What do You think about Birth Marks (2005)?
I was ready. for a good solid mystery. In the beginning that seemed to be the case, but our sleuth, Hannah Wolfe, is so self obsessed, that she doesn't see what is right in front of her. I also got sick of Hannah's quasi sarcastic, bellicose tone. Is it really necessary for a private detective to be anti social, devoid of empathy? I have not read any of the other Hannah Wolfe mysteries, and I don't feel inclined to do so, because the protagonist is such a whiner. Writing in the first person singular demands a protagonist who can convince the reader to take their point of view. Hannah was determined to annoy her audience.Another big minus was the predictability of it all. A good mystery should not be so predictable. Dunant would have done better if she had thrown in some more plausible suspects. I was also put out by how fast the police brushed this murder case off as suicide just because of a note. I think police doesn't take suicide notes at face value. I thought it was weak to suddenly put all the weight on a far fetched medical report, which untangled all the knots in a rush to end the book, without caring about logical character development.I was disappointed.
—Marietje
Hannah Wolfe (“a lonely, broke, female private eye on the wrong side of thirty”) is hired to find a missing person, a young ballet dancer called Carolyn Hamilton. She’s hired by Carolyn’s benefactor and stand-in mother, Miss Patrick, her own mother not interested in her dancing ambitions and that sets up one of the key themes for the book. When Carolyn’s pregnant body is found, a suicide victim, Hannah’s detecting leads her from seedy dance clubs to France and the powerful boss of an aviation company. This is a dark book, taking the well-used private eye tropes and utilising the female character well - childbirth and motherhood feature prominently, with Hannah’s sister Kate providing some much needed opinion at times - and is all the better for it. The plot gets a little convoluted once you realise what’s happening and the last couple of chapters have a sense of tying everything up quickly, but it’s a cracking book, it moves quickly and is beautifully written. Shame Sarah Dunant only wrote three Wolfe books. Very highly recommended.
—Mark
This is the first in the series of Hannah Wolfe crime novels. Hannah, a likeable character, is a private investigator asked to find a missing ballet dancer. When Carolyn Hamilton’s body is discovered in the Thames, eight months pregnant and with stones in her pockets, Hannah’s client, an elderly dancer who promoted Carolyn’s career, doesn’t want to know any more. But soon, Hannah is investigating the missing period in Carolyn’s life and traveling from London to Paris. This was a pleasant read wi
—Mrsgaskell
