Comic book writers Mike Mignola (Hellboy) and Tom Sniegoski (B.P.R.D.) have collaborated on a highly entertaining, illustrated gothic horror story. In Grim Death and Bill the Electrocuted Criminal, Bentley Hawthorne is a Bruce Wayne type of vigilante. Haunted by ghosts of the unjustly killed, he dishes out vengeance to murderers behind a skull mask and black trench coat, guns a-blazing. He is assisted by Pym, the devoted manservant who raised and protected Bentley after his parents died.
One day the ghost of a beautiful circus aerialist visits Bentley and demands justice for her murder at the hands of her lover, William Tuttle, who now sits on death row awaiting execution. What appears to be a clear-cut case turns out to be anything but, and Bentley must solve the puzzle of what transpired in the face of threats to his own life.
The story alternates between present and past, with the past serving to highlight how Bentley came to inherit his current occupation. Mignola and Sniegoski are both masters of storytelling, and Grim Death follows in this tradition. The authors include a lot of visual description, which makes the novel move like panels in a comic, building in suspense and anticipation until the final reveal. Mignola's drawings serve to break up the story and emphasize Bentley's vengeful nature. Grim Death offers a satisfactory and somewhat uplifting ending that leaves open the possibility for sequels. --Nancy Powell, freelance writer and technical consultant