If you are a comic book fan or enjoy Marvel comic books or Marvel's Deadpool, then you probably already know Fabian Nicieza, the Argentine-born comic book writer and editor. He's known for creating such characters as Deadpool, Domino, Shatterstar, and Silhouette. He's also well known for his work on X-Files, X-Force, and other Marvel Titles.
What you may not have known is that he is now also a novel writer. This is a review of Fabian and his first two novels.
Fabian Nicieza has written two mystery novels to date, published in 2021 and 2022. The novels have continuing characters, who are very interesting. The locale for these stories is New Jersey. As Nicieza states in his Author's Note in Book 1:
“West Windsor and Plainsboro are real towns in New Jersey. Unlike the snarky description in the book, it's a pretty good area to live in... I mean, as far as New Jersey goes....”
But, he states, all the characters are pure fiction. Fiction means it is not real!
Nichieza's descriptions of places and people are often 'tongue-in-cheek' or, as he says, “snarky”. This makes for a very enjoyable read. The books are Suburban Dicks and The Self-Made Widow.
The Two Main Characters
Andrea Stern: She solved a missing person murder in high school and helped catch a serial killer while in college. She planned to become an FBI profiler, but an unexpected pregnancy changed her plans. She has always wanted to answer her calling: finding redemption for the dead and justice for the living.
Journalist Kenny Lee, Andrea's childhood friend, broke a story for his college paper that brought down the crooked governor of New Jersey. The story earned him a Pulitzer Prize at the young age of 22. But his journalism career has since stalled and, 10 years down the road, he is now relegated to working for a weekly local paper. Kenny's calling: to become rich and famous!
Synopses
Suburban Dicks
When the series begins, Andrea has four children under 10 and a fifth one due soon. When she accidentally stumbles upon a murder scene, Andrea becomes obsessed with the case. She's back on the trail of a killer, this time with kids in tow. Needing help, Andrea enlists the aid of her friend, Kenny Lee, who naturally is interested in writing another award-winning story to redeem himself and his career.
Unusual occurrences – and body parts in for form of old bones – surface around this affluent suburb. As Andrea and Kenny continue investigating, they uncover simmering racial tensions and a decades-old conspiracy. But, as we find out, the crimes of the past are only the beginning.
The Self-Made Widow
After solving a murder in Suburban Dicks (Dicks, as in private investigators – LOL), both the police and Andrea's husband hoped she would set aside her 'crime fighter' tendencies and go back to changing diapers, carpools, and lunches with her 'mom' friends. But when the husband of one of her friends, the 'Queen Bee' of the group, dies, supposedly of natural causes, Andrea suspects that there is more. She digs into the case and risks more than she bargained for.
Meanwhile, Kenny Lee, who is enjoying a new surge of popularity with his coverage of the story of the murder and conspiracy in Book 1, is busy with a Netflix series based on that story. Then he receives an anonymous phone call tipping him off that Molly Goode killed her husband.
Once again, Andrea and Kenny team up to solve another 'suburban scandal'.
Summary
Having now read both Suburban Dicks and The Self-Made Widow, I am a big fan of Fabian Nicieza and his outstanding and humorous writing. Two mysteries, two murders, two fantastically interesting main characters make for a very enjoyable new series by a comic book writer turned novelist! I highly recommend these books.
Amazon Links to Books
*A new mystery series of novels by Fabian Nicieza. Review written by Wednesday Elf.
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