Bloody Murder

by Max Allan Collins, Steven Perkins (Illustrator), J.K. Woodward (Illustrator)

A young woman is slashed to death in a city park after dark, and when witnesses tell Mac Taylor and Stella Bonasera of a beast-like attacker, the specter of a local urban legend rears its head. These CSIs have seen just about everything - but a werewolf?

Genres: Media Tie In, Fiction, Comics, Crime

120 pages, Paperback

First published March 14, 2006

About the author

Received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievment award) in 2006.

He has also published under the name Patrick Culhane. He and his wife, Barbara Collins, have written several books together. Some of them are published under the name Barbara Allan.

Book Awards
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1984) : True Detective
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1992) : Stolen Away
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1995) : Carnal Hours
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1997) : Damned in Paradise
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1999) : Flying Blind: A Novel about Amelia Earhart
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (2002) : Angel in Black

Japanese: マックス・アラン・コリンズ
or マックス・アラン コリンズ

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just as structurally flawed as the CSI Las Vegas issue I recently read, but now with added philosophical and plot contradictions!
Lets say your detective talks to a boss who's employee has been found dead, and said boss makes an - understandable - comment about how this effects his business. Is it callous and a bit self-centered, sure. Should your investigator start berating him for not crying like a schoolgirl, probably not. Jump forward an issue, same investigator is cracking jokes about how rude it is for a murder victim to live up several flights of stairs. Bitchy asshole, much?
Whoopsie the second. Half a dozen pages into the story the head CSI states emphatically "The only conclusion I'm ready to jump to is she died here - the ground is blood soaked." But then halfway through issue 4 the previously mentioned bitchy investigator declares- "This is Our murder scene, has to be. And it explains why there was so little blood around the body." This GLARING contradiction is never addressed.

Frankly I expected something better with MACs name attached.

[Paige · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this graphic novel as an unexpected gift this Christmas, but I enjoyed it. It’s definitely written for a fan of the tv show CSI:NY and I loved the graphic novel for what it is. The art style was realistic to the actual actors; the biggest critique is the angles of the drawings being slightly off. The plot, the characters, and dialogue were all reminiscent of a television episode without the commercials. Most of the dialogue was true to the characters, even some giggle worthy lines, but about 3 lines were very out of character and cringy. I had fun reading this graphic novel, I would reread it again someday most likely. It made me interested in finding other graphic novels revolving around a murder mystery.

[Luvileya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this. The story was entertaining, easy to read, the shadowy art style is gorgeous and gives the perfect vibe for the story. The characters and everything feel very true to the show, down to your typical CSI banter and puns. For me, it did exactly what it was supposed to do.

There is one error in the storyline: on page 10 Mac states “The only conclusion I’m ready to jump to is she died here — the ground is blood-soaked.” later on page 87 Stella and Aiden find the actual crime scene and explain “This is our murder scene, Aiden, has to be.” - “No argument. And it explains why there was so little blood around the body.” which, of course, is a contradiction, as one other reviewer has already pointed out. (Though I do strongly disagree with the rest of their points.)

[Sohxpie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was a little disappointed by this graphic novel, I can see why only one was made. The story was fairly interesting, the little tidbits about werewolf mythology were cool. I just wasn't sure about the writing itself. On several occasions I had to re-read a text box to try and make sense of it, the wording was just awkward most of the time. I found the story quite disjointed as well. I know in the TV show it cuts from one group of characters to another but I don't think it works in a graphic novel format. The cuts were too sudden and didn't really happen at logical points, it felt random. I think there was definitely potential in this graphic novel but maybe the execution was lacking.

[Katrin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have never seen CSI NY in a comic formation but it was interesting!

[Tiffany Oim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good read. Didn't know this existed

[Brini · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a great tie-in, capturing the concept of the show. Using phrases the characters used in the show helped me to like the story. The case itself could've been portrayed on the show. All in all a nice representation of the TV series. I don't think is was a good idea to use this format though. Apart from the illustrations of "the big bad wolf", everything else didn't look nice. You certainly can see the resemblence to the actual actors and actresses from the TV series but that's about it. Rigid representations made the characters look like mannequins. For unknown characters it seemed as if they had a head cut from a photo and glued to a different body, occasionally even in a weird angle. In addition unnecessary descriptions that were constantly repeated (although these were often used in Comics of the 60s) didn't make it look like a graphic novel but rather like a bad photo story of a teen magazine. In short, it would've been better as a novel.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

First graphic novel I've ever read, picked it up on an impulse and now I see how this genre works. Easy to figure mystery but intense illustrations heighten tension.