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Not a Creature Was Stirring
Not a Creature Was Stirring
Not a Creature Was Stirring
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Not a Creature Was Stirring

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

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Edgar Award Finalist: The patriarch of a wealthy, notoriously unpleasant Philadelphia family is murdered, and a former FBI agent must figure out whodunit.
 The Hannaford who made the family fortune called himself a tycoon. The newspapers called him a robber baron. Since the days of Robert Hannaford I, the family has infested Philadelphia society like a disease. The current Hannafords are a clan of embezzlers, gamblers, and fantasy novelists. This Christmas, they have money in their bank accounts, crime in their blood, and murder on their minds. Gregor Demarkian is their reluctant guest. A former FBI agent who quit the agency after his wife’s death, he is invited by the Hannaford patriarch to come for dinner at the family mansion. Demarkain arrives just in time to find his host bludgeoned to death in his study and his investigation will lead him to the Hannafords, a family of cold-blooded killers.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMar 5, 2013
ISBN9781453293133
Not a Creature Was Stirring
Author

Jane Haddam

Jane Haddam (1951–2019) was an American author of mysteries. Born Orania Papazoglou, she worked as a college professor and magazine editor before publishing her Edgar Award–nominated first novel, Sweet, Savage Death, in 1984. This mystery introduced Patience McKenna, a sleuthing scribe who would go on to appear in four more books, including Wicked, Loving Murder (1985) and Rich, Radiant Slaughter (1988).   Not a Creature Was Stirring (1990) introduced Haddam’s best-known character, former FBI agent Gregor Demarkian. The series spans more than twenty novels, many of them holiday-themed, including Murder Superior (1993), Fountain of Death (1995), and Wanting Sheila Dead (2005). Haddam’s later novels include Blood in the Water (2012) and Hearts of Sand (2013).

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Reviews for Not a Creature Was Stirring

Rating: 3.7018349192660547 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

109 ratings17 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    First mystery in the Gregor DeMarkean series by Jane Haddam and the first book of hers I have read. I enjoyed the story which in addition to solving murders added a cast of characters from Gregor's Armenian neighborhood. I found it captured my attention throughout and I was surprised at the ending. The first person to be killed was the aging father of 7 children, all adults and dysfunctional in their own ways. My only criticism is that it was hard for me to keep track of who was who until their stories were more developed.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Gregor Demarkian, former FBI agent who retired after the death of his wife, is invited to dinner at the home of Robert Hannaford. The Hannaford family originally made it's money in railroads but the current Hannafords are comprised of mostly disreputable losers who are being investigated for a variety of reasons. Robert Hannaford is also a cruel and vicious man.

    Upon his arrival at the Hannaford family estate, Engine House, Gregor finds that Robert has been bludgeoned to death. The only people in the house are Mrs. Hannaford, dying from complications of multiple sclerosis and their seven dysfunctional adult children. Before long there are two more murders. There are a number of interesting subplots, including at least one for each of Hannaford's seven children.

    Before Gregor retired he was the former head of the FBI Behavioral Sciences Department and as he starts to recover from his wife's death he's at loose ends. Soon Gregor is asked to act as a consultant to the police who are investigating the murders and begins to come alive again.

    Gregor lives in the Armenian neighborhood of Cavanaugh Street in Philadelphia. In a parallel plotline, his parish priest, Father Tibor, has asked him to help locate neighbor Donna Moradanyan's boyfriend who disappeared when Donna became pregnant.

    The mystery is well written and the characters are richly textured. I think this first book in the series shows some real potential. The author has introduced some characters that will obviously be regulars in future books and I would definitely read the next one.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I think that I have read this before though it didn't seem familiar to me. If so, it is not surprising that I guessed who the murderer was (based solely on personality, not clues) - I may have subconsciously remembered. I love the Armenian-American background; as I grew up in a town with a lot of Armenians, many aspects of this background remind me of my hometown.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Widower and retired FBI agent Gregor Demarkian has moved back to the Armenian neighborhood in Philadelphia where he spent his childhood. Just before Christmas, a local Armenian priest asks Gregor for a favor. Gregor is to go to Engine House, the Bryn Mawr mansion of the Hannaford family, as a dinner guest. In return, Mr. Hannaford will give Gregor a briefcase containing $100,000, destined for the Armenian church. Hannaford arrives to find a murder scene. Robert Hannaford is dead, and the murderer must have been someone inside the house. The pool of suspects is limited to Hannaford's seven children, all of whom he hated and who hated their father in return. The local police hire Gregor as a consultant. Solving the case becomes increasingly urgent and the pool of suspects narrower as more murders occur.I enjoyed this first-in-series mystery. The holiday setting in a mansion with a limited number of suspects is similar to the vintage country house murder mysteries that are always a favorite with me. The cultural setting in Philadelphia's Armenian community is also appealing. I look forward to reading additional books in this series.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Liked this book a lot. I will definitely continue with this series!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Well written. Look to read well from Jane Haddam.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Gregor Demarkian is ex-FBI. He lives somewhere in the Philadelphia area. His priest asks him to attend a dinner at the large country estate of a wealthy man. The priest has been promised a large donation if he can get Mr. Demarkian to attend. When he arrives, the estate is a crime scene, and Demarkian encounters an investigating officer that is not his favorite. However, the police need his help on this one, and as the death toll mounts, his ability to make sense of things becomes invaluable. Although this book has a Christmas setting, it is one which could be read any time of the year as Christmas is very marginal to the plot. It's a pleasant way to spend a few hours. I found the plot seemed to drag in a place or two, but overall I continued to care about the outcome and kept plugging away. As far as the family members are concerned, the only one that was likeable in any manner was the sister who wrote novels. It was a nice start to a series. I have the second one already on hand to read next year.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I liked the characters and the story. There were a few logical mistakes that distracted me but I will try the next book in the series.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Gregor Demarkian, a retired FBI agent, moves back to his hometown after the death of his wife and his friend, the Armenian parish priest, asks a favor of him. The priest was promised $100,000 for the church if he would get Gregor to attend Christmas Eve dinner at the estate of a very wealthy man. How can Gregor refuse. He is picked up by limo and on arrival the coroner's van is parked by the front door. Gregor is sucked into the police investigation of the murder noticing things missed by the police.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I started with the latest book in this series, Living Witness, which I really liked. So I am starting to read the series in order.Not a Creature was Stirring introduces retired FBI profiler Gregor Demarkian, a 3rd generation Armenian American. His beloved wife died two years ago, and he retired to take care of her. Now he has moved back into his old Armenian neighborhood. The new priest passes on a strange invitation. A very rich man of an old Main Line family offers the priest $100,000 if Demarkian will come to dinner at his mansion, the Engine House, on Christmas Eve. Gregor agrees, but arrives to find that the rich man, Robert Hannaford, had been murdered and the money, if it existed, is gone. Because security is so tight in and out of the estate, it had to be a member of Hannaford's family, his wife or one of the seven grown children, or a servant.Haddam in this first book in the series is already a remarkably sure writer, with a great plot and excellent characters. I'm anxious now to read more in the series.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Gregor Demarkian is retired from the FBI, and is a bit bored & a little restless. His priest, Father Tibor, tells him that the church will receive quite a large donation if Tibor can get Gregor to go to Engine House for dinner, on the Main Line in Bryn Mawr, on Christmas day. It seems that the head of the Hannaford household, Mr. Robert Hannaford, has some problem he wants Gregor to solve, and considering the amount of the donation, it seems to be pretty serious. How could Gregor say no? However, upon his arrival, Gregor finds the family patriarch dead, and there are a houseful of suspects. When that murder goes unsolved, there is another. First in a series of holiday-themed mystery novels, Not a Creature Was Stirring is pretty good. I thought I had figured out the who of the whodunit part only to find that I was completely wrong. I liked Gregor's character and I liked the people in his Armenian neighborhood who look out for him. I'll look forward to reading more in this series at some point. Recommended for people who enjoy both cozy mysteries and country-house type murders.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Gregor Demarkian, a retired FBI agent and recent widower, returns to the Armenian-American neighborhood in Philadelphia where he grew up. In order to help out his parish priest, he agrees to meet with an eccentric zillionaire who lives on the tony Main Line. Demarkian arrives to find the man murdered, at a time when all his children have come home for their dying mother's last Christmas. Most of the children have something to hide and a plausible motive for the murder. Gregor assists the police captain investigating the murder, and two more deaths occur in the family before the murderer is identified.Ms. Haddam does a nice job of portraying the Armenian-American neighborhood to which Gregor has returned, and of contrasting it with the Main Line family, without beating us over the head with the comparison. There are several characters, including the priest, the downstairs neighbor, andthe nosy neighborhood gossip, who are well drawn and will appear in many of the subsequent Demarkian mysteries. We just begin to get to know Gregor himself in this novel. Ms. Haddam seems concerned primarily with introducing us to Gregor the logical thinker, his native community, and his approach to solving crimes. His is a cerebral approach, not terribly action-oriented. These books are for those who prefer thoughtful analysis to action heroes. We'll learn more about Gregor and others in the many sequels. One character in particular is obviously going to make a lot of appearances.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The first in the Gregor Demarkian series. Demarkian, a retired FBI profiler, returns to Philadelphia to Cavanaugh Street, the heart of the Armenian-American community. Through a request of his parish priest, the intense Father Tibor, he becomes involved in the investigation of 3 murders of a wealthy Main Line Philadelphia family that take place over the Christmas holidays. The plot is well done as is the characterization. We get a view of the life style and atttitudes of the very rich as well as that of the Armenian-American community. The ethnic background is very well integrated into the story, and makes it that much more interesting. Not a heavy duty plot but well worth reading. Looking forward to the rest of the series. Highly recommended.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Fascinating and charming. The two best things for a mystery to be. Read it!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is the first mystery in the Gregor Demarkian (retired FBI agent) holiday series. Demarkian is invited to Christmas Dinner by multi-millionaire Robert Hannaford. The seven adult Hannaford children are also coming home for the holiday. But just before Demarkian arrives, his host is found murdered in his study. Who did it? Why? The plot is somewhat plodding, and the characters not sufficiently fleshed out, but I see promise, and I think Demarkian is a hero I could come to care about. So, I’m rounding up my 2.5** to 3***
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A retired FBI detective is offered $100,000 in cash by a wealthy eccentric to attend a Christmas Eve dinner at his country house outside Philadelphia. The detective arrives just as the man's battered body is discovered in his study. The detective, Gregor Demarkian is a credible stand-in for Hercule Poirot in this Agatha Christie like whodunnit. It's well-constructed with plenty of character development of the pool of suspects, the man's seven children. His invalid wife can be included too as a remote possibility. The local police call on Gregor's expertise as the mystery deepens with the suspicious deaths of two of the children. There's a real puzzle for Gregor to solve, which he does, and all is revealed in a dramatic conclusion.Gregor's Armenia roots play a large part of his story. After the death of his wife from a lingering illness, he moved back to the Philadelphia Armenian neighbourhood where he grew up. There he is surrounded by a cast of oddball characters which support his sleuthing activity. An interesting side story about a young woman in the community is a good sidebar to the murder mystery.This is the first book in a long series of Gregor Demarkian crime novels. Written in 1993 it shows its age, but the story is not stale. A good read which sets the stage for the rest of the series.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Gregor Demarkian doesn’t know what he is going to do with the rest of his life. He had been the Director of the Behavioral Science Unit of the FBI until he had retired to take care of his wife, Elizabeth, as she inched her way through the process of dying with cancer. His first decision is to leave the Washington area and return to Philadelphia, to the street and neighborhood where he grew up. Even all these years later, Cavanaugh Street is still an Armenian enclave although now it is an enclave with money. Cavanaugh Street bears no sign of the poverty that defined it so many years ago. Gregor does know that he needs to find something to do, something to make him want to get out of bed in the morning. Gregor is bored.Father Tibor Kasparian, an Armenian Orthodox priest and a former resident of a Russian gulag, is his rescuer. Tibor invites Gregor to his home and shows him a brief case filled with $100,000.00 in cash. Robert Hannaford is the fifth generation of Hannafords who had made their money in the railroads, steel, and just about everything else. Robert is confined to a wheelchair after an accident. His body may have limitations but his mind does not. Another part of Robert Hannaford that has no limitations is the depths of his cruelty. He has seven children and he hates them all. They return the sentiment. Hannaford is used to getting what he wants by buying it. He decides to buy Gregor by using Tibor. Hannaford hadscome to Tibor with the money, telling him that if Tibor can get Gregor to come to his house for dinner on Christmas Eve, Tibor can keep the money for the church’s charities.Gregor agrees, primarily out of curiousity. When he arrives at Engine House, named for the families association with the railroad, it is to discover that Robert Hannaford has been murdered. The suspects: all of Hannaford’s children. Myra married money but isn’t satisfied because she doesn’t have any of her own. Bobby, the heir, is involved in insider trading. Anne Marie manages Engine House and devotes most of her time to her mother, Cordelia, who is dying from a form of multiple sclerosis. Christopher is a poet and a DJ in California; he is a gambler and he owes the wrong people $75,000.00. Teddy has difficulty walking and must wear a leg brace since an accident crippled him. He is a professor at a very small college where he is about to lose his job for plagiarizing his students’ work and for sexual harassment. Bennis is a highly successful writer of fantasy novels and a millionaire in her own right. Emma, the youngest, is an actress and the child least damaged by her father’s pathologies.Heading the investigation in Bryn Mawr is John Henry Newman Jackman, a student of Gregor’s. He is aware of all the pitfalls that a case involving the very rich presents. He is willing to have Gregor act as a consultant and Gregor is happy to be back in harness. Jackman knows all about Gregor’s theory of “internal consistency” and as more people die Jackman acknowledges that the theory does apply. “Simplicity. Somewhere, in all of this mess of motives and secrets and plots, there was a perfectly straightforward course of action, a person who killed or tried to kill, over and over again, always in much the same way. And that meant there was also a perfectly straightforward reason for it all.” The killer had a plan and a goal that made perfect sense.NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING is a story that takes place at Christmas. It is not a Christmas story. It is the first book in the twenty-five book Gregor Demarkian series. While it isn’t necessary to read the books in order of publication, it does help to keep the large cast of characters sorted. Cavanaugh Street and its residents are characters in all the stories.The first books in the series are centered on holidays then the author takes a wider view and gets Gregor further away from Cavanaugh Street. The books are consistently good. The characters are woven into each story and as the series progress their relationships do as well. Haddam does not write graphic violence. Her descriptions of the murders in each story are brief; violence is described but as if at a distance. I have read the series and I have enjoyed all of the books.Toward the end of the book the author provides this exchange between John Henry Newman Jackman and Gregor Demarkian. “…Jackman didn’t see him do it. He was too busy looking at the chandelier. “I read a murder mystery once where someone got killed with one of those,” Jackman said. “it was held up with a chain and the chain had been cut through, and just at the right moment—” “Do you think that’s really possible?” Gregor said. “Hell no. But things don’t have to be possible in murder mysteries. They just have to be weird.”

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Not a Creature Was Stirring - Jane Haddam

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