Miss Don’t Touch Me: The Complete Story

Genre of book

Mystery

Mystery

Age Group

Adult (mature audiences)

Number of pages

194 pages

194 pages

Justification

Recommended in The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Graphic Novels (Goldsmith, 2017)

Plot Summary

In the 1930’s Paris suburbs, The Butcher of the Dances stalks and kills young women - especially prostitutes. This doesn’t deter Agatha from attending the parties where the killer hunts his prey. When Agatha witnesses a murder through a peep hole in her apartment, she is murdered herself.

Agatha’s sister, Blanche, resolves to discover the truth about her murder. To do so, she must take a job as a call girl at The Pompadour, a luxury brothel frequented by the rich and powerful. Blanche is assigned the role of Miss Don’t Touch Me, a dominatrix who doesn’t allow her clients to touch her, and thus keeps her virtue intact. She is so successful that she quickly becomes the star attraction at The Pompadour.

The setting is risqué and while there is quite a bit of sexual content and nudity, this is not erotica. It is a straight-forward murder mystery full of all the jealousy and intrigue you would expect to find in French brothel. The public areas of the brothel are filled with decadent, lavish decorations. Behind the scenes, the women live in a cramped dormitory where they engage in gossip and petty tricks.

Hubert and Kerascoet make use of richly detailed, full-color art to communicate the scenes’ moods. The lavish parties attended by Paris society’s rich and powerful are depicted in red, which not only conveys the bordello ambiance but also highlights society’s excess and depravity. Blues underscores the sense of mystery when Blanche goes about her detective work. The artists employ natural tones to point out how mundane living in a brothel can be. After all, bookkeeping and scheduling are extremely important to a business like The Pompadour.

It is the characters you meet that truly shine in this graphic novel. Blanche begins as a poor, naïve maid, but as she digs deeper into Agatha’s murder, her inner strength and resourcefulness become apparent. Annette, another young prostitute, befriends her. Josephine, a trans member of the brothel, offers Blanche wisdom. Other characters come and go, some of their own free will, others by nefarious means.

Miss Don’t Touch Me: The Complete Story is actually two mysteries collected in one volume. The first story revolves around Agatha’s murder. In the second story, Blanche’s long-lost mother seeks her out. Blanche also appears to have found love with a rich client who showers her with gifts. Has Blanche found love and family at last?

Miss Don’t Touch Me is a refreshing read. Blanche’s naivety and her quirks lighten the mood when the scene becomes too grotesque. Her resourcefulness and grit get her into situations that no young woman should find herself in, but after all, she is one of Paris’ most successful call girls.

References

Goldsmith, F. (2017). The readers’ advisory guide to graphic novels (2nd ed.). American Library Association.

Kerascoet & Hubert. (2014). Miss don’t touch me: The complete story. (Johnson, J. Trans.). NBM Comics Lit. (Original work published in 2007 - 2009).