Birth Marks

This was fun. Miss Patrick employs private investigator Hannah is employed to trace her protegee/adopted daughter Carolyn who has gone missing. Once Hannah begins to look into things it becomes clear that Carolyn has been missing for longer than Miss Patrick realizes. And then Carolyn's body turns up and Hannah is employed to find out where Carolyn has been all this time.

I enjoyed Hannah's sardonic humour and her relationship with her sister Kate and, although I anticipated some of them, there were plenty of twists and turns as the plot unfolded. I am going to read the others in this series now.

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 show more 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. show less

Birth Marks is first in a series of mysteries to feature Hannah Wolfe, private investigator.

Hannah Wolfe is hired to find a missing young woman named Carolyn Hamilton. Carolyn had been studying most of her life to become a ballet dancer, and she was most fortunate that a Miss Patrick had taken her on when she was young; Carolyn's family could not have otherwise afforded to help her realize her dancing talent potential. Carolyn left for London, and each week would send Miss Patrick a postcard to let her know how she was doing, etc. However, the communication stopped for some time, and Miss Patrick hired Hannah to find out what happened to Carolyn. Hannah takes the case, but before she can get very far, Carolyn's body turns up in the show more Thames.

I like the writing style here...it's a kind of witty first-person account that leads to a believable story and believable ending. What I didn't like was that I figured out the motive pretty much as soon as Carolyn's story began to be told -- it was a bit transparent and that tends to turn me away from an author. Hopefully in the later books in the Hannah Wolfe series, things will be a bit more tight, and Hannah's character might be a bit more developed.

Overall, not a bad read, and not a bad series opener. I'd recommend it to readers who enjoy British crime fiction, or those who enjoy reading novels that feature women detectives as the main character. I'll definitely read more of the series. show less

I can't remember what the other Hannah Wolfe novel that I read was, but it had to be better than this one, otherwise I would have stopped right there. The only mystery was why it took Hannah so long to figure out what was going on. Also, her reactions to and interactions with the other characters made no sense. The writing was good, but not much else was.

This was a great, quick read for me on a business trip. I can't wait to find more Hannah Wolfe novels!

Ok. Mystery without a murder. Almost another book to turn on diatoms.

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