Glass Houses

Gregor Demarkian, retired head of the FBI behavioral unit, is asked to help with the investigation of the murder of several women, whose bodies have been found in Philadelphia's alleys. Henry Tyder, the son of one of the city's richest families, who is conveniently an alcoholic, has confessed to the crimes. Demarkian cannot wrap his brain around the fact that Tyder could have killed the women and gotten away with it. So why is he confessing? And what's more, who is the real killer? I very much enjoyed reading about Gregor Demarkian's hunt for the serial killer and though this was my first Jane Haddam novel (I've just learned there are 21 Gregor Demarkian books that proceed this one) I didn't feel lost at all. Just a couple pages into the book and I was totally involved in the story. In fact, I'm going to go hunting for the earlier books, that's how much I liked this one.

Glass Houses is a find for the mystery addict. Haddam enters new territory with her sleuth Gregor, who at last learns the secret of Bennis's disappearance, and unravels a messy mystery. Those who just want to follow her characters or try to solve the story themselves will be rewarded. Haddam fans should be warned, however, Cavanaugh street may never be quite the same.

Jane Haddam does her usual remarkable job of mixing an excellent murder mystery with relevant social commentary (but without preaching). Well worth a read, as are all her books.

Gregor Demarkian, known as the Armenian Hercule Poirot, is asked by one of his neighbors, Russ Donahue, to look into a case. Russ is the attorney for Henry Tyder, a semi-homeless alcoholic, who has confessed to being the Plate Glass killer - a serial killer in Philadelphia who has been murdering middle-aged women. Russ doesn't believe he's guilty and Gregor agrees to investigate. This is a typical Jane Haddam book, whereby the characters are introduced in the first section of the novel. You get to read each character's thoughts and point of view about the mystery and about life. Some it is interesting, some of it just seems wordy and long. Yes, the author seems to interject her point of view on issues, but most of the time, it's not over the top and adds to the character. There is a brief mention of the Catholic Church, though, thankfully, not as much as in her other novels. Cavanaugh Street (the street where Gregor lives) and the Armenian culture are here too, but it seems brief - there's only a brief mention of Father Tibor and the rest of Gregor's neighbors. This book brings back the whole Bennis/Gregor relationship (which I've had enough of - that story line seems to have been dragged out forever.) Overall, this is a pretty good Gregor Demarkian book, but not a great one. Yes, it seems a tad wordy. And I found the problem with the detectives in the case rather unbelievable (would any city with a serial killer allow that situation to continue?). But if you're a fan of Gregor Demarkian, you'll like this book. If you've never read a Gregor Demarkian/Jane Haddam book, I wouldn't recommend that you start with this one - there are many characters mentioned in this book that were first introduced in Hardscrabble Road. If you can find them, read one of her earlier books (the very early books - in the holiday theme, for example, Bleeding Hearts for Valentine's Day - are great books to start the series).

In this latest installment of the Gregor Demarkian mysteries, the retired head of the FBI's Behavioral Sciences unit is asked, first by the attorney of the suspected serial killer, and then by the prosecution, to look into a series of crimes because no one feels sure that they have the right man. The crimes involve the non-sexual deaths of middle-aged women whose faces are then mutilated, causing the press to dub them all the work of the "Plate Glass Killer." But just as Demarkian gets into the case, his live-in girlfriend, Bennis Hannaford, returns from her unexplained and uncommunicative absence of almost a year. Then another body is discovered, and the stories of the various men who have been picked up on suspicion in the case but released are intertwined with the Demarkian's sleep-deprived and frustrating reunion with Bennis. Papazoglou inserts a lot of politics into her books, but the characters remain generally open-minded and not terribly strident about them, so I tend not to mind too much. The characters DO talk A LOT, much of it seemingly inconsequential to plot development. In general, I think this gives a great feel for the Armenian culture that provides the basis for Demarkian and his neighborhood. For a terrific contrast, read one of these books and then one of J.A. Jance's Joanna Brady novels, where the dialogue is so stilted as to fall over and no one says anything that isn't absolutely required; Texans may be terse, but I bet they still talk sometimes, other than to impart actual data. However, in this book, the "chattiness" also sometimes spills over to the non-neighborhood charactes, such as the D.A. and the Police Chief, and then it doesn't work. For example, I can't believe that the D.A. would be moaning about how he's getting a migraine and he doesn't get migraines when execrable police work is being exposed. When things are that bad, people who have succeeded in The System don't even think about saying things that might sound flippant. They tend to talk less, getting very analytical and showing less emotion. The execrable police work is rather beaten to death, also. It seems that everyone in law enforcement knows the two detectives on the case can't work together and are therefore doing an absolutely inadequate job, but those in charge feel that their hands are tied because of in-house legal wrangling and politics. I don't buy that -- once Demarkian forces the issue, the two are quickly enough off the case, so why bother with any of it? Lastly, Demarkian is an older guy, and he and most of the other characters don't get much sleep in this book, and it is hard on everyone, including the reader. So, not the best of the Demarkian books, but not the worst. Demarkian's work, itself, always seems very true to form and is fascinating. And there are parts of the book that provide tremendous character insight and thus deveopment in only a brief sentence or so, which makes the whole thing so much more involving a