Stephen Desberg

This book, translated from the French, follows two parallel storylines in Los Angeles, 1961. One thread follows competing detectives as they try to catch a serial killer known for murdering beautiful women and then posing them like centerfolds. The other thread is about a young woman who went deaf after an assault and decided to take up cat burglary.

The possible connections between the two storylines are intriguing, and the premise has a built-in ticking clock as the murderer kills a new show more “centerfold” every month, presumably leading up to the cat burglar in October.

The art is gorgeous, perfect for the fashion and the period, and the story is compelling enough that I came close to buying the rest of the series as soon as I finished this first volume. show less

Awful! I gave up about 10 pages in. It is a crime story set in Iraq during the earlier years of the war. I was there and the inaccuracies were so awful I couldn't finish. The heroine is a military attorney. The words all say Army, but she wears a Marine uniform. That was irritating and amateurish. There seems to be rampant hotel room sex with Iraqi prostitutes. That was fanciful and stupid. I finally gave up when an Apache helicopter launches a rocket down an alley while hovering two feet show more above a Baghdad intersection.

This was stupid, awful, and not worth my time. show less

Wow! I was totally sucked into the story within the first couple of pages. I loved the parallel stories of Roman nobleman Lucius Aurelius Cassio and the modern day archaeologist investigating Cassio's mysterious death. I enjoyed the book so much I've already bought the next two volumes.

Received via NetGalley.

Split between a modern-day archeological dig and flashbacks to the Roman Empire, Cassio is the story of a Roman jerk who ticks off five people who team up to assassinate him. Except maybe he survives to launch an elaborate revenge scheme?

Dull and convoluted with nary a character I care about. Kill 'em all and let the archeologist sort it out.