Max Allan Collins, Deadly Beloved

Deadly Beloved

Max Allan Collins

Leisure, Dec 2007, $6.99

ISBN: 9780843957785

In Chicago the case looks obvious. An angry cuckolded wife Marcy Addwatter kills her executive husband and his hooker girlfriend when she catches them together in a motel room. Although they have some doubts, the evidence is overwhelming so the police arrest Marcy charging her with the two homicides.

Private investigator Ms. Michael Tree looks into the twin killings of the account manager and his afternoon fling. She obviously rejects the outraged wife motive that the police push; besides which the case reminds her of her own personal history. She begins an inquiry and soon finds people wanting to end her investigation as several attempts on her life occur. As Mike keeps digging, she begins to uncover a conspiracy that increasingly looks like a frame with Marcy as the fall gal.

Ms. Tree still has it as she makes the transition from graphic comic books to novel with an ease. The story line is fast-paced and somehow contains the graphic in your face perspective that the comic book had yet also reads like a powerful whodunit novel. Max Allan Collins is at his best with the terrific Ms. Michael who kicks butt in any format.

Harriet Klausner