FEAST OF MURDER

Rating:
Summary: Demarkian deserves a better plot
Review: On the good side, this was a fast and easy read. Haddam sometimes uses oddly phrased sentences in her other books but this wasn't as bogged down by that defect in her style.
Sadly, it doesn't give a first time Demarkian reader a sense of the Armenian-American former FBI agent's thought processes. I would start with Quoth the Raven or One to Die For or another one of the series if this is your first entry into the Demarkian books.
The ending was easily guessed ahead of time.
As Haddam uses holiday themes, this one is Thanksgiving. The one piece that bothered me most was the use of Puritan throughout the book when Pilgrims manned the Mayflower. There is a differnce between these Separatists. This use of "Puritan" detracted from my absorbtion in the book.

Rating:
Summary: Murder with all of the trimmings
Review: With all of the festive holidays Americans have to celebrate throughout the year, Thanksgiving is one that is cut short, comparatively speaking. Sandwiched between the excessively decorated Halloween and Christmas, the only concern seems to be the feast. There are few books that bother to make a theme out of it, but Author Jane Haddam helps rectify that problem with her mystery, FEAST OF MURDER. Whether it captures the spirit of the holiday is debatable; as a mystery it disappoints when it keeps secrets from its readers and as contemporary fiction it is clearly dated.

Jonathan Edgewick Baird, a Wall Street wizard, invites retired FBI investigator Gregor Demarkian and his friend, Bennis Day Hannaford, to Thanksgiving dinner aboard the Pilgrammage Green, a ship that is a meticulous recreation of the Mayflower. Although the participants never bother wearing historical fashion, the short trip is supposed to be an authentic reenactment of the final leg of the pilgrims' hard voyage. It is a holiday tradition for the host, who also builds ships in bottles as a hobby.

As Jonathan finishes serving a sentence for insider trading, the whistleblower, Donald McAdam, mysteriously dies just before his release. Also attending the party are his wife, Sheila; son, Tony; ex-wife, Fritzie; brother, Calvin; nephew and niece-in-law, Mark and Julie Anderwahl; and a company assistant, Charley Shay. All of them have motivation for wanting McAdam dead, and everyone aboard the ship seems to believe that Demarkian was asked aboard to referee "the drawing room."

It is an odd crowd that Jonathan insists on having at his party. Sheila obviously married him for the money. Fritzie has an eating disorder and doesn't want to go, but on their divorce Jonathan arranged her finances so he can cut her off if she ever displeases him. Likewise with the allowance for Tony. Mark is really not career minded, but Julie has the drive and a secret of her own. Calvin is a workaholic, who judges other people by whether they are too. Shay is a gofer, who ran errands of a personal nature for Jonathan while he was incarcerated that a wife would normally handle.

Demarkian is present when one of the party dies and knows precisely what causes the death. What's worse is he already knows who is responsible for it and that of McAdam, but Demarkian's suspicions are kept secret from the reader even though he is the viewpoint character. This is cheating the readers. In addition, once the perpetrator is exposed, the reader is never supplied a clear reason as to why the deceased member of the party was killed.

The biggest surprise in recently reading this 1992 novel for the first time came in the Haddam's choice of settings. Baird's stock trading company is located on the 101st floor of the World Trade Center and several scenes take place there. This contemporary story became dated after the events of September 11, 2001. It may have had timelessness when it was first released, but it can now be firmly placed within a time span of about 30 years.

This is the sixth of the Demarkian series. It started back in the 1980s, when publishers favored mysteries with a gimmick and still do to some extent. The theme of this series is that each of these whodunits revolves around a holiday, but his Armenian heritage is also an important component. Probably missing the challenges of working in the Bureau, he chooses to spend his sunset years solving crimes with 30-something fantasy writer Hannaford. Living in an Armenian ghetto, they both face the opposition of the matchmakers in the neighborhood because they know they'd rub each other raw if they became romantically involved.

This reviewer is of the firm belief that a true holiday story should keep the spirit of the holiday it is centered around. According to American folklore, Thanksgiving is the day when the pilgrims and Native Americans celebrated a good harvest by having a big feast. Today, Americans like to think of all the good things in their lives they have to be thankful. Frankly, no one is really thankful for anything in this story, but if one thinks of the subtle ways gratitude is expressed, it could be there. Although Demarkian has no immediate family, his ethnicity automatically provides many good friends in his neighborhood. (It's very similar to the current fad for big, fat Greek families.) He passively assists others who newly emigrate, torn from a country ripe with turmoil, to the U.S. when neighbors temporarily stuff as many of the newcomers as possible into his apartment. He will never be lonely. How all this relates to the events on the ship is another issue.

As a whodunit, FEAST OF MURDER fails to keep its readers aware of everything Demarkian is. For this reason it is a disappointment. On the other hand, the characters are fairly well drawn and interesting to follow, although there is some character inconsistency in the end (to say who and why would give too much away). The World Trade Center setting is intriguing, but despite having all of the trimmings, the lack of emphasis on the holiday spirit was a letdown. This review is a lukewarm recommendation for anyone who finds any of the details provided here of interest.