Michael Eisner.

"I had to keep reading until I finished. I'm now hooked on Eddie Burke. I will be passing it on to my firefighting and arson investigating friends.. Here's to Eddie"

Kathleen Riley,
Black Bird Mysteries

"Peter Lance has the unique ability to weave accurate factual details with incredible fictional suspense. Eddie Burke is alive!"

Pamela Craig-White,
Editor, Fire & Arson Investigator Magazine

"FIRST DEGREE BURN is a hard boiled detective novel reminiscent of some of the classic works of Chandler and Hammett. Peter Lance, a renowned TV investigative reporter, paints a dark and gritty picture of the city that never sleeps. The book is a blistering social commentary; the first novel of what hopefully will be a fascinating series."

Harriet Klausner,
DorothyL Mystery Newsletter

"In Manhattan, a sociopathic serial arsonist nicknamed "Superman" torches a historic Lower East Side row house in a horrible act of arson which kills an infant and severely injures New York Fire Marshall Eddie Burke. When he gets back on the job, Eddie is called to investigate another fire in which an art restorer in Soho dies while restoring a long-lost WPA mural. The fire looks like a cover-up for a lovers' quarrel which ended in murder, and the case is closed. But for Eddie Burke it's only the beginning of a deadly mystery as more people die for the missing mural and Eddie is drawn into a spiderweb of deceit and lies. His search for the truth takes him from the dregs of New York's culture to the bastions of the rich and powerful. Peter Lance, in his novel debut, has penned a winner which sizzles with excitement and scorching, non-stop action. Eddie Burke is a hero for the 90's. Reeling from a painful divorce and fighting to stay out of the shadow of his legendary hero-cop father, Eddie is a complex man with a hints of being a romantic at heart whose passion for the truth could easily get him killed. Lance creates equally fascinating female characters with his creation of the troubled art history professor Caroline Drexel and Auschwitz survivor and therapist Dr. Helen Liebman, who becomes mentor and mother figure to the beautiful, rich, but tortured Caroline. Lance deftly plays on stereotypes of the beautiful but weak female leads of older, traditional hardboiled novels and turns the stereotypes upside down. Caroline has reserves of strength that are particularly exhibited in one hilarious scene in the hospital where she successfully does battle with a bureaucratic ER nurse who is more interested in filling out insurance forms than in saving the injured Eddie's life. Meticulously researched and written with the authority that one would expect from an award-winning investigative journalist who went undercover in Chicago in the mid-80's to crack an arson-for-profit ring, First Degree Burn is jam-packed with fascinating details of both the underbelly and the top strata of New York society. Lance deftly weaves a fascinating tale of a mystery involving a lost mural painted in the 1930's that holds a deadly secret and a mysterious dream with the gut-wrenching story of Eddie's relationships with his father and with Caroline (who has her own demons), without ever losing the threads of these different themes. Lance's eye for detail, his brilliance at painting a vivid picture of the sounds and scenes of New York and his gift for storytelling add up to a fascinating book that is impossible to put down. Whether you're a hardboiled fan, thriller fan or a mystery fan there's something for everyone in this outstanding debut. Welcome, Eddie Burke, we're glad to have you. "

Reprinted from the October issue of The Internet Writing Journal(TM)