Friday, Book Two: On a Cold Winter's Night

With the second collection (collecting chapters 4 through 6 of the series), author Ed Brubaker and artist Marcos Martin continue the story of the jaded young Friday Fitzhugh, the girl detective who returns home to find her partner in crime-solving, Lancelot Jones, has been working on a case of his own - one that definitely had deadly consequences.  It's been over two years since I read the first book, and so I had to take a quick re-read of the first volume in order to refresh my memory.  At the end of the first collection, Friday was shocked to discover that Lancelot had been killed - the smartest boy in the world lay dead in the burning building, and there was nothing she could do to save him.  But here, in book two, Friday decides that if she could not save her best friend, then the least she could do is solve the mystery he was working on.

On a Cold Winter's Night picks up shortly after the end of the last chapter.  Friday is still trying to make sense of Lancelot's death, but it is not until her ex-boyfriend, Danny Buttons, reveals that the police are ruling his death an accident and closing the case.  Say what?!?!  The smartest boy in the world was experimenting with something and "accidentally" killed himself?  Friday does not believe that for a minute, and as she soon finds out, neither does the sheriff - but the county detective made a compelling case, basically shutting it down, no questions asked.  Well, that's enough to get Friday moving, and although she has no clue what case he was working on, she is determined to get to the bottom of it.  And when Lancelot's father hands her a wrapped Christmas present, left under the Jones' tree for Friday, she knows she holds in her hands the very thing she needs to uncover the truth behind his death.

Brubaker definitely pushes the story forward in this volume, as the reader (along with Friday) discovers there are definite supernatural elements at work, and there are some very dangerous people right under the townspeople's noses.  And remember how Friday got knocked out at the end of the first volume, right after she saw someone outside the treehouse?  Well, we find out who that "someone" is, and let me tell you - it's not at all who you will be expecting!  I was very much surprised by this twist, and I'll be curious to see where Brubaker takes the story from here. 

Martin's art is a bit more colorful in this volume (I don't remember there being so much color in the first book), and some of his pages just really stand out - such as the one where Friday opens the Christmas present from Lancelot and the reader sees Friday holding that present - yes, it's a full page splash, but that simple image holds a lot of power in it, as it impacts not only Friday, but for the reader, it reinforces the fact that Lancelot is gone for good, and now it's up to Friday to uncover the truth.  It's almost like seeing a final scene of an episode that leaves the viewer anxiously waiting for the next week's episode - but thankfully, I didn't have to wait a week - I could just turn the page to keep on reading!  And yes, once the supernatural elements in the story showed up, there were definitely some crazy stuff, but Martin handles it well - even the two page spread on 110-11 that reminds me so much of ... well, no, that would be giving it away (let's just say James Darren, Robert Colbert, and Lee Meriwether would probably recognize the homage on those pages...).

I'm anxious for the pace to pick up a bit now ... the first two books only encompass the span of a few days, so we know it's going to take much longer for Friday to get the bottom of things and solve this case.  Brubaker is an excellent writer, so I have no doubt he has the whole thing planned out, but I can't help hoping this first story does not keep going indefinitely, as I'd like to see Friday move on to some other cases (at least - I hope Brubaker has plans for more cases after this one!).  Friday Fitzhugh is a creative new take on the whole young girl detective genre, and I would hate to see it come to an end after this first story is resolved.

Now to impatiently wait for book three...

RATING:  9 well-hidden watches out of 10 for a story filled with some completely unexpected twists and turns and leave you wondering what could possibly happen next!