The Headmaster's Wife

I read several of the early Gregor DeMarkian books, and then stopped for many years. I picked this one up and returned to the series with both eagerness and trepidation, so many series go stale after this many books. This was not the case here, however; I thoroughly enjoyed this robust mystery set in an elite, progressive (read far-left), private boarding school in small-town Massachusetts. The academic, liberal characters are strange, almost foreign to me, but believable, and their depiction is finely crafted. I also enjoyed the development of the mystery itself, which had several twists and turns. I will gladly be reading more of this series, trying to catch up from where I left off.

#20 in the Gregor Demarkian series.

Mark DeAvecca, Elizabeth Toliver’s son (Somebody Else’s Music) makes a return appearance to star in his very own book. Mark is attending Windsor Academy, a very “modern” New England prep school. As in every community, there are secrets, but the major one in Windsor Academy is the series of torrid sexual affairs that the headmaster’s wife has with students; her latest is Mark’s roommate. Not that this is a secret exactly; everyone seems to know, including the headmaster himself.

So, small towns/communities are what they are, and no one really believes that an elite prep schools will be different.

But Mark is having problems of his own, weird physical symptoms that certainly imitate those of show more someone zonked out on drugs. It’s just that Mark has never taken drugs. He’s gone to the infirmary but they can not find anything obviously wrong with him. Faced with an increasingly hostile atmosphere at the school—the majority of the faculty don’t want him there because he’s just “not their type” but are afraid of his famous mother and even more famous stepfather—Mark stubbornly tries to stick it out. Then he returns to his room to find his roommate hanging from the rafters, a suicide. Desperate, because of increasing physical problems and indifference on the part of the faculty, mark calls on the one person he feels can help him, with whom he has established a real bond outside of his family—Gregor Demarkian.

Demarkian is undergoing a crisis of his own. Depressed after the bombing of Holy Trinity Armenian Church and feeling that nothing changes no matter what his efforts, Gregor has withdrawn from the world and can not find energy to become involved in outside work, even though requests for his help continue to arrive. He does respond to Mark, however, and he does get back into the groove.

A Gregor Demarkian novel never has just one murder. By the time the book is over, there will be two more. However, Demarkian resolves everything in Haddam’s usual elegant fashion.

Another outstanding installment in an excellent series. Highly recommended. show less

i wasn't that interested in demarkian's personal life. not necessary to the book. modern writers think we want detectives to live lives!
good story.
mark tiresome. perhaps all teen-age boys are. just energy with no common sense.
all teachers so weird. is this what parents get for their money in private schools?