Miss: Better Living through Crime

    (Humanoids, 2002, 2005)

Grim, gritty pulp accented with tight, pithy dialog, Miss: Better Living Through Crime takes readers on a scenic tour of Jazz Age New York replete with dodgy speakeasies, jazz clubs, tenements, whorehouses, high rise estates, and exclusive yacht clubs.

After spending her teen years at a Brooklyn orphanage under the thumb of abusive nuns, poor white trash Nola gets picked up by a brutish ex–cop named Frank Quinn. Quinn takes Nola as his lover and hires her as a secretary in his investigator’s office. When Quinn’s sudden death leaves Nola with nothing but her wits and a gun, circumstances leave her little choice. A petty crime boss offers Nola money to bump off an opponent, and she can’t refuse. Nola finds a suave, street–smart partner in a classy but luckless ex–pimp named Slim. Ostensibly deferring to the era’s one–way protocol for racial politesse, the black Slim calls the Caucasian Nola “Miss,” hence the book’s title. In fact, Slim and Nola rely on convention only insofar as they can exploit it to gain advantage in their dangerous line of work. The two cut a swath through New York City life, moving effortlessly between the surly demi–monde of con artists and confidence men and the wealthy high–life of heiresses and money barons.

The unlikely pair of killers–for–hire share a bond that seems always on the verge of becoming something more. Readers embrace the dysfunctional, amoral couple who stand out as warm and principled from the wholesale wickedness on display around them. Both settle scores from their pasts while coping with the present, and hoping for a better future.

Like all good pulp, the beating heart of the city itself plays a major role. The three Frenchmen behind Miss—Philippe Thirault, Marc Riou and Mark Vigouroux—skillfully blend fact and fantasy to create a vibrantly detailed world that seems both strangely alien and strikingly familiar. Simple illustration and flat line continuity compliment the stark emotional landscape of Miss’ 192 pages. For its American publication, Miss came out in both color and black and white editions.

— Leland Burrill
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Cover Price: $19.99
1 copy available for $16.00 		Philippe ThiraultMarc Riou, Mark Vigouroux