It’s 1998. The day after Valentine’s Day. A woman lies dead in her own flower shop. Her three daughters show up at the shop as the police investigate. The three sisters have a bit of a curious reaction to the death of their mother, but they’re all grieving. Much more is going on than immediately meets the page in the first issue of The Deadliest Bouquet. Writer Erica Schultz establishes an intriguing murder/mystery thriller that is visually rendered by artist Carola Borelli and colorist Gab Contreras. Shultz and company delicately scatter a constellation of clues into the firmament of the first issue of a promising new series.

Rose is calling Poppy in the middle of the night. Poppy’s husband overhears her say something about a death. As it turns out, the dead person in question is Rose and Poppy’s mother, Jasmine. By the time the two sisters are together, a police investigation has already begun. The rather sudden appearance of Violet causes a bit of a stir. Jasmine’s third daughter is the wildest and most distant. Poppy, Rose, and Violet: three flowers with a dark past that’s connected to their late mother. Rose and Poppy are on top of things, but Violet’s wild behavior might cause everything to get a bit complicated.

Schultz crafts a rich narrative in the first installment. The ensemble is introduced in the first dozen pages or so of the series. In addition to the four central characters, there’s Poppy’s husband, her kids, a couple of police officers...it’s a lot to throw at the reader in a single chapter, but Schultz deftly keeps every character shooting around the central orbit of a homicide in the late 1990s. The details introduced are scattered enough to keep the story captivatingly mysterious as the series approaches its second issue. Schultz has established a really fun mystery.

So it’s a really interesting story. It’s not the type of fantasy that really lends itself to the comic book format. It would take the right kind of artist to draw it to the page in a way that takes advantage of page and panel. Borelli brings the story into the visual with a clean, straightforward drama that clearly defines each of the four central characters and everyone else who is drawn into their orbit. Contreras paints the atmosphere of the series with clever delineation from late night to early morning to flashback memories of Jasmine’s three daughters.

A serial mystery can be really difficult to maintain a hold on. Deliver too much of the mystery too early, and details become overwhelmingly disinteresting. Deliver too little in the opening chapter, and any reader could lose interest with slow pacing---particularly in a comic book format that IS so closely associated with graphic fantasy. Schultz and company seem to have found a solidly respectable rhythm to the story, but it DOES feel like things are moving a bit fast for the opening. There is little question that there will be a lot of twists and turns awaiting future issues, but it IS possible that too much may have already been revealed in the opening issue.

Grade: B