Today I’m featuring the last four debut novels from the 2009 First Novelists speed-dating event at Bouchercon in Indianapolis. If you haven’t found at least one book to add to your reading list, then I’m betting you don’t read mysteries or thrillers. Here are the last four novels in this series:

STEPHEN JAY SCHWARTZ

Boulevard, published by Forge Books, is the title of Stephen Jay Schwartz‘s novel, a dark and gritty thriller set in Los Angeles.

“Hayden Glass never had it easy. After losing his father at a young age, he fought hard for everything he got, haunted by a shame that he could never define or conquer. Now a Los Angeles Police Robbery and Homicide detective, Glass is still haunted by the scars that formed in his childhood and left a permanent void in his soul. He deals with it in a very defeating way . . . . he strolls Sunset Boulevard, picking up prostitutes. Hayden Glass is a sex addict.”

Buy this novel at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and through most other booksellers.

DENNIS TAFOYA

Dennis Tafoya‘s novel from St. Martin’s Press, Dope Thief, is about a small-time crook who makes a big mistake:

“Ray and his best friend, Manny, close ever since they met in juvie almost twenty years ago, have a great scam going: With a couple of fake badges and some DEA windbreakers they found at a secondhand store, they pose as federal agents and rip off small-time drug dealers, taking their money and drugs and disappearing before anyone is the wiser. It’s the perfect sting: the dealers they target are too small to look for revenge and too guilty to call the police, nobody has to die, nobody innocent gets hurt, and Ray and Manny score plenty. But it can’t last forever.”

Dope Thief may be purchased at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and through most other booksellers.

STEFANIE PINTOFF

In the Shadow of Gotham is Stefanie Pintoff‘s debut mystery, a historical novel set in New York City in the early 1900’s. The Darkest Verse also features Simon Ziele and will be released in 2010.

“Detective Simon Ziele loses his fiancée and shortly thereafter heads to Westchester County to escape the violence of the city. But just a few months into his tenure, he catches the worst homicide of his career: a young woman is brutally murdered in her own bedroom in the middle of a winter afternoon…”

In the Shadow of Gotham is available from amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and through most other booksellers.

STUART NEVILLE

Originally published in the UK as The Twelve, Stuart Neville‘s thriller was released in the U.S. from Soho Press as The Ghosts of Belfast.

“Former paramilitary killer Gerry Fegan is haunted by his victims, twelve souls who shadow his every waking day and scream through every drunken night. Just as he reaches the edge of sanity they reveal their desire: vengeance on those who engineered their deaths. From the greedy politicians to the corrupt security forces, the street thugs to the complacent bystanders who let it happen, all must pay the price. When Fegan’s vendetta threatens to derail Northern Ireland’s peace process and destabilise its fledgling government, old comrades and enemies alike want him gone. David Campbell, a double agent lost between the forces of law and terror, takes the job. But he has his own reasons for eliminating Fegan; the secrets of a dirty war should stay buried, even if its ghosts do not.”

Purchase The Ghosts of Belfast from amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and through most other booksellers.

Twenty-one seems like a lot of new novels to read, doesn’t it? The trouble is, there were even more first novelists at Bouchercon who didn’t participate in the speed-dating event. One was Andrew Grant (younger brother of Lee Child) who wrote Even. Another was Matt Hilton, author of Dead Men’s Dust. I’m sure there were many more. So many books, so little time.