You Have Killed Me

1930s-era gumshoe Antonio Mercer finds himself screwed over from all angles when he accepts a missing persons case in which the disappeared dame is his ex-lover. Hired by her equally hot sister, Mercer faces down a number of tough guys, running the gamut from cops, both honest and bent, to gamblers, mob bosses and even short-tempered and knife-wielding musicians, while following the gal's trail, but nothing is ever as it seems. Building to a stark and bizarre conclusion, the team of Rich (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Food Chain ) and Jones (Fables ) have clearly learned from the noir genre, both filmic and pulp based, and have crafted a riveting successor. Tense and intriguing from start to finish, this is a solid piece of detective fiction coupled with a wholly appropriate and stark visual style that evokes the bygone days of Sam Spade and Mike Hammer. (July)