The Murder Mile
It all starts so well. You can taste the hubris – our protagonist loves his job as a detective, he can ‘feel the hot promise of summer, of long days and short nights, girls in blouses and cold beers at the beach.’
Clearly, the scene is set for something to go terribly wrong.
It’s 1954, and everyone’s waiting to see if this will be the year the record for running the four-minute mile will be broken. But the hopeful to do so – Todd Naylor, the Phoenix Flyer, has been found dead in the desert. Something fishy is clearly going on.
Graphic novel The Murder Mile is Paul Collicutt’s first adult graphic novel, and tells the tale of P.I. Daniel Stone’s investigation into the mysterious death of the aforementioned Naylor.
Brighton College of Art illustration graduate Collicutt’s passion for athletics shines through in his imagery. As a qualified athletics coach and Chairman of the Phoenix Athletics Club, his paintings is imbued with kinetic energy, as the race to achieve the four-minute mile mirrors the race against time of the murder investigation.
While it’s very American in feel, it’s hard not to be sucked in by The Murder Mile’s pulp-detective narrative. The plot’s twists, turns and sprints are as engaging as they are charmingly fantastical, delineated in wistful watercolours that perfectly compliment the mid 20th century sense of history.
The Murder Mile is published by Self Made Hero priced £14.99
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