The pilot episode of TNT's Murder in the First looks promising; a murder mystery novel come to life.
We're first introduced to Hildy Mulligan, a San Francisco Police Department homicide detective and single mom, gets a call from her ex-husband about a payment. She gets her daughter ready for school as she gets ready for work.
Elsewhere, Terry English, another SFPD homicide detective and Hildy's partner, is at the hospital with his wife who has cancer and is in declining condition. The doctor recommends he takes her home for hospice to spend her last days at home.
Hildy and Terry show up at a crime scene of a man, Kevin Nyers, who was murdered.
They talk to a witness who tells them that she saw some young boys, possibly buying or selling drugs. They’re given an iPad by a police officer with an email from Kevin Nyers addressed to Erich Blunt.
Erich Blunt is a young prodigy of Silicon Valley who owns a company dealing with some form of technology. Erich and his flight attendant, Cindy Strauss, appear to have a romantic relationship.
Hildy and Terry go to see Erich at his workplace and question him about Kevin’s murder. He claims he does not know him and never saw the email. They then go to find the kids the witness saw. They talk about seeing a skinny white guy at the apartment, possibly a junkie with a bird tattoo on his neck.
Terry rushes home to find that his wife has been moved in and the nurse is there to aid her. He tells his wife that he wants to take time off work, but she tells him not to. The stress of loosing his wife causes some apparent anger issues at work.
Terry and Hildy gather information for the case, searching for the tattooed mystery man. They find that the Kevin had a girlfriend, Sara, who died 22 years ago, and go to talk to her parents.
Sara’s parents explain that Kevin was the one who killed their daughter by supplying her the drugs she overdosed from. They also tell them that Kevin got Sara pregnant. Erich Blunt is Sara’s son.
Hildy and Terry go to find Erich. They show him Kevin’s picture and he admits that he knows Kevin is his biological father. He says he went to meet him a couple of months ago, and calls him a sperm donor. He says he gave him some money, and was getting emails from Kevin asking for more.
Erich leaves to fly to Los Angeles. There he meets Jeremy Leonard and are talking about a stolen code for an app. Jeremy wants to share the credit for the code he claims Erich stole, but Erich shuts him down and tells him he'll destroy him in court.
An annoyed Erich threatens to fire his lawyer if he doesn't take care of the situation.
Cindy accidentally spills wine on Erich, and he gets upset and threatens her job also. He throws her shirt in her face and fires her, but his lawyer tells him that he cannot fire her because she knows too much, that's when Eric tells him that he'll handle it.
Hildy is putting away her daughter’s clothes and finds a rubber duck, appearing to get an idea with the case. She goes to work to look at the tattoo database and realizes the skinny white male that the kids described has a duck tattoo on his neck. They find him and he runs away, but terry and Hildy catch him an arrest him.
They talk to him about Kevin, but he claims he doesn't know who he is. They tell him that they have enough evidence to put him away for the rest of his life. He asks for a lawyer and tells Hildy that he wants to smell her. Terry slams the addict's head on the table and Hildy storms out. She tells Terry to go home and stay with his wife until he is under control.
Terry goes home and reminisces on good times with his wife. It appears that it will be the last time he'll spend with her.
Two of Erich's private pilots are trying to reach Cindy, who was supposed to be at the airport with them. One of the pilots go to her house to check on her. He asks her landlord to open the door after there was no answer. They find her naked and dead on the floor at the bottom of her stairs. The coroner believes it is a classic case of a slip and fall.
Hildy finds pictures of Cindy and Erich. When she goes to tell Terry, she sees that he is upset, possibly finding out his wife passed.
Will the death of his wife affect Terry's dealing with the case? Does Erich have a connection to any of the murders? Is there a chance for a romantic relationship between Terry and Hilda? Who killed Cindy and what secrets was she hiding? All important questions that will hopefully be answered soon in future episodes of Murder in the First.