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Rating: 
Summary: This is one of Haddam's most satisfying mysteries.
Review: Deadly Beloved is a delightful mix of Haddam's family of characters, familiar setting and nifty plot twists. What makes this book great is the new depth of characterization she has achieved. In this adventure, Gregor does some soul searching of his own and becomes a fuller character with whom the reader can relate. Haddam still lets us laugh at our own silliness over hallmarks in life, this time wedding fervor, and she gives us a great mystery to spice it up.
Rating:
Summary: This is one of Haddam's most satisfying mysteries.
Review: Deadly Beloved is a delightful mix of Haddam's family of characters, familiar setting and nifty plot twists. What makes this book great is the new depth of characterization she has achieved. In this adventure, Gregor does some soul searching of his own and becomes a fuller character with whom the reader can relate. Haddam still lets us laugh at our own silliness over hallmarks in life, this time wedding fervor, and she gives us a great mystery to spice it up.
Rating: 
Summary: An invitation . . .
Review: Embarking on a new Gregor Demarkian story by Jane Haddam is like going back home to the neighborhood you left all those years ago. Cavanaugh Street in Philadelphia is still an Armenian-American enclave, but more Armenian now than it was all those years ago when Gregor was a small boy living there with his parents. Even though it's been gentrified, many of the same people are still there, or if not, their children and/or grandchildren. Oh, there's a few new faces, such as Gregor's friend, Bennis Hannaford, the best-selling author of fantasy novels, and Father Tibor, who escaped the Soviet menace -- finally -- but it's still a family. Of course, in any family setting, there are always unpleasant aspects, but Gregor --a widower of 60 -- has lost the impatience of youth, and is content to think his way through the puzzles he is so frequently presented with. DEADLY BELOVED is the story of marriage; Donna Moradanyan is about to marry Russ Donahue, finally, while in another suburb of Philadelphia, another marriage unwinds, surrounded by several others in precarious condition. In the gated community of Fox Run Hill, a husband is discovered shot to death in his bed. The most puzzling thing, however, is that the huge house has been stripped of everything that belonged to his wife, Patsy MacLaren Willis. A pipe bomb destroys her car, but she was not in it. Another bomb destroys the punchbowl at a political gathering, injuring Bennis and a woman who went to college with Patsy. The politician is yet another classmate. There are too many women, here. Like a well-maintained and classic Rolls-Royce, Gregor moves in stately fashion through the labyrinth of deaths and injuries, sorting out the clues and non-clues with the help of Homicide detective John Jackman. Just in the nick of time, too, so Donna's wedding can proceed without a hitch. An invitation by Jane Haddam is one you shouldn't turn down - you'll miss a marvelous adventure. Characters, plot, and the writing are all first-class!
Rating:
Summary: An invitation . . .
Review: Embarking on a new Gregor Demarkian story by Jane Haddam is like going back home to the neighborhood you left all those years ago. Cavanaugh Street in Philadelphia is still an Armenian-American enclave, but more Armenian now than it was all those years ago when Gregor was a small boy living there with his parents. Even though it's been gentrified, many of the same people are still there, or if not, their children and/or grandchildren. Oh, there's a few new faces, such as Gregor's friend, Bennis Hannaford, the best-selling author of fantasy novels, and Father Tibor, who escaped the Soviet menace -- finally -- but it's still a family. Of course, in any family setting, there are always unpleasant aspects, but Gregor --a widower of 60 -- has lost the impatience of youth, and is content to think his way through the puzzles he is so frequently presented with. DEADLY BELOVED is the story of marriage; Donna Moradanyan is about to marry Russ Donahue, finally, while in another suburb of Philadelphia, another marriage unwinds, surrounded by several others in precarious condition. In the gated community of Fox Run Hill, a husband is discovered shot to death in his bed. The most puzzling thing, however, is that the huge house has been stripped of everything that belonged to his wife, Patsy MacLaren Willis. A pipe bomb destroys her car, but she was not in it. Another bomb destroys the punchbowl at a political gathering, injuring Bennis and a woman who went to college with Patsy. The politician is yet another classmate. There are too many women, here. Like a well-maintained and classic Rolls-Royce, Gregor moves in stately fashion through the labyrinth of deaths and injuries, sorting out the clues and non-clues with the help of Homicide detective John Jackman. Just in the nick of time, too, so Donna's wedding can proceed without a hitch. An invitation by Jane Haddam is one you shouldn't turn down - you'll miss a marvelous adventure. Characters, plot, and the writing are all first-class!
Rating: 
Summary: Hard to follow
Review: I found this book difficult to stay with. Haddam starts out with a 48 page prologue that describes nine of the characters that are supposed to come into play in the plot. She jumps around in the story, going back and forth to the oversized Evelyn Bracken and her eating habits and a husband who detests her oversized body. Then she jumps into a land deal where Sara Lockwood and her husband are trying to swindle people on a land deal. All the while, still trying to make this book a murder mystery and mixed with a wedding to boot. I will have to say that the plot could have been a good one and had potential, had she not ruined it with all the other characters. I was surprised in the end and I liked that. Haddam has talent and imagination, she just needs to stick to her story and not use so many characters that shouldn't be part of it. This is the first book I've read by Jane Haddam, but this book wouldn't stop me from reading another one by her.
Rating:
Summary: Hard to follow
Review: I found this book difficult to stay with. Haddam starts out with a 48 page prologue that describes nine of the characters that are supposed to come into play in the plot. She jumps around in the story, going back and forth to the oversized Evelyn Bracken and her eating habits and a husband who detests her oversized body. Then she jumps into a land deal where Sara Lockwood and her husband are trying to swindle people on a land deal. All the while, still trying to make this book a murder mystery and mixed with a wedding to boot. I will have to say that the plot could have been a good one and had potential, had she not ruined it with all the other characters. I was surprised in the end and I liked that. Haddam has talent and imagination, she just needs to stick to her story and not use so many characters that shouldn't be part of it. This is the first book I've read by Jane Haddam, but this book wouldn't stop me from reading another one by her.
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