I loved this crazy book. It might not be for you if you don’t even know what a comic con is. If you do know what it is or you’ve been, you’re in for a wild ride. Wonderful characters and lively descriptions made this a quick and highly entertaining read.

Michael, a comic book artist past his prime, arrives at Comic Con in San Diego and very quickly becomes a suspect in his editor's murder and has to navigate police investigations, comic book politics and his relationship with his ex-wife and her former boyfriends/his former colleagues.
The novel's use of comic book references and it's celebration of geek-dom sometimes seems a bit cringey as it builds and builds without much addition to the story, but can be appreciated at times. I really started to enjoy the book once the mystery narrative really started and Michael began to make links between the events taking place. One part that really sticks out is Michael's speech to the crowd at an awards show during the convention about celebrating the works of artists while they are producing them, not just retrospectively. Fred Van Lentre is a comic book author himself and so it isn't surprising that the novel would present a viewpoint that I would expect that he himself would support, it isn't something that I expected to find in a humorous Comic Con themed murder mystery novel although it is worth considering - creative artists SHOULD have more rights to their work than is often granted to them and they should not have to struggle to make ends meet.
Overall, I would recommend this book to fans of comic book and 'geek' culture, it has a well meaning message in the midst of a dramatic story and sometimes silly antics.

This book is not my type...It is filled with the terms I don't have any idea what are these. I thought it will work for me...I put it on pending then again tried it after a few days...still nothing intrigued me.DNFing it.

A love letter to fandom and comic cons with a whodunnit thrown in, Fred Van Lente's hard-boiled comic book artist, Mike, lives out of hotel rooms, going from convention to convention, when a murder at San Diego Comic Con puts him in the police's sights. He's got to prove his innocence, and to do that, he's got to figure out who the real killer is. There are great comic and fandom references throughout the book, and I can't wait to see the finished illustrations. The book moves at a good pace, has nicely fleshed-out characters, and will appeal to geeks like me, and murder mystery fans alike. Could be the birth of a new mystery type: the geeky cozy!

Timed to be published in time for SDCC, The Con Artist is a hilarious mystery where a slightly washed-up comics artist is blamed for the death of his bitter rival.

It's important to note that both the author and illustrator are both seasoned comics veterans and that really shines through the pages. I've only been to one big comic con (ECCC, big but not nearly as big as SDCC I know) but I relived some of my experiences (lines! getting to meet rad artists in Artists' Alley! awesome cosplayers!) while reading this book.

In getting the con experience right, and in highlighting the details that only the people on the other side of the table (comics professionals) would experience, the author holds up con culture, nerd culture, and the entire comics industry. Pay attention to the social commentary, especially surrounding the darker side of comics where artists' original intellectual properties become absorbed by mega publishers and where no health care is to be found for these artists and writers who brought so much joy to children and adults through their staple-bound pages.

The text is lightly peppered with sketches from the main character's notebook, and I figured there would probably be clues in them that the reader should try to interpret to determine whodunnit. The MC, Mike, occasionally recalls a clue from one of his sketches, but once or twice he recalled details I could not discern from the sketches I saw. Either I'm really bad at this (likely) or the sketches in the ARC are preliminary and will have more detail provided in the final copy.

There was just one thing that bugged me: there's a paragraph after Mike gets into [someone's] previously locked phone where he then changes a setting so the phone never goes sleep so that he can get back in again. Why doesn't he just change the password, or remove the lock screen entirely? It's a detail that doesn't further the plot but it does frustrate the reader.

Other than that, this book was perfect and exactly what I hoped it would be!

This book was a lot of fun. Comic artist Mike M is basically homeless. After the end of his marriage, he just travels from one comic convention to the next living in hotel rooms, meeting fans, and earning a meagre living drawing for commission. He arrives at San Diego's Comic-Con hoping to catch up old friends and maybe have a reunion with the ex-wife he still loves. Instead, he finds himself the prime suspect in the murder of his editor. As the murders start stacking up, Mike must avoid arrest, solve the crime and navigate the complexities of the world's largest comic and pop culture festival.

Michael Miller is a comic book artist down on his luck who heads to the annual Geek heaven event that is San Diego comic con. He hopes to spend the time signing comics and drawing commissions but instead gets embroiled in murder, mayhem and Mister Mystery.
I loved this.
As a geeky convention-goer it really ticked all the boxes in terms of pop culture references and reality. Certain inside jokes (Con-time, the various stereotypes, cosplayers and celebrity) were lovingly laid and gently mocked.
It was also brilliant to see the other side of the artists table. I love comics but have never been a stalwart collector so it was fascinating to hear of all of the careers that you didn't even realize existed.
I'm so happy that there are more and more books coming out that focus on the geek side of popular culture; having drown in a sea of Summer Camp or Space/Jock/fat/cheer camp stories it is lovely to finally have something that we can identify with.
Fred Van Lente is a great comic book artist himself and knows how to set the story with words as well as pictures. The sketch outlines were interesting in ebook form so I assume in print form they are even better.

Could you please add another star onto your rating system just for this book?

For a comic book nerd like me, this book is laugh out loud funny, familiar, and making me a little worried about my favourite comic writers and artists. I can only compare this to TS Eliots’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Great for most people, but if you’re one of the ones who understands the in jokes, AMAZING. I am in awe of and in love with this book.
Six stars

(Also, I have to wait till it’s up on goodreads to post a review there.

This book really is a love-letter to fandom and comic cons. Anyone who spends time in the world of comics will recognise many of the little asides here: there's a reference to the "Captain America is a HYDRA agent" scandal; religious protestors at cons and cosplayers' witty responses to it; as well as Comic-con's Comic Village and the endless queues. It's great fun trying to spot the references and adds a nice meta level of enjoyment to the whole thing.

The story is a fun, quick read too as comic artist Mike runs around trying to solve a murder, as well as trying to keep on top of his obligations as a con guest. The solution wasn't immediately obvious and I loved a lot of the fact-finding scenes: Mike bluffing his way through the religious protestors by saying his name was Danny Rand was a particular highlight. It's always a tough one when writing about fandom to show some of the absurdities of fandom without ridiculing fans as a whole, but this book manages it.