Reviewed by Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers' Favorite

Move over Marvel Agent Carter. Allow some room for the likes of Miss Alice White. An independent and intelligent woman, Alice is an interesting character who can come across as a strong or a weak female, depending on the situation in which she is involved. She makes for a thorough and inquisitive investigator and could probably create a career for herself as a Private Investigator. Alice has other plans. She wants to be a lawyer and her work as an investigator for a leading New York law firm is only one step towards her goal, as she takes law courses on the side.

The Case by Marc Hirsch begins by introducing Alice as both clever and manipulative, one in full control of all that she is. She confronts an armed stand-off at the car rental where she always leases her vehicles. While the strong men who work in the shop are tied up, Alice disarms the gunman and saves the day. Rather cliched, but it establishes her strength of character and her ability to improvise on the spot. When her law firm sends her to Stanton, New York, to investigate an exploding toilet that claimed the life of a resident doctor, she sets her talents to work in establishing the chain of events that led to this tragedy and the mob behind the tragedy. What started as a case of negligent homicide turns into a real 1950s style mob attempted takeover.

This is Marc Hirsch's first novel. He writes in a simple, yet endearing style that brings to mind the superhero comic books of the 1950s, the era he writes about. There is a subtle but delightful charm to this book. Its simplicity complements the era, the setting's time period, and also suggests a fascination with the spy thrillers and comic books of the 1950s. Current TV is remaking old classics, as in the case of Marvel Agent Carter. Why can't literature do the same? Marc Hirsch has written a simple, yet complex story with a plot full of multiple twists and turns.