The Variant Edition

"Someone knew exactly what they were doing." When veteran comic dealer Dennis Harte is found murdered behind Table 47 at the Cascadia Falls Comics and Collectibles Convention, most people see a tragic crime. Eli Marsh sees a pattern. A lifelong collector, coffee shop owner, and reluctant observer of human nature, Eli knows this community better than anyone. He knows who belongs, who is lying, and who understands comic-book history well enough to turn a murder scene into a message. The only thing missing from Dennis's booth is a legendary silver-foil variant comic from 1991—a book worth a fortune and carrying a history its owner spent decades trying to bury. As Eli follows the trail through convention records, forgotten transactions, estranged family members, and a disappearance that shattered the collector world more than thirty years earlier, he begins uncovering secrets hidden beneath the community he has trusted his entire life. Every answer raises a more dangerous question. Why was Dennis preparing to reveal the comic's complete history now? What happened to the collector who vanished in 1991? And how far will someone go to keep the truth from resurfacing? As the past and present collide, Eli finds himself chasing a mystery that spans decades, threatens the people he cares about, and may reveal that the rarest collectibles aren't the only things people are willing to kill for.