Customer Reviews

And One to Die On

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The other reviewers have described the plot for this mystery novel with skill. My review consists only of comments to assist new Jane Haddam fans.

Do I think this novel is worth buying? No. Worth reading? Only for die-hard fans.

If you feel you must read all of her novels, check this one out of the public library. I feel it is her weakest effort. Except for Gregor & Bennis (who are the only decent parts of the novel), the characters are all shallow and two dimensional. The murderer is obvious & more of a caricature than a character. Gregor gets quite testy with the games that his fellow inhabitants of the island are playing -- who could blame him? Not me. They are a shrill and unappealing group.

Of all her titles that I have read, I like this one the least. My apologies to the author for this review! I generally like her work tremendously & have started buying her more recent work in hardback.

Tasheba Kent has decided to celebrate her 100th. birthday by inviting people to her home for an auction of her memorabilia. She invites a diverse group which includes her lawyer, her accountant, a reporter, her daughter, and a collector of movie souvenirs. The auction seems strange because Tasheba and her husband Cavender have been recluses on a remote island off the coast of Maine for many years. Among the guests are writer Bennis Hannaford and her friend Gregor Demarkian, an ex-F.B.I. agent. The presence of Demarkian seems to make some of the guests nervous, and some of them appear to have secrets to hide. There is a severe storm which traps the guests on the island and soon dead bodies begin to appear. As in Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians", the people on the island begin to fear one another. Demarkian, however, has the solution to the murders all figured out, and eventually he shares his findings with the guests. Haddam is a good writer, and she creates interesting characters in a foreboding setting. There are a few points of the plot which don't make much sense, but all in all, this is a a good read.

What a great read. I am so happy I tumbled onto author Jane Haddam. This is my second of her Gregor Demarkian novels and I am now going to go back to book one and read them in order.

What could be more intriguing? Bennis is invited to the 100th birthday of silver screen great, Tasheba Kent, who lives on a small secluded island off the coast of Maine with another silver screen legend, Cavender Marsh, a cousin of Bennis'. And, of course, when Bennis goes, Gregor goes along . . .

It seems Cavender was once married to Tasheba's sister (another screen legend from the 30s), and after her questionable death moved to the Maine island and isolation with Tasheba. The birthday party guests are a different lot (and include Cavender's estranged daughter from his marriage to Tasheba's sister)and once they are all on the island strange things start happening, starting with the first murder.

Who done it? A reviewer should never tell. In the case of this book, I was glad it was who it was--and I had a great time getting there.

Gregor Demarkian, retired FBI agent and administrator, accompanies Bennis Day Hannaford to the one hundredth birthday of a distant cousin. The cousin is a reclusive silent-film star; her husband, a star of a slightly later vintage. They were the toast of their age and the center of a tragedy and scandal. Now they must celebrate Tasheba Kent's century by auctioning some of their prized mementos.

The colors of the party are both gaudy and ghastly, yet this reader felt that the whole story was set in black and white, grey and silver, limelight and (mostly) shadow. Creepy collectors and angry relatives take their places stage right and left as the recluses' Victorian hideaway is cut off from the world by a storm. And then the murders begin.

I found the puzzle satisfying, especially in the roles played by various characters. The solution felt right, but the resolution disappointed me. It might be reasonable in real life and it might not, but it didn't feel like a Gregor Demarkian story, perhaps because he had no part to play in restoring the balance of justice.

On the strength of the puzzle, I give One To Die On four stars. I could justify giving it only three, but I recommend it for its strong parts: a multilayered puzzle in which the deaths are themselves clues and for the atmosphere. The extravegant special effects and the out-of-control resolution can disappoint, but they don't weaken a very strong set-piece.