The Maze Agency #11

A pair of New York City detectives are drawn into a looming mob war on Christmas Eve in this bargain bin rescue. When a mob boss gets wind of an informer in his midst, he goes after the guy who knocked up his little girl. On the run, the daughter and her lover must dodge hitmen and other hired goons from other crime families who want to get their hands on the rat, in order to make it safely out of the Big Apple. Only, that task has gotten a lot more harder as the mom-to-be's water has just broke and her father is heading to the hospital where she's about to deliver her Christmas day babe. 

There were about a dozen issues of The Maze Agency at the thrift store where I found this issue. One of those issues had a team-up with the famed Ellery Queen. I almost got that issue, as I love a good mystery until I found this holiday issue. Not able to let a good holiday issue pass me by, I should have also bought the Ellery Queen issue as this was a very good read. 

Written by Mike W. Barr, this story was complex, gritty and above all, an honest-to-goodness holiday story. The back cover likens this tale to O.Henry's The Gift of the Magi. But the story really parallels the Nativity Story of Luke and Matthew, what with the expecting parents not being able to find a place to hide out as well as them both being targeted by a powerful corrupt leader.

Maybe if I am lucky, the rest of these issues might still be at that thrift store. If I'm not on Santa's naughty list, I might even be able to find issue #19 which is the other Christmas set issue of the series. If not, thankfully, these issues are very expensive to find online. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.