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Lots of Little Things - Pt. 2

Well back at it. I still have two more posts on tap before I will be caught up. Nose to the grindstone.

Super Spy - Matt Kindt
This is the graphic novel I mentioned in my last post. And I loved it. The book is a collection of about 25 or so shorts stories that are interconnected. Presented out of order, they can be read in order with a little patience and some code deciphering. All of this reminded me of the great Alan Furst or the fantastic Jean-Pierre Melville film Army of Shadows. Super Spy is easily the equal of those examples. Spying for country, spying for conscious, spying for love, spying out of fear. A thrilling, mess. Wonderfully sad. The dialog is teasingly, maddeningly spare. The artwork frequently diverges from the typical comic style and is GORGEOUS from the first panel. Super Spy is the best thing I have read this year! And the best news yet, Super Spy is the follow up to the similarly themed Two Sisters.

Vices of My Blood - Maureen Jennings
Toronto before the turn of the last century was a pretty foul and brutal place if you looked down the right streets. I have written before that I think the adventures of William Murdoch is the best historical series out there, and Vices of My Blood proves it again. A Priest is dead, murdered with a letter opener in his neck. The wife? a lover?, a rival? Blood, jealousy, and little bit of chaste sex make this a very nice read. This might be my favorite of the series. The detail that Ms. Jennings provides is so good, so rich, I could see it. Dusty drawing rooms. Cramped tenement apartments. Filthy workhouses. Wonderful prose.

I have one more book to review. Severance Package by Duane Swierczynski. I'll save that for its own post in a few days. But first is a little commentary on the recent spate of Crime Fiction nomination that made the rounds earlier this month.
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