Britten and Brülightly

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Overview

A gorgeously drawn, strikingly original graphic-novel murder mystery

Private detective Fernández Britten is an old hand at confirming the dark suspicions of jealous lovers and exposing ugly truths of all varieties. Battered by years of bearing ill tidings, he clings to the hope of revealing, just once, a truth that will do some good in the world. It is a redemption that has long eluded him.

Then Britten and his unconventional partner, Brülightly, take on the mysterious death of Berni Kudos. The official verdict is suicide, but Berni’s fiancée is convinced that the reality is something more sinister. Blackmail, revenge, ...

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More About This Book

Overview

A gorgeously drawn, strikingly original graphic-novel murder mystery

Private detective Fernández Britten is an old hand at confirming the dark suspicions of jealous lovers and exposing ugly truths of all varieties. Battered by years of bearing ill tidings, he clings to the hope of revealing, just once, a truth that will do some good in the world. It is a redemption that has long eluded him.

Then Britten and his unconventional partner, Brülightly, take on the mysterious death of Berni Kudos. The official verdict is suicide, but Berni’s fiancée is convinced that the reality is something more sinister. Blackmail, revenge, murder: each new revelation stirs up the muddy waters of painful family secrets, and each fresh twist takes the partners further from Britten’s longed-for salvation. Doing good in the world, he discovers, may have more to do with silence than truth.

A haunting story of love and grief, sharply written and luminously drawn, Britten and Brülightly is sure to establish Hannah Berry in the front rank of graphic novelists.

Editorial Reviews

Library Journal
In this wistful, slightly tongue-in-cheek crime noir story, Ecuadorian-ancestored Fernández Britten has earned the nickname "heartbreaker," but not for misfired romances. It's just that the truths his investigations uncover invariably break clients' hearts. Britten's partner in the PI biz is—depending on your viewpoint—either a talking tea bag or Britten's alter ego projected onto said tea bag, which he carries in his shirt pocket. ("Brew-lightly"—get it?) New client Charlotte Maughton vamps into his life with doubts about her fiancé's suicide. So B&B get to work, turning up a blackmail scheme leading by twisted paths to a hidden porn business and babies switched at birth. Naturally, bodies fall by the wayside. VERDICT Berry's forte is her excellent writing, especially Britten's diary entries, e.g., "There are certain times when you just can't reason with a person...all you can do is take their ego by the hand and lead it to the dance floor." Berry is a British illustrator, and her blocky, inventive art and subdued color wash suit the story. For adult collections where noir is popular.—M.C.
Marilyn Stasio
Unlike the generations of trend-hopping moviemakers and novelists who have reduced the bleak noir sensibility to brutal acts committed in picturesque alleys, Berry uses her pen to capture the spiritual desolation of the human figures in her landscape. The lines of her drawings are sharp and penetrating, the monochromatic colors diluted in tearful washes of blues and blacks as she leans in to catch the insanity in a smile, the mute anger in the snuffing out of a cigarette. But the bravura storytelling device is the perspective, the eerie sense of disorientation as she swoops in to examine a parade of toy cowboys in an empty apartment or draws back to watch the rain lash two faraway figures with a single umbrella.
—The New York Times
More Reviews (3) Fewer Reviews
Publishers Weekly

Berry's impressive graphic novel debut-published to much praise last year in Great Britain-mixes classic noir, a timeless story of love and loss and a shot of black humor with gloomy 1940s London as the perfect backdrop. PI Fernández Britten is known as the Heartbreaker: he's the one who follows cheating spouses and delivers news that ruins marriages. When glamorous Charlotte Maughton, the daughter of children's publishing magnate Maurice Maughton, hires him to look into the alleged suicide of her fiancé, Berni Kudos, Britten glumly takes the case. With his trusty sidekick, Stewart Brülightly-who just happens to be a teabag-Britten begins sniffing around Kudos's job at Maughton Publishing, keeping in mind Charlotte's suspicion that her fiancé's death could be tied to a blackmailing scheme aimed at her powerful father. The deeper Britten digs, the more mired he becomes in a pit of long-festering family secrets. For a man who's made his living telling the truth, Britten begins to realize that there are some instances when it's best to stay quiet. Gorgeously illustrated with a cartoony but expressive style, with a richly detailed story and empathetically conflicted hero, Berry's debut should be a hit. (Apr.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
School Library Journal

Gr 10 Up

After years of being hired by jealous or vengeful lovers, Private Investigator Fernandez Britten (aka "The Heartbreaker") is burnt out and feeling culpable for the broken lives his "research" has left behind. When Charlotte Maughan, convinced that her fiancé's apparent suicide was actually murder, contacts Britten to investigate, he grudgingly takes on the case, with the assistance of his very-out-of-the-ordinary partner. What follows is a complex murder mystery brilliantly executed as the events and circumstances leading up to the man's death are revealed. Berry has deftly set the time, place, and mood for this novel with her skillful combination of text and image. Well-crafted dialogue and first-person narrative are balanced, and the character development of Britten masterfully done. Although the story is serious in nature, humor is infused throughout, resulting in some laugh-out-loud moments. Berry's artwork is perfect for the story. The muted colors used in the gorgeous illustrations enhance the tone, helping to set a film noir mood. This is a remarkable debut graphic novel that continues to surprise right to the end.-Lara McAllister, Halifax Public Libraries, Nova Scotia

Kirkus Reviews
The graphic novel is treated as film noir in this deftly written, visually stunning debut. This first effort from Britain's Berry suggests that the graphic novel would have been the ideal medium for Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, though her detective isn't as hard-boiled as theirs. An Ecuadorean transplant to London, Fernandez Britten has tired of the sort of domestic surveillance that has earned him the reputation as "the Heartbreaker," even though, as the private detective realizes, "most of them already knew what they paid me to tell them." So he decides that he will only take murder cases, matters of life and death. It isn't clear when he accepts an invitation to meet Charlotte Maughton, an attractive heiress whose father runs a publishing company, that there is any murder to investigate. Her fiance, who is also her father's assistant, has apparently killed himself. But Charlotte insists that what others believe to be suicide was actually a murder involving the blackmailing of her father. His publishing company may not be what it seems. Even Charlotte may not be who she seems. "Things would have been very simple if they weren't so damn complicated," says the detective, a sensitive soul who prefers the term "researcher" to private investigator. What he ultimately discovers is that "the world is a bad place full of bad people," as he wrestles with his conscience over how much of what he has learned he should reveal. The plot has plenty of psychological depth and narrative twists, but even more impressive is Berry's visual command, the subtlety of her occasional use of color amid various shades of gray and the manner in which her work transcends conventional panels. This isn'tjust inspired comics artistry, its inspired artistry.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780805089271
  • Publisher: Holt, Henry & Company, Inc.
  • Publication date: 3/17/2009
  • Pages: 112
  • Product dimensions: 8.26 (w) x 11.64 (h) x 0.37 (d)

Meet the Author

Brighton-based Hannah Berry, twenty-five years old, has contributed numerous illustrations to U.K. magazines. Britten and Brülightly is her first book.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 5 )

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Sort by: Showing all of 5 Customer Reviews

  • Posted March 2, 2010

    Wonderful Noir

    After several reads, I can say that what first seemed like a soft edged noir story actually is darker than it first appears. The main character is both sad and pathetic, yet manages to have you feel his desire for good in a profession filled with none.

    The story moves very quickly and keeps you moving in a more cinematic style than I am used to from most graphic novels. Deciding to use carefully placed looks and stark images to move you seamlessly from restaurant to rain drenched alley. The long list of bit players in the story get full development throughout with handwritten narration. Which is one of my few complaints. The text is sometimes difficult read, but the different styles of text used help to convey mood so it is a toss up.

    The pair of detectives make for one part Lethal Weapon style banter mixed with Cohen brothers dark humor. They are without a doubt the highlight of the story. While the character of Charlotte is reminiscent of Faye Dunaway in Chinatown, sensual and strong.

    Since this is a graphic novel the art must be discussed. Hannah Berry has done an amazing job in that respect. The color palette seems smaller than it is. The images never stray out of 75% light even when indoors. Yet you never lose a single moment in darkness or poor inking.

    Without letting to much on, I have read some complaints about the ending. I found the ending unexpected and rewarding. Even if it isn't the typical ending for the genre, it made for a strange yet classic noir ending.

    If you are looking for a fun and engrossing afternoon read, grab this and enjoy. You will be like me and just wish it was longer.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted September 7, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    9780618871711 9780375714573

    Pushing the genre forward

    I love the idea of graphic novels. I love the idea that drawings can instantly tell us things about people and situtions and language provides depth, gloss, and character. Persepolis gave us serious biography graphically, and now Britten and Brülightly takes us part of the way to what I imagine is possible for graphic literature. The art is superbly suitable for the noirish mystery. It was nuanced, and showed us slight variations in meanings. The choice of frames impelled the story forward at a reasonable clip (could, perhaps, have used a few more frames as I had to flip back a couple times). The authorial voice for Britten is dour and dry and funny. I loved the characterizations. I hated the ending, however. I do not usually criticize what the author has decided to present, but I do criticize how they present it. The story line was perhaps not all I would have wished, but the effort is exceptional. I look forward to the direction this book has moved us.

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  • Posted August 17, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    Exhilarating debut

    Gorgeously rendered and darkly funny, plus it's a terrific and original little mystery with engaging characters. A really lovely debut graphic novel; Hannah Berry is a true talent, and I very much look forward to seeing more from her.

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    Posted August 18, 2009

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    Posted April 20, 2009

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