Fantastic news!

I’ve always felt that the comic book industry would be a great background for a mystery novel, and there have been a couple, inclduing The Comic Book Killer by Richard Lupoff and Max Allan Collins’ A Killing In Comics.

Now Max is back with a new mystery from Hard Case Crime, one of my favorite mystery publishers. The book is called Seduction Of The Innocent and it’s no coincidence that it shares the title with good ol’ Fredric Wertham’s classic anti-comic screed.

Collins’ hero, Jack Starr (a comics syndicate troubleshooter - and isn’t that a great-sounding job?) investigates a murder set against the backdrop of Congressional hearings about the banning of violent crime and horror comics.

This original novel will also feature a dozen brand new illustrations in the classic EC Comics style by frequent Collins collaborator Terry Beatty.

Publication date is February 2013, and I suspect you’ll be hearing a lot more about this between now and then.

[Artwork: Glenn Orbik’s cover to Max Allan Collins’ Seduction Of The Innocent]