Rick Geary
Now in paperback. On January 15, 1947, a woman was walking with her daughter in a Los Angeles neighborhood. She passed what looked to be a discarded manikin. It turned out to be the body of Elizabeth Short: posed, drained of blood, meticulously scrubbed, and cut in two.
From this point, Geary reconstitutes and reveals for us the life of this 22 year old woman who had become known as "Black Dahlia" because of her striking appearance. She had moved to LA to make it in show business. How could her life have ended in such a ghastly fashion? Was it a jealous boyfriend, a rejected suitor, or one of LA's notorious mafia connections whom she had apparently been dabbling with?
The case gets more complex when, days later, a local newspaper receives a cut-out letter from an anonymous "Black Dahlia Avenger" admitting to the crime. More letters follow toying with the LAPD. Eisner Award winner Geary takes us through all the twists and turns in one of the most captivating unsolved mysteries of the 20th century in this latest installment of his Treasury of XXth Century Murder.
REVIEWS:
NATIONAL CARTOONIST SOCIETY REUBEN AWARD FOR BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL 2017!
YALSA BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL FOR TEENS 2017- Non-Fiction
"Geary is an accomplished cartoonist and storyteller, and these installments in his long-running series on American crime are sure to satisfy fans of graphic novels and true crime alike."
-Library Journal
"Rick Geary is a unique talent not simply because of his manner of drawing but because of the subject matter and methodology employed in telling his tales...This merrily morbid series of murder masterpieces should be mandatory reading for all comic fans, mystery addicts and crime collectors."
-Win Wiacek, Now Read This
"As usual, Geary brings it all to life with fascinating detail."
-Warren Peace Sings the Blues
"As usual, his black-and-white line art gives the stories a slightly retro, though never nostalgic, feel, with a tinge of weirdness to the chronicle of transgressions that reveal higher truths in their gruesomeness."
-Publishers Weekly Starred review
"Clearly delineates the intricacies of this still-intriguing case."
-Booklist
"A good representation of the facts surrounding the Black Dahlia murder and it gives a very nice biography on Elizabeth Short herself that is often missing or distorted from other works. I'd recommend this to anyone interested in the case itself wanting to see a more holistic view and also to people who just enjoy period true crime stories."
-Trouble With Comics
"Meticulously researched, immaculately presented, "Black Dahlia" is another page-turning whodunnit from one of America's finest and most unique writer/artists. Geary, as usual, is the true treasure of the series."
-Andrew 'Capt. Comics" Smith, Tribune News Service
"Skillful."
-NY Journal of Books
"TOP TEN OF 2016!"
Johanna Draper Carlson, Comics Worth Reading
6x9, 80pp., B&W trade paperback, $9.99
ISBN 9781681121789
Buy the e-book: $6.99