Book-A-Day #8 (7/24): A Treasury of Victorian Murder: The Case of Madeleine Smith by Rick Geary

Rick Geary has been quietly producing slim, attractive little comics accounts of ghastly 19th century murders on a regular basis for over a decade now -- Jack the Ripper came out in 1995, and there have been five books in between, each covering one scandalous and horrifying crime (not to mention the earlier miscellaneous Treasury of Victorian Murder, Vol. 1).

This is the newest one, and the story isn't as spectacular or appalling as some of the others, but Geary's wonderful pen-and-ink work is always pleasing. (I do miss the wilder caricatures and facial expressions of his earlier work, though; he's settled down a bit with age, and that's not always for the best.)

For readers who haven't read Geary before, I'd recommend The Borden Tragedy or The Beast of Chicago (or perhaps, for those who want a wider look at his very varied comics work, Housebound with Rick Geary, if you can find it). Madeleine Smith is nice, but not one of his best, so it's not a great first Geary book.