Gail Simone and Ed Benes’ Birds of Prey: Murder & Mystery collects material that originally appeared in Birds of Prey nos. 56-67 and Birds of Prey: Secret Files and Origins no. 1. Most of this material previously appeared in the trade paperback collections Of Like Minds and Sensei and Student. Though Chuck Dixon originated the team, this book collects the beginning of Gail Simone’s tenure on volume one of the title, which lasted from issues 56 through 108 (though she returned for issues 1 through 13 of volume two). Simone quickly demonstrates why her name is most associated with Birds of Prey while Ed Benes’ art exemplifies the early-2000s style that embraced the comic book elements of superheroes with clean linework (as opposed to the heavy linework of the 1990s) before the late-2000s turn toward more “realistic” costumes and technology. The two perfectly compliment each other in this collection.

Murder & Mystery begins with Oracle and Black Canary going up against Savant, a master blackmailer. He manages to get the drop on Black Canary, so Oracle must put aside her differences and call in Huntress to help, eventually leading Huntress to join the Birds of Prey. Though they succeed, Black Canary realizes she needs to adapt her methods to prevent that situation from happening again. Oracle, on the other hand, struggles with the possibility of seeing those she cares for face real danger that’s beyond her control to prevent, but realizes that it’s not her decision to make for them. The second half of the collection features Black Canary teaming up with Lady Shiva to take on Cheshire in Hong Kong while Oracle’s systems are hacked and she finds herself fighting to escape one of Savant’s blackmail victims, a Senator with a closet full of skeletons. As a little Easter Egg, Benes depicts one of the other hackers captured alongside Oracle as resembling Velma from Scooby Doo in issue no. 64. Simone deftly weaves the various narrative threads, tying in elements from each character’s history while also writing a compelling crime narrative. Though this has been published as two volumes, the connective elements between them are strong enough that it reads better as a single trade paperback. ( )