cover image You Don't Know...Jack Schitt: The Private Eye Who Doesn't Take Any Crap

You Don't Know...Jack Schitt: The Private Eye Who Doesn't Take Any Crap

Niko Besley. Prion (IPG, dist.), $16.95 trade paper (128p) ISBN 978-1-85375-797-6

Fans of unsophisticated, sophomoric humor will best appreciate this satirical hard-boiled mystery from former BBC copywriter Besley. Billionaire TV producer Mike Snarling taps Schitt, a PI based in Mazomanie, Wis., to look into a series of mishaps involving a hit reality TV show, Have You Got What It Takes? Soon after Schitt arrives in Los Angeles, one of the contestants on the American Idol%E2%80%93like program is murdered. The whodunit plot isn't meant to be taken seriously, and the predictable developments, including Schitt being collared by the police, don't make turning the pages any easier. Parodic versions of Paris Hilton and Winona Ryder appear, respectively, as Venice Budgetlodge and Winova Traveller. The heavy-handed depiction of modern Hollywood will elicit few grins, let alone laughs. (July)