Glass Houses (Gregor Demarkian Series #22) » (Reprint)

JANE HADDAM is the author of numerous novels, many featuring Gregor Demarkian, as has been a finalist for both the Edgar and Anthony Awards. She lives in Litchfield Country, Connecticut.

www.janehaddam.com

www.minotaurbooks.com

A city under siege

Philadelphia has been plagued by a serial killer dubbed the Plate Glass Killer by the media…until the police finally catch a break: Henry Tyder, the scion of a prominent Main Line family, is found literally with blood on his hands at the scene of the most recent murder. After more than a year of anguish, the city can now rest assured.

A scandalous suspect

But even though Tyder has made a confession, his own attorney has doubts. How could the alcoholic, frequently homeless Tyder have committed this crime—as well as the others? Enter Gregor Demarkian, retired head of the FBI’s Behavioral Sciences Unit, who’s been asked to look into the case.

A journey into fear and darkness…

Gregor’s evaluation of Tyder turns up a grim truth: The police have got the wrong guy. But why would Tyder lie? Who is he trying to protect? If wrestling with this case weren’t enough, Gregor is still trying to make sense of the mysterious reappearance of his estranged girlfriend…and keep them all out of harm’s way while the real Plate Glass Killer remains at-large.

“Haddam plays the mystery game like a master.”

—Chicago Tribune

“Intelligent, thoughtful…Haddam elevates this twisty whodunit far above most.”—Publishers Weekly

Publishers Weekly

In the 22nd Gregor Demarkian book (after 2006's Hardscrabble Road), Haddam as usual effortlessly melds a puzzling mystery--a baffling serial murder case in Philadelphia--with the latest developments in the romance between her FBI profiler hero and his longtime lover, Bennis Hannaford. The perpetrator, named the Plate Glass Killer, targets unattractive middle-aged women, leaving their bodies in alleys, their faces mutilated by glass. The body count has reached double digits by the time Gregor (known popularly as the Armenian-American Hercule Poirot) is consulted, and he finds that the official investigation is a mess due to hostility among the senior detectives. The resolution may be a tad far-fetched, but the intelligent, thoughtful prose elevates this twisty whodunit far above most other contemporary traditional mysteries. The author also deserves plaudits for making the long and complex Gregor-Bennis relationship accessible to first-time readers. (Apr.)