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First Degree Burn
Fire Marshall Eddie Burke, Jr., begins an investigation after a SoHo arson fire destroys a priceless painting and kills a young woman, a case that is complicated by the death of the victim's abusive ex-boyfriend. Original.
384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 1997
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About the author
Peter Lance
15 books52 followersPeter Lance is a five-time Emmy-winning investigative reporter now working as a screenwriter and novelist. With a Masters Degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law, Lance spent the first 15 years of his career as a print reporter and network correspondent.
He began his career as a reporter for his hometown paper, The Newport, R.I. Daily News. There, while a student at Northeastern University in Boston, he won the coveted Sevellon Brown Award from the A.P. Managing Editors Association. Lance next moved to WNET, the PBS flagship in New York, where he won his first New York area Emmy and the Ohio State Award as a producer- reporter for Channel 13′s news magazine THE 51ST STATE.
Later, while working as a writer and producer for WABC-TV Lance won his second Emmy along with the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism prize for WILLOWBROOK: THE PEOPLE VS. THE STATE OF NEW YORK, an exposé on a notorious institution for the mentally retarded. He also was awarded The National Community Service Emmy for that same documentary.
While getting his law degree, Lance worked as a Trial Preparation Assistant in the office of the District Attorney for New York County. Moving to ABC News as a field producer, Lance won his fourth Emmy for his investigation of an arson-for-profit ring in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago: “Arson and Profit.”
In 1981 Lance became Investigative Correspondent for ABC News. For his very first investigative piece on 20/20 Lance won his fifth Emmy for “Unnecessary Surgery,” an exposé of unnecessary surgery in an Arkansas hospital. He won two more Emmy nominations in 1982 for 20/20 investigative pieces on Formaldehyde “The Danger Within” and toxic waste: “Deadly Chemicals, Deadly Oil;” a piece that also won the National Headliner Award.
Over the next five years he covered hundreds of stories worldwide for ABC NEWS 20/20, NIGHTLINE, and WORLD NEWS TONIGHT.
He was a member of the first American crew into Indochina after the end of the Vietnam War. He chased rebel insurgents through the Plaine Des Jarres in Laos and members of the Gambino Family through the toxic wastelands of New Jersey. He tracked knife-happy surgeons in the Deep South and nuclear terrorists through the twisted streets of Antwerp. Then, in 1987, he took a break from non-fiction.
Lance came to L.A. and began working as a writer and story editor for Michael Mann on two of his acclaimed NBC series: CRIME STORY and MIAMI VICE. In 1989 Lance became the co-executive producer and “show runner” on the fourth season of WISEGUY for CBS and in 1993 he co-created MISSING PERSONS, for ABC. In recent years, he has served as a writer and consulting producer on such series as JAG (NBC) and THE SENTINEL (UPN).
In 1997 Lance’s first novel FIRST DEGREE BURN became a national best seller, ranking No. 24 on The Ingram A-List The Top 50 Requested Titles in Mystery- Detective Fiction. The film-noir mystery features FDNY Fire Marshal Eddie Burke.
Following the 9/11 attacks Lance began investigating the origins of the FBI’s original probe of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Ahmed Yousef. He authored 4 books on counter terrorism and org. crime for HarperCollins between 2003-2013.
In 2020 his investigation of the murder of Eduardo Tirella killed in 1966 by Doris Duke was the lead piece in Vanity Fair's July/Aug. issue. During sequestration Lance expanded into a 438 page book HOMICIDE AT ROUGH POINT published in 3 editions on 2.23.21 with the Audible edition which he narrated published on 3.10.21
Email: pl@peterlance.com
He began his career as a reporter for his hometown paper, The Newport, R.I. Daily News. There, while a student at Northeastern University in Boston, he won the coveted Sevellon Brown Award from the A.P. Managing Editors Association. Lance next moved to WNET, the PBS flagship in New York, where he won his first New York area Emmy and the Ohio State Award as a producer- reporter for Channel 13′s news magazine THE 51ST STATE.
Later, while working as a writer and producer for WABC-TV Lance won his second Emmy along with the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism prize for WILLOWBROOK: THE PEOPLE VS. THE STATE OF NEW YORK, an exposé on a notorious institution for the mentally retarded. He also was awarded The National Community Service Emmy for that same documentary.
While getting his law degree, Lance worked as a Trial Preparation Assistant in the office of the District Attorney for New York County. Moving to ABC News as a field producer, Lance won his fourth Emmy for his investigation of an arson-for-profit ring in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago: “Arson and Profit.”
In 1981 Lance became Investigative Correspondent for ABC News. For his very first investigative piece on 20/20 Lance won his fifth Emmy for “Unnecessary Surgery,” an exposé of unnecessary surgery in an Arkansas hospital. He won two more Emmy nominations in 1982 for 20/20 investigative pieces on Formaldehyde “The Danger Within” and toxic waste: “Deadly Chemicals, Deadly Oil;” a piece that also won the National Headliner Award.
Over the next five years he covered hundreds of stories worldwide for ABC NEWS 20/20, NIGHTLINE, and WORLD NEWS TONIGHT.
He was a member of the first American crew into Indochina after the end of the Vietnam War. He chased rebel insurgents through the Plaine Des Jarres in Laos and members of the Gambino Family through the toxic wastelands of New Jersey. He tracked knife-happy surgeons in the Deep South and nuclear terrorists through the twisted streets of Antwerp. Then, in 1987, he took a break from non-fiction.
Lance came to L.A. and began working as a writer and story editor for Michael Mann on two of his acclaimed NBC series: CRIME STORY and MIAMI VICE. In 1989 Lance became the co-executive producer and “show runner” on the fourth season of WISEGUY for CBS and in 1993 he co-created MISSING PERSONS, for ABC. In recent years, he has served as a writer and consulting producer on such series as JAG (NBC) and THE SENTINEL (UPN).
In 1997 Lance’s first novel FIRST DEGREE BURN became a national best seller, ranking No. 24 on The Ingram A-List The Top 50 Requested Titles in Mystery- Detective Fiction. The film-noir mystery features FDNY Fire Marshal Eddie Burke.
Following the 9/11 attacks Lance began investigating the origins of the FBI’s original probe of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Ahmed Yousef. He authored 4 books on counter terrorism and org. crime for HarperCollins between 2003-2013.
In 2020 his investigation of the murder of Eduardo Tirella killed in 1966 by Doris Duke was the lead piece in Vanity Fair's July/Aug. issue. During sequestration Lance expanded into a 438 page book HOMICIDE AT ROUGH POINT published in 3 editions on 2.23.21 with the Audible edition which he narrated published on 3.10.21
Email: pl@peterlance.com
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
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March 9, 2016Worthy debut
The Hook 2016 Reading Plan
Mystery Readers Journal, Volume 14, No. 1, Spring 1998 The Big Apple: New York Mysteries II, Article, Red vs. The Blues by Peter Lance
The Line ”The RIVALRY BETWEEN THE NYPD AND THE FDNY RAN broad and deep.”
The Sinker – This simple line I quoted sums up the reason I chose to read First Degree Burn.
This first and from what I can determine, last, Eddie Burke Mystery was a solid debut exploring the two departments and how they work with and against each other. Burke comes from a family of cops so how is it he’s FDNY?
First Degree Burn begins with a raging fire that leaves one woman dead and destroys what could be one of several lost WPA Murals. The mural in question, titled Workers of the World Unite, a two panel piece depicting a pilot, nurse, stevedore, farmer teacher, miner, painted in 1938 is at the heart of the mystery and is what kept me reading. What I learned about fires, the fleshing out of Burke in this first book that must have been planned as a series, and the grittiness of a New York background, are interesting but were not the hook. Of course the WPA Murals (though the mural in the story is fictitious I believe) are real. You can read a bit of the history and find remaining murals in your own state by visiting
WPA Murals
Lance is an Emmy winning investigative journalist. First Degree Burn is now a screenplay. Visit Lance’s webpage for some interesting and updated commentary on First Degree Burn, as well as the Red vs. the Blue article.
Author Peter Lance
The Hook 2016 Reading Plan
Mystery Readers Journal, Volume 14, No. 1, Spring 1998 The Big Apple: New York Mysteries II, Article, Red vs. The Blues by Peter Lance
The Line ”The RIVALRY BETWEEN THE NYPD AND THE FDNY RAN broad and deep.”
The Sinker – This simple line I quoted sums up the reason I chose to read First Degree Burn.
This first and from what I can determine, last, Eddie Burke Mystery was a solid debut exploring the two departments and how they work with and against each other. Burke comes from a family of cops so how is it he’s FDNY?
First Degree Burn begins with a raging fire that leaves one woman dead and destroys what could be one of several lost WPA Murals. The mural in question, titled Workers of the World Unite, a two panel piece depicting a pilot, nurse, stevedore, farmer teacher, miner, painted in 1938 is at the heart of the mystery and is what kept me reading. What I learned about fires, the fleshing out of Burke in this first book that must have been planned as a series, and the grittiness of a New York background, are interesting but were not the hook. Of course the WPA Murals (though the mural in the story is fictitious I believe) are real. You can read a bit of the history and find remaining murals in your own state by visiting
WPA Murals
Lance is an Emmy winning investigative journalist. First Degree Burn is now a screenplay. Visit Lance’s webpage for some interesting and updated commentary on First Degree Burn, as well as the Red vs. the Blue article.
Author Peter Lance
November 28, 2016
Good mystery although the basic reasoning behind the murders was kind of a stretch. And really, does every book have to have sex scenes?
March 5, 2009
FIRST DEGREE BURN (Lic. Inv-
Lance, Peter - Standalone
It happens every day in the City. Gas is poured. A match is lit. Buildings, bodies, and dreams go up in flames. Fire Marshal Eddie Burke, Jr., walks among the wreckage. A different kind of detective for a different kind of crime...
A fire rages in SoHo. A priceless painting is destroyed. And a young woman lies dead in the ashes. When the victim's abusive ex-boyfriend is killed resisting arrest, the police close the case. But Eddie Burke can't let it go. He knows that the arsonist was a pro, not a jealous lover. And he knows that the torch—whoever he is—is still out there...
I really enjoyed this. High action and great suspense. The plot was a big uneven but I would read more by Lance.
Lance, Peter - Standalone
It happens every day in the City. Gas is poured. A match is lit. Buildings, bodies, and dreams go up in flames. Fire Marshal Eddie Burke, Jr., walks among the wreckage. A different kind of detective for a different kind of crime...
A fire rages in SoHo. A priceless painting is destroyed. And a young woman lies dead in the ashes. When the victim's abusive ex-boyfriend is killed resisting arrest, the police close the case. But Eddie Burke can't let it go. He knows that the arsonist was a pro, not a jealous lover. And he knows that the torch—whoever he is—is still out there...
I really enjoyed this. High action and great suspense. The plot was a big uneven but I would read more by Lance.
May 18, 2009
Like my rating suggests. It was ok. Fairly typical low brow hardworking cop/fireman falls in love with rich girl involved in current investigation. I can't help but relate the story to the movie Backdraft which did a much better job of developing the character's and the story, even if it was William Baldwin. Basically the same sort of story but much more exciting. This book was also fairly predictable at least the ending.
September 20, 2013
This is a good standard mystery novel featuring a FDNY Fire Marshal instead of a police officer. The main character is helped out by his NYPD retired legend detective father. It's a pretty straight forward mystery with a couple of twists and turns. I really enjoyed it, and I wish Lance had made a series with it. Oh well, not all wishes come true.
All in all, it is one of the books that I continually come back to.
All in all, it is one of the books that I continually come back to.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews