Drawing Dead

A prolific children's nonfiction author (under the pseudonym Peter Murray) turns to adult fiction in this first-class caper novel, which involves a truly unique scam and enough memorably shady characters to fill several volumes by Elmore Leonard. Tom and Ben are fast-traveling con artists who prey on novice collectors in the comic book collectibles market. When they make the mistake of selling a bogus Batman #3 to smalltime Chicago hood Joey Cadillac, they're forced to flee to Minneapolis, where they set up another scam in cahoots with questionable investment counselor Dickie Wick and his oversexed wife Catfish. Former cop and ex-cokehead Joe Crow, in debt to Wick after a bad round of poker, gets caught up in their shenanigans, much to his regret. When his gal pal, the very punk Laura Debrowski, is beaten up while trying to help him, Crow gets mad and decides to con the con men. How it all turns out makes a wonderful story, tartly told. Hautman's knowledge of the comics field and its collectors' manias gives verisimilitude to the goings-on; his two legitimate dealers, Fatman and Natch, will prompt a smile of recognition from anyone who's ever visited a comics shop. (Oct.)