The Frame-Up

At the outset of Molin’s stellar first novel and series launch, L.A. comic book writer MG Martin is annoyed that the guy waiting in front of her at a coffee shop is absorbed in his iPad. Then she notices that he’s reading a story about two drug dealers who were left tied up back-to-back on the Long Beach docks. The outline of a white rabbit drawn around them suggests a panel from her favorite comic strip, The Hooded Falcon. When she mutters that only the Hooded Falcon’s trademark golden arrow is missing, the guy ahead of her, LAPD Det. Matteo Kildaire, turns around and tells her that such an arrow was found at the scene, a detail withheld from the public. Matteo recruits MG, who’s attracted to him despite his total ignorance of pop culture, to aid in the police inquiry into whether someone is playing the Hooded Falcon in real life. Molin’s clever humor (“the last vestiges of my resistance crumble like the shield around the USS Enterprise in every mid-episode fight sequence”) enhances the inventive plot. Readers will eagerly await the sequel. Agent: Joanna MacKenzie, Nelson Literary. (Dec.)