Seduction of the Innocent

It's 1954, and a rabble-rousing social critic has declared war on comic books - especially the scary, gory, bloody sort published by the bad boys of the industry, EF Comics. But on the way to a Senate hearing on whether these depraved publications should be banned, the would-be censor meets a violent end of his own - leaving his opponents in hot water.  

Can Jack Starr, private eye to the funny-book industry, and his beautiful boss Maggie unravel the secret of Dr. Frederick's gruesome demise?  Or will the crackdown come, falling like an executioner's axe...?

Max Allan Collins is the bestselling, award-winning author of Road to Perdition, the graphic novel that inspired the Oscar-winning movie starring Paul Newman and Tom Hanks, and of the acclaimed Nathan Heller series of historical hardboiled mysteries. Also a filmmaker himself, Collins' films include the documentary Mike Hammer's Mickey Spillane.

Terry Beatty is the popular comic book and newspaper comic strip illustrator who, together with Max Allan Collins, created Ms. Tree, the longest-running private eye comic series in comics history. Beatty's work has also graced numerous other comics, including Batman, and has appeared in magazines such as Scary Monsters. Most recently he was named the newest illustrator of the long-running comic strip The Phantom, and collaborated with Max Allan Collins on the graphic novel Return to Perdition, sequel to Road to Perdition.