Blood in the Water

Starred review from January 16, 2012
Edgar-finalist Haddam shows no sign of creative fatigue in her baffling 27th whodunit featuring ex-FBI agent turned police consultant Gregor Demarkian (after 2011’s Flowering Judas). One night at Waldorf Pines, a gated Philadelphia suburb, Arthur Heydreich, whose unfaithful wife, Martha, has disappeared, stumbles on a corpse in the community swimming pool, just when the pool house goes up in flames. The body in the pool is that of Martha’s teenage lover, Michael Platte. Charred human remains discovered in the pool house are presumed to be Martha’s, until DNA analysis proves they’re male. The local eccentric police chief, who originally thought Arthur murdered Martha and Michael, calls in Gregor to make sense of the case. Few readers will reach the answer to this crafty puzzle before the endearing and brilliant sleuth, or tease out the significance of the clue of the extra garden hose. Agent: Don Maass, Donald Maass Literary Agency.

This is the 27th murder mystery in the series featuring Armenian-American crime consultant Gregor Demarkian. Narrator David Colacci does his best to enliven the deliberately dull and boring murder suspects in a way that engages listeners. It's a difficult task because the characters are as pretentious and bland as the gated community in which they live. Two bodies, one burned beyond recognition, are found in the community center of Windsor Pines, outside Philadelphia. The story meanders from one obnoxious resident to the next until the crime is solved by the cerebral Demarkian. Colacci does a creditable job portraying each flawed character. D.L.G. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine