Corpse Diplomatique: A Jane and Dagobert Brown Mystery

Jane and Dagobert Brown #3

by Delano Ames, Tom Schantz (Introduction), Enid Schantz (Introduction)

The third Jane and Dagobert Brown comic British mystery.

Genres: Mystery

158 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1950

About the author

Delano Ames (May 29, 1906 – January 1987) was an American writer of detective stories. Ames was the author of some 20 books, many of them featuring a husband and wife detective team of amateurs named 'Dagobert and Jane Brown'. A later series of novels involved a character named Juan Lorca, of the Spanish Civil Guard, who solved local mysteries.

Born in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. Delano's father Benjamin worked for the local newspaper, but moved the family in 1917 to New Mexico.

Ames married Australian born writer, Maysie Greig (1901-1971) in Greenwich Village, New York City, in 1929. Greig was a prolific author of light-hearted romance novels. They divorced in 1937.

Ames lived in England for the next few years, where he married his second wife, Kit, and was assigned as a British intelligence officer during World War II. He also worked on anthologies on mythology and as a translator for Larousse in France. His last book was an introduction for a book of photography of Spain in 1971.

He died in Madrid, Spain, in January 1987.

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dagobert and Jane are living in a small pension in Nice while Dagobert brushes up on his Provencal at a nearby language school, and urges Jane to write a mystery about the other guests at the pension. This accelerates when one of the teachers at the language school, who lives at the pension, is shot, apparently by mistake for the Santa Rican envoy to Nice. Dagobert, however, has other ideas, especially when he realizes that the dead teacher was an unobtrusive, charming blackmailer, and that many of the people in a position to shoot him were his victims.

[Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jane and Dagobert Brown, with their improvised manner of solving a murder in a French boarding house, are strongly reminiscent of Nick and Nora Charles (William Powell and Myrna Loy) in the Thin Man movies. Jane's first person narration is full of wit, while most of the characters breathe with real life and the detection is fairly detailed and sound.

[Jacqueline Vick]

I really like the Jane and Dagobert Brown mysteries. Marriage is never 50/50, and that rule is never more apparent than when following the exploits of the Browns. Rather than a hero to the rescue, Dagobert is often the mildly inconsiderate dufus who tries to talk Jane into doing something to his advantage. Not that he'd ever see it that way.
Don't make the mistake of thinking Jane is a doormat. She's not. She just the average woman who knows her knight is not perfect and loves him anyway.
The humor is dry, just how I like it. For instance, after trying to talk Dagobert into giving up drinking and socializing long enough the eat a meal, this is how Jane describes a woman they see at a club:
"Suzette...looked bored and rather cross. There was a bad-tempered pout on her heavily smeared lips and her small, sharp eyes were vicious. It struck me that probably nobody had offered her any dinner."
How can you not love laugh?
The mystery was fun. Though I suspected several people in turn, I didn't guess the killer, though the clues were there.
The book was written in 1950, so if you are an uber-feminist without a sense of humor, skip it. All others, especially marrieds who recognize their spouse's shortcomings, will find this book a hoot.

[AK · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you're in a vacation cabin with a shelf full of old paperbacks, you've got to read at least one. That's the law. I choose this one from the pile. It was a zingy little mystery with some witty meta-fictional elements (one of the sleuths is also a mystery writer). Enjoyable! And also I learned that it was common knowledge in 1950 that United Fruit was a front.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful

[maryam · Rating 4 out of 5]

funniest thing ive ever seen

[Lychee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is srewball comedy wrapped around mystery story and set on French Rivera.

Our detectives are Jane and Dagobert Brown. Jane is narrator and the writer, the book suggest that this book is indeed the book which Jane is writing during story. Dagobert on the other hand is draw to impractical occupations - researching French troubadours or investigating murders.

Jane & Dagobert meets with Don Diego Sebastiano, the Vice Consul in Nice for the small Central American republic of Santa Rica, who is affraid for his life, there was some trouble in Santa Rica, and president was assasinated. And it looks like he is right, somebody tried to shoot him but missed him and killed Major Hugh Arkwright, resident of small pension where Browns also were living. But soon Dagobert finds out that Major source of income (blackmail), his skill with women... and everything gets more tangled.

The book is charming and funny, there are some great scenes and dialog, and Jane as narrator has unique voice.

[C.J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Former office minion Jane--now an up-and-coming mystery novelist--has married her ever-curious, ever-enterprising, ever-unemployed Dagobert and taken off with him for the French Riviera. First at a swank hotel, then at a pension where their daily routine is only mildly gaudier than back home in Hampstead, Jane applies her sharp eye and dry wit to the bon-bon box of characters around her. When murder strikes, we know Dagobert will charge into the fray determined to solve it, and Jane will chronicle every suspenseful step. Romance, betrayal, rivalry, treachery, and all kinds of diplomacy keep the pace brisk and the path dotted with red herrings, as well as a mind-bending variety of cocktails. Delano Ames offers a frothy Art Deco caper charmingly narrated by a winsome, whimsical "lady sleuth." It's not always easy to keep the characters straight (in any sense), nor the plot, but it's great fun trying.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoyed this cozy mystery, I didn't think it was as good as the first one (She Shall Have Murder). Perhaps this is due to the fact that Jane did very little sleuthing, leaving most of it up to Dagobert who performed his detective work unseen to both Jane (the narrator) and us readers. I got a bit tired of having him summarize what he had learned rather than being given the chance to 'experience' it myself.

[Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the mystery in this book, but I missed being part of the investigation. It was as though, now that Jane and Dagobert have married, she stayed home writing and waiting for the next summary of events from Dagobert. It will be interesting to see whether that is the trend in future 'Jane and Dagobert' mysteries.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Both the couple and the book with a book concept are amusing. I hope the others get reprinted soon.