1st to Die

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2001

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Book 1, Chapter 11

Book 1, Chapters 12-25

Book 2, Chapters 26-36

Book 2, Chapters 37-47

Book 2, Chapters 48-59

Book 2, Chapters 60-69

Book 3, Chapters 70-81

Book 3, Chapters 82-95

Book 4, Chapters 96-106

Book 4, Chapters 107-117

Book 4, Chapter 118-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Symbols & Motifs

Wedding Rings

The victims in the Honeymoon Murders are missing their wedding rings. Wedding rings symbolize the unending circle of love and commitment that should be present in a marriage. By taking the rings, the murderer wants to make clear their cynical views of marriage—especially the idealization of marriage inherent to newlyweds still riding the high of the wedding itself. However, by taking the rings, the murderer allows Detective Lindsay Boxer to connect the San Francisco and Cincinnati murders to one another.

At the end of the novel, as Chessy Jenks holds her husband Nicholas at gunpoint, she demands that he swallow the rings she’s collected from her victims. She wants him to physically suffer at least a little to make up for the ways he’s tormented her physically and psychologically. Swallowing the rings is also a concrete representation of the ways Nicholas disregarded his wedding vows by cheating on her and abusing her. Her possession of the rings identifies Chessy as the murderer, though later Nicholas claims that he masterminded the crimes.

Phillip Campbell Disguise

When Chessy dresses up as Nicholas to commit the murders, she calls herself Phillip Campbell, picking this name from Nicholas’s first novel, Always a Bridesmaid. In this guise, Chessy is both enthralled and repulsed by what she is doing: peeing from terror while reveling in her power. The outward disguise serves a practical purpose: According to Nicholas, the plan was for Chessy to frame Nicholas by leaving evidence pointing to him at the crime scenes, but then to commit another set of murders while he was in jail to exonerate him. However, the psychological mask of Phillip Campbell is Chessy’s rebellion. As Phillip Campbell, Chessy, Chessy becomes a more powerful person, someone whom Nicholas is not physically and psychologically abusing. Instead, she can wield the same power over her victims—and eventually over Nicholas himself, since by framing him, she hopes to condemn him to prison.

Aplastic Anemia

Aplastic anemia (anachronistically called “Negli’s” in the novel despite the fact that the American Medical Association no longer refers to diseases by the names of doctors who first described them) is a blood disorder that causes the body to stop producing enough red blood cells. This disease causes weakness, fatigue, and heart failure; it is sometimes fatal. Diagnosed with this illness, Lindsay assumes the worst—that she will soon die—and mourns her incomplete career.

Aplastic anemia becomes a dark cloud over Lindsay, symbolizing her fears and acting as a wall between her and Chris. Lindsay refuses to get close to Chris because starting a new relationship when she could possibly die is irresponsible—a mindset that comes from the deep grief she experienced when her mother died. In the end, Lindsay begins responding to treatment, giving her a new lease on life and allowing her to realize that she cannot put her life on hold forever.