Bleeding Hearts: A Gregor Demarkian Holiday Mystery [Hardcover]

Jane Haddam (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1994

In the ninth Gregor Demarkian holiday mystery of the series that began with Not A Creature Was Stirring, the former FBI agent races to prevent a Valentine's Day murder that would keep the perpetrator of a long-unsolved crime secret forever. 15,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Charmingly original, with the occasional cuteness redeemed by a suddenly exposed hard edge, Haddam's ninth Gregor Demarkian holiday mystery begins in February on the busy streets of an Armenian neighborhood in Philadelphia. Tongues wag when 58-year-old Hannah Krekorian takes up with Paul Hazzard, a psychologist famous for his books and his seminars and for the nasty death of his wife four years earlier, a crime for which he was tried but never convicted. When Hazzard is murdered in Hannah's bedroom, his blood staining the same ornamental dagger that also figured in his wife's death, Hannah is an immediate suspect. Series hero Gregor, a former FBI agent, takes up Hannah's cause and casts his eye on the dead man's magnificently dysfunctional trio of grown-up children and his former mistress, who is soon to publish a tell-all tale. Aiding Gregor is his no-nonsense lover, fantasy writer Bennis Hannaford. While Gregor considers the unusual entry wounds on Hazzard's body and those featured on the next victim, the author details several believable romances that flourish and flounder on Cavanaugh Street. Never quite cozy and never quite tough, this tale combines the best of both styles to stunning effect.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Haddam, too, condenses time when she "continues" a four-year-old Philadelphia murder case with a new, related murder. After writer Paul Hazzard's wife dies of stab wounds, everyone thinks he did it: now, someone kills Paul, with the same unusual knife. Another inhabitant of their Armenian neighborhood, Gregor Demarkian, attempts to solve the mystery. The author's psychologically detailed, self-consciously literate foray into a small community should fare well with series fans.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 311 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; First Edition edition (January 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 055308562X
• ISBN-13: 978-0553085624
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,810,844 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Gregor Demarkian for Valentine's Day., October 21, 2000

By 

Michele L. Worley (Kingdom of the Mouse, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: BLEEDING HEARTS (The Gregor Demarkian Holiday Series) (Mass Market Paperback)

bleeding heart - a person who is considered excessively sympathetic toward those who claim to be underprivileged or exploited
- AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY

Almost everyone on Cavanaugh Street seems to be getting into the spirit of Valentine's Day. Bennis' brother Christopher drops in for a visit, and begins a relationship with Lida, and even Hannah Krekorian has a new boyfriend...a once-popular figure in the 'recovery' movement whose wife died under mysterious circumstances.

Should be read after NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING, which introduces Christopher and his gambling problem. By this point in the series, Chris has been to "Camp Boredom" (which was run by Hannah's boyfriend) and has his life straightened out.

Haddam takes on the 'recovery' movement in this volume. As Chris and Bennis put it in NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING:
C: I don't think I'm crazy because I've got Daddy's genes, and I don't think I'm crazy because Daddy warped my mind, either. I think I'm crazy because I'm a jerk.
B: I don't think that kind of attitude is going to get us anywhere.
C: I think it's going to get us a hell of a lot farther than the attitude I've been taking, which is that I just can't help myself, no explanations necessary.