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The Post Debutante: Nothing Wakes up a Debutante Like a Murder Charge

Herman Franck, Esq.
iUniverse, Inc. (2010)
ISBN 9780595150663
Reviewed by Charline Ratcliff for RebeccasReads (07/10)


 Initially I was very excited when asked if I would read and review “The Post Debutante” written by attorney Herman Franck. I loved the book’s cover. It reminded me of the early twenties and I was enthusiastic to see how that “look” and “feel” would be brought into a story set in today’s day and age.

Upon receiving “The Post Debutante” the first thing I did, after admiring the cover again, was flip it over so I could read the back. I always enjoy reading the information it provides as it reminds me what the tale will be about plus I get to learn something about the author. I reread the initial “about” blurb three times because the last sentence did not make any sense at all. “She also learns a lesson she didn’t know she already knew, that was is lovely and wealthy on the outside is not necessarily lovely and wealthy on the inside.” No, I didn’t type that incorrectly. It’s actually a typo on the back cover of the book which threw me for a loop. I was quite surprised. If nothing else I expect lawyers to possess meticulous attention for details.

Moving on to the story, I would say the premise behind “The Post Debutante” is good. A high society woman has her perfect wedding fall apart when her fiancée falls in love with another woman. To add insult to injury this “other” woman is found dead and Nancy, the jilted bride-to-be, is charged with her murder. As I began reading I was appreciative that Franck didn’t write “The Post Debutante” using “legalese,” a word I have picked up from an attorney friend. My happiness however was short-lived as I was blown away by the complete and total over-descriptiveness of the book. Not to mention that quite often the author would repeatedly use the same word in the same sentence. Example: “He was true to the medical profession, a true professional, and knew at an early point in his career that, like most true doctors, he would never retire.” Suggestion: find a different word to use in place of true or better yet rewrite the sentence so it flows better and is not so redundant. “He was a true professional; a shining star in the medical field and like all great doctors, he knew he would never retire.”

Unfortunately, I found the writing style within “The Post Debutante” to be long-winded and tedious causing the read to be challenging. While I recognize attention to detail is important, I must point out that not everything needs to be exhaustively explained. Most of us have seen a wedding invitation. We know the pieces which are placed inside. We generally know what the reply card says and how to fill it out. Personally, I don’t want to read multiple paragraphs detailing every single aspect of something like that. I also had a hard time with the structure of the writing. The characters in “The Post Debutante” are members of the upper echelon of society. Their dialogue is appropriately formal and contractions are not used. However, in the non-dialogue paragraphs contractions are used which, to me, causes the conversations to seem stilted. I can only hope this is the author’s intention as a way of highlighting formal society’s speech patterns.

Finally, even though I was unable to, if the reader can get beyond the too technical and too verbose writing style of the author then this book may be able to hold his or her interest.