5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
For hard core pulp and graphic novel fans only, January 11, 2008
This review is from: Deadly Beloved (Hard Case Crime) (Mass Market Paperback)
Max Collins has written a lot of interesting books with broad based appeal. This is a Max Collins book with a narrow appeal, which will delight his fan base, but leave many of his other readers scratching their heads about what the fuss was about.
As some of the other reviewers detail, this is about a very tough female P.I. Its genesis is from a graphic novel about Ms. Tree. So, that narrows down quite a bit where this book ought to go and if you like the premise, this book is for you.
To his credit, the narrative moves back and forth in time and how Collins does this turns out to be an essential part of the story, and it is well done indeed. He certainly channels the Spillane of 'My Gun is Quick' or 'I, The Jury' quite well.
However, one never really quite gets away from the fact this spawned from a graphic novel. Many of the villains and semi-villains are more cardboard cut-outs than any sort of real character. Ms. Tree is certainly well wrought as the distaff side of Mike Hammer, but the motivations of almost all the other characters are never spoken to. They're foils for the plot.
I'm a big fan of the hard Case Crime series. I have no problem with them publishing a work like this, but I agree with one of the the other reviewers, these books are usually better than this.
BTW, Max Collins has done a wonderful series of books about a private eye named Nate Heller who gets involved in all sorts of famous historical events and people. I HIGHLY recommend those books. Save this one for if you're still hungry for more after going through them.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, November 30, 2007
This review is from: Deadly Beloved (Hard Case Crime) (Mass Market Paperback)
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
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12 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Toughest Female P. I. You'll Ever Meet, November 29, 2007
This review is from: Deadly Beloved (Hard Case Crime) (Mass Market Paperback)
Ms. Tree started out as a comic book series back in 1981. Conceived by writer Max Allan Collins and artist Terry Beatty, she began the longest ever career for a lady private investigator in the comics field. She also set some milestones in the publishing world. Much has been said of Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone and Sara Paretsky's V. I. Warshawski. I've read both those series, as well as Linda Barnes's excellent Carlotta Carlyle books, and can honestly say that none of them have ever been as cold-bloodedly ruthless as Ms. Tree.
Of course the name is a tongue-in-cheek joke, but the lady's work isn't. Ms. Tree was written by Collins as a tribute to his friend and mentor Mickey Spillane, who penned the tales of Mike Hammer, who was about as hard nails as tough has ever been.
I read all the comics that came out about the character, beginning with the release by Eclipse Comics and finishing up with the run at DC Comics. Those haven't been re-released, but hopefully they won't be long in coming now that interest has once more been stirred.
DEADLY BELOVED is a new novel about Ms. Tree. In fact, it is the first - and thus far - only novel about the character. But longtime readers who remember the stories are going to get a feeling a déjà vu. Collins and Beatty recently got an option for Ms. Tree as a television movie, with the intention of potentially adding more movies to the initial one.
The book has been published by Hard Case Crime, a line of novels produced by Charles Ardai that is about 50% new material and 50% books that have been out of print as much as fifty years. All of the books are crime novels, and all of the covers offer noir stylings that make my heart beat faster. I can remember reading some of those books back when I was a kid and got them at the secondhand stores.
DEADLY BELOVED is a blindingly fast read. Clocking in at a little under 200 pages, Collins spins his story quickly, dipping in and out of two plotlines that he dovetails neatly back into one cohesive whole. The action is intense, the dialogue gripping and constant, and the feeling of the city around Ms. Tree and her colleagues feels true.
For me, this was a pleasant walk down memory lane with a few interesting twists and turns thrown in for good measure. I generally like all of Collins's novels, and have re-read several of them over the years. I loved his Mallory series as well as his Nate Heller books.
If you haven't met Ms. Tree before, this is the perfect place to do so. The book is lean and mean, and the character steps right off the first page and into your face. And if you have read about her before in one of the comics or graphic novels, it's probably been too long. Pick this one up, put your feet up, and prepare to spend a couple hours in total tough gal noir bliss.
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