When novelist Lowen Clausen first began writing First

Avenue, "there was no distance between the street and me." Having once been

a seasoned beat cop in the waterfront city, Clausen creates a convincing

portrait of Sam, who can't get the image of the dead baby out of his mind

and who can no longer "sweat out" the streets in his daily kayak trek home.

During Sam's dogged investigation emerge other intriguing people in Sam's

life-his beautiful neighbor Georgia; Sam's friend Silve, the restaurant

owner in the Pike Place Market; and the mysterious young Alaska Native girl,

Maria.