by Alex Segura
First published 2022
Carmen Valdez works as an assistant at Triumph Comics in 1975, when the comic book industry faces hard times. She gets her chance when a Triumph writer asks her to help create a new superhero called "The Lethal Lynx," the company's first female hero. Her partner insists they keep her role secret. Then he turns up dead. All their scripts go to the publisher with only his name attached. The Lethal Lynx becomes a surprise hit, but Carmen has no official claim to her creation. A visitor arrives from her Miami hometown. A determined cop starts asking too many questions. Carmen must navigate the complicated relationships and hidden grudges among the comic book writers while trying to solve her partner's murder and prove her contribution to the character that could make her career.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, action
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, hidden-identity, secret-identity
Setting: Miami, Triumph Comics
Period: 1975
358 pages · Hardcover · Flatiron Books