MARSHAL LAW: THE DELUXE EDITION Pat Mills, Kevin O’Neill 2013 DC Comics They say I don’t pray for my enemy I do. I pray they go to Hell I remember reading the original Marshal Law comics back in the late 80’s. The punk scene and strange party all the time attitude of the decade was waning and here was a comic that seemed to reflect that, and dealt with it with over the top violence and black humor and parody. I’m a fan of super hero comics and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I do also admit that there are an awful lot of comics that have been written over the years that are just goofy and ripe for parody. Marshal Law came along at just the...

ECW Press Pub Date: May 1, 2013 When 23-year-old Alexandra “Sacha” Westlake is found dead on a glacier in Whistler, British Columbia, her wrists slit and her snowboard still attached to her feet, it’s generally assumed she committed suicide. Sacha’s mother Martha, however, doesn’t believe for a moment her daughter could have taken her own life, and uses her influence as a U.S. Senator and Presidential hopeful to get the FBI to launch a joint investigation with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Enter undercover agent Clare Vengel, who’s tasked with posing as fledgling snowboarder Lucy Lipton and infiltrating Sacha’s circle of friends. That...

MULHOLLAND BOOKS April 30th, 2013 If you haven’t read the first 2 books in the Charlie Hardie trilogy by Mr. Swierczynski, stop reading right now. Do not pass go, don’t collect shit. If you have read them, then proceed by all means but I’m warning you now. I gotta give up a little to do this review proper. In the first book Fun and Games, you meet Charlie Hardie and the Accident People. Hardie in a previous life was a consultant for the Philadelphia police known as Unkillable Chuck. His partner was killed by Albanian gangsters and Hardie while wounded, blames himself. He leaves his wife and child behind and goes into self-imposed exile,...

POINT AND SHOOT Duane Swierczynski MULHOLLAND BOOKS April 30th, 2013 You know how some folks will tell you to “fasten your seatbelts for this non-stop thrill ride, yadda yadda yadda…” Yeah, we’ve seen these blurbs before. But see, I’m here to tell you this, and you sure as hell better listen close: “You better wear this flame resistant shock suit with the jetpack on the back and blasters on the wrists because this book moves faster than the Flash and hits harder than the Hulk and you sure as Hell better BE READY.” This is how I would describe POINT & SHOOT to anyone and everyone. It may be too long to fit on a book cover, but I don’t...

EVERY BROKEN TRUST Linda Rodriguez May 2013 St Martins/Minotaur Some people aren’t made for parties. Marquitta “Skeet” Bannion is very definitely one of them. Then why did she agree to allow a huge party for a politician to be thrown at her house? Don’t think she hasn’t been asking herself that question for weeks. But here it is, the day of the party thrown by her friend Karen Wise (who was very much made for parties), and while Karen is calm, Skeet wants to will the party to evaporate. Instead, she is forcing a smile onto her face to greet guests she doesn’t want. Skeet will soon be forced from being a reluctant part host back to chief of...

Bantam Pub date: April 30, 2013 The discovery of teenager Karen Hansen’s mutilated corpse in the belfry of the All Faith Chapel shakes the tiny town of Eastport, Maine to its core. Could one of their own have done such a thing? The consensus is no, so the police turn their attentions to visiting true-crime investigator Chip Hahn. Luckily for Chip, though, his host in Eastport is amateur sleuth Jacobia “Jake” Tiptree. Jake knows Chip is innocent, but can she prove it before her guest is charged with a crime he didn’t commit? A Bat in the Belfry is the sixteenth of Sarah Graves’ Home Repair is Homicide Mysteries. As a native Mainer, I’m a...