Let's Get Graphic: 7 Recent Mystery Graphic Novels

Recently published, Evil Eye Sea is a semi-autobiographical mystery about two Turkish women who were at university from 1995 to 1996.

The two women, Ece and Meltem, are trying to keep their heads above water with their exams and finances. One day when they are taking a break from their crowded dorm and rigorous studies to scuba dive in the Bosphorus sea, a car crashes into the water.

They do their best to save the driver, the only person in the car, but the woman passes away. This incident ends up embroiling them in national and local politics and crime families as they try to find out why the woman died, who might be responsible, and worse.

It’s a beautiful mix of humor, tragedy, and heart.

For an entirely different kind of mystery, this one is a send-up of Hollywood. Everyone can agree that Trigger Keaton is the worst kind of actor.

While he’s famous for playing some sort of detective with a sidekick, everyone hates him. It’s not just that he’s selfish, he regularly hurts other people and destroys careers. So when he’s found dead, six of his sidekicks get together and realize that he likely was murdered.

And then they decide to solve the crime, even if each one had their own reasons to pull the respective trigger on the vile man. 

As many readers know, I love baking competitions; the Great British Baking Show is a favorite. And while no one seems to listen to me about having a murder mystery-themed episode, someone finally did their own take on the show in the Great British Bump Off. 

Shauna Wickle had come to have fun on the show and hopefully win the day. But someone on the show decided to play with fire and poisoned one of the contestants.

Now Shauna wants to solve the murderer but she has to manage to remain in the show long enough to do so!

Fans of Segura’s Secret Identity and the forthcoming novel Alter Ego will be pleased to know that the Lynx comic at the heart of both comics will be available in print once again.

The Lynx is there to stop crime in Triumph City. But crime-fighting, holding a day job, and dealing with your own demons is a lot for any superhero.

Can the Lynx stay true to herself while making sure justice is served in the streets of her city?

This two comic book series is a huge love letter to the city in beautifully intricate pencil drawings.

Karen lives with her brother and mother in an apartment building in Uptown, a neighborhood in Chicago. She doesn’t quite fit in anywhere, especially at school, but she manages to befriend people in her building, including her upstairs neighbor the troubled Anya.

She also finds kinship with the monsters she sees on TV and envisions herself as a monster in a trench coat. But when Anya is found murdered, Karen decides that it’s her mission to find out why Anya died.

Karen has to dive into the lives of the people around her to find out what happened to her neighbor.

It’s a coming-of-age story as Karen discovers her queerness and the secrets in her own family.

With a title like The Pineapples of Wrath, it’d be a crime to miss.

Marie-Pomme loves mysteries. So when one lands in her proverbial lap, she’s not going to pass up the opportunity.

One day she finds her neighbor, a former limbo champion, Bonnie, dead, she calls the police who don’t see it as a crime.

It could be the pina colada talking but she fancies herself as an amateur detective who will have to dive into the dark side of tiki culture in Trois-Rivières, Quebec. 

In this noirish fantasy, the Cosmic Detective is called in to solve the murder of a dead god.

It’s no easy task as the world around him is literally falling apart and some people are very interested in not letting him find the information he needs.

Will he find out things that might change the way he looks at the world altogether?

Lemire is a particular master at the noir/thriller comics so this is one not to miss.