COSPLAY

Rookie cop Selma Cibolo passed the detective examinations in record time. Assigned to the Homicide Division, she is forced to deal with age, gender, and resistance issues. If you are looking for a "thriller with a feminist bent," then Selma Cibolo is your girl.

Soon after her arrival, the police find a body in a dumpster behind the San Antonio Convention Center. Before the coroner can identify the body, Selma recognizes the costume of a Comic-Con character named Evie Frye. Selma's supervisor, tough, old-school Detective Thorn Nix, is only concerned with "real world" facts and has no intention of "chasing Batman down a rabbit hole!"

Selma is convinced that clues are lurking in the cosplay angle. Nix is adamant and loads Selma up with cold-case files to keep her busy and out of the way. In the old murder files, Selma finds another victim killed during the previous annual San Antonio Comic-Con. Selma identifies the victim as also being dressed as Evie Frye.

This information is still not enough to convince Detective Nix. He formally orders Selma to stop wasting time on "such nonsense, and stick to the facts!" Acting on a hunch, against orders, Selma calls a former schoolmate who is working in the Denver PD, where Comic-Con Denver just concluded. Yes, there was a murder during the event. Looking at the faxed crime scene photos, Selma identifies the Colorado victim as Evie Frye.

Someone keeps killing Evie Fry, but who and why?