Jane Haddam (1951–2019)

Another holiday, another series of murders for Gregor Demarkian, the "Armenian-American Hercule Poirot" to solve! This time it's the upcoming St. Patrick's Day celebration and the site is Marysville, a very Irish-American small town in upper New York state--also the location of the Motherhouse of the Sisters of Divine Grace. Lead off murder--that of a young postulant of the order, Brigit Ann Reilly. John Cardinal O'Bannion, Archbishop of the Diocese of Colchester is not a patient man nor is show more he one to be denied. So, when he more or less orders Demarkian to Marysville to unravel the baffling murder, Demarkian obliges. Actually, Demarkian is quite happy to have a distraction from the boredom of having all his Cavanaugh Street friends and neighbors unavailable at the moment for one reason or another.

Since the story takes place outside of Demarkian's Armenian Philadelphia neighborhood, we certainly miss the presence of stalwarts such as Father Tibor, Donna Moradanyan, George Tekamanian and others, but we're more than compensated by the cast of characters in the Sisters of Divine Grace, with a repeat performance by Sister Scholastica and an introduction to that most formidable member, Reverend Mother General.

Written with Haddam's deft light, comic touch, considerable knowledge of the workings of the Roman Catholic Church in general and orders of nuns in particular, and with a good plot, this is another highly entertaining read in the Demarkian series. Haddam is always good, but when she involves the Sisters of Divine Grace, she is particularly engaging.

Highly recommended. show less

Gregor Demarkian, former FBI agent who retired after the death of his wife, is invited to dinner at the home of Robert Hannaford. The Hannaford family originally made it's money in railroads but the current Hannafords are comprised of mostly disreputable losers who are being investigated for a variety of reasons. Robert Hannaford is also a cruel and vicious man.

Upon his arrival at the Hannaford family estate, Engine House, Gregor finds that Robert has been bludgeoned to death. The only show more people in the house are Mrs. Hannaford, dying from complications of multiple sclerosis and their seven dysfunctional adult children. Before long there are two more murders. There are a number of interesting subplots, including at least one for each of Hannaford's seven children.

Before Gregor retired he was the former head of the FBI Behavioral Sciences Department and as he starts to recover from his wife's death he's at loose ends. Soon Gregor is asked to act as a consultant to the police who are investigating the murders and begins to come alive again.

Gregor lives in the Armenian neighborhood of Cavanaugh Street in Philadelphia. In a parallel plotline, his parish priest, Father Tibor, has asked him to help locate neighbor Donna Moradanyan's boyfriend who disappeared when Donna became pregnant.

The mystery is well written and the characters are richly textured. I think this first book in the series shows some real potential. The author has introduced some characters that will obviously be regulars in future books and I would definitely read the next one. show less

Murder Superior by Jane Haddam was initially published back in 1993, the eighth title in her Gregor Demarkian mystery series. The marketing hook used in that series (at least initially) was that each case was tied to an American holiday – Christmas, Easter, St. Patrck’s Day, Fourth of July, etc. In the instance of Murder Superior, the holiday used was Mother’s Day. Haddam established a close-knit community surrounding Gregor in a neighborhood in Philadelphia. Among the returning show more characters here are Bennis Hannaford (his girlfriend) and Father Tibor, his close friend who spends way more time on the Internet of the nineties than might be advisable. By this point in the series, Demarkian’s professional activities have landed him in the public spotlight – both on broadcast news as well as People magazine. He hates it.

In this instance, it’s Mothers Day. Demarkian is invited to give a talk and ends up being dragged into a murder on the grounds of a Catholic college located in Radnor, Pennsylvania. The Order of the Sisters of the Divine Grace are holding their annual gathering with nuns flying in from all parts of the world. Nuns, being possessed of the same human nature as the rest of us, have disagreements that can flare up but Sister Joan Esther is really quite likeable. Was she the intended victim of murder or was someone else? What sort of chicanery is going on?

The only problem I have with Jane Haddam’s work is that sometimes she tends to tell rather than show. The introduction of characters as potential characters is generally complex and frequently drawn-out. But the books in this series have a good deal of humor to them and to read about Demarkian's caring community offers a sense of positivity. show less

Patience McKenna is a romance writer attending The Third Annual Conference of the American Writers of Romance. Over six feet tall and and extraordinarily thin, Patience McKenna writes romance novels to pay the bills and has recently accepted a contract with the Fires of Love Romance line. When she returns to her apartment after a funeral, she discovers the door is bolted. After summoning help they discover the dead body of fellow writer, Julie Simms. Patience has to solve the murder in order show more to prove her own innocence.

I have enjoyed Jane Haddam's Gregor Demarkian series so I thought I'd give Patience McKenna a try. I don't plan to continue the series but I did find some of the outrageous characters to be kind of entertaining. It reminded me of my mid-1970's obsession with Rosemary Rogers too. show less