Even in death, Jasmine’s life continues to haunt her daughters. Was she really killed with her own gun? And how many others did she kill in her past? Find out in The Deadliest Bouquet #3 from Image Comics!

THE DEADLIEST BOUQUET #3

Writer: Erica Schultz
Artist: Carola Borelli
Colorist: Gab Contreras
Letterer: Erica Schultz
Editor: James Emmett
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: October 19, 2022

Previously in The Deadliest Bouquet: Jasmine Hawthorne is killed, and her daughters try to figure out what happened. Long ago, Jasmine killed their father, and they have been keeping this secret for years. Now Poppy notices that Grandmother Dahlia’s pistol, which they all learned to shoot with, is missing. They meet with the police detective and answer his questions while hiding other bits of information. Then Officer Guiterrez interrupts with the ballistics report. Jasmine was shot with a gun that sounds like a match for Dahlia’s. And that gun may be linked to another incident from twenty years ago.

OLD HABITS DIE HARD

The Deadliest Bouquet #3 opens as Rose, Poppy, and Violet leave the police station. The person who was killed twenty years before is James Asmus, a man who was visiting town. None of the women know who he is or was. Violet wonders if their mother was still “working” when they were kids and Rose remembers her doing a job shortly after their father died. Jasmine took their grandmother’s gun, saying she needed to run an errand. Poppy worries if the police start poking around their house. Rose reassures her that she and Jasmine moved his body years ago.

They return to the family home and find the front door unlocked. Instantly, their training takes over. Communicating with hand signals, they plan how to enter the house. There is an intruder. Poppy hits him and Violet grabs him and holds a knife to his throat. Rose flips the light on.

The intruder is Derek, Poppy’s husband. He and the girls came over and brought dinner for all of them. He is obviously surprised at how quickly and forcefully they subdued him. Poppy tries to explain that they have all been on edge and they overreacted.

They sit down to eat. Derek asks them what they have found out. The police do not have any leads yet. The shop ledger is a mess, and they still do not really know about that yet. Derek is uncomfortable talking about murders in any detail in front of the kids and wants to put them to bed. Poppy does not think it is a good idea for them to stay here. Derek does not understand why, obviously, and they get into a fight.

Little Holly runs up to her aunts and asks Rose and Violet to make them stop fighting. Violet steps up here, albeit in her own inimitable way. She yells at them to shut up and tells Poppy not to put her kids through what they went through. Derek and the kids stay and there is peace the rest of the evening. But later that night, Violet goes out for dinner with the detective.

BREAKING THE PATTERNS OF THE PAST

I like how the art in The Deadliest Bouquet #3 captures the three sisters, especially when they transition from the women wondering how much of their mother’s past is coming back to haunt them into the elite strike force going after the intruder. They are women who have normal lives, but their training was so thorough that they fall back on it without hesitation. They are instantly silent. They can understand each other’s hand signals. They spread out to cut off any way out of the house. Poppy is the first to strike and she does not hesitate, and we know Violet could kill him. The fact that it is Derek stuns them. They did not know who they were expecting, but clearly, they think there is a lot more to their mother’s death than a simple break-in.

I do like the scene where Holly asks for help. Violet has a flash of memory of her own parents fighting and she reacts without thinking. She is more than blunt, but I like how she takes charge. In a book that is already full of drama, I appreciate taking some time to resolve part of it and we see that Poppy does have a happy family of her own and the three girls are not all broken by their own past.

BOTTOM LINE: A MYSTERY SPANNING DECADES

The Deadliest Bouquet #3 continues to build on the mystery of Jasmine’s past and her death. How much do her daughters really know and how much is hidden in family memory? It is a suspenseful tale that balances against coming to grips with their own past

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