The Murder Next Door: A Graphic Memoir

When a mother in his neighborhood ends up dead on the floor, life changes for 10-year-old D’Andrade as well as for the victim’s kids. A conspiracy of silence descends upon the community, but police fail to uncover any information about the woman’s death. Increasingly stricken and confused, D’Andrade grows up beset by emotional outbursts, lurid fantasies, panic attacks, and a crippling guilt that sabotages his life. Trying to gain peace decades later, including by attending a silent meditation retreat, he ultimately finds a skilled therapist who talks him through healing toward and beyond a closure in which the crime is ultimately solved. The book ends with the adult D’Andrade’s moving dialogue with his suffering childhood self about life and art. He confines his somewhat grungy, realistic drawings to mostly teal and black, breaking tellingly into red and other bright colors for the trauma elements.