Veronica Mars is Back

Long before the mystery of who killed Nanna Birk Larsen in The Killing, there was who killed Lilly Kane in season one of Veronica Mars. Over twenty-two episodes teen detective Veronica Mars investigated who killed her best friend Lilly. A murder which tore Veronica's family apart, lost her a boyfriend and got her ostracised from the rich-set she was hanging around with.

Along the way to revealing the killer, she solved numerous mini mysteries. Over the sadly too short run of the show, it covered, as well as murder - rape, pregnancy, abuse both physical and sexual, police incompetence and corruption, sex tapes and much more.

That first season of Veronica Mars is, I believe, almost peerless. The second season was very good too but the cancellation of the series meant that the third was disjointed and ended very unsatisfyingly. Thus I was very excited about the new film, and what it would do to resolve the loose ends, and even more so when it was to be shown in a Birmingham cinema I could get easy access to!*

I really enjoyed being back in Veronica's town of Neptune and there was a solid mystery plot which could have been extended to a (short) series; it was funny and witty plus a major source of joy for me was how many of the secondary characters from the tv show reappeared as well – Cliff! Vinnie! Leo!!!

The test though, was that my companion, who has heard me talk about Veronica Mars before but has never seen it, enjoyed it as well.

So, naturally, I can't wait to read the first in a new series of books about Veronica: The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line by (series creator) Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham which is out today (25 March).

In the meantime, courtesy of the publisher and Netgalley, I have been reading Neptune Noir: Unauthorized Investigations Into Veronica Mars (edited by Rob Thomas). First published in 2007 and before the third and final season was shown, it is a collection of essays covering many aspects of the show, including: the choice of cars for the characters, realism, Keith and Veronica's father-daughter bond, Logan and Veronica's relationship. Two of the contributors are crime writers - Alafair Burke and Judy Fitzwater. Rob Thomas also comments on the essays as well as providing an introduction. Some essays are more interesting than others and there is some repetition - you can sample the essays on the Smart Pop Books website - but overall it's a worthwhile read if you've seen the show.  Which brings me to the fact that Neptune Noir does reveal who is Lilly Kane's killer plus much of the resolution to the second season so if you fancy reading it, and haven't seen the tv show yet, get yourself the DVDs/downloads pronto and have a Mars Marathon. If like me it's been a while, then after reading Neptune Noir you may just want to rewatch them!

*you can also rent/buy the film download via amazon.