The Frame-Up

Publisher's Summary

By day she writes comic books. By night, she lives them.

MG Martin lives and breathes geek culture. She even works as a writer for the comic book company she idolized as a kid. But despite her love of hooded vigilantes, MG prefers her comics stay on the page.

But when someone in LA starts recreating crime scenes from her favorite comic book, MG is the LAPD’s best - and only - lead. She recognizes the golden arrow left at the scene as the calling card of her favorite comic book hero. The thing is…superheroes aren’t real. Are they?

When too-handsome-for-his-own-good Detective Kildaire asks for her comic book expertise, MG is more than up for the adventure. Unfortunately, MG has a teeny little tendency to not follow rules. And her off-the-books sleuthing may land her in a world of trouble.

Because for every superhero, there is a supervillain. And the villain of her story may be closer than she thinks…

©2018 Meghan Scott Molin. (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

I Was Hoping It Would Be So Much More

Clever premise is marred by a so so story. Our heroine was well imagined but her actions held no real consequences. There was no real sense of drama or danger.

Maybe the next book in the series will be better plotted.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Hit or Miss, Saved by the Narrator

Meghan Scott Molin had a dream one night that a friend and a posse of drag queens were chasing a killer through San Diego Comi Con, woke up laughing, and thought that was a good idea for a book. She modeled her first person protagonist on another friend (the same friend perhaps?) and came up with MG, a purple-haired self-professed nerd who writes comic books for a living but hopes to be a cosplay fashion designer.

And then she thought up every nerd culture reference she could imagine -- Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Star Wars, Star Trek, video games, even in a bit of meta-reference nodding at the ultimate nerd culture reference source, The Big Bang Theory (bazinga!).

Looking through the reviews here and on Good Reads, whether you like this or hate this will really depend on whether you like MG and her non-stop pop culture references. Some people do, some people don't. I liked it well enough. I attribute that solely to the narration of Andrea Emmes, who 100% captures the voice of a snarky nerd, in a good way. If not for her work, the overworked landscape of comic books, superheroes, and pop culture references presented by the author does not rise above mediocrity (and the humor is not quite funny enough).

There is also the issue of plot. Most comic-superhero stories are science fictiony, this one is structured like a mystery. Problem is, it's really not much of a mystery, especially in the do-I-care who-done-it or why-they-done-it categories. It's barely paint by numbers. But I liked MG and her pop culture references, especially as brought to life by Emmes, so four stars overall but three stars for story (more like two and a half, really).

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Start of a great new mystery series

This mystery series did what it was supposed to do. It kept me guessing until the end. I thought I knew who the bad guy was, but I didn't! So congrats on keeping me engaged and guessing.

The setting for this is the world of comics and geek culture in Los Angeles. Main character MG has a pretty big chip on her shoulder because she's misunderstood by non-geeks, and the geeks she's regularly around haven't respected her very much, either. She meets Detective Kildaire while in line for coffee, and thus begins her working as a consultant for the LAPD. She and Kildaire also have a mutual brewing attraction between them.

One of the things that sets this story apart from all the other "amateur sleuth solves the crimes the police can't" stories is that she makes mistakes and owns up to it. She doesn't get to ignore the problems she's caused by making faulty decisions that caused lots of damage and tied a case up in bureaucratic red tape. So many other stories act like this isn't something that could happen, and it's nice to see that reality acknowledged.

MG's two best friends help make up an interesting cast of characters that make her world richer. First is the Lawrence, a black drag queen with the stage name Latifah Nile. At one of the pivotal points of the story, the extended drag family is involved to help catch the bad guy. The other best friend is MG's roommate Ryan who is a video game developer and Lawrence's former roommate. The three are like peas in a pod, except Ryan is suspiciously missing through some parts of the story. (If my hunch is right, this might be revealed in future books.)

As for the performance, it did what it was supposed to do. I was engrossed and entertained in the story. The performer filled the role and got out of the way. That works for me.

I don't know who the Golden Arrow is. That's not a mystery that's solved, but considering this is supposed to be the start of a series, we may have other books to think about who it could be. I plan on sticking around for more.

Recommended for those who love cozies, comic books, geek culture and drag queens.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

More crazy then "Alice in "

Funny, light, fun. Makes you want to laugh ,(but stops you because of the stuff happening to the poor cop.) You dont have to be sorry for him because he is so sure of himself. He can take it. In fact he seems to enjoy it?

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

for the nerd inside us

This is a great book that keeps you on the edge of your seat. I can't wait till Meghan Scott Molin writes her next book in this series . I highly recommend this book.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

My first romance novel but much more

If you love comics and cons, I highly recommend this audible. The tie-ins with the real world are authentic, especially SDCC. Maybe I'll see MG there this summer ;-)

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Agree with all of the low reviews.

I just want to start by saying that I enjoy a good story, especially mystery/crime fiction, and I'm no book snob. I almost never write book reviews, but the positive reviews of this one were very misleading. The main character is so pretentious, I don't know if I'll be able to finish this book. The pop and fan culture references are trite and make this book feel like amateur "nerd culture" fan fiction. The plot concept makes for a potentially awesome storyline, but it is not executed well. I borrowed this book via my Kindle Unlimited subscription, and paid for the Audible audiobook upgrade based on the many good reviews. I regret the money I spent. This is not an enjoyable book.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

A fun read with a few problems

This book grabbed me at the start and I was really excited for its potential, but as it wore on it became a bit tiresome.

The author is trying so very hard to be hip with every nerd culture, and this quickly wears out its welcome. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were over 100, “X like <popular nerd reference>” references, as though every single thing that happened in the book had to be compared to something from Star Wars or Harry Potter.

And speaking of Harry Potter, the term muggle is used 11 times in the book, always to refer to someone that isn’t a qualified nerd in the main characters eyes, as though she is a gate keeper on nerd culture. She wants to be accepted for who she is, yet at times in the book demeans both comic book nerds and video game nerds. Maybe this is a statement on the toxicity that exists within much of nerd culture these days, but that would be a strange choice for a main character.

And on video games, the author clearly isn’t steeped in the culture, but wanted to include it without apparently talking to anyone that is. Within the book there is a great deal of confusion between a gamer, a developer, and an esport participant.

Overall, it could have been a better book had it focused more on telling a fun story than on beating you over the head with nerd references.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

More please!!

very well written, very well recorded and I want more!! Everything about this book was spot on for me. I cant wait to read more of her work!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Fun Read —Comic Book Writer and Geekiness

I must admit that this book was selected as the free read because none of the others caught my interest. I am pleased to say that I thoroughly reading about the comic book world and finding all the geeky things that relate. MG started out as someone looking for a life. Her current one contained her Corgi, a roommate who played games more than lived, and his best friend, Lawrence (a drag queen by night). An odd assortment to be sure. After the first few chapters, I became immersed in MG’s world and when Detective Kildare showed up, things picked up. The plot was interesting. MG was lucky to have survived to the end of the book but she was the star so glad to see she did. Her purple hair and geeky attitude could have been offputting to a straight arrow like the Detective but maybe they both could see through each other’s barriers. Anyway, I recommend it and will look for Book 2 out next year. The vigilante is still out there. I listened to the book as well as read it. The narrator Andrea Emmes was good. Both forms are fun.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful