Stumptown, Vol. 1: The Case of the Girl Who Took Her Shampoo by Greg Rucka
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When you owe thousands of dollars to the casino you can expect that your chips will get called in. This is the case of P.I. Dex Parios who finds herself working for the head of casino operations. The granddaughter of Sue-Lynne has disappeared and if Dex can find the girl, her debts will be written off.

Dex soon discovers that the girl might not want to be found that there are other folks looking for her as well. A Portland, OR crime boss offers to pay Dex to let him know when she finds the girl, plus there are two other thugs who warn her off. Since Dex can be hard to convinced, she ends up being roughed up and even shot. While this might cause others to drop the case, Dex is even more determined to discover where the girl might be and why so many others are looking for her.

Greg Rucka is a great writer and he brings his skill at writing thrillers, as well as comics, to this book. Artist Matthew Southworth is a great choice for the art, making the characters recognizable and making even the quiet scenes interesting. The muted coloring used in the book help with the atmosphere.

I believe the series (or at least the character of Dex) has been picked up for television later this Fall. There are more books in the series and I'm interested in picking them up as well.


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