Congratulations to Bill Loehfelm, Winner of the First Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

The contest that began with more than 5,000 applicants back in October has awarded its prize to Bill Loehfelm for his novel, Fresh Kills.

Born in Brooklyn and raised on Staten Island, Bill Loehfelm moved to New Orleans in 1997. He has taught high school and college, managed a pizza joint and an antique shop, and tended bar in the Quarter and the Warehouse District. "As long as New Orleans endures here, so too will I," writes Loehfelm on his Amazon profile.

Loehfelm belongs to a tight group of artists in New Orleans; the majority of whom are writers with a common connection to the University of New Orleans where they received their MAs and MFAs. Together they formed
NOLAFugees.com in 1997 as a response to the national media coverage of the flooding of the Crescent City.

Fresh Kills won by receiving the greatest number of customer reviews on the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award site. Praised by Elizabeth Gilbert as "a story of real psychological complexity" and hailed by Publishers' Weekly as "the next Dennis Lehane," Loehfelm's debut mystery unfolds against the gritty backdrop of Staten Island as an estranged son struggles to find his father's killer and make peace with a terrible past.

ABNA Books congratulates Bill Loehfelm on his win, and we wish him well in his writing career.

You can pre-order Fresh Kills on ABNABooks.com, an Amazon Affiliate, and a percentage of the sale will go to help with the costs of maintaining this site. Click on the link below and reserve your copy today!