A female private eye, trying to build up her clientele, is faced with the task of tracing a missing dancer - but when the client abandons the case when the girl is found dead, she continues, intrigued by the missing period in the victim's life.
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About the Author
Sarah Dunant has written eight novels, including The Birth of Venus and three Hannah Wolfe novels - Birth Marks, Fatlands, and Under My Skin. She has worked widely in print, television, and radio. Now a full-time writer, she lives in London and Florence.
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First Sentence
Mistake number one: I should never have sublet the flat. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Mistake number one: I should never have sublet the flat. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
My book of the year last year was Sarah Dunant's "The Birth of Venus". Having read that I was keen to read more of her work. Unfortunately that book was a hard act to follow.
"Birth Marks" is a perfectly good, lightweight 'whodunnit', but I would not have thought it was by the same author.
Hannah Wolf is a private eye, hired to find a missing ballet dancer. The search takes her across the channel and into some pretty awkward situations.
An entertaining read, and I'll definately keep an eye open for her other Hannah Wolf novels.
At the moment I can't wait to read "In the Company of the Courtesan", an historical novel, hopefully more along the lines of Venus.
"Birth Marks" is a perfectly good, lightweight 'whodunnit', but I would not have thought it was by the same author.
Hannah Wolf is a private eye, hired to find a missing ballet dancer. The search takes her across the channel and into some pretty awkward situations.
An entertaining read, and I'll definately keep an eye open for her other Hannah Wolf novels.
At the moment I can't wait to read "In the Company of the Courtesan", an historical novel, hopefully more along the lines of Venus.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.2 out of 5 stars
9 reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
this is a very well-written mystery
18 Aug 2006
By Sammy Madison
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I'm surprised that there are not a lot of glowing reviews on Amazon of "Birth Marks" by Sarah Dunant. It was first printed in 1992, and my edition was printed in 2005, so there has been plenty of time for readers to discover the Hannah Wolfe series by this excellent author. There are at least three Hannah Wolfe mysteries: "Birth Marks", "Fat Lands", and "Under My Skin". These are not re-runs of 1950s gumshoe detective stories, or old British ladies solving village mysteries. Hannah is like Bridget Jones, if Bridget doubled her IQ and went to work for a London detective agency. She's smart, young, single, urban, and hip. In "Birth Marks", Hannah is hired by an aging balarina to locate her missing protege. When she turns up in the Thames, dead and pregnant, Hannah feels compelled to track down her killer. This is a very exciting, literate mystery. If you read this one, you'll have to read all three books. They are really good.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
highly evolved
24 Jun 2008
By Julia Walker
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
The dancer Hannah Wolfe was hired to find turns up dead, but that doesn't keep her from becoming a complex character. Dunant's characters are like Hirschfeld portraits - economical, vivid, and inscribed with her own maker's mark. The aging ballet mistress, the invisible cop-mentor, the eyelashes, the French beauties, they all leap off the page with very little ink needed. It's a book about people, Hannah most of all, but also her sister and her view of the world. You'll think you know the twist at the end, but you will be wrong.
Sarah Dunant is a wonderful writer. Her prose is crisp and clever and so is her detective. Hannah Wolfe colors outside the lines, but carefully. Unlike VI Warshawski and Alex Tanner, Hannah doesn't go blindly/willfully into dangerous situations; she makes phone calls telling people her location - then she steps into the shadows. I wonder if the detective's feminine name is further evidence that Dunant doesn't feel she has anything to prove in these books. Hannah is a truly evolved independent professional.
The first-person narration is so witty that you'll laugh in inappropriate places. Dunant's character is monarch of the throw-away line. After her ego suffers a black-eye, Hannah comforts herself with a series of platitudes, then remarks "A poultice of cliché's brought down the swelling." She's a self-critical narrator, but ironic and sardonic rather than depressed or bitter. Hannah is such a 21st-century hero that it's a triple shame Dunant seems to have let the series lapse.
Sarah Dunant is a wonderful writer. Her prose is crisp and clever and so is her detective. Hannah Wolfe colors outside the lines, but carefully. Unlike VI Warshawski and Alex Tanner, Hannah doesn't go blindly/willfully into dangerous situations; she makes phone calls telling people her location - then she steps into the shadows. I wonder if the detective's feminine name is further evidence that Dunant doesn't feel she has anything to prove in these books. Hannah is a truly evolved independent professional.
The first-person narration is so witty that you'll laugh in inappropriate places. Dunant's character is monarch of the throw-away line. After her ego suffers a black-eye, Hannah comforts herself with a series of platitudes, then remarks "A poultice of cliché's brought down the swelling." She's a self-critical narrator, but ironic and sardonic rather than depressed or bitter. Hannah is such a 21st-century hero that it's a triple shame Dunant seems to have let the series lapse.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent detective story
13 Jun 2007
By Sherry Christie
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Sarah Dunant writes really good detective novels -- so good that I wish she hadn't moved on to historical fiction. Her smart protagonist, Hannah Wolfe, is both cynical and vulnerable, and the secondary characters are extremely well drawn. BIRTH MARKS will grab you with a shocking early development that most authors wouldn't dare employ, but Dunant makes it work. Definitely recommended for readers who like V.I. Warshawski and other strong female sleuths.
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4.2 out of 5 stars
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