"A crackling procedural about a grieving FBI agent who sets out to solve a murder in Maine. The sturdy whodunit plot is enriched by the author’s firm grasp of his setting and a colorful cast of New Englanders who never veer into caricature. A sequel would be welcome."

– Publishers Weekly

"I really enjoyed Tom Ricks's Maine-set mystery Everyone Knows But You about Ryan Tapia, a solitude-seeking FBI man on an isolated part of the Maine coast. After the death of an ornery lobsterman, Agent Tapia uncovers enough secrets, lies and shenanigans to give Jessica Fletcher a run for her money. A sophisticated thriller debut from one of America's finest writers."

– Adrian McKinty, New York Times bestselling author of The Chain and The Island

“I’ve enjoyed many of Thomas Rick’s’ bestselling histories, and so I was not surprised but very glad to find his first mystery, set on the coast of Maine, just as riveting and beautifully written. FBI agent Ryan Tapia, alone in the Bangor office—grief struck, watchful and meticulous—heads up a marvelous cast."

– Anne Lamott, author of Dusk Night Dawn and Bird by Bird

"A deliciously old-fashioned novel that embraces sensually drawn settings in the great state of Maine and colorful characters layered with nuance and complexity. Author Thomas Ricks tells the tale of FBI agent Ryan Tepia, who must track down a murderer while confronting the implacable demands of duty and grief. Read it now."

– Bryan Gruley, author of the Starvation Lake trilogy

“Thomas E. Ricks’s beautifully written mystery merges people and place with page-turning suspense into a seamless whole. The finest kind of mystery novel."

– Katherine Hall Page, Agatha awarding-winning author

Praise for Thomas E. Ricks

"Ricks knocks it out of the park with this jewel of a book. On every page I learned something new. Read it every night if you want to restore your faith in our country."

– James Mattis, General, U.S. Mariens (ret.) and 26th United States secretary of defense

"First Principles is a fascinating and erudite look at how Greek and Roman writers influenced members of the Founding Generation. From the Harvard-educated John Adams to the largely self-taught George Washington, the most well-known of American Revolutionaries, turned statesmen, looked to the classical world to answer critical questions about the nature of power and the nature of government."

– Annette Gordon-Reed, the Charles Warren Professor of American Legal History at Harvard Law School, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Hemingses of Monticello

"Ricks knows his subject well, and, equally important, he writes about it lucidly."

– Gordon Wood, professor at Brown University, and author of The Radicalism of American Revolution

"Maine, murder, methamphetamines, and a mystery wrapped up in an island culture as tight as a lobster trap. Here Thomas E. Ricks gives us story put together with the skill and finesse of a master watchmaker. This is a superb breakout novel, psychologically as deep as Maine coastal waters."

– William Cohen, former Secretary of Defense, former senator from Maine, and author of Blink of an Eye

“[An] extraordinarily timely book…If classical culture helped the new nation coalesce, what serves the same function today? Money? Pop culture? Political activism? And what about virtue? Does it still have a place in our society, and if so how might one define it? Interestingly, Mr. Ricks points out that for the Revolutionary generation, ‘silent virtue almost always would be valued more than loud eloquence.’ Of course the opposite is true now.”

– Wall Street Journal