Review by Ian Keogh

Camp Bloom is summer camp attended by people who want to lose weight, or who’ve been forced there by parents who want them to lose weight. Co-writers Terry Blas and Molly Muldoon take time over the opening two chapters to introduce a large cast of both attendees and staff, establishing different personalities and highlighting newcomers from those who’ve attended in previous years.

It’s a leisurely introduction, but it’s a large cast with some large personalities, and when a murder occurs we’re only sure three of them aren’t the culprit, one because they’re the victim. Jesse, a camp newcomer, captures something on her phone, which isn’t allowed at camp, but as seen on the sample art, Jesse’s found a way around what’s not allowed. Chance means three year camp veteran Noah was with her at the time. When Jesse decides she’s going to let things lie, Noah involves Kate and Tony.

The cast are attractively defined via the clear cartooning of Matthew Seely, each of them distinct and with lively personalities. The locations and backgrounds are kept simple, but don’t need to be any more detailed, meaning the focus remains on the unfolding mysteries and investigations. Once the disclosures have been made, it becomes apparent how well Seely has included elements of later importance.

Blas and Muldoon’s work in ensuring we know the cast and their weaknesses pays off as they investigate and sometimes make mistakes. They also begin to open up to each other, some becoming more sympathetic than they were.

Murder at Camp Bloom is cleverly constructed, moving things forward just around the point it starts to occur they may be going round in circles. There are places where suspense is artificially prolonged, most obviously when a meeting is delayed, but the writers bring the story home properly in true detective mystery style, and have a couple of good surprises to drop even after the culprit’s been revealed. The short epilogue isn’t necessary, but the process pages afterwards are endearing, with Seely’s designs for the cast showing him as an even better artist than already seen.