First, Murder (An Alex Quinn Suspense Thriller—Book One)

By Rylie Dark

Interpol agent Alex Quinn, 29, born to Italian-Turkish parents, is a multi-lingual genius. With an advanced degree in Criminal Psychology from a university in France and a PHD from a Germany university, Alex was recruited by Interpol at the age of 25—their youngest recruit—because of her encyclopedic knowledge of serial killers. But when a serial killer strikes in Venice, amidst the glittery costumes and sinister masks, Alex may, for the first time, find herself in over her head—and may just end up the target herself…

“A brilliant book. I couldn’t put it down and I never guessed who the murderer was!”
—Reader review for Only Murder
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FIRST, MURDER is book #1 in a new series by #1 bestselling and critically acclaimed mystery and suspense author Rylie Dark, whose books have received over 2,000 five-star reviews and ratings.

With killers preying in high-trafficked historic sites, Interpol convenes a special task force to hunt them down before panic spreads—and finds no one better to head up this new force than Alex Quinn.

Beautiful in an exotic way, with a mixture of her Mediterranean heritage, Alex, with her olive complexion and startling green eyes, bears a pencil thin scar along one hand from the palm to the tip of a finger—a scar that keeps her single-mindedly focused on avenging her parents.

Able to solve cases in record time, Alex has been all over Europe for nearly a decade. Yet one killer still eludes her.

The man who killed her parents.

The darkness of past propels her—yet it also threatens to swallow her whole…

A page-turning and harrowing crime thriller featuring a brilliant and tortured Interpol agent, the Alex Quinn series is a riveting mystery, a cat-and-mouse thriller packed with non-stop action, suspense, twists and turns, revelations, and driven by a breakneck pace that will keep you flipping pages late into the night. Fans of Rachel Caine, Teresa Driscoll and Robert Dugoni are sure to fall in love.
More books in the series are also available!

“I loved this thriller, read it in one sitting. Lots of twists and turns and I didn’t guess the
culprit at all… Already pre-ordered the second!”
—Reader review for Only Murder
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“This book takes off with a bang… An excellent read, and I'm looking forward to the next book!”
—Reader review for SEE HER RUN
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“Fantastic book! It was hard to put down. I can’t wait to see what happens next!”
—Reader review for SEE HER RUN
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“The twists and turns kept coming. Can't wait to read the next book!”
—Reader review for SEE HER RUN
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“A must-read if you enjoy action-packed stories with good plots!”
—Reader review for SEE HER RUN
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“I really like this author and this series starts with a bang. It will keep you turning the pages till the end of the book and wanting more.”
—Reader review for SEE HER RUN
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“I can't say enough about this author! How about ‘out of this world’! This author is going to go far!”
—Reader review for ONLY MURDER
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“I really enjoyed this book… The characters were alive, and the twists and turns were great. It will keep you reading till the end and leave you wanting more.”
—Reader review for NO WAY OUT
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“This is an author that I highly recommend. Her books will have you begging for more.”
—Reader review for NO WAY OUT
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• Language: English
• Publisher: Rylie Dark
• Release date: Apr 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9781094381541

Book preview

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F I R S T,   M U R D E R

(An Alex Quinn Mystery—Book 1)

R y l i e   D a r k

Rylie Dark

Bestselling author Rylie Dark is author of the SADIE PRICE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising six books (and counting); of the CARLY SEE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising six books (and counting); of the MIA NORTH FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising six books (and counting); of the MORGAN STARK FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising five books (and counting); of the HAILEY ROCK FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising five books (and counting); of the TARA STRONG MYSTERY series, comprising five books (and counting); and of the ALEX QUINN SUSPENSE THRILLER series, comprising five books (and counting).

An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Rylie loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.ryliedark.com to learn more and stay in touch.

Copyright © 2023 by Rylie Dark. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the author. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Jacket image Copyright blackday, used under license from Shutterstock.com.

BOOKS BY RYLIE DARK

ALEX QUINN SUSPENSE THRILLER

FIRST, MURDER (Book #1)

SECOND, DEATH (Book #2)

THIRD, ENVY (Book #3)

FOURTH, LUST (Book #4)

FIFTH, WRATH (Book #5)

TARA STRONG MYSTERY

GIRL WITHOUT A CHANCE (Book #1)

GIRL WITHOUT A HOME (Book #2)

GIRL WITHOUT A TRACE (Book #3)

GIRL WITHOUT A NAME (Book #4)

GIRL WITHOUT A PRAYER (Book #5)

HAILEY ROCK FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

BEHIND YOU (Book #1)

BESIDE YOU (Book #2)

AFTER YOU (Book #3)

WATCHING YOU (Book #4)

JUDGING YOU (Book #5)

SADIE PRICE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

ONLY MURDER (Book #1)

ONLY RAGE (Book #2)

ONLY HIS (Book #3)

ONLY ONCE (Book #4)

ONLY SPITE (Book #5)

ONLY MADNESS (Book #6)

MIA NORTH FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

SEE HER RUN (Book #1)

SEE HER HIDE (Book #2)

SEE HER SCREAM (Book #3)

SEE HER VANISH (Book #4)

SEE HER GONE (Book #5)

SEE HER DEAD (Book #6)

CARLY SEE FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

NO WAY OUT (Book #1)

NO WAY BACK (Book #2)

NO WAY HOME (Book #3)

NO WAY LEFT (Book #4)

NO WAY UP (Book #5)

NO WAY TO DIE (Book #6)

MORGAN STARK FBI SUSPENSE THRILLER

TOO LATE (Book #1)

TOO CLOSE (Book #2)

TOO FAR GONE (Book #3)

TOO LOST (Book #4)

TOO BROKEN (Book #5)

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

EPILOGUE

PROLOGUE

A sudden scream pierced the roar of the crowd.

Instead of watching the event she had dreamed of seeing her whole life, Venice’s city-wide masquerade ball, Hannah scanned the crowd for the person who screamed. Her gaze skimmed past the floats drifting down the canal as she searched the hordes of people crowded on the walkways or watching from gondolas. Each float carried a new, elaborate spectacle—on one, a dancer swung from suspended ribbons, flipping and turning. On another, a man twirled flaming batons, lighting the night sky. The air smelled like alcohol and firework smoke.

Hannah moved through the gathering and climbed to the top of an arched bridge where she could watch the scene from a better vantage point. The exploding fireworks illuminated the otherwise dark, porcelain masks worn by every partygoer. Her heart raced with mounting fear, but no matter how hard she peered into the darkness, no matter how closely she searched the shadowy figures, she couldn’t find the owner of the scream. Had she imagined it? No—it was Sarah. She was sure.

Ever since she'd been a child and learned about the masquerade balls in Venice, Hannah had wanted to come here to see them herself. She'd been fascinated by the decadent costumes, most of them built uniquely to be worn just one day. She wanted to lose herself in that anonymous crowd, be swallowed in her disguise. So, when her college friend Sarah offered her a place to stay in the city, she’d jumped at the chance and booked the first flight from Canada she found.

The lights, the spectacle of the carnival season—she couldn’t even say when she lost Sarah. God, please don’t let that be her scream.

Hannah searched the crowd for her friend’s mask, but it seemed to appear and disappear like a mirage, its bejeweled, checkered pattern hardly unique in the teeming swarm of people.

SARAH! Hannah shouted.

But there was no answer, apart from a few odd looks from the revelers closest to her.

A woman bending over a rail, yelling—no . . . not the source of the scream. The woman was laughing, her dainty fingers pressed against cold, pale marble.

Her gaze swished to the other side of the bridge, Hannah's breath coming rapidly. Prickles crept along her spine.

Sarah? she murmured, her voice hoarse. She stumbled a bit, wincing and glancing down at a discarded beer bottle. She leaned against the bridge, now, peering out, still searching. She'd heard a scream. She knew she'd heard it.

Everything was a blur of color and ostentatious display. Motion and chaos.

Maybe she'd misheard? Maybe it had only been an over-excited partygoer that Hannah mistook for a cry for help.

Another scream. Fainter than the first.

She’d gone the wrong way.

Turning, hurrying to follow the sound, muffled between the crack of fireworks and yelled Italian, this time she could pinpoint where it came from, and her gaze turned to one of the floats. On this one, four acrobats danced across a raised platform, flipping precariously near the boat’s edge. But near the front of the hull, Hannah could make out what she thought were two shadowy figures.

Squinting, Hannah leaned forward over the stone railing, trying to decipher the movements of the dark outlines. Were they having some sort of argument?

Hannah felt a tap on her shoulder, and she turned around to see another figure in a purple costume covered in black feathers staring down at her. The figure removed a mask covered in black rhinestones, revealing a celestial, upturned nose and lips pressed in a thin line.

Sarah! Hannah exclaimed in relief. You scared me.

"You scared me, she returned. Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you all night."

"I’ve been looking for you all night," Hannah returned, trying to make her timid voice heard over the noise of thousands of partiers.

Let’s get off this bridge. Come on, the opening ceremonies will be over soon.

But just as Hannah was about to follow, she heard a splash and spun to face the water.

She saw a dark figure in the water—a woman, she realized, from the shape of the skirt and long hair that floated around her. She was swimming away from the boat’s wake. No—she wasn’t swimming.

The woman in the water wasn’t moving.

She floated, face-down, arms spread wide. Drifting . . . drifting . . . drifting closer. Hannah could see tendrils of red curling around the woman in the water like long tentacles. Dark red.

Blood. So very much blood.

Before she could think, Hannah screamed. Fireworks cracked, and the masquerade roared, the noise of it drowning out Hannah’s calls for help.

CHAPTER ONE

Special Agent Alexandria Quinn strode into Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar, intent on ruining a man's life. The giant, arched, stone doorway might have seemed unassuming, but it was the major entryway to the largest covered market in the world.

She knew that she would have to be careful if she were to carry out her mission successfully. Inside rested row after row of stalls where people could sell anything a person could want or imagine. Lexi and her partner passed stalls filled with bins of spices: ground ginger, turmeric, and nutmeg. Others were filled with cheap imitations of name-brand shoes.

She tucked her badge into the inside pocket of her jacket and nodded at her partner to do the same. 

You better be right about him hiding here, he said while looking at the alluring array of food around them, from dough frying in oil to baskets full of almond-flavored candy. Wonderful, he said, looking more at the food than the people.

 I told you, Lexi reminded him. His family has worked this fruit stand for generations. This is his hiding spot. Just try not to spook him, all right?

 I won’t.

But Lexi was already suspicious. After decades of working in Spain, this was Del Rosso’s first assignment with Interpol, and he wasn’t familiar with how things worked in Turkey.

They stepped inside the open-air fruit stand, where the air was rich with the smell of melon, cherries, and figs. This stand sold any kind of fresh fruit a person could want, and the people inside tried to shoo flies away from their products.

 "Affedersin, excuse me, she said to the woman at the front counter, do you know where I could find Emir Sabik?"

The woman called to the back of the stall, where their suspect stood counting a row of cabbages. Lexi had tracked him here after chasing him all the way from a military base outside Ankara. Though she had been hot on his tail for days now, this was the first time she'd seen him in person. He looked just like the CCTV images they'd pulled, with his close-cut, black hair, wide eyes, and well-trimmed beard.

The short man turned to Lexi and Del Rosso and looked them up and down.

He blinked once, as if he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing, and then his eyes opened wide.

If he was smart enough to keep up with the international ring of arms dealers, he could pick a few cops out of a crowd. Even with their badges and guns safely hidden, Lexi still wore a blazer, a buttoned-up shirt, and trousers—the universal uniform for detectives. She kept her long, dark hair tucked into a tight ponytail, out of her way. Del Rosso wore a Spanish-made suit and leather shoes that must have given him away too. Lexi had never been good at blending into a crowd. Even with her long, brown hair, olive complexion, and Mediterranean features, her bright green eyes made her stand out. They gave her a striking, if not surprising, look.

Sabik threw a basket of cashews at them and took off running in the opposite direction. The woman running the shop called after him in Turkish, but he ignored her and charged deeper into the bazaar.

Without thinking, Lexi yelled to Del Rosso to cut him off and immediately sprinted after him, toppling a bin of grapes as she ran. She chased him through the main part of the bazaar, knocking over racks of imitation purses and cheap shoes. Vendors shouted after her to pick up her mess, but she ran so fast that she almost couldn’t hear them. Her heart thundered in her chest, but she wouldn’t let herself slow down.

Sabik wove in and out of stalls and in between crowds of haggling people in an attempt to lose her. But Lexi kept the pace, turning around obstacles quickly. She and Del Rosso had been chasing him for almost two weeks, ever since they found the body of his most recent victim, and she wasn’t about to let him get away now. Sabik had been in business with the wrong people for a long time; he'd left a trail of dead bodies in his wake. Lexi had to put an end to it.

Spices went flying, and more angry vendors shouted at her. But she ignored it all. She even managed to ignore the scent of roasting kebab that threatened to make her mouth water, reminding her of her mother’s cooking. Instead of thinking about the world around her, she trained her focus on the back of Sabik’s neck and imagined the arrest. They had all the evidence they needed for a conviction; all she had to do was catch him. She could already hear the cuffs closing around his sweaty wrists.

Del Rosso drifted farther and farther behind and definitely couldn’t run fast enough to cut their suspect off. She shot a quick glance back as he pushed politely through the crowds and picked up the occasional knocked-over-good as he went. Interpol, he exclaimed in broken Turkish while ushering old women out of the way. No need to worry!

She cursed and redoubled her pace, pounding over a stack of shoeboxes. Del Rosso was fine as far as partners go—Lexi had been assigned far worse. He usually let Lexi take the lead, especially when it came to foot chases, but he was never too late to swoop in at the last minute for half the credit.

That wasn’t a problem for Lexi. At least with this partner, she could work as she preferred—alone.

She’d always chosen to do things on her own. It usually ended up better that way. She learned a long time ago that she could get the job done in half the time without someone else slowing her down. 

Sabik dove into a stall selling an array of silk carpets. Lexi was forced to slow down as she stepped inside to look for him, knowing that an armed murderer could be waiting for her on the other side. She held her hand up to the vendor, signaling for her to be quiet, and then wove in and out of the rows and rows of woven fabric, searching for a familiar face in the labyrinth of carpets. She realized this was what the killer wanted. This stall provided the perfect hiding place to catch his breath while Lexi hopelessly searched each new row.

She turned a corner and found him, huddled between a red and orange carpet. The dim flash of a naked blade caught her eye, and Lexi’s hand drifted to her gun. Interpol! she shouted. You’re under arrest!

Sabik cut one of the lines holding up the carpets, and a row of them came crashing down, burying Lexi in silk carpets. The heavy bolts struck her arms, and she narrowly blocked one from hitting her head. She huffed in frustration as she fought her way out of the pile. When she finally emerged, the shop was wrecked, and Sabik had another head start, almost out of view.

"Üzgünüm," she gasped hastily, extricating herself from the pile of toppled silk. She apologized to the woman running the stall as she took off after Emir once again. Lexi’s feet beat the pavement as she forced herself to run faster than before. She vaguely heard Del Rosso behind her, asking the carpet merchant if she’d seen them. Lexi gained ground on Sabik until she was almost at his heels. Blood red silk. Blood red carpets. Blood red shoes.

Images of the crime scene he'd left behind flashed through her mind. Lexi's eyes narrowed, grim and cold. He'd killed more than once . . . arms trade on the Syrian border often employed the likes of Emir. Men in search of a quick buck.

He'd come home to help out at the family stall.

The two women he'd left who'd seen too much in Southern Antalya hadn't been nearly so fortunate.

The murderer began to loop around the complicated layout of stalls, leading her in circles around the grid-like structure of the bazaar. Lexi knew what he was trying to do: this time he would try to lose her around tight turns and confusing corridors, where people waited in large crowds outside the most