Ruse tells in second person the sardonic tale of how an 18-year-old graphic novelist facing a future burdened by student loans robs a bank to pay his way into art school. Ruse is a neo-noir novel that coexists as a current day psychological crime thriller with background in the tradition of Edgar Allan Poe, featuring a William Tell twist.

Mesmerizing Poe is an imaginary solution to the authentic secrets within the Edgar Allan Poe story The Mystery of Marie Roget, revealed through overtly and explicitly retelling the old story in a new version (to generate understanding and add depth through intertextuality). The tale of mystery and suspense shows how Poe was hired by a dark horse political candidate running for mayor of New York to solve the homicide of the beautiful young girl Mary Rogers who had once worked for the office seeker. Through the candidate's subterfuge, the alleged killer was publicized as a sailor, and the...