True Believers: A Gregor Demarkian Novel (Gregor Demarkian Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Jane Haddam (Author)

Book Description

Series: Gregor Demarkian Mysteries | Publication Date: May 4, 2001

Early one morning at St. Anselm's church in Philadelphia, a parishioner sneaks the body of his dead wife into the sacristy and commits suicide. His wife, a severe diabetic, is assumed to have died of natural causes - until the coroner discovers arsenic poisoning. The police are sure her husband was responsible, but one of the nuns at St. Anselm's doesn't and asks Gregor Demarkian, retired head of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit, to investigate. With tensions mounting among the city's religious groups, Demarkian's lover Bennis undergoing a crisis of her own, and the denizens of Demarkian's Armenian-American neighborhood - Cavanaugh Street - involved in various uproars of their own, Demarkian is facing the most difficult case of his career.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A small Philadelphia neighborhood, a melting pot of fervent religious beliefs, erupts in violence that calls for all the skills of Gregor Demarkian, the formidable retired head of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit, as he tackles his 16th case following last year's Skeleton Key. A Roman Catholic parish still suffering from the aftereffects of a pedophilia scandal that rocked the archdiocese; an Episcopalian church with a mostly gay male congregation; an independent, fundamentalist Baptist church; and atheist Edith Lawton all occupy the same block. Only Haddam's superb plotting and characterizations allow this microcosmic creation to achieve credibility. The new Cardinal Archbishop of Philadelphia first consults Demarkian when a suicide inside St. Anselm's proves more complicated than first believed and threatens to become a new scandal for the beleaguered Catholic church. Then Demarkian is coopted by the police when another death, thought to have been natural, proves to have been murder. As tensions escalate, Demarkian must unravel the motives behind killings that threaten to tear apart the delicate balance. To make things even more difficult, Demarkian's lover, Bennis Hannaford, is facing a personal crisis. Her sister's execution date is approaching and this time there appears no hope of stopping it. Haddam's large cast pulses with petty jealousies, vanities and fears as they confront the mysteries of life and religion. This is an engrossingly complex mystery that should win further acclaim for its prolific and talented author. (May 14)Forecast: An Edgar and Anthony awards finalist, Haddam could finally cop a major prize with this one.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Retired FBI agent Gregor Demarkian (Skeleton Key) investigates an unusual apparent murder/suicide in a Philadelphia church, for which police blame the husband. A nun believes otherwise, however, and so the plot thickens. From a dependable hand.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (May 4, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312209290
• ISBN-13: 978-0312209292
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,111,419 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, Again., May 20, 2001

By 

Mary Featherston "mrfeathers" (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: True Believers: A Gregor Demarkian Novel (Gregor Demarkian Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I've been reading Jane Haddam's Gregor Demarkian series as they came out from the beginning. They've all been good books, and with each one I know that I can expect a fine mystery, complex and realistic characters (who change and grow as the series progresses) and good writing.

True Believers has all three.

The writing is wonderful, the mystery kept me wondering, and the characters are all fully fleshed and realistic. This is true of both the regulars and those who appear just in this book. While I enjoy the character development of Gregor and Bennis and the other inhabitants of Cavanaugh St., I also appreciate the fact that the mystery and the plot are never sacrificed. Rather, the book is made up of interlocking strands, which tie together to make up the story as a whole, but which don't always intermingle.

While the strands may not get mixed together, they progress together, affect each other, and in the end, the whole is cohesive and there are no loose ends.

The story involves deaths at a Philadelphia church, and eventually encompasses the Catholic church where the deaths take place, the Episcopalian one across the street, and the fundamentalists down the road. It's a complicated story, involving child abuse, embezzlement, fundamentalism, the death penalty debate, and gay rights groups, and yet at the end the solution is straightforward and logical.

While the mystery gets solved and all the storylines come together at the end, the characters don't just weather the storm and come out unscathed at the end of the story. Bennis has to deal with the impending execution of her sister (who had committed murder in an earlier book). People in Jane Haddam's books deal with the consequences of their own, and of others', actions, and it's part of what makes this book, and this series, as vital and interesting as it is. The books are always complex and the treatment of the issues involved, whether it's child abuse or anti-abortion activism, or the death penalty, is never superficial. These are realistic characters, dealing with real-life difficulties and their lives change as a result.

True Believers is one of the stronger entries in the Gregor Demarkian series, and that is, in my opinion, saying quite a lot.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Subject is Murder!, May 31, 2001

By 

Nancy Osbun (Fort Wayne, IN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: True Believers: A Gregor Demarkian Novel (Gregor Demarkian Mysteries) (Hardcover)

The subject is murder. It's happening in a fading Catholic church in the heart of Gregor Demarkian's Philadelphia; it's happening across the street in the counterpart Episcopalian church that befriends a community of gay men; and Bennis's older sister, who's about to be executed by the state for killing her father and two other sisters, is finally going to reap the rewards of murder. The impending execution forms an intriguing backdrop to the murders that make up the fabric of Gregor's 16th (or 17th, who's counting) encounter with the most base human crime. What I've always loved most about Jane Haddam's novels is the array of unusual, intense, and fully-developed characters. She did not disappoint me with TRUE BELIEVERS. Each one was crisp and clear within the pages of the story as he/she drove the action forward to its amazing conclusion. Add to that the wonderfully imaginative plot that twists and turns itself from confusion to clarity, and you'd have a well-constructed, enjoyable mystery novel with apologies to none, thank you. But Jane Haddam has taken TRUE BELIEVERS a step higher by placing before the reader a plethora of contrasting philosophies as traditional and diverse Roman Catholic, Episcopalian, fundamentalist Baptist, athiest, and agnostic characters find they must share the same space and either learn to fight or to coexist there. She gives her readers much more than simple plot to digest as they seek to understand the viewpoints of others around them. Perhaps that's why Jane Haddam's book can be read and reread many times without ever losing their freshness. And for her fans (like I am), that's a blessing.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Gem!, April 23, 2001

By 

Vicki Ball - See all my reviews

This review is from: True Believers: A Gregor Demarkian Novel (Gregor Demarkian Mysteries) (Hardcover)

First, right off, I have to admit that I love and adore Jane Haddam. Her dry wit and her ability to cut to the heart of an issue are like a spring breeze through my soul. We don't agree on many issues, but I would not change a single thing about her . . . or about the way she writes. I have loved her books from the first one I read, and for me, each new book is another layer of delight for my reading pleasure.

True Believers is no less. It is more. Not only does she understand the Catholic Church like few other writers, she understands my beloved Episcopal Church, too. And once again, she kept me guessing right up to the last. All of the clues were there, right in front of me, but I managed to miss the right combination of pieces to the puzzle.

No other writer, for me, has quite the turn of phrase, adjectives, and thoughts of Jane Haddam. I laughed out loud and groaned in sympathy with Gregor and Bennis once more, and thoroughly enjoyed every moment of "True Believers". Where else would I find phrases like "she had all the fashion sense of a psychotic duck", or read about a digital machine for making sock balls? Where else could I be "in the minds" of characters I have come to so enjoy? Where else could I find such delight in Gregor's confusion over Bennis, and Bennis' confusion with Gregor? Where else could I read about an Armenian priest hooked on the Internet and on the love of learning? Where else could I glimpse another culture so like and yet unlike my own? Only in Jane Haddam's Gregor Demarkian series. There is no other like it, and every book is a delight of its own. True Believer's is the latest gem on the necklace. Don't miss it! If you see what I mean . . .