Blood in the water: a Gregor Demarkian novel

Gregor Demarkian, Haddam's quick-witted former FBI agent, returns in another well-told tale. A widely disliked woman, who resides in a wealthy Philadelphia suburb, vanishes. Later that day, the estate's pool house burns to the ground, producing two bodies, one belonging to a randy local teen, the other, apparently, to that of the missing woman. Police immediately focus on a suspect, the dead woman's husband, but then comes the twist: the other body isn't that of the missing woman. Demarkian, yet again, is summoned to figure out what the heck is going on. The Demarkian novels have a definite Agatha Christie flavor to them: Haddam introduces a mystery, establishes a pool of potential perpetrators, then sets the detective loose on them. But, if Christie-like, they are also very modern, with more than a hint of social commentary (similarities between this gated community's shenanigans and those of Desperate Housewives' Wisteria Lane are intentional and clever). For such a long-running series more than 25 novels since 1990 this one is remarkably consistent in quality, each installment as satisfying as the one that came before it. Sit down, crack 'er open, and enjoy.--Pitt, David Copyright 2010 Booklist

Edgar-finalist Haddam shows no sign of creative fatigue in her baffling 27th whodunit featuring ex-FBI agent turned police consultant Gregor Demarkian (after 2011's Flowering Judas). One night at Waldorf Pines, a gated Philadelphia suburb, Arthur Heydreich, whose unfaithful wife, Martha, has disappeared, stumbles on a corpse in the community swimming pool, just when the pool house goes up in flames. The body in the pool is that of Martha's teenage lover, Michael Platte. Charred human remains discovered in the pool house are presumed to be Martha's, until DNA analysis proves they're male. The local eccentric police chief, who originally thought Arthur murdered Martha and Michael, calls in Gregor to make sense of the case. Few readers will reach the answer to this crafty puzzle before the endearing and brilliant sleuth, or tease out the significance of the clue of the extra garden hose. Agent: Don Maass, Donald Maass Literary Agency. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Ex-FBI agent Gregor Demarkian (Flowering Judas) investigates a high-society double homicide that baffles the Philadelphia cops. [See Prepub Alert, 11/14/11.] (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

You probably don't know the neighbors as well as you think you do--not when they're this full of surprises. Everybody in Waldorf Pines, a gated community aspiring to be ritzy, knows everything there is to know about everybody else: Which wife is bedding the pool boy, which resident makes a nuisance of himself with ridiculous complaints, which old biddies are lesbians and which teenager is a bona fide sociopath. So when that pool boy is found dead in the pool and another body is burned to ashes in the woman's locker room, the result of a fire that incinerated most of the building, everyone, including the local cop, assumes that Arthur Heydreich, the cuckolded husband, did it. Immediately arrested, he must be released when DNA indicates that the ashes are those of a man. Where then is his wife? Has she committed a double homicide? And why? Gregor Demarkian, the Armenian Hercule Poirot called in to make sense of matters, immediately realizes that misdirection is the key to understanding the mystery. Accordingly, he chats up the Waldorf Pines citizenry and uncovers many assumed identities, much blackmailing, quite a few red herrings and a plot twist so convoluted that even Demarkian's hyper-smart wife Bennis can't quite follow it. Not top-of-the-line Haddam (Flowering Judas, 2011, etc.) but still enjoyable, like a night out doing nothing special with old friends.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Gregor Demarkian, Haddam's quick-witted former FBI agent, returns in another well-told tale. A widely disliked woman, who resides in a wealthy Philadelphia suburb, vanishes. Later that day, the estate's pool house burns to the ground, producing two bodies, one belonging to a randy local teen, the other, apparently, to that of the missing woman. Police immediately focus on a suspect, the dead woman's husband, but then comes the twist: the other body isn't that of the missing woman. Demarkian, yet again, is summoned to figure out what the heck is going on. The Demarkian novels have a definite Agatha Christie flavor to them: Haddam introduces a mystery, establishes a pool of potential perpetrators, then sets the detective loose on them. But, if Christie-like, they are also very modern, with more than a hint of social commentary (similarities between this gated community's shenanigans and those of Desperate Housewives' Wisteria Lane are intentional and clever). For such a long-running series—more than 25 novels since 1990—this one is remarkably consistent in quality, each installment as satisfying as the one that came before it. Sit down, crack 'er open, and enjoy. Copyright 2012 Booklist Reviews.

Ex-FBI agent Gregor Demarkian (Flowering Judas) investigates a high-society double homicide that baffles the Philadelphia cops. [See Prepub Alert, 11/14/11.]

Edgar-finalist Haddam shows no sign of creative fatigue in her baffling 27th whodunit featuring ex-FBI agent turned police consultant Gregor Demarkian (after 2011's Flowering Judas). One night at Waldorf Pines, a gated Philadelphia suburb, Arthur Heydreich, whose unfaithful wife, Martha, has disappeared, stumbles on a corpse in the community swimming pool, just when the pool house goes up in flames. The body in the pool is that of Martha's teenage lover, Michael Platte. Charred human remains discovered in the pool house are presumed to be Martha's, until DNA analysis proves they're male. The local eccentric police chief, who originally thought Arthur murdered Martha and Michael, calls in Gregor to make sense of the case. Few readers will reach the answer to this crafty puzzle before the endearing and brilliant sleuth, or tease out the significance of the clue of the extra garden hose. Agent: Don Maass, Donald Maass Literary Agency. (Mar.)