Strip for Murder

I don't know a better way to say this, but I believe Max Allan Collins is the best mystery author on the planet and is in a three-way tie for best author with Harlan Ellison and Joe R. Lansdale.

Collins writes hard-boiled mysteries in a Spillane-style and yet never overplays the mood. It is easy for hard-boiled to quickly turn into self-parody, but Collins deftly avoids this trap. However, this does not mean that he lacks a sense of humor. STRIP FOR MURDER and its predecessor A KILLING IN COMICS are great fun. Our heroes - Jack and Maggie Starr - are the owners of the Starr Syndicate, a lesser newspaper distribution service like King Features and United Media. Jack is the former playboy son of the founder who is now a vice-president of the company and chief troubleshooter. Maggie is Jack's stepmother, president of the company and a former stripper. Together they work to protect their business interests and solve a crime or two in the process.

In this story, Jack and Maggie are embroiled in the public feud between Hall Rapp and Sam Fizer, creators of the comic strips Tall Paul and Mug O'Malley respectively. One night Sam turns up dead and Jack and Maggie must figure out why.

Unlike the Nathan Heller series which focuses on real-life crimes in a fictional way, the Starr books sketch out the comics industry and some of the shady dealings that built up the industry. No real crimes are depicted and the characters are fictionalized versions of various comics legends and celebrities.

Not to be forgotten in this great book are the illustrations of Terry Beatty. Beatty is a long-time collaborator with Collins. Together they created Ms. Tree - the best mystery comic of the modern age, the shorter Mike Mist Minute Mist-eries, Wild Dog - an under-praised effort for DC Comics, and the Johnny Dynamite mini series (Beatty and Collins bought the rights for Dynamite from the fabled Pete Morisi). Beatty provides comic panels for the introduction to each chapter and in a recap just prior to the denouement. These drawings are just as instrumental to the look and feel of the book as are Collins' words.

STRIP FOR MURDER is a lot of fun and can be enjoyed by comics fans and mystery readers alike. And while we have to wait for a new Jack and Maggie story, Collins is very prolific and will have another book out before the end of summer. He had two books out at the beginning of spring just before this one and will have another out for Christmas. Now if we could only get him to do another Heller book and more Ms. Tree, life would be perfect.