Dead Flowers (unsigned)

LANEY GENNAWAY takes a true crime tour to get to know her new town. The location: the notorious Aztec Hotel, built during Prohibition to cater to gamblers, drinkers, and sexual libertines. There she meets an elderly man named PRESTON BAILEY, who is friendly but clearly lonely. The tour is focused on a famous unsolved case from 1949—the so-called “FLOWER ARRANGER” who mixed and matched the body parts of his three victims (Violet, Rose, and Lily) at the Aztec Hotel before vanishing into thin air. The husband-and-wife tour guides claim to have finally discovered the Flower Arranger’s identity and promise to lay out their case over the three-hour tour, ending with the big reveal. Laney is fascinated as the lurid details of case unfold, but quickly realizes that her new friend Preston has a personal connection to the murders: his older sister was LILY BAILEY, the third victim. As the tour begins to spiral out of control, Laney realizes someone on the tour is determined to stop the revelation of the Flower Arranger’s real name. But why? Writer Duane Swierczynski (Redhead, Civilians) and artist Andrea Mutti (Long Haul, Tales for a HalloweeNight) are making arrangements for Dead Flowers, the FIFTH story in Storm King Comics’ newest line, DARK & TWISTED.