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Gregor Demarkian #23
Cheating at Solitaire
Margaret's Harbor, a small, exclusive island off the coast of Massachussets, has been disrupted for weeks by the antics of a group of young celebrities. Kendra Rhode, of the extremely wealthy Rhode family, is the ring leader and part-year resident on the island. Two of her cohorts, Arrow Normand, an aging teen pop idol, and Marcey Mandret, another of the same vintage, have been acting out publicly - drunken, disorderly public behavior eaten up by the press. During one of the most devastating blizzards in decades, Normand staggers up to a local house, covered in blood and incoherently drunk. Her latest boy toy is found shot dead in the front seat of a crashed truck. The only suspect in the crime is Normand herself and she was apparently far too out of it to remember what actually happened that night. Former F.B.I. agent Gregor Demarkian, fleeing from the preparations for his own wedding, is hired to review the case against Normand. What he finds is a case with little evidence, twisted by an out-of-control media and the cult of celebrity surrounding the three young women, and a mare's nest of motives, in what may be the most confusing, twisted case of his entire career.
391 pages, Hardcover
Published April 15, 2008
29 people are currently reading
187 people want to read
About the author
Jane Haddam
55 books133 followersAka Orania Papazoglou
Jane Haddam (b. 1951) is an American author of mysteries. Born Orania Papazoglou, she worked as a college professor and magazine editor before publishing her Edgar Award–nominated first novel, Sweet, Savage Death, in 1984. This mystery introduced Patience McKenna, a sleuthing scribe who would go on to appear in four more books, including Wicked, Loving Murder (1985) and Rich, Radiant Slaughter (1988).
Not a Creature Was Stirring (1990) introduced Haddam’s best-known character, former FBI agent Gregor Demarkian. The series spans more than twenty novels, many of them holiday-themed, including Murder Superior (1993), Fountain of Death (1995), and Wanting Sheila Dead (2005). Haddam’s most recent novels are Blood in the Water (2012) and Hearts of Sand (2013). Wife of William L DeAndrea.
Jane Haddam (b. 1951) is an American author of mysteries. Born Orania Papazoglou, she worked as a college professor and magazine editor before publishing her Edgar Award–nominated first novel, Sweet, Savage Death, in 1984. This mystery introduced Patience McKenna, a sleuthing scribe who would go on to appear in four more books, including Wicked, Loving Murder (1985) and Rich, Radiant Slaughter (1988).
Not a Creature Was Stirring (1990) introduced Haddam’s best-known character, former FBI agent Gregor Demarkian. The series spans more than twenty novels, many of them holiday-themed, including Murder Superior (1993), Fountain of Death (1995), and Wanting Sheila Dead (2005). Haddam’s most recent novels are Blood in the Water (2012) and Hearts of Sand (2013). Wife of William L DeAndrea.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
August 5, 2025
I love the insight Haddam's books contain. It's too bad she has passed...She would have been so amazed at how prescient she was. It was a bit long but a great read.
May 23, 2010
RATING: 2.5
Anyone who's ever had to prepare for a big wedding can identify with how Gregor Demarkian is feeling about his impending nuptials to longtime love Bennis Hannaford. The whole thing is turning into a production; there is nothing more that he would like to do than escape from Philadelphia to a desert island until it's time to say "I do". His wish almost comes true when an old friend, actor Stewart Gordon, asks him to take an assignment from the authorities on Margaret's Harbor, a wealthy enclave near Cape Cod. There's a movie being shot there – more importantly, one of the grips has been murdered and the one-man police department is making no headway in identifying the perpetrator.
Normally in the winter, Margaret's Harbor is relatively secluded, with very few of the tourists who visit in milder weather. But what Gregor finds is as far from a Winter Wonderland as you could imagine – the cast and crew have taken over the island, and there are throngs of paparazzi following the principles' every move. Among them are several young starlets of the Britney Spears/Lindsay Lohan/Paris Hilton school of celebrity – beautiful, self-absorbed and not very intelligent. One of them was with the victim when he died and has been arrested for his murder. It doesn't seem likely that she is the killer; but then again, there is no real motivation that Gregor is able to uncover for anyone else either.
Cheating at Solitaire is a 400 page book that should have been 300 pages or less. Over and over again, Haddam hammers home the situation that these unworthy celebrities face. Their lives are essentially empty; they live for the spotlight and often are very self destructive in their behavior. The paparazzi are like buzzards pouncing on road kill. It really wasn't necessary to have this situation described again and again – it was boring, redundant and certainly didn't generate any sympathy from the reader. Much ado was also made about the fact that the female actors did not wear underwear – I didn't understand why this was repeated and reacted to several times in the book. None of the characters had enough emotional depth to carry the narrative, including the protagonist.
The big miss for me in this book was Gregor's actual investigation of the crime. There really wasn't one. It was well over 200 pages before he did anything at all. He is a highly paid consultant and former FBI agent; I never saw any indication of the skills that he must have had to earn the sterling reputation that is implied. He asked a few questions, and that was about it. As the book ended, he laid out who did what and why, but there was no revelation of how he arrived at his conclusions. It certainly wasn't through rigorous interrogation and analysis of the evidence.
I've never read any of the books in this series before, so I don't know if this approach to solving crimes is typical or not. Cheating at Solitaire is the 22nd book in the series; I was hesitant to read it because I thought I would not have the necessary background to understand the characters and their motivations. However, that wasn't the case; the book stood alone and was quite understandable without the necessity of having any prior knowledge of the characters and their history. Truthfully, I didn't enjoy the Cheating very much. I may try one of the earlier ones to see if this book is an anomaly in the long-running series, but I'm not in a hurry to do so.
Anyone who's ever had to prepare for a big wedding can identify with how Gregor Demarkian is feeling about his impending nuptials to longtime love Bennis Hannaford. The whole thing is turning into a production; there is nothing more that he would like to do than escape from Philadelphia to a desert island until it's time to say "I do". His wish almost comes true when an old friend, actor Stewart Gordon, asks him to take an assignment from the authorities on Margaret's Harbor, a wealthy enclave near Cape Cod. There's a movie being shot there – more importantly, one of the grips has been murdered and the one-man police department is making no headway in identifying the perpetrator.
Normally in the winter, Margaret's Harbor is relatively secluded, with very few of the tourists who visit in milder weather. But what Gregor finds is as far from a Winter Wonderland as you could imagine – the cast and crew have taken over the island, and there are throngs of paparazzi following the principles' every move. Among them are several young starlets of the Britney Spears/Lindsay Lohan/Paris Hilton school of celebrity – beautiful, self-absorbed and not very intelligent. One of them was with the victim when he died and has been arrested for his murder. It doesn't seem likely that she is the killer; but then again, there is no real motivation that Gregor is able to uncover for anyone else either.
Cheating at Solitaire is a 400 page book that should have been 300 pages or less. Over and over again, Haddam hammers home the situation that these unworthy celebrities face. Their lives are essentially empty; they live for the spotlight and often are very self destructive in their behavior. The paparazzi are like buzzards pouncing on road kill. It really wasn't necessary to have this situation described again and again – it was boring, redundant and certainly didn't generate any sympathy from the reader. Much ado was also made about the fact that the female actors did not wear underwear – I didn't understand why this was repeated and reacted to several times in the book. None of the characters had enough emotional depth to carry the narrative, including the protagonist.
The big miss for me in this book was Gregor's actual investigation of the crime. There really wasn't one. It was well over 200 pages before he did anything at all. He is a highly paid consultant and former FBI agent; I never saw any indication of the skills that he must have had to earn the sterling reputation that is implied. He asked a few questions, and that was about it. As the book ended, he laid out who did what and why, but there was no revelation of how he arrived at his conclusions. It certainly wasn't through rigorous interrogation and analysis of the evidence.
I've never read any of the books in this series before, so I don't know if this approach to solving crimes is typical or not. Cheating at Solitaire is the 22nd book in the series; I was hesitant to read it because I thought I would not have the necessary background to understand the characters and their motivations. However, that wasn't the case; the book stood alone and was quite understandable without the necessity of having any prior knowledge of the characters and their history. Truthfully, I didn't enjoy the Cheating very much. I may try one of the earlier ones to see if this book is an anomaly in the long-running series, but I'm not in a hurry to do so.
July 25, 2009
This was a "Good girl, you've cleaned up the house. Now go sit down for a while" book. Beach reading. And if you have connections to Philadelphia's Main Line, or to Nantucket, it has interesting reverberations in the character development.
But, damn it! Minotaur Books (of St Martin's Press) needs to do something about the editing of its books.
(Warning: Rant follows)
There were grammatical lapses that jumped out and bit me ("She was one of those women who does not....." instead of "who do not". The subject of the verb is "those women", not "she").
One of the main characters is attacked with particular attention to one aspect of his body. 20 pages later, someone visits him and bemoans the damage to Not The Original Part. Later, the damage is referred to as having been to the original site (trying not to give anything away).
And then there's the title, It has two parts: cheating and solitaire.
By the middle or so of the book, I could see "solitaire"as a metaphor for the way one character was playing a couple of others, but where was the cheating? ALL the "bad guys" were cheating: themselves, each other... So that's another strike against it.
I read a foodie-mystery from Minotaur a couple of years ago. It was so riddled with mistakes of grammar, of spelling (of recipes). of the French used in it as to actually spoil my reading of the book.
I tried to write to Minotaur, eventually sending my list of mistakes to ä very general Minotaur email address. Of course I received no reply.
But, damn it! Minotaur Books (of St Martin's Press) needs to do something about the editing of its books.
(Warning: Rant follows)
There were grammatical lapses that jumped out and bit me ("She was one of those women who does not....." instead of "who do not". The subject of the verb is "those women", not "she").
One of the main characters is attacked with particular attention to one aspect of his body. 20 pages later, someone visits him and bemoans the damage to Not The Original Part. Later, the damage is referred to as having been to the original site (trying not to give anything away).
And then there's the title, It has two parts: cheating and solitaire.
By the middle or so of the book, I could see "solitaire"as a metaphor for the way one character was playing a couple of others, but where was the cheating? ALL the "bad guys" were cheating: themselves, each other... So that's another strike against it.
I read a foodie-mystery from Minotaur a couple of years ago. It was so riddled with mistakes of grammar, of spelling (of recipes). of the French used in it as to actually spoil my reading of the book.
I tried to write to Minotaur, eventually sending my list of mistakes to ä very general Minotaur email address. Of course I received no reply.
March 22, 2019
Cheating at Solitaire (Gregor Demarkian, #23) by Jane Haddam.
The author begins this book with the usual introduction of the characters and their individual stories. This story begins afterwards in the small island of Margaret's Harbor. An out of the way place that the wealthy enjoy escaping to during the summer months. This was not, however, summer. It was a blustery winter brought about by a nor'easter that was already on record as one of the worst. A blizzard to end all blizzards.
A movie is being filmed complete with celebrities. The celebrities include two pop idols on their last go round before fading into nothingness along with a wealthy part time resident of the island. The lewd antics of the celebrities, Arrow Normand and Marcey Mandret, are intentionally public. Their antics brings on more papparazzi and then a truck crashes with them in it.
This crash has a fatality, but it's not from the crash. The fatality is a victim of a gun shot wound to his head. And so begins the investigation that leads to Gregor Demarkian being called in to solve.
This book (and this series) has the power to catch my attention and not let go until the end. Through it all Gregor and Bennis have their town and close friends planning out their wedding, which seems to be way over Gregor's head. Their future together will have to wait until this mystery is solved.
The author begins this book with the usual introduction of the characters and their individual stories. This story begins afterwards in the small island of Margaret's Harbor. An out of the way place that the wealthy enjoy escaping to during the summer months. This was not, however, summer. It was a blustery winter brought about by a nor'easter that was already on record as one of the worst. A blizzard to end all blizzards.
A movie is being filmed complete with celebrities. The celebrities include two pop idols on their last go round before fading into nothingness along with a wealthy part time resident of the island. The lewd antics of the celebrities, Arrow Normand and Marcey Mandret, are intentionally public. Their antics brings on more papparazzi and then a truck crashes with them in it.
This crash has a fatality, but it's not from the crash. The fatality is a victim of a gun shot wound to his head. And so begins the investigation that leads to Gregor Demarkian being called in to solve.
This book (and this series) has the power to catch my attention and not let go until the end. Through it all Gregor and Bennis have their town and close friends planning out their wedding, which seems to be way over Gregor's head. Their future together will have to wait until this mystery is solved.
February 24, 2014
Hmmm, I wrote a review and well, my computer ate it.
There's a lot of celebrity excess in this book, and excess by the papparazzi.
I really liked the side romance going on between a history writer and a famous movie star.
I didn't like all the detail of excess by both the celebrities and the media.
And there were some just kind of weird characters that I never quite figured out - the newspaper editor was the worst, but the publicity agent, and well, people who had the chance to get off this tiny island and came back anyhow....
There's a lot of celebrity excess in this book, and excess by the papparazzi.
I really liked the side romance going on between a history writer and a famous movie star.
I didn't like all the detail of excess by both the celebrities and the media.
And there were some just kind of weird characters that I never quite figured out - the newspaper editor was the worst, but the publicity agent, and well, people who had the chance to get off this tiny island and came back anyhow....
March 1, 2010
I just didnt connect with this book. I thought it was written poorly - the author doesnt seem to know any other word for young women besides "twits". I had never heard of Gregor Demarkian, but wasnt impressed with him as a character.
February 26, 2023
I enjoy the mystery here, and I really like some of the incidental characters. But there's SO MUCH repetition. We get it, Jane. It's gotten so that the whole world is like high school, and you really hated high school (see: Somebody Else's Music). You don't have to tell us ten times.
February 24, 2019
An engaging puzzle, as always, with the awesome Gregor Demarkian, his friends, colleagues, and characters associated with the mystery presented here in Cheating at Solitaire. This one is set on an island off Massachusetts with the murder taking place in the middle of an intense snowstorm that makes this a sort of ‘locked room’ mystery.
What brings me back again and again to Jane Haddam, however, is not the deft handling of the elements of the story, but the deeper philosophy about what it is to be human that appears in each of her books. In this one, she makes a case for the idea (which I have often considered) that life is like high school; everything is a popularity contest. Haddam, however, explores this way more deeply than any of my passing thoughts about it.
A funny detail: the day I began reading this book, I had seen no less than five headlines on the Yahoo home page about Kim Kardashian and the, in my opinion, ugly and way too revealing, dress she was wearing to an event. This was followed up over the next few days with twitter rants about her designs being ‘knocked off’. I don’t want to cast dispersions about anyone, including the Kardashians, but it was hard not to nod and say, “Mmmmhmmm…”
Another funny detail: My high opinion of Gregor Demarkian dropped very slightly when he mused how much he disliked the TV show Monk. But then, no one’s perfect…
An excerpt from Cheating at Solitaire:
“God, this place gives me the creeps,”Mrs. Normand said. Ït really does. All these books. And what kind of books are they? The Moral Obligation to be Intelligent. Who reads a book like that?”
“It’s a collection of essays,” Annabeth said. “By Lionel Trilling. Essays about literature, mostly.”
“Oh,” Mrs. Normand said. “Lit-ra-chur. Aren’t we all important around here. And that painting. That awful painting. How can anybody live with a painting like that? People don’t want to be reminded of death and pain and misery. People want to have fun.”
“That’s the point,” Marcey Mandret said. She was sitting all the way up now, and Annabeth thought she looked like an entirely different person. She looked like an entirely different person from the one she’d been just this morning. It was an odd thing to see.
“It’s called The Flagellation,” Marcey said, “and I don’t remember the name of the man who painted it. It was somebody from the Renaissance, in Italy. And that was his point. That people like to look at the young and the beautiful and the rich, but it’s that kind of selfishness that killed Christ. It wasn’t the Romans who killed Him, it was the ordinary people, and ordinary people’s sins, because ordinary people don’t help the poor and the helpless, they only care about money and fame. They only care about celebrity.”
Annabeth poured herself a cup of tea and counted to ten in her head. She had no idea what to make of this at all. She had said something once to Marcey about The Flagellation, but not all this. She couldn’t imagine that Marcey had thought it through for herself, although she was willing to entertain the possibility that the girl was brighter than she’d thought at first. Right now, Marcey seemed both bright and desperate.
“Don’t tell us you’ve become one of those Christians,” Mrs. Normand said. “Don’t tell us we’re going to have to listen to sermons from you on a regular basis.”
“You don’t have to be a Christian to understand it,” Marcey said. “The part about torturing Christ and putting him on the cross is, it’s a ---“
“Metaphor?” Annabeth said helpfully.
“Yes, thank you. It’s a metaphor. Stewart told me. When we care only about money and fame and youth, we don’t just hurt ourselves, we hurt all humanity everywhere, we make the world a worse place than it could be. And we make ourselves worse too. We make ourselves trivial. We make ourselves morally trivial people, and we waste the life we’ve got, we waste it on – oh, hell. We waste it on Kendra Rhodes.”
One more thing, subtextually, I found fascinating was the exploration of how we as humans use story to make sense of things, of life. This has been addressed elsewhere lately in all kinds of ways, especially in a positive way. What Haddam does here, in her rendering of celebrity and all its facets, is address the more negative side of story. Which is somewhat even more fascinating when you consider she is a story-teller, and one who uses story to tell us all kinds of things we might not have thought of otherwise. At least I might not have.
A good, chewy, book. Really enjoyed it.
What brings me back again and again to Jane Haddam, however, is not the deft handling of the elements of the story, but the deeper philosophy about what it is to be human that appears in each of her books. In this one, she makes a case for the idea (which I have often considered) that life is like high school; everything is a popularity contest. Haddam, however, explores this way more deeply than any of my passing thoughts about it.
A funny detail: the day I began reading this book, I had seen no less than five headlines on the Yahoo home page about Kim Kardashian and the, in my opinion, ugly and way too revealing, dress she was wearing to an event. This was followed up over the next few days with twitter rants about her designs being ‘knocked off’. I don’t want to cast dispersions about anyone, including the Kardashians, but it was hard not to nod and say, “Mmmmhmmm…”
Another funny detail: My high opinion of Gregor Demarkian dropped very slightly when he mused how much he disliked the TV show Monk. But then, no one’s perfect…
An excerpt from Cheating at Solitaire:
“God, this place gives me the creeps,”Mrs. Normand said. Ït really does. All these books. And what kind of books are they? The Moral Obligation to be Intelligent. Who reads a book like that?”
“It’s a collection of essays,” Annabeth said. “By Lionel Trilling. Essays about literature, mostly.”
“Oh,” Mrs. Normand said. “Lit-ra-chur. Aren’t we all important around here. And that painting. That awful painting. How can anybody live with a painting like that? People don’t want to be reminded of death and pain and misery. People want to have fun.”
“That’s the point,” Marcey Mandret said. She was sitting all the way up now, and Annabeth thought she looked like an entirely different person. She looked like an entirely different person from the one she’d been just this morning. It was an odd thing to see.
“It’s called The Flagellation,” Marcey said, “and I don’t remember the name of the man who painted it. It was somebody from the Renaissance, in Italy. And that was his point. That people like to look at the young and the beautiful and the rich, but it’s that kind of selfishness that killed Christ. It wasn’t the Romans who killed Him, it was the ordinary people, and ordinary people’s sins, because ordinary people don’t help the poor and the helpless, they only care about money and fame. They only care about celebrity.”
Annabeth poured herself a cup of tea and counted to ten in her head. She had no idea what to make of this at all. She had said something once to Marcey about The Flagellation, but not all this. She couldn’t imagine that Marcey had thought it through for herself, although she was willing to entertain the possibility that the girl was brighter than she’d thought at first. Right now, Marcey seemed both bright and desperate.
“Don’t tell us you’ve become one of those Christians,” Mrs. Normand said. “Don’t tell us we’re going to have to listen to sermons from you on a regular basis.”
“You don’t have to be a Christian to understand it,” Marcey said. “The part about torturing Christ and putting him on the cross is, it’s a ---“
“Metaphor?” Annabeth said helpfully.
“Yes, thank you. It’s a metaphor. Stewart told me. When we care only about money and fame and youth, we don’t just hurt ourselves, we hurt all humanity everywhere, we make the world a worse place than it could be. And we make ourselves worse too. We make ourselves trivial. We make ourselves morally trivial people, and we waste the life we’ve got, we waste it on – oh, hell. We waste it on Kendra Rhodes.”
One more thing, subtextually, I found fascinating was the exploration of how we as humans use story to make sense of things, of life. This has been addressed elsewhere lately in all kinds of ways, especially in a positive way. What Haddam does here, in her rendering of celebrity and all its facets, is address the more negative side of story. Which is somewhat even more fascinating when you consider she is a story-teller, and one who uses story to tell us all kinds of things we might not have thought of otherwise. At least I might not have.
A good, chewy, book. Really enjoyed it.
December 27, 2017
There's not much to do on an island, especially in winter, as a film crew finds out. The young starlets, however, continue to do the things that have given them celebrity status -- get drunk, take drugs, get in trouble. But they soon find themselves in real trouble. During a blizzard, one finds herself wandering around, covered in blood. The blood is from her supposed "boyfriend," a crew member, who has been shot in the head.
The murder, lack of clues and the almost nonexistent police force on the island leads to former FBI agent Gregor Demarkian. An old friend of his, one of the actors, convinces the town's leaders to bring Demarkian from Philadelphia to the small Massachusetts island of Margaret's Harbor to review the crime and come up with a plan to kill a killer. The going is rough as he finds little evidence, crazy insatiable paparazzi and suspects who can be their own best enemies.
Jane Saddam has created another great mystery and a wonderful detective who has to winnow out all the extraneous to get to the truth. And its particularly not easy, fighting egos, finding the true motive and doing so in the bright lights of celebrity. A very good read.
The murder, lack of clues and the almost nonexistent police force on the island leads to former FBI agent Gregor Demarkian. An old friend of his, one of the actors, convinces the town's leaders to bring Demarkian from Philadelphia to the small Massachusetts island of Margaret's Harbor to review the crime and come up with a plan to kill a killer. The going is rough as he finds little evidence, crazy insatiable paparazzi and suspects who can be their own best enemies.
Jane Saddam has created another great mystery and a wonderful detective who has to winnow out all the extraneous to get to the truth. And its particularly not easy, fighting egos, finding the true motive and doing so in the bright lights of celebrity. A very good read.
December 26, 2017
Wedding preparations are underway, and Gregor Demarkian feels a little overwhelmed with everything that is happening on Cavanaugh Street. To say that he is glad when his old army buddy Stewart Gordon comes needing help with a movie filming in Margaret's Harbor, a small island off the coast of Massachusetts. Someone has murdered one of the female pop idols latest boy toys during a snow storm Trust Gregor Demarkian t o put the facts in order and find the killer...Good read!
December 21, 2018
Interesting characters in this story of rich, spoiled teens and one Scotsman filming a movie in a nor’easter in an island off Cape Cod in winter with paparazzi who take over the town. However, the detective, Gregor, never shares his uncovering of the crime with the reader, who has to wait until the summary at the end to understand who murdered whom and why. I don’t plan to read others in this series.
March 12, 2025
I generally like Haddam's series about retired FBI --now co nsultant-- Demarkian, but this one barely scraped a 4 for me.
Pro: enjoyed the wintry little NE island with a divide between rich summer people and the locals. Definitely agreed with her take on the "famous for being famous" people.
Con: waaay too much rambling stream of consciousness from everyone. And Demarkian's discovery of the murderer was based on... ? Elimination the most bizarre motivation ever?
Pro: enjoyed the wintry little NE island with a divide between rich summer people and the locals. Definitely agreed with her take on the "famous for being famous" people.
Con: waaay too much rambling stream of consciousness from everyone. And Demarkian's discovery of the murderer was based on... ? Elimination the most bizarre motivation ever?
November 22, 2020
I quit reading this author for a long time...now I remember why. Author probably dissed by the Mainline ‘in’ crowd and shows her distain through her writings/rantings. Characters vapid and shallow; her protagonist detective portrayed as unrealistically clueless and befuddled about modern life. Too much meandering in her writing. Bored out of my mind. After 200 pages, I skimmed through the end.
August 3, 2025
Not sure how the title works. Anyway, Gregor is in the midst of wedding plans when he gets called away to help solve a murder involving celebrity teens. There is a car crash, or is it murder?
I enjoyed the Scotsman and his budding romance.
Jane does too much rambling and repetition. And I’m still not sure how Gregor reached his conclusion.
I enjoyed the Scotsman and his budding romance.
Jane does too much rambling and repetition. And I’m still not sure how Gregor reached his conclusion.
July 5, 2017
Tricky!
December 28, 2018
One of her best!! Highly recommend.
January 14, 2019
Couldn't get into this too well. Very on-target view of fame and society though.
April 12, 2019
Always a pleasure! Love the characters!
September 21, 2022
Great plot. I really couldn't get to actually like any of the characters. Everybody was either stupid or thought themselves too intelligent.
November 6, 2022
I’m really enjoying this series.
July 24, 2011
This is the third "Gregor Demarkian" book I have read by Jane Haddam. I have enjoyed each one. They are well-written by someone who understands the proper construction of an English sentence. The puzzle central to any great mystery novel is well-constructed and holds my attention to the end.
What I really love about all of her books that I have read so far is her characters. Her characters are not minimal black-or-white cardboard cut-outs constructed to carry a plot. Even the people we are meant not to like very much are portrayed with honesty - the author knows that even the "worst" people see themselves as heros of their own stories to some extent, or at least sympathetic and pitiful victims. Her depiction of what police forces and forensic teams and high-priced "consultants" like her main detective character actually do is much more honest and realistic than usual, unlike so much of what I read in modern mysteries or see in television shows these days. It is great to see that it is possible to write great mysteries without having fantasy forensic teams who can get instant DNA results or do spectacular analyses of mysterious substances in minutes.
This book in particular was intriguing to me because it takes place on a mythical island named "Margaret's Harbor" which is actually a thinly-veiled Martha's Vineyard. I live close to, but have never yet actually been to, Martha's Vineyard. I plan to visit it for the first time this summer in the company of relatives coming from the deep south for vacation who want to go and visit the famous island, so well-known as a playground of the rich and/or famous in the summer months. I will be curious to see how much "Margaret's Harbor" is portrayed just like Martha's Vineyard. I am also curious as to why she felt the need to thinly veil the location at all, and the novel does not give me that answer. Perhaps I can found out some other way.
The plot involves a type of celebrity that I have never understood: those men and women who constantly seem to have their photos on the covers of trashy magazines blazoned with large headlines that mention them by first name or nickname only...as though everyone is supposed to know these people and why they are famous. The celebrity magazines seem to be particularly interested in those types of people whose celebrity has lead them to personal meltdowns of various sorts. I have found such "celebrity" unworthy of my attention and simply ignored it in all its forms. I don't read the magazines that publish and promote it. I don't watch the television shows or listen to the radio programs that obsess about these people. I don't know who these people are, or why they are famous. I have also found it distressing that the fading remnants of royal families in various countries around the world have joined this category of "celebrity" lately...and it's sad because I think it is mostly unintentional on their parts. There are many options for my personal entertainment out there, and I don't feel the need to waste my time on this one. Having said all that, I found the plot and characters in this novel fascinating, even when several of the main characters were firmly in this (to me) particularly objectionable category of "celebrity."
Nonetheless, I have sometimes wondered why there is a large segment of the population interested in such "celebrity", and for the first time I am finding a coherent description of why it has happened as a national and even international phenomenon and why there is appeal there for so many, and even why a perfectly ordinary young woman or young man would chose to willingly become that type of "celebrity." Within the pages of a work of fiction, Jane Haddam has done her research, asked herself the same questions I have asked about this awful phenomenon, and sought reasonable answers that actually make sense. I will still continue to avoid connection to this sort of "celebrity" - the explanation in the novel is cogent and compelling, and I think it is actually true, but still not appealing to me personally.
That said, Jane Haddam also explores other variations on the celebrity theme in the course of this novel, celebrity without the quote marks, the sort of celebrity I understand and do not find objectionable. This too I found very appealing, especially when the sanest, best of the celebrities-without-the-quote-marks characters in this mystery novel turns out to be "Stewart Gordan" - a thinly-veiled version of Patrick Stewart of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame (in the novel, he was "Captain Rees of the Starship Intrepid"). I am an old-fashioned Trekkie and if the real Patrick Stewart is anything at all like Stewart Gordan as portrayed in this novel, then he is certainly worthy of his celebrity-without-the-quote-marks.
I plan to read other Gregor Demarkian novels by this author.
What I really love about all of her books that I have read so far is her characters. Her characters are not minimal black-or-white cardboard cut-outs constructed to carry a plot. Even the people we are meant not to like very much are portrayed with honesty - the author knows that even the "worst" people see themselves as heros of their own stories to some extent, or at least sympathetic and pitiful victims. Her depiction of what police forces and forensic teams and high-priced "consultants" like her main detective character actually do is much more honest and realistic than usual, unlike so much of what I read in modern mysteries or see in television shows these days. It is great to see that it is possible to write great mysteries without having fantasy forensic teams who can get instant DNA results or do spectacular analyses of mysterious substances in minutes.
This book in particular was intriguing to me because it takes place on a mythical island named "Margaret's Harbor" which is actually a thinly-veiled Martha's Vineyard. I live close to, but have never yet actually been to, Martha's Vineyard. I plan to visit it for the first time this summer in the company of relatives coming from the deep south for vacation who want to go and visit the famous island, so well-known as a playground of the rich and/or famous in the summer months. I will be curious to see how much "Margaret's Harbor" is portrayed just like Martha's Vineyard. I am also curious as to why she felt the need to thinly veil the location at all, and the novel does not give me that answer. Perhaps I can found out some other way.
The plot involves a type of celebrity that I have never understood: those men and women who constantly seem to have their photos on the covers of trashy magazines blazoned with large headlines that mention them by first name or nickname only...as though everyone is supposed to know these people and why they are famous. The celebrity magazines seem to be particularly interested in those types of people whose celebrity has lead them to personal meltdowns of various sorts. I have found such "celebrity" unworthy of my attention and simply ignored it in all its forms. I don't read the magazines that publish and promote it. I don't watch the television shows or listen to the radio programs that obsess about these people. I don't know who these people are, or why they are famous. I have also found it distressing that the fading remnants of royal families in various countries around the world have joined this category of "celebrity" lately...and it's sad because I think it is mostly unintentional on their parts. There are many options for my personal entertainment out there, and I don't feel the need to waste my time on this one. Having said all that, I found the plot and characters in this novel fascinating, even when several of the main characters were firmly in this (to me) particularly objectionable category of "celebrity."
Nonetheless, I have sometimes wondered why there is a large segment of the population interested in such "celebrity", and for the first time I am finding a coherent description of why it has happened as a national and even international phenomenon and why there is appeal there for so many, and even why a perfectly ordinary young woman or young man would chose to willingly become that type of "celebrity." Within the pages of a work of fiction, Jane Haddam has done her research, asked herself the same questions I have asked about this awful phenomenon, and sought reasonable answers that actually make sense. I will still continue to avoid connection to this sort of "celebrity" - the explanation in the novel is cogent and compelling, and I think it is actually true, but still not appealing to me personally.
That said, Jane Haddam also explores other variations on the celebrity theme in the course of this novel, celebrity without the quote marks, the sort of celebrity I understand and do not find objectionable. This too I found very appealing, especially when the sanest, best of the celebrities-without-the-quote-marks characters in this mystery novel turns out to be "Stewart Gordan" - a thinly-veiled version of Patrick Stewart of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame (in the novel, he was "Captain Rees of the Starship Intrepid"). I am an old-fashioned Trekkie and if the real Patrick Stewart is anything at all like Stewart Gordan as portrayed in this novel, then he is certainly worthy of his celebrity-without-the-quote-marks.
I plan to read other Gregor Demarkian novels by this author.
August 10, 2015
This is one of the later Demarkians (2008). Margaret's Harbor (obviously Martha's Vineyard) is an island off the coast of Massachusetts. Formerly inhabited solely by fishermen and their families, over the years it has turned into an exclusive summer home for celebrities and the very rich. Usually, they leave during the winter, but this time is different - a movie is being filmed on the island. Two of the film's stars, former teen pop star Arrow Normand and former child star Marcey Mandret, and Kendra Rhode, scion of the extremely Rhode family, descend on Margaret's Harbor and immediately begin wreaking havoc. Arrow and Marcey spend most of their time drunk and indulging in wild behavior, which is encouraged by the Svengali-like Kendra.
Things come to a head during the worst blizzard in decades - Arrow, drenched in blood and drunk out of her mind, staggers up to a house. Her boyfriend is found dead in their crashed pick up, but he has not died due to the accident - he was shot in the head. Arrow is quickly arrested and charged with murder, but not everyone thinks she did it. Her costar, Stewart Gordon, believes she is innocent and promptly calls on his old friend, retired FBI analyst Gregor Demarkian, to get involved.
Gregor, who is in the middle of his wedding plans, is reluctant to get involved, but finally agrees to go when he receives a letter from the Margaret's Harbor public prosecutor, practically begging him to come. Gregor quickly finds himself in the middle of a confusing murder mystery complicated by some of the worst weather in years.
I really enjoyed this mystery, though it took me forever to read due because I was so busy. I grew to like Arrow and Marcey. They're really just overgrown girls who have no idea how to deal with life. I can't help but feel sorry for them. Jane Haddam did an excellent job of showing the out of control celebrity culture, where people like Kendra Rhode are famous just for being famous. (Sound familiar?) The aftermath of a second murder proves this beyond a doubt - what happens after the body is found is definitely worse than the murder itself.
Fortunately, there is still humor. Stewart Gordon is the former star (Commander Rees of the Starfleet Cruiser Intrepid) of a show that sounds like Star Trek, and has to deal with not adult fans, but adoring little boys with action figures. Bennis Hannaford has to handle the wedding arrangements largely on her own with a lot of elderly Armenian ladies, who keep making references to cows and milk.
Miss Bennis and Father Tibor (especially the latter), who are out of sight for most of the book. However, other than that, this is enjoyable read and one I recommend.
Things come to a head during the worst blizzard in decades - Arrow, drenched in blood and drunk out of her mind, staggers up to a house. Her boyfriend is found dead in their crashed pick up, but he has not died due to the accident - he was shot in the head. Arrow is quickly arrested and charged with murder, but not everyone thinks she did it. Her costar, Stewart Gordon, believes she is innocent and promptly calls on his old friend, retired FBI analyst Gregor Demarkian, to get involved.
Gregor, who is in the middle of his wedding plans, is reluctant to get involved, but finally agrees to go when he receives a letter from the Margaret's Harbor public prosecutor, practically begging him to come. Gregor quickly finds himself in the middle of a confusing murder mystery complicated by some of the worst weather in years.
I really enjoyed this mystery, though it took me forever to read due because I was so busy. I grew to like Arrow and Marcey. They're really just overgrown girls who have no idea how to deal with life. I can't help but feel sorry for them. Jane Haddam did an excellent job of showing the out of control celebrity culture, where people like Kendra Rhode are famous just for being famous. (Sound familiar?) The aftermath of a second murder proves this beyond a doubt - what happens after the body is found is definitely worse than the murder itself.
Fortunately, there is still humor. Stewart Gordon is the former star (Commander Rees of the Starfleet Cruiser Intrepid) of a show that sounds like Star Trek, and has to deal with not adult fans, but adoring little boys with action figures. Bennis Hannaford has to handle the wedding arrangements largely on her own with a lot of elderly Armenian ladies, who keep making references to cows and milk.
Miss Bennis and Father Tibor (especially the latter), who are out of sight for most of the book. However, other than that, this is enjoyable read and one I recommend.
September 30, 2011
There were things I liked about this book and things I didn't like about this book. What I liked were the setting and the characters. What I didn't like were the setting and the characters. Why was Jane Haddam so shy about just coming out and calling the setting Martha's Vineyard instead of "Margaret's Harbor"? Edgartown instead of "Oscartown"? Come on-if you're going to invent a setting that's based on an actual place, for heaven's sake don't be coy with the names you give it.
The characters-while it was kind of fun to wonder exactly who the circling-the-drain-career-wise twits are modeled on, it was obvious that Kendra Rhode was modeled on Paris Hilton. However, being somewhat anal about spelling, some of the names annoyed me. "Marcey"-now, most Marcies I've ever heard of spelled it Marcy without an E. "Mandret"-I kept reading that as "Mandrel". "Arrow Normand"-half the time I was just annoyed that the character was called Arrow and the rest of the time I was annoyed that there was a D at the end of Norman, the actress Mabel Normand notwithstanding. And "Stewart Gordon" was so obviously modeled on Patrick Stewart, from the baldness and Scottishness (Patrick Stewart is actually from Yorkshire), to the having starred as a captain on a big sci-fi TV series to his straight-backed stride.
Getting back to my being anal about spelling, I have often wondered why books have glaring errors in them, whether they're typos or the author didn't know and didn't bother to look up the correct spelling. How about editors? or people who are supposed to read the proofs before they go to the printer? Really, now, when you're talking about historical figures, it pays to double-check. In this book, she calls (H.R. Haldeman) and (John) Ehrlichman "Halderman" and "Erlichman". Even when you're using famous people's names in a passing thought a character has, getting it right is important-at least to me.
Aside from wondering whether in real life, people pause in mid-conversation to have long ruminations on life then get back to their conversation without the other person looking at you as though you've had a petit mal seizure, the only other question I had was why a previous borrower of the library book underlined passages in two places-once in green felt tip and once in pen, and write "Leigh" in the margins, as if what was underlined brought whoever "Leigh" is to mind.
Other than those little gripes, I liked the book enough to finish it without skipping more than a couple of pages.
The characters-while it was kind of fun to wonder exactly who the circling-the-drain-career-wise twits are modeled on, it was obvious that Kendra Rhode was modeled on Paris Hilton. However, being somewhat anal about spelling, some of the names annoyed me. "Marcey"-now, most Marcies I've ever heard of spelled it Marcy without an E. "Mandret"-I kept reading that as "Mandrel". "Arrow Normand"-half the time I was just annoyed that the character was called Arrow and the rest of the time I was annoyed that there was a D at the end of Norman, the actress Mabel Normand notwithstanding. And "Stewart Gordon" was so obviously modeled on Patrick Stewart, from the baldness and Scottishness (Patrick Stewart is actually from Yorkshire), to the having starred as a captain on a big sci-fi TV series to his straight-backed stride.
Getting back to my being anal about spelling, I have often wondered why books have glaring errors in them, whether they're typos or the author didn't know and didn't bother to look up the correct spelling. How about editors? or people who are supposed to read the proofs before they go to the printer? Really, now, when you're talking about historical figures, it pays to double-check. In this book, she calls (H.R. Haldeman) and (John) Ehrlichman "Halderman" and "Erlichman". Even when you're using famous people's names in a passing thought a character has, getting it right is important-at least to me.
Aside from wondering whether in real life, people pause in mid-conversation to have long ruminations on life then get back to their conversation without the other person looking at you as though you've had a petit mal seizure, the only other question I had was why a previous borrower of the library book underlined passages in two places-once in green felt tip and once in pen, and write "Leigh" in the margins, as if what was underlined brought whoever "Leigh" is to mind.
Other than those little gripes, I liked the book enough to finish it without skipping more than a couple of pages.
July 17, 2014
I enjoyed this book a lot, though I have no idea what the title has to do with the story. The action takes place on an island called "Margaret's Harbor", which seems like a substitute for Martha's Vineyard, in a town caled Oscartown, presumably a stand-in for Edgartown, appropriately renamed because, in the story, it is full of film-stars and their entourages. It is something like the 20th book by Jane Haddam featuring her ex-FBI detective Gregor Demarkarian, though I have read none of the others. Gregor is requested to go to Margaret's Harbor in the dead of winter as a consultant to the local police who are over their heads due to a murder committed on New Year's Eve. (The local police consist of just one person). The thing I liked about the book most was that it spent a lot of time inside the heads of the other people of the story, not so much telling things from Gregor's viewpoint. He himself is preparing for his upcoming wedding, and seems happy to escape said preparations and immerse himself in the investigation (an old army friend, who is depected as being a lot like Patrick Stewart, has requested his presence, though it seems to be paid for by the police). He does of course solve the crimes (there turn out to be more later), but the main vehicle for moving the stort forward is through the points-of-view of the different characters - film stars, locals, photographers and so on. The paparazzi don't come out of the story well, by the way. The book is good, and well worth reading.
December 3, 2011
I love the characters that Jane Haddam creates and the twists in the plots.
Book description from Amazon
The small, exclusive Massachusetts island of Margaret’s Harbor gets its fifteen minutes of fame when aging teen stars Arrow Normand and Marcey Mandret pay a visit to local celebrity heiress, Kendra Rhode. The girls’ drunken, disorderly behavior is being eaten up by the press…until an even bigger media storm erupts.
During a blizzard, Arrrow finds herself staggering around town, covered in blood and incoherently drunk. Meanwhile, her actor-boyfriend has been found shot dead in the front seat of a crashed truck. Now Arrow is cast as the only suspect in the crime—and she can’t remember a thing about the night in question.
Enter former F.B.I. agent Gregor Demarkian, who’s flown in from Philadelphia to review the charges against Arrow. What he finds is a case with little evidence, an insatiable paparazzi, and a mare’s nest of motives in what may be the most confusing, twisted role of Demarkian’s lifetime.
Book description from Amazon
The small, exclusive Massachusetts island of Margaret’s Harbor gets its fifteen minutes of fame when aging teen stars Arrow Normand and Marcey Mandret pay a visit to local celebrity heiress, Kendra Rhode. The girls’ drunken, disorderly behavior is being eaten up by the press…until an even bigger media storm erupts.
During a blizzard, Arrrow finds herself staggering around town, covered in blood and incoherently drunk. Meanwhile, her actor-boyfriend has been found shot dead in the front seat of a crashed truck. Now Arrow is cast as the only suspect in the crime—and she can’t remember a thing about the night in question.
Enter former F.B.I. agent Gregor Demarkian, who’s flown in from Philadelphia to review the charges against Arrow. What he finds is a case with little evidence, an insatiable paparazzi, and a mare’s nest of motives in what may be the most confusing, twisted role of Demarkian’s lifetime.
September 8, 2012
A junk movie is being made in a Massachusetts conclave for the summering rich. Only one rich person is there in the thick of winter, young Kendra Rhode, intent on making herself a celebrity and on ruling the lives of the silly young actresses running riot over the island. Then one actress shows up at the house of a respectable local author, with blood all over her and a dead boyfriend down the beach. Dr. Annabeth Falmer, suddenly immersed in the lives of the moviemakers and the investigation of famous detective Gregor Demarkian, is no longer bored.
CHEATING AT SOLITAIRE has delightful character portrayal and development. The conflicting motives provide very promising red herrings and a satisfying ending.
CHEATING AT SOLITAIRE has delightful character portrayal and development. The conflicting motives provide very promising red herrings and a satisfying ending.
January 4, 2014
This is my favorite mystery series, and this was the perfect book to read during a cold, snowy New Year's week in New England. At this point, Gregor, Bennis, and the rest are like old friends I love to visit, and Haddam's mystery plots are always satisfyingly intricate and solid rather than showy. This book did seem slightly sloppy - there was a scene in which someone was shocked by information learned in a conversation he had already witnessed, and Haddam's social messages (this time mainly about the toxicity of celebrity culture) got a bit repetitive and took up more of the narrative than they usually do. But the book was absorbing anyway, and Stewart and Annabeth are two of my favorite supporting characters I've "met" in quite some time.
April 3, 2016
In this installment of the Demarkian series, Gregor goes to an island off the coast in the Northeast. He's asked to go by an old friend who's sure that the current suspect the police are holding is innocent of the charge of murder. The whole premise of this story reminds me of the current batch of reality stars who spend their time being famous for no particular talent and all of their money goes to partying. Their fame is enhanced by the photographers who follow them around to take pictures of them doing wildly inappropriate things. There was some unanswered questions (such as the background story of the newspaper owner) but overall I liked the book.
November 22, 2012
2.5 stars. It was a boring book, boring characters, boring plot; but I finished it so that added the one/half star. The aptness of the title to the story wasn't even clear to me This was the second book by Haddam I've read (the other is later in the series than this one). Both had the same general theme. There is some segment of the population that Haddam doesn't care for and she makes a point of her dislike in the book by exaggerating their characteristics. OK, will I read another by her? Probably one more to see if this characterization holds.
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