MURDER ME DEAD Wears Noir on Its Sleeve

Obsession darkens Lapham’s tale of lust and murder

Hanging from the ceiling fan in her lavish Hollywood home. That’s where Steven Russell finds his estranged wife, Eve Kroft—rich, beautiful, and desperately sad—a tear-stained note in her pocket pouring out years of pain and regret. Is it suicide? The police think so. But his wife’s rich and powerful family is convinced otherwise, and they’ll do everything in their power to make him pay in MURDER ME DEAD, the classic noir graphic novel by David Lapham (STRAY BULLETS), back in print from Image Comics this July.

As a lascivious private detective systematically destroys Steven’s life, a chance meeting with an old friend drives Steven back toward a simpler time—to a downtrodden neighborhood he had long left behind and a fateful reunion with a woman who loved him...

“Murder Me Dead is my modern-day love letter to the great noir films of the 1930s, '40s, and '50s,” said Lapham. “It’s every bit as emotionally twisted as Stray Bullets, but in the guise of a traditional femme fatale noir."

Hailed as a masterful contemporary take on classic noir, MURDER ME DEAD takes its antihero down an ever-darkening road of obsession, sex, betrayal, murder, and dashed hopes. Peeling back the carefully constructed facades of each character, Lapham exposes the true nature of their humanity and propels you toward a final, horrifying revelation.

MURDER ME DEAD will be in comic book stores on July 16 and bookstores on July 29. Sure to enthrall fans of neo-noir, like Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ FATALE and Criminal, the black-and-white graphic novel is available for pre-order now.

MURDER ME DEAD by David Lapham

• ISBN 978-1-63215-079-0
• Diamond Comics order code MAY140634
• 264 pages, black and white, $19.99
• In comic book stores July 9, bookstores July 22
• Rated Mature

Praise for MURDER ME DEAD:

“A rip-snorting murder mystery with more double-crosses than you can count and enough booze, broads and low blows to keep the reader turning pages right up to the bitter end.” —Publishers Weekly

“A gutsy, fast-paced comic that knows its influences very well and puts an interesting spin on the conventions of the genre. Great post-modern fun.” —Tripwire