I liked Conspiracy Theory because of the mixture of good characters and ideas. Tibor and Gregor have a real discussion of conspiracy groups instead of a narrator exposition. There were seemingly disparate elements that might or might not be connected. And, of course, there was Cavanaugh Street and its people. I was entertained while I thought and learned.

Conspiracy Theory
Jane Haddam
St. Martin's, June 2003, 277pp.

Anthony Ross is the one of the most powerful and influential bankers in the world, and a member of Philadelphia's "High Society". Gregor Demarkian and Bennis Hannaford are attending a fund-raiser at his home in Bryn Mawr when he is shot to death on the front steps of his own home. Father Tibor Kasparian is the priest at Holy Trinity Armenian Christian Church on Cavanaugh Street, where Gregor and Bennis live. Simultaneously with Anthony Ross' death, a bomb goes off at the church and Father Tibor is injured.

Gregor Demarkian (a long-retired FBI behavioral science expert) is caught between the two crimes. As a witness and possible suspect to the Ross killing, he is asked to cooperate with the authorities, but his heart is on Cavanaugh Street with Fr. Tibor and his neighbors. It is only when Fr. Tibor comes home from the hospital and shows Gregor the obscene letter he received the day of the explosion that Gregor begins to suspect that the two events might somehow be related, although it seems far-fetched, even to him. When Ross' wife Charlotte and an FBI agent join the ranks of the murdered, Gregor is once again in the midst of a high-profile case.

Jane Haddam never ceases to astound me. She has taken the paranoia of Sept 11, conspiracy theories involving the Illuminati, the mind set of the rich and powerful, and the needs of the hangers-on to the Main Line social set, and woven them all into one dizzyingly convoluted mystery - again. And while she's done it, she has explored Philadelphia "society", the mind twists of the conspiracy theorists, and deepened the insight into three of my all-time favorite characters, Gregor, Bennis, and Fr. Tibor. From the deft needling of the CIA to the pointed one-liners scattered throughout the text, no government agency, society matron, fundamentalist, or conspiracy theorist is safe from Jane's barbed wit, and I loved every word, even the ones I wasn't sure I agreed with.

He became a legend for his work in the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit, so much so, that when he retired he was asked to consult on some very high profile murder cases in Philadelphia. Gregor Demarkian attends a Main Line charity gathering in Bryn Mawr hosted by one of the most powerful and wealthiest bankers in the world, Tony Ross, who is murdered while greeting guests on the front stairs. Although he is technically a witness or a suspect the local police ask Gregor for help, which he gladly agrees to give.

When he goes home he learns that his church on Cavenaugh Street has been bombed and reduced to rubble. Since he is close to Father Kasparian, Gregor donates his services hoping to catch the perpetrator who did this horrific act. When Tony's wife Charlotte is murdered in a M.O. identical to that of her husband's death, conspiracy literature is found in her house. Gregor feels these three crimes are linked but finding the connection and a viable suspect will take all of his skills and a good deal of luck.

Jane Haddam has a wonderful sense of place and an ability to create fascinating characters. The author peels away the veil and spin doctoring of the very rich and powerful to show that they are not different than the average person in their desires and fears. CONSPIRACY THEORY is fast-paced and brilliantly plotted while displaying how the events of September 11th fit into the mindset of a conspiracy group who believes the Illuminati are controlling the country and moving towards a one world order. This is a mystery that readers will thoroughly enjoy.

Harriet Klausner

Current events have inspired novelists since the beginning of time, and Jane Haddam is no exception. This book was written in the near aftermath of two such unhappy events: the bombing in Oklahoma City and the Susan Smith case. (The woman who killed her young sons.)

The author patiently develops thread after thread, until the picture formed becomes clear, rather than a muddled mass of colors. Some of these skeins are organized religion; the ultra-conservative, religious far-right; homophobia; lesbianism; Goddess worship; abused wives; the media and its power; plus a wide variety of stereotypes about religion, women, and the South.

One of the things about the books of Jane Haddam that I greatly enjoy is that I always learn more about some things than perhaps I wanted to know, and others that I didn't know I needed to know until after I'd learned them. She does her homework. Dense and multi-layered, they're not at all easy to read, and once you get into one, they're even harder to put down, but OH! They are so very satisfying in the process as well as afterwards, and you'll re-read the book for weeks afterward in your mind.

This one takes Gregor Demarkian--at the behest of his old college friend, David Sandler, America's most well-known atheist--to the ocean shore of North Carolina, when, in the aftermath of a hurricane, a baby's corpse is discovered. Bonaventura is the highest ground in the area, therefore it had been opened by its owner, Zhondra Meyer, as a refuge to the townfolk who had no other place to go. Ginny Marsh had another reason for being there; she did occasional typing work for Zhondra, always taking her infant daughter Tiffany with her. It is Tiffany who becomes the main focus of the story--was she mutilated to serve the devil-worship thought to happen at Bonaventura? Or did her mother or father murder her for other reasons? Or, instead of the devil, was the homage being paid to the Goddess?

Zhondra had already opened the gates of Bonaventura for other reasons--as a camp for gay women. Although, to be sure, it was inhabited more by women who had been abused in their marriages, and who finally found a safe haven behind the iron gates. As a member of the Communist Party, Zhondra felt obliged to use her immense inherited wealth to benefit those who had none of their own. Dissatisfied with her own life, she thought to help others find a better way to manage theirs. It was a good idea, but not a very successful venture.

Not long after the hurricane, one of the 'campers' is found murdered, and before that case has settled down, Zhondra herself is discovered, dead as well. Ginny cannot be responsible for these latter two deaths, she's been in protective custody since shortly after her baby's death.

Gregor talks to the two ministers from town: the Methodist Stephen Harrow and the charismatic Henry Holburn, who has enlarged a small country parish into the multi-thousand member Bellerton Church of Christ Jesus. Three women--Naomi Brent, the town librarian; Maggie Kelleher, owner of the only bookstore, and Rose MacNeill, owner of the religious goods store--as well as the town's police chief Clayton Hall, also play major roles.

You won't soon forget this elegantly written and wonderfully-crafted novel. Nor should you. It contains lessons that would benefit all of us. If only we'd pay attention.

All of Jane Haddam's Gregor Demarkian mysteries take place on holidays or other special occasions. They feature controversial issues of the day and lots of eccentric characters. "Baptism in Blood" features a lesbian camp just outside a small Southern town, an atheist bookseller, and some fundamentalists who are convinced that the camp harbors Satanists who have been performing ritual sacrifices. In contrast to all this eccentricity is former FBI agent Demarkian, known as "the Armenian-American Hercule Poirot," ordinary and sensible, a bastion of sanity in the mad world that surrounds him. This is a very entertaining mystery, and the whole series is well worth reading.

L: What hast thou been?
E: A serving-man, proud in heart and mind; that curled my hair; wore gloves in my cap; served the lust of my mistress' heart, and did the act of darkness with her; swore as many oaths as I spake words, and broke them in the sweet face of heaven.
- Lear and Edgar, _King Lear_, act III, scene iv

Gregor Demarkian retired from the FBI as one of its highest-ranking administrators: chief of Behavioral Sciences, in charge of tracking down serial killers. A working lifetime spent in Washington merely honed his near-superstitious distrust of politicians. Nevertheless, a former colleague has asked Gregor to attend Senator Stephen Fox's Independence Day weekend 'seminar' in Oyster Bay, New York. Worrying things have been happening to the senator lately - but why?

No Washington insider takes Fox seriously; his political manager Dan Chester does things while Fox concentrates on his television performance, the one providing substance and the other image. They have a symbiotic relationship - Chester knows that he lacks the right image for media celebrity, and Fox knows that Chester has the brains. Fox isn't even smart enough to cheat on his wife discreetly; he met his current mistress, Patchen Rawls, through his wife's *mother*, Victoria Harte. (Janet Fox, for her part, never recovered from the death of her only child. Her only real interest is working with Down's Syndrome kids at the Emiliani school, a charity that doesn't fit in with Chester's grand schemes - it's too real and too religious.)

As a springboard to the Presidency, Fox is proposing the Act in Aid of Exceptional Children. While providing Fox with the public image of a saintly defender of mentally disabled children, behind the scenes the Act serves as a lever to pry funds and influence out of its real beneficiaries: organizations of health care workers. Fox's friend Dr. Kevin Debrett will benefit substantially no matter what, but the Empowerment Project, via lobbyist Claire Markey, also wants to get aboard. But when the Act was announced to the press, Stephen Fox collapsed, and has been doing so at speaking engagements ever since. After a battery of medical tests, Chester asked the FBI to look into the possibility that Fox is being sabotaged - so Gregor is to attend the seminar. Gregor, in turn, asked Bennis to accompany him as cover; with her looks and background, she's just the type of campaign contributor Fox would like, and Gregor can use an intelligent friend on this.

If the attacks are real and not some weird psychological symptom, how are they being staged, and what are they intended to accomplish?

Patchen, Fox's mistress, can't think her way out of a paper bag; she thinks it's Fox's destiny to leave Janet for her, and that only Chester is blocking her. Did she stage Fox's attacks as a foolish ploy to drive Chester away? (While she alone of the suspects has no clinic connections, she plays at Wicca, complete with a pharmacopoeia of herbal preparations.) Was Patchen the last straw for Janet - or for Victoria, Janet's mother? Did Claire Markey, despite her increasing dissatisfaction with her job and clients, realize that Chester planned to write the Act to include competency exams - despite all her lobbying to the contrary, and his acceptance of her funding? Or has the wayward senator found a new playmate? Or Chester, Debrett, or Fox could be up to something complex, either with Chester as mastermind or one of the others pulling an independent boneheaded play.

Naturally, Gregor and the Oyster Bay police find themselves with a murder on their hands before the fireworks begin.

The setting - Victoria Harte's Oyster Bay mansion - helps make this book memorable, and Great Expectations, in turn, is tied to its owner. Victoria Harte is 'the Last of the Movie Stars'; she travels with an entourage of twelve, gets involved with various liberal causes but isn't expected to stop wearing fur, and has an excellent spy system. Her chief concern is Janet, and how Janet is affected by Stephen Fox's shenanigans - which are in turn dictated by Dan Chester and Kevin Debrett, Stephen's closest friends, and by his mistress of the moment, rather than by any consideration for his wife.

One of the most interesting subplots is what's going on with Bennis Hannaford, one of the major supporting characters in the series. Bennis is falling apart for the second time in her life - her mother's MS will kill her before Labor Day, and with her death, the last of Bennis' childhood home will be gone. Two of her siblings are coming up for trial - one for insider trading, the other for murdering three other members of her family - and a third sibling is in rehabilitation. She's been coping by spending too much money and throwing herself into life on Cavanaugh Street, even though she lives in Boston and is working through the proofs of her next novel. She'd rather be *anywhere* than Philadelphia.

Even though during her *first* major crisis, years ago, she was involved with Stephen Fox.

What a great read. I am so happy I tumbled onto author Jane Haddam. This is my second of her Gregor Demarkian novels and I am now going to go back to book one and read them in order.

What could be more intriguing? Bennis is invited to the 100th birthday of silver screen great, Tasheba Kent, who lives on a small secluded island off the coast of Maine with another silver screen legend, Cavender Marsh, a cousin of Bennis'. And, of course, when Bennis goes, Gregor goes along . . .

It seems Cavender was once married to Tasheba's sister (another screen legend from the 30s), and after her questionable death moved to the Maine island and isolation with Tasheba. The birthday party guests are a different lot (and include Cavender's estranged daughter from his marriage to Tasheba's sister)and once they are all on the island strange things start happening, starting with the first murder.

Who done it? A reviewer should never tell. In the case of this book, I was glad it was who it was--and I had a great time getting there.

After losing his wife Elizabeth to cancer, Gregor has taken early retirement from the FBI, and has returned to his old neighbourhood in Philadelphia in time for Christmas. Just as he's adapting to the urban renewal that has revamped Cavanaugh Street, he finds that his old reputation won't leave him alone...

Father Tibor, Cavanaugh Street's Armenian Orthodox parish priest, has been approached by Robert Hannaford, with a proposition for Gregor. If Gregor will attend a family dinner at Engine House, Hannaford's mansion on the Main Line, Hannaford will make a generous donation to Father Tibor's church. Why would an old-money, elderly financier want an expert on poisons and serial murder to attend a quiet Christmas dinner with his wife and grown children?

Gregor's boredom with his retirement is cured, as he reaches Engine House to find the police investigating Hannaford's murder.

This is the first Demarkian Holiday Mystery (Christmas) and introduces Bennis Hannaford (one of Robert's daughters) and her dysfunctional family. The cast of characters of Cavanaugh Street introduced here includes Father Tibor (who escaped from the Soviet Union in the bad old days of the 1980s) and Donna Moradanyan. Donna's boyfriend, Peter, has disappeared since Donna became pregnant, so Gregor is enlisted to find Peter for her as the Hannaford case unfolds.

There are a number of interesting subplots, not necessarily related to the murder; at least one for each of Hannaford's seven children. Anne Marie, the only one of the seven still living at Engine House, is falling apart while taking care of their mother, who is dying of multiple schlerosis. Chris and Bobby might both qualify as compulsive gamblers, in different ways, while Teddy has gambled (and lost) that his university's faculty would never find out that he's been plagiarizing his students' work. And so on...

Haddam (a.k.a. Orania Papazoglou) concentrates on character development in this volume, particularly Bennis' family background (which is essential to the plot). If necessary, you can read the other books first, since she's careful not to name the killer in the other volumes of the series, even when discussing the events of this volume, but this one really should be read first. Cavanaugh Street changes over time, since the breakup of the Soviet Union and the consequent liberation of Armenia as an independent nation occurred while the earlier volumes were being written, and a number of immigrants move to the neighbourhood as a result.

Should definitely be read before _Feast of Murder_ and _Bleeding Hearts_, since a few of the suspects for Robert Hannaford's murder can be eliminated if you've read them prior to _Not a Creature Was Stirring_.

Haddam repeats a holiday here (Christmas was previously covered in _Not a Creature Was Stirring_, the first volume of the series). The events of _A Stillness in Bethlehem_ take place immediately after _A Feast of Murder_; at a minimum, you should try to read that one before reading this one. This is one of the few Demarkian mysteries that *don't* involve poison. (The recurring use of poison makes sense, actually, since Gregor made himself an expert on poisons during his tenure at the FBI.) You'll also be treated to a varied menu of conspiracy theories of one sort and another, but nothing so ordinary as Oliver Stone's. :)

Since Armenia declared independence only a few months before, Cavanaugh Street has been inundated with refugees, and Father Tibor has worked his fingers to the bone organizing food and shelter, and sending supplies back to Armenia. (For a couple of books, everyone on Cavanaugh Street put up a few refugees until they got on their feet - after all, you never know who might be a 3rd or 4th cousin. Changes phased in gradually after that: the neighborhood expanded a bit, and Tibor's church had enough kids to have an Armenian Orthodox parochial school, and so on. But that's in the future at this point in the series.)

Soon after Bennis and Gregor get home from the Thanksgiving fiasco in _A Feast of Murder_, Tibor collapses from exhaustion and from not eating enough. ("I'm still furious...I mean, I'm rich, Gregor. Tibor doesn't have to starve himself to feed a lot of refugees." "I think you got that across to him in the long run, Bennis." "I should have been able to get it across to him in the *short* run.")

Anyhow, Gregor and Bennis are now checking Tibor into a hotel in Bethlehem, Vermont, for a much-needed rest. Why Bethlehem? Tibor's always wanted to see the Christmas pageant held there every year. He first heard of it in his early days as a refugee in Israel, before he immigrated to the U.S. And Bennis, whose connections put Gregor in mind of a spy ring, managed to get hold of some good hotel rooms, even though it's the height of Bethlehem's tourist season.

The ACLU, of course, has a standing offer to sue the town over the pageant, but nobody's bitten so far. The pageant, after all, turns such a profit that Bethlehem's budget for the year doesn't need too much in the way of higher taxes. Nobody wants to be first to complain, certainly.

Until now, that is. Patricia Feld Verek, a writer of true-crime novels and a spiteful woman, has moved to Bethlehem with her husband, Jan-Mark (an artist in the most offensive modern mode). She's working on a book about children who commit murder, with case histories; he's spending his time having affairs with various local figures, both male and female. (Some are prominent, some aren't.) Tisha decides to take up the ACLU's offer - not because she cares about the pageant, but because she has a taste for a bit of drama. She gets more than she bargained for - she's shot to death before she can actually see her lawyer. But was the lawsuit the motive for her murder?

Gregor happens to have arrived not only after Tisha's recent murder, as well as that of gentle old Dinah Ketchum, expert quilt-maker; the local paper has been running a 3-part series on his most recent case. So he's asked to consult by the local police department...

There are more subplots and interesting characters than I can list here; Gregor himself is having trouble keeping track by the end. Don't worry about Tibor; he perks right up when he finds out about the newspaper series on Gregor, then becomes obsessed with the idea that Bennis might be trying to go on a diet. (He has an interesting conspiracy theory about diets.) Candy Spear, who has the role of Mary in the pageant, is in an abusive marriage, but she's been gaining confidence from her work on stage, so that story has a satisfying ending. Bennis made the mistake of giving Gregor a book about J. Edgar Hoover as an early Christmas present; he now has a kind of anti-conspiracy theory that's driving her crazy.

A few final things I should mention. If you're a big fan of contemporary art (e.g. the kind that seems designed to get into controversies over public funding), or of true crime writers, etc., be warned that the Vereks are not nice people. The woman who is Bethlehem's Episcopal priest is into New Age fads of various sorts; she's not a sympathetic character either. (All of these characters are handled well enough, as far as I'm concerned, but a reader who's into these sorts of things might be miffed that Haddam doesn't take them seriously.)

Spend the holidays with Nero and Archie, and quickly discover Wolfe quick thinking as he solves the mysteries faster than you can turn the pages. The last one is particularly good, as Wolfe takes offense to the fool who tries to fool him. In the others, Wolfe himself is cast in the spotlight as the police begin to even suspect his involvement - but naturally, his intellect always bails him out.

Nero Wolfe is constantly getting himself into fixes through three character flaws. Arrogance, Cupidity, and Eccentricity. He must then shake off his indolence and use his intelligence to extricate himself from whatever predicament he stumbles into. Frequently he must extricate himself through the device of an elaborate caper designed to expose a killer while simultaneously burying his embarrassment.

Each of the four stories in this book has as its centerpiece an elaborate caper. In two of the stories Wolfe engineers a caper to extricate himself from danger; in the one the caper places him in danger; in the fourth, he is victimized by a caper and solves the mystery through sheer force of logic and deduction.

In "Christmas Party" Wolfe's fear that Archie is going to marry causes him to masquerade as Santa Claus and become prime suspect in a murder. In "Easter Parade" Wolfe's envy of a rival orchid grower causes him to stoop to petit theft and become embroiled in a murder mystery. In "Fourth of July Picnic" Wolfe discovers a murder at a picnic, attempts to flee without reporting it, and must expose the murderer before he himself gets arrested for obstructing justice. In "Murder is No Joke" Wolfe provides all the usual suspects with an ironclad alibi. How can he break an alibi that he himself provides?

Classic murder mysteries rarely bear any resemblance to reality. I've handled hundreds of homicide cases over the years, and the puzzles presented by real life homicide investigations bear no resemblance whatsoever to the puzzles presented in murder mysteries. You can imagine my pleasure on finding that Wolfe solved one of the mysteries in this book with exactly the same stratagem employed in a case that I prosecuted years ago. I've long since lost track of the investigator who solved that little mystery, but if I ever see him again, I'm certainly going to ask him if he has ever read any Nero Wolfe.

This edition now boasts "As Seen on TV!" on its cover, alluding to the fact that 1 (so far) of the 4 short stories herein has been adapted by A&E. Since 3 of the 4 are set during major holidays, Jane Haddam (author of the Gregor Demarkian holiday mysteries) was selected to write the forward. Apart from her forward and the afterward, the book is pure Stout, set after both _Black Orchids_ and _The Black Mountain_.

All four are murder investigations. The Ingram editorial review incorrectly implies that the killings were committed by 1 person - they're not. The cases are unrelated, and are only grouped in one volume because of a common holiday theme.

"Christmas Party" - The A&E adaptation is faithful to the story. Archie, having arranged for a day off, receives brusque instructions to cancel his plans and drive Wolfe out to Mr. Hewitt's for a special orchid powwow. He whips out a marriage license (!), with the news that he must attend his fiancee's office Christmas party that day. You've _got_ to read this one, if only for Wolfe's reaction to this. :)

"Easter Parade" - Rumor (via his gardener) has it that Millard Bynoe has bred a pink Vanda, but he refuses to admit it or display it before his wife wears a blossom for the Easter parade. Wolfe, giving in to acute orchid envy, has Archie arrange for a petty thief to steal it under cover of parade photographers. Unfortunately, that's the day that someone poisons Mrs. Bynoe, apparently with a dart shot from a fake camera.

When originally published in a magazine, the photos referred to in the text were provided in color as clues. The old hardcover edition of the book provided them in B&W; this edition omits them altogether. It's a pity, but does not detract from the story.

"Fourth of July Picnic" - Wolfe never leaves the brownstone on business; his friend Marko Vukcic (and by extension, his restaurant, Rusterman's) is associated with most of the things that can get him out. He has agreed to give a speech at the annual picnic of the Restaurant Workers of America, if they'll stop harassing Fritz to join their union.

"Murder is No Joke" - A different version of this story appears in _Death Times Three_.

WOW!

I finished the book and realized two things. The first was that this gem of a series already has sixteen titles. The second? That I have never put down a Gregor Demarkian book with any feeling of dissatisfaction.

SKELETON KEY opens with Bennis Hanniford finding the body of a young heiress in Litchfield County, Conn. It continues when sleuth extrodinarre Gregor Demarkian arrives upon the scene to consult on the case and get his dear "friend" the heck out of there. This book has it all. Great characters, a wonderful setting and an old fashioned money plot. For certainly our young and wealthy heiress was murdered for money. This is Litchfield County. As Haddam quickly shows us money and/or the lack there of is what makes this county tick.

When Ms. Haddam sets out to write a mystery I know she plans on providing a great read. She'll touch base always with the "regulars" our Cavannaugh Street gang. She'll further the Gregor/Bennis relationship. She tosses a plot up in the air and what hits the page is a book, "never quite a cozy and never quite tough". On the page you'll find a classic mystery full of commentary on today's realities...

Always successful this outing is one of if not the best. Full of true slimebags and heroic individuals, you never know quite who's who. I will however never drive in Litchfield after dark. In Skeleton Key Jane Haddam is making the break. With a wink to pumpkins and graves she's leaving the Holiday mystery behind. It's a sad and yet wonderful thing. Sad because I'll miss the part of my holiday celebration and happy because no two books in this series have been cut from the mold and I know now that it won't happen. BUT if I have to wait 2 1/2 years for the next one... well, I'll read it anyway!

Years ago i discovered Gregor Demarkian and the world he inhabits, and have been a huge fan ever since. As usual, after i finish the latest of Jane Haddam's Gregor book, i eagerly await the next one. Skeleton Key was definitely worth the wait. Jane never disappoints, and always surprises me with "who dun it." Her characters embody the best and worst in people, and are always realistic.

I've come to care deeply for the people who live on Cavanaugh Street. I look forward to see how Donna decorates the building she along with Gregor and Bennis live in, if old George continues in good health, and mainly how Gregor and Bennis are handling their relationship. Haddam described Bennis'illness so well, that i got worried about her, and had to read the end of the book to see if she would be alright. Now that's what i call great writing, getting the reader so involved with the character, they can't wait to see what happens.

Skeleton Key is the best in a long series of terrific books by Jane Haddam. Now if she would only write faster so her legion of fans wouldnt have to wait so long until the next one, we'd all be happy campers.

I have been a fan of Gregor Demarkian since I first picked up one of Jane Haddam's books, and this is my all time, absolute favorite ~ number 15 in a series of delightful, classic mysteries that include the Armenian-American neighbors in Philadelphia.

I have come to know and love all of Gregor's neighbors, ache for him in his relationship with Bennis, laugh at his confusion, and delight their discovery of each other, although I think Bennis WAS the one in charge here. Perhaps no more.

I can also delight in being totally wrong about "who-done-it", because I never get it right, and Ms. Haddam's solutions are always better! Most of the series actually takes place away from Cavanaugh Street, and this trip is out into the wilds of Litchfield County, Connecticut. Roads with no names to frustrate poor Gregor. A killer on the loose. And with all the clues in front of me, I was STILL wrong again.

I devoured this book, having waited so long for it, and now that I've finished it once, I'm going to sit down with it again - it's too good NOT to read twice!

If you like mysteries that are rich with detail and multiple plot lines, you will like the writing of Jane Haddam. Gregor Demarkian is a most interesting sleuth with many connections in the community of Maryville from past detections in other novels. As we are near St. Paddy's Day, I picked up this volume by Haddam in honor of the event. I have not read any other Demarkian mysteries, but I will. I like the snippets of characterization that are revealed piece by piece. As a non-Catholic, I am fascinated by the life of the convent and the political structure of the church. This inticately knit community lends itself to the mystery. If you like mystery, try on a Jane Haddam read.

Haddam (a.k.a. Orania Papazoglou) is very careful in each book not to give away the identity of any murderers in previous books, so if you insist, you could read them in any order. Her characters' development is spread out over time, however, so if you don't read _Precious Blood_ first, you won't appreciate how much the events of that book affected the Archbishop of Colchester, or how Gregor happens to know various members of the Sisters of Divine Grace. (See my About Me area for a list of the 1st 15 Demarkian books if you want to read them in order. This one's #5.)

As it happens, the characters don't just stay put on Cavanaugh Street and wait for Gregor to get a new case. Bennis Hannaford is 6 weeks into her new novel, and won't leave her apartment until she has a draft. (She *does* have to work for a living, remember - her father disinherited her and all her sisters years ago. All she has is what she's made herself. She's just good at it.) Tibor's teaching another class at Independence College (see _Quoth the Raven_); the rest are on vacation in warmer climates, since it's late February. Gregor, feeling cast adrift, has gone to an FBI convention in New York...where the Archdiocese of New York finds him on behalf of John Cardinal O'Bannion of Colchester.

Brigit Ann Reilly, a postulant in the Motherhouse of the Sisters of Divine Grace, was found dead in the local public library, covered with live snakes - but she died of hemlock poisoning, and the snakes are de-fanged pets. Do they belong to Josh O'Malley, the young gigolo who married Miriam Bailey, the bank president? (If there are such things as trophy husbands, Josh is no prize.) Or Miriam herself, a 60-ish pillar of the Catholic Church who buys toys for Josh, e.g. a menagerie, a Ferrari...but doesn't show any other signs of a mid-life crisis... Or to Sam Harrigan, the Fearless Epicure, an old friend of Bennis' with an outrageous cooking show? (And a yen for Glinda Daniels, the librarian...)

Maryville is gearing up for St. Patrick's Day, a major holiday in a town founded by Irish immigrants, especially now that the founder of the Sisters' order is on her way to becoming the first Irish-American saint. (Even Father Doherty's parish of South American immigrants are joining the party. Why? "Someday there will be enough of us here, we will have a celebration for St. Rose of Lima. Since we have always helped them, they will have to help us.") Miriam's assistant, Don Bollander, makes the mistake of wishing that Maryville could become another Lourdes - but be careful what you wish for...

A few of the Sisters we met in _Precious Blood_ only briefly have bigger roles here, especially Reverend Mother General, "a cross between Queen Elizabeth I and Medusa," as Father Doherty puts it (he's never dared to look her in the face). Father Doherty himself is an impressive figure - a doctor from a wealthy family, who discovered a vocation after an unhappy marriage, ended by his wife's death in a drunk-driving accident.

_A Great Day for the Deadly_ actually has a locked-room situation at one point, and as Gregor says, "There just isn't any such thing as a locked-room mystery." Gregor's favorite fictional detective is Nero Wolfe, who gets to just sit and eat, and doesn't have to listen to lectures about cholesterol. He *hates* John Dickson Carr, and says that at least Mrs. Christie had the good sense never to write a locked-room mystery. (Bennis gives him books from time to time, and it's funny to watch him react to them - see especially _A Stillness in Bethlehem_, where she lives to regret giving him a biography of J. Edgar Hoover.)

I particularly like Haddam's character development. (Yes, I've read other amazon reviews from people who hate it.) The witnesses and families of victims in her stories don't just pick up as though nothing happened; they have to live with the consequences. Cardinal O'Bannion's colleagues, including Tibor, are worried that he's been making himself sick after what happened in _Precious Blood_ the previous year, and Sister Scholastica is still haunted by the deaths of childhood friends in that story.

If you think Bennis is the exception to this rule, after _Not a Creature Was Stirring_ and her mother's death from multiple schlerosis, you just haven't been reading the right books in the series. See especially _Act of Darkness_.

Note that this story takes place before Armenia declared independence during the breakup of the Soviet Union. The changes on Cavanaugh Street begin in the next book, _A Feast of Murder_.

Anyone who has followed Jane Haddam's series about Gregor Demarkian and his Armenian American community in Philadelphia, his burgeoning relationship with Bennis Hannaford and the good and bad of the religious community will be enchanted with this newest contribution. The subject matter is thought provoking and witty. The characters are very true to my experiences.

The best thing about the book is the elegant handling of very sensitive and controvsial subjects: the quasi-religious anti gay movement, the ever-convoluted Catholic Church in the United States, the position of all Christian churches toward their members who are gay, and last but not least, capital punishment. The reader is given the situation without judgement and with humor. What could be better.

And it's amazing how similar the fringes of the "movements" all are. Even if they are polar opposites.

This is a notable addition to this series. I recommend it highly.

The subject is murder. It's happening in a fading Catholic church in the heart of Gregor Demarkian's Philadelphia; it's happening across the street in the counterpart Episcopalian church that befriends a community of gay men; and Bennis's older sister, who's about to be executed by the state for killing her father and two other sisters, is finally going to reap the rewards of murder. The impending execution forms an intriguing backdrop to the murders that make up the fabric of Gregor's 16th (or 17th, who's counting) encounter with the most base human crime. What I've always loved most about Jane Haddam's novels is the array of unusual, intense, and fully-developed characters. She did not disappoint me with TRUE BELIEVERS. Each one was crisp and clear within the pages of the story as he/she drove the action forward to its amazing conclusion. Add to that the wonderfully imaginative plot that twists and turns itself from confusion to clarity, and you'd have a well-constructed, enjoyable mystery novel with apologies to none, thank you. But Jane Haddam has taken TRUE BELIEVERS a step higher by placing before the reader a plethora of contrasting philosophies as traditional and diverse Roman Catholic, Episcopalian, fundamentalist Baptist, athiest, and agnostic characters find they must share the same space and either learn to fight or to coexist there. She gives her readers much more than simple plot to digest as they seek to understand the viewpoints of others around them. Perhaps that's why Jane Haddam's book can be read and reread many times without ever losing their freshness. And for her fans (like I am), that's a blessing.

I've been reading Jane Haddam's Gregor Demarkian series as they came out from the beginning. They've all been good books, and with each one I know that I can expect a fine mystery, complex and realistic characters (who change and grow as the series progresses) and good writing.

True Believers has all three.

The writing is wonderful, the mystery kept me wondering, and the characters are all fully fleshed and realistic. This is true of both the regulars and those who appear just in this book. While I enjoy the character development of Gregor and Bennis and the other inhabitants of Cavanaugh St., I also appreciate the fact that the mystery and the plot are never sacrificed. Rather, the book is made up of interlocking strands, which tie together to make up the story as a whole, but which don't always intermingle.

While the strands may not get mixed together, they progress together, affect each other, and in the end, the whole is cohesive and there are no loose ends.

The story involves deaths at a Philadelphia church, and eventually encompasses the Catholic church where the deaths take place, the Episcopalian one across the street, and the fundamentalists down the road. It's a complicated story, involving child abuse, embezzlement, fundamentalism, the death penalty debate, and gay rights groups, and yet at the end the solution is straightforward and logical.

While the mystery gets solved and all the storylines come together at the end, the characters don't just weather the storm and come out unscathed at the end of the story. Bennis has to deal with the impending execution of her sister (who had committed murder in an earlier book). People in Jane Haddam's books deal with the consequences of their own, and of others', actions, and it's part of what makes this book, and this series, as vital and interesting as it is. The books are always complex and the treatment of the issues involved, whether it's child abuse or anti-abortion activism, or the death penalty, is never superficial. These are realistic characters, dealing with real-life difficulties and their lives change as a result.

True Believers is one of the stronger entries in the Gregor Demarkian series, and that is, in my opinion, saying quite a lot.