Book #18. Deadly
Beloved: A Ms Tree Novel, by Max Allan Collins. Paperback.
My thoughts
about pulp stories are similar to my thoughts about steampunk stories. I like
the aesthetics, and I like the concepts, but I haven’t read a lot in either
genre. As much I like the trappings of each genre, I don’t find of lot of
interesting stories in the genres. But I find the character of Ms Tree unique
and intriguing.
I know of
Ms Tree from comics books, which is also where was introduced to the work of
the author Max Allan Collins. He is probably best known as the creator of the
graphic novel The Road to Perdition, as well as taking over for creator Chester
Gould on the Dick Tracy comic strip. He co-created Ms Tree with artist Terry
Beatty, and wrote all of her comic book appearances.
The novel
tells a similar story to the comic books, but it was different enough for me to
not know what was going to happen. On her honeymoon, Ms (Michael) Tree’s
husband (also named Michael) is murdered, and in this story, we learn that the
murder was just one of a series of never-before-connected crimes. Working with
colleagues in her PI office, and her police contacts, they work to solve the
case.
There was
an interesting narrative device of interspersing discussions between Ms Tree
and her psychologist with action in the active investigation. This was becoming
tedious until near the end of the story, where the two narrative threads
intersected. In retrospect, it was an effective narrative choice.
Collins
regularly acknowledges his fandom of Mickey Spillane: they even collaborated on
a comic book in the 1990s. And the tough-talking, straight-shooting (literally
and figuratively) Ms Tree is a hero in the mold of Mike Hammer. She is a great
lead character, and is strong enough to carry her own stories.
Unfortunately,
this is the only Ms Tree novel that has ever been published, and she hasn’t
been seen in a comic book in more than two decades. I long for the day when
some new material featuring her appears.
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