Brave Man Dead

By Hannah I. Blank

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0965277836
• ISBN13: 9780965277839
• Release Date: July 2001
• Publisher: Prism Corp
• Length: 221 Pages
• Weight: 0.99 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 1.0" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

A mystery not to be missed

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.

Takes the reader back to a simpler time

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

Brave Man Dead

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.