Under My Skin: A Hannah Wolfe Mystery (Hannah Wolfe Crime Novels) [Paperback]

Sarah Dunant (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 6, 2004 | Series: Hannah Wolfe Crime Novels

A decade before her dazzling breakthrough novel, The Birth of Venus, Silver Dagger Award-winning author Sarah Dunant won critical acclaim for her Hannah Wolfe crime novels.

In Under My Skin, private investigator Hannah Wolfe's cushy new assignment takes her to the sumptuous Castle Dean health spa. While being plucked, crimped, steamed, and oiled, Hannah is ideally placed to probe some reported cases of sabotage -- fish in the Jacuzzi and steel nails in the massage heads. But spa owner Olivia Marchant has other problems besides sabotage. Someone is threatening her husband, Maurice, one of London's leading cosmetic surgeons and the man responsible for reconstructing many of the world's rich and famous. In a culture where no one wants to grow old and everyone seems to believe in the power of the knife, Hannah feels like an alien visitor. People will do anything in the name of beauty -- perhaps even commit murder.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At Castle Dean health spa in Berkshire, someone is out for revenge. Carp have been boiled in the spa's Jacuzzi, maggots mixed into the yogurt and acid blended into the massage cream. Initially reluctant to take the case, British PI Hannah Wolfe (last seen in Fatlands) steels herself to #200-a-day beauty treatments while she searches for both saboteur and motive. Hannah's quick resolution of the case convinces spa owner Olivia Marchant that Hannah should look into a series of threatening notes received by her husband, a renowned "aesthetic surgeon." While cross-checking Castle Dean clients with Dr. Marchant's patient list, Hannah is introduced to a world where body parts are enlarged, reduced and sculpted and self-image is created on the surgeon's table. But this pursuit of the ideal often leads to disappointment, which in turn, inspires lawsuits, suicide and, finally, murder. Hannah, with a self-described "attitude problem," is a witty, and competent PI, a little like Kinsey Milhone, but very much her own woman.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The promise of Dunant's superb Fatlands is not, unfortunately, borne out by her new Hannah Wolfe mystery. Not to say that the third entry in the series is a bad book. It just never quite reaches the pinnacle of excellence that Fatlands achieved. Dunant's trademarks--polished style, satirical social commentary, and creative plotting--are evident, but the story takes a while to gather speed, and impatient readers may give up early on. The setting is a high-priced spa where someone has put maggots in the breakfast yogurt, rotting fish in the Jacuzzi, and acid on the face polishers. Distraught spa owner Olivia Marchant hires Hannah to discover who wants to destroy the spa and why. Disguised as a guest, Hannah sweats, starves, and suffers, but just when she's got it figured out and is ready to begin eating well again, things take an unexpected--and murderous--turn. A keep-'em-guessing plot, dry wit, and a revealing look at society's expectations about beauty and youth make this one an entertaining--and educational--read. Emily Melton --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; First Edition edition (July 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743269225
• ISBN-13: 978-0743269223
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,158,728 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

The author of the critically acclaimed Hannah Wolfe mystery series, Sarah Dunant is also well known in the United Kingdom for her work as a television host. She lives in London.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An easygoing who-dunnit, April 1, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Under My Skin: A Hannah Wolfe Mystery (Hardcover)

Hannah Wolfe is a private eye on a simple job to a health farm. Who is tampering the hot bats? Who replaces the massage oil with something nasty? It is all quickley revealed to make way for the real problem: the owner of the farm is married to an surgeon and something went wrong during the last six months of the marriage. One of the blurbs on the UK edition says: "the plot is crowded like a traffic jam." And it shure is!

This is a book in the best english/US tradition. Not too many pages (very english), not to many but some red herrings, a little love, some personal problems and an almost happy end. It is surely not the best i've read but is quite enjoyable.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great hip mystery, August 20, 2006

By 

Sammy Madison (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Under My Skin: A Hannah Wolfe Mystery (Hannah Wolfe Crime Novels) (Paperback)

Hannah Wolfe is a young, hip London private detective. There are three Hannah Wolfe books, "Fat Farm", "Birth Marks", and "Under My Skin". In "Under My Skin", Hannah goes undercover at an exclusive spa. Someone has been playing some nasty tricks to hurt the business. It sounds like an easy job, and Hannah can get some free beauty treatments, but as usual in a Hannah Wolfe mystery, things soon get more complicated and more serious. All three of these mysteries are really well-written, intelligent, modern, and very fun to read. I really like Hannah, who is very smart, competent and resilient, and funny, without being annoyingly tough. I recommend this series very highly.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars gracefully feminist, June 26, 2008

By 

Julia M. Walker (NY Finger Lakes) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Under My Skin: A Hannah Wolfe Mystery (Hannah Wolfe Crime Novels) (Paperback)

Are women supposed to age gracefully? Rage rage against the dying of the light in the eye of the beholder? This book examines the question from several perspectives. Hannah Wolfe is hired to save a spa from a trickster; she ends up in a murder investigation. While she sorts through what she thinks of women who have their faces sliced, she also confronts her own scars - physical and other - and her fixed notions about the life her sister has chosen to lead. One review points out that Dunant's books are novels of ideas passing as mysteries. That's true. You'll think about the issues even more than who dunnit. The ending is blissfully unexpected.

Dunant does great kids, when she takes the trouble. Lily, in Mapping the Edge, is a character who's stayed in my mind for years. Here, Amy gets mostly shuffled aside by the concerns of grown-ups, but she's still a stitch.

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 additional evidence that Dunant is beyond feeling she has something to prove in these books. Hannah has truly evolved into an independent professional.

The first-person narration is so witty that you'll laugh in inappropriate places. Hannah's a self-critical narrator, but ironic and sardonic rather than depressed or bitter. She's is such a 21st-century hero that it's a triple shame Dunant seems to have let the series lapse.