Jerome K. Jerome Bloks #19

The nineteenth installment of Dodier's Belgian series finds the red-haired, bespectacled Jerome K. Jerome Bloks in a tense moment — cover in hand, he gazes upward at a large, looming snake descending toward him, while a striped animal lies nearby in the shadows. The Dutch subtitle Verkeerd Verbonden ("Wrong Connection") hints at tangled circumstances perfectly suited to this wonderfully atmospheric cover, rendered in Dodier's warm, earthy palette. A fine 2006 entry in one of Dupuis's most quietly charming long-running series.