"It's 1975 and the comic book industry is struggling, but Carmen Valdez doesn't care. She's an assistant at Triumph Comics and is tantalizingly close to fulfilling her dream of writing a superhero book. That dream is nearly a reality when one of the Triumph writers enlists her help to create a new character, which they call "The Lethal Lynx," Triumph's first female hero. But her colleague is acting strangely and asking to keep her involvement a secret. And then he's found dead, with all of their scripts turned into the publisher without her name. She is desperate to piece together what happened to him and to hang on to her piece of the Lynx. But that's complicated by a surprise visitor from her home in Miami, a tenacious cop who is piecing everything together too quickly for Carmen, and the tangled web of secrets and resentments among the passionate eccentrics who write comics for a living. "
Author Alex Segura, no stranger to the comic book world, is the creative force behind this mystery novel. As a child of the 70's and a lifelong comic reader, this story connected with me on many levels. From the feel of the comic book industry at the time (with various references to DC, Marvel and more) to the moments and places in New York City during the mid-1970's, this book kept me engaged the entire time. I found myself completely entrenched in Carmen's world and desperately trying to piece together the mystery right along with her. I also liked the added bonus of pages created for "The Lethal Lynx" comic book that are sprinkled throughout; they really tie-in nicely to the plot of Carmen's story and give the whole book an extra punch that just straight prose could not.
Adult - Mystery
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