DEAR OLD DEAD (The Gregor Demarkian Holiday Series) [Mass Market Paperback]

Jane Haddam (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Gregor Demarkian Holiday Series | Publication Date: June 1, 1994

Former FBI agent Gregor Demarkian is called in to investigate the bizarre demise of media tycoon Charles van Straadt and becomes caught in the disputes over the mogul's wealth, a Harlem gang war, and a power struggle at an uptown health center.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Gregor Demarkian, Haddam's ( Bleeding Hearts ) Armenian-American detective, returns in his tenth holiday mystery, this rather tangentially connected to Father's Day. With a gang war raging around a Harlem medical clinic and casualties pouring in, anyone could have poisoned newspaper magnate Charles van Stradt, the clinic's benefactor. Chief among the suspects are clinic director Dr. Michael Pride and head nurse Sister Augie, either of whom might have killed to keep Michael's arrest on a morals charge out of van Stradt's paper . But Michael and Augie are well-accounted for when van Stradt's granddaughter and expected heir quaffs her own dose of strychnine, so suspicion shifts to the remaining grandchildren and a lone right-to-life protester. Haddam is sparing with her clues--the reader senses rather than solves the killer's identity--and her denouement is formulaic. And in a mostly bland cast, Pride's character is frankly inexplicable. A smart, dedicated physician, he is a homosexual who not only continues to practice unsafe sex but already has the symptoms of full-blown AIDS. To impute his irresponsibility to compulsion is unthinking, the more so when it serves no plot purpose. Dear Old Dead is a disappointment for those who have enjoyed Haddam in this guise or as Orania Papazoglou.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Crimeline (June 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553564471
• ISBN-13: 978-0553564471
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #883,271 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Mystery Writer, July 4, 2001

By 

Bridget Hockney (Jacksonville, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: DEAR OLD DEAD (The Gregor Demarkian Holiday Series) (Mass Market Paperback)

Cannot get enough of Jane and her literate mystery books. Many times I am brought back to my days as a teen working in a Catholic rectory and the reality her characters display. Jane, if you're reading this, keep on keeping on. You are one of the few writers I have read that takes a leap and discusses serious issues in your book(s). You humanize your characters and culturize its inhabitants.