Brave Man Dead

Rating:
Summary: Takes the reader back to a simpler time
Review: Hannah Blank holds a Philosophy degree from Columbia University and a M.S. from New York University. Brave Man Dead is a follow-up to her first Alphonse Dantan Mystery: A Murder Of Convenience. Ms. Blank spent a year at the Sorbonne studying abroad, and based her first novel on her experiences residing in a dwelling owned by a family. She has also written two non-fiction books entitled Mastering Micros and 51 Reasons Not to Travel Abroad...But if You Must: 176 Tactics for Coping with Discomforts, Distress, and Danger.

Set in Paris in the mid-fifties, the dashing Inspector Alphonse Dantan, hero of Ms. Blank's first mystery, is now called upon to investigate yet another murder. Committed on the premises where Miri Winter, friend of his wife Judy Kugel, works, Miri seems to be at the wrong place at the right time. An aspiring artist, Miri is working at the FOUSAP (Finance Office U.S. Army Paris) to make enough money to move to Spain for a year to paint. Miri is the struggling, poor artist to Judy's wealthy parents, who constantly shower her and Alphonse with property and gifts:

"Miri had been painting, wearing paint-smeared jeans and a gray sweatshirt, an outfit she had copied from Vanessa Tate. She had turned some of her new paintings outward, ones she had done working from the old Maisel photographs, and she had also displayed her portrait of Bethel Washton in the Chinese robe. Her plan was to see how Judy reacted to it, and then decide whether or not to give it to her as a wedding present."

As in A Murder Of Convenience, Hannah Blank does a masterful job of portraying Paris in the post World War II scenario of a Europe rebuilding after mass destruction, and the resentment towards the Americans who shipped their huge cars overseas where most people walked or rode bikes. Blank baffles the reader as she drops intelligent hints as to the murderer's identity.

Brave Man Dead takes the reader back to a simpler time where people had a chance to notice the subtleties of life, where layers of personality could be pondered at in a leisurely fashion, and where the police carried on investigations by interviews and deduction without the use of modern equipment. An enjoyable read from a thoughtful author.

Shelley J. Glodowski, Reviewer

Rating:
Summary: A mystery not to be missed
Review: Hannah Blank's Brave Man Dead is a mystery set in 1954 Paris. Alphonse Dantan of the Paris Police Judiciare must investigate the seeming murder of a decorated American lieutenant. Motives are unclear yet the pool of suspects is large, and Dantan has only three or four days to solve the crime before he must hand over the case to U.S. brass. With its vivid feel of postwar Paris, wry humor, and memorable characters, Brave Man Dead is a mystery not to be missed. Also highly recommended is Hannah Blank's A Murder Of Convenience, which debuted the determined Parisian detective Alphonse Dantan.

Rating:
Summary: Brave Man Dead
Review: Having first read Hannah Blank's earlier mystery, A Murder Of Convenience, it was fun returning to so many of the familiar characters when reading her new novel, Brave Man Dead. Alphanse Dantan has metamorphosed into a successful and highly regarded Inspector in the Paris Police Judiciare. Miri Winter, the lovable perennial art student and aspiring intellectual, who always seems to find herself in the middle of the action, again is invaluable in helping Dantan solve the murder mystery. Her boyfriend, Pvt. Seymour Levin, also returns from the earlieer novel to become a key element in catching the culprits. Looking forward to the future exploits of Miri and Co. in her next novel.

Rating:
Summary: brave reader beware
Review: My bookseller favors me because I enjoy all mysteries: Eric Ambler or Anna Apostolous; Raymond Chandler or Peter Corris; Austin Freeman or Dick Francis; Michael Mewshaw or Van Wyk Mason; Stuart Palmer or Michael Pearce; Akimitsu Takagi or Josephine Tey. I enjoy V.I.Warshawski's spunky determination and Elvis Cole's sang froid. I admire Elmore Leonard's dialogue, Dennis Lehane's style, Alan Furst's evocation. In a pinch I get along with Dorothy Sayers' snobbery and James Patterson's juvenilia. But this book, Brave Man Dead, by Hannah Blank, deserves to be the victim of its own violent crime.

It promises a lot: Paris in the 1950s; interfaith and international marriage between rich American and French detective; civilians working with GIs; intellectuals and artists entwined with crime. Andrea Camilleri would milk these subjects until Roquefort dribbled from the pages. Instead Hannah Blank filters out all innuendo and emotion. She casts plot, setting and characters with no finesse or weight as though distributing plastic service for a children's tea party--where the pretend tea is only air. Her book seems more an outline for a do-it-yourself hobby than a mystery set in the City of Lights during an important time. Technical mistakes are also common (how often do we learn of each character's circumstances and why only two doors in a Parisian mansion with cour d'honneur?).

I won't belabor this any longer, but it is the worst book I have purchased in a long time. Save your money. Don't even buy it used.