The Headmaster's Wife

The Headmaster's Wife A Gregor Demarkian Novel (Gregor Demarkian) by Jane Haddam Windsor Academy. a New England college prep school is the setting for The Headmaster's Wife. Steeped in traditions, distinguished alumni and plenty of money, Windsor seems almost utopian on the surface. Yet, all is not as it may seem! One student appears to be losing his mind or else has some kind of fatal disease; another is already dead, and the place is on the verge of everything but an academic course of intrigue. In her tale, Jane Haddam introduces us to a whole new cast of characters at Windsor Academy engaged in some pretty strange relational interactions. As prep student Mark DeAvecca starts to lose his footing at Windsor Academy, he calls a friend of his family to ask for help. The man he calls is no ordinary family friend, but Gregor Demarkian, -- a retired FBI agent who has the reputation for almost magical powers in crime solving. In his post-retirement years, Demarkian has developed a media reputation as a volunteer crime solver nicknamed: the "Armenian American Hercule Poirot" Gregor agrees to come to Windsor to speak to Mark because he was impressed with the young man the few times he had previously met him. There's a secondary motivation for Gregor to take the trip as he is running out of patience with the people on Cavanaugh Street in Philadelphia, as they all tell him he's depressed and needs to go back to taking cases. His girlfriend, Bennis Hannaford, has stopped talking to him and Gregor is beside himself and just doesn't know which way to turn. Fortunately, Mark's call seemed to give him an excuse to make a getaway trip from the folks at home and at the same time still allowing him to avoid taking on a "case" as Mark just seemed to need a listening ear. Once Gregor arrives in New England, he quickly determines that Mark is terribly sick and that beneath the surface of Windsor Academy lay many secrets and less than academic endeavors. The intrigue mounts from there. Gregor is quickly drawn into a major case and he quickly discovers he hasn't lost his touch. I truly enjoyed this book. The characters are well developed and distinctive. Each is a true `character' with respect to a collection of somewhat eccentrics. From the Headmaster's Wife onward, Haddam has given us some quirky individuals who have history with one another and some of its not particularly pleasant. The story moves along well and I lost a few nights of decent sleep staying up reading to see what came up next (for me, the true test of whether I enjoy a book). With 19 previous books in this series, and a few others under her own name and yet another pseudonym, this is Jane Haddam's best yet. Her writing has become better and more interesting. The intrigue and sophistication of the crimes have also grown more complex and fascinating. But as Gregor himself says, evil usually comes down to the simpler things -- secrets, money or sex. And, Windsor Academy has them all! The Hea

I have enjoyed this series from the beginning, and feel that this novel takes the series into a new level - This is a more rounded and realized novel than previous offerings, although looking back over the last few, I can certainly see the direction Ms. Haddam was heading. Instead of just another murder mystery, the Demarkian series has progressed to a series of interesting novels in which a murder often takes place. The charactors are complex and very human - flaws and all. I look forward to what happens next.

I couldn't wait to read this, and I wasn't disappointed. Ms. Haddam doesn't write anything that could be called typical. This is a mystery, a continuing love story, a situational plot (boarding school), and -- most of all, because this is her strength -- a great character study. In spite of all that, her books can't really be categorized, because she pulls everything into her plots. Mark, who finds himself frightened by what's happening to his body and his mind, turns not to his parent but to a trusted friend (Gregor DeMarkian) for help. Gregor, who has become disenchanted with solving murders, responds and finds that he needs to solve the murder to help Mark. The question is: who is going to help Gregor with Bennis? If you're looking for a quick read or a warm fuzzy or something that reminds you of . . . now what was the name of that book I read? . . . don't read Jane Haddam. If you want something refreshing, challenging, and quirky, you've found the best there is!

Jane Haddam's Demarkian series took a darker, more complex turn with Somebody Else's Music, and that continues in her latest, The Headmaster's Wife. This time, Gregor shares center stage with Mark DeAvecca, the smart, interesting kid first glimpsed in Somebody Else's Music. Mark is now a new student at Windsor Academy, a Massachusetts prep school where things are not what they seem--on many levels. Plagued by a set of mysterious physical symptoms, Mark feels himself losing his grasp on reality, while everyone around him attributes his odd behavior to drugs and is ready to write him off as not "suitable" to Windsor. Meanwhile, the sands seem to be shifting under Gregor's feet, as his relationship with Bennis changes in ways he struggles to understand, and the prospect of investigating murders fails to inspire him with any sense of purpose. When Mark finds his roommate hanging dead from a pipe in their dorm room, he calls on Gregor to help. Hired as a consultant by the local police department, Gregor's investigation turns up the hypocrisy and sometimes-deadly complexities lurking behind the picture postcard facade of Windsor. As always, there's a clever puzzle at the heart of the plot, but the real prize here is Haddam's continuing exploration of--and here I'm going to risk sounding like one of the teachers at Windsor--identity, class, and the fate of intellectualism in American society. And of course the character of Mark, who is definitely an addition to the series. Haddam is to be congratulated for continuing to develop Gregor and her other continuing characters, rather than allowing them to descend into schtick--something that has killed many a fine series. This is her best book yet.

Mark DeAvecca is a first year student at Windsor Prep but isn't feeling well; his hands shake, he hallucinates and has memory loss. Everyone on the campus assumes he is doing drugs because his roommate Michael Feyre is a drug dealer. One night he thinks he sees somebody lying down on the ground but when he goes to investigate nobody is there. Worried about his health, he calls his mother's friend, former FBI agent Gregor Demarkian. Gregor notices right away that Mark is not himself but he doesn't believe he's taking drugs. He takes him to his hotel for a meal and some sleep and when Mark wakes up he returns to the school. When Gregor goes to find him, he sees Mark convulsing on the floor. He calls 911 and after some tests are made they learn he is suffering from caffeine and arsenic poisoning. They don't know who gave it to him or who wants him dead but Gregor thinks it is linked to the "suicide" death of his roommate. Gregor leads the local police in the direction he believes is the right one to catch the perpetrators. Jane Haddam has written another fantastic Gregor Demarkian mystery only in this book his role is more of an observer than an active participant. Gregor is more concerned with his lover's revelation to his offhand comment about getting married and he uses the crimes as a way of escaping from Bennis's odd mood. The HEADMASTER'S WIFE is filled with eccentric and oddball characters, with secrets to hide. Gregor's job is to figure out which one is desperate enough to kill to keep the secret buried. Harriet Klausner