The Deadliest Bouquet #4 Review
Inevitable Confrontation
Script/Letters: Erica Schultz
Art: Carola Borelli
Colors: Tom Chu
Cover: Adriana Melo & Chris Peter
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: 3.99
Release Date: November 11th, 2022
Fraying Relationships
The murder mystery at the heart of The Deadliest Bouquet began simply enough. A woman was killed in her flower shop and the police were investigating. In short order two of the women’s daughters came to town and met up with the third. And then, because their mother had a complex life that included killing their abusive father and hunting surviving Nazis, the three sisters decided to investigate the murder on their own. Unsurprisingly, it was inevitable that everyone involved in this investigation–all three sisters and the police–were going to smash into each other. It looks like The Deadliest Bouquet #4 is where that starts to happen.
The Deadliest Bouquet #4 tells two simultaneously running stories that spin out of Violet waking up in Detective Bryan Bayani’s bed (following their date seen in the previous issue). After waking up and going their separate ways, the two continue their investigation, aided by information they learned from each other. Schultz leaves it somewhat unclear whether each of them intended the date and ensuing one night stand to be a spy mission (unbeknownst to the other).
The rest of The Deadliest Bouquet #4 cuts between the sisters and the detective as they work through their own different batch of clues. The sisters’ sequences also cut into flashbacks of themselves, their mother, and their grandmother.
The thing that sets The Deadliest Bouquet #4 apart from the preceding issues is the way Violet, Rose, and Poppy begin to unravel. Throughout the first three issues their dysfunction has been on display (and flashbacks depicting the way their mother raised them demonstrated how it developed). Now, as Poppy reveals that she got rid of their grandmother’s gun in the previous issue and Violet reveals what she learned from her date with the detective, their lack of communication before making decisions pushes them into a yelling match.
Meanwhile Detective Bayani, having learned something more useful from Violet than she did from him, is pursuing new leads. This is where the coming collision starts to feel inevitable. The detective is doing his thing. The sisters are drifting apart as they try to solve the murder (to say nothing of what it’s doing to Poppy’s marriage).
In my review of The Deadliest Bouquet #1 I commented that Schultz had fashioned a mystery that emphasized character. That’s continued through the series so that now in The Deadliest Bouquet #4 we understand why the sisters’ own problems could keep them from getting to the truth before Detective Bayani can.
Everyone is Emotional
Borelli effectively presents the characters’ attitudes through the issue which is something she has done effectively throughout the series. There are some interesting developments in this issue, though. Borelli gives Detective Bayani an almost sinister gaze in every scene he appears in. With it appearing in this issue that the two investigations seem to be headed toward some kind of conflict, this helps keep the sisters centered as the nominal good guys.
As for the sisters, their expression range is somewhat more extreme as stress and conflict push them toward conflict and anger. What stands out, though, is how different the sisters appear. The appearance Borelli gives to Violet is different from Rose’s and hers is different from Poppy’s. This serves to emphasize the conflict brewing between them in the issue’s final pages–especially with Violet whose anger nears explosive.
Final Thoughts
The Deadliest Bouquet #4 raises the emotional stakes to the point that it’s very unclear how the story will shake it. To an extent it’s unclear whether the sisters will even come down on the same side. In the end Schultz does an excellent job raising the stakes and priming the reader for the final issue.
Originally Published at The Comic Book Dispatch.
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