Murder Superior

By Jane Haddam

A superfluity of nuns has descended on Philadelphia, and the city is doing all it can to keep them entertained. The spiritual sisters’ convention lined up several speakers, including media mogul Henry Hare, shock-jock extraordinaire Norm Kevic, and the brilliant sleuth Gregor Demarkian, whose lecture "Investigating the Catholic Murder" is sure to cause a sensation. As a former FBI investigator, Demarkian has plenty of first-hand experience solving heinous crimes-religious or otherwise. And he’s about to get a little more practice. At the convention’s first banquet, one of the nuns drops dead after ingesting the wrong cut of the deadly fugu fish. But was Sister Joan really the target, or was someone trying to do away with the loathsome Mother Mary Bellarmine? All of God’s children may go to heaven – but one of His wives is going to jail.

• Language: English
• Publisher: mysteriouspress.com
• Release date: Jul 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781786698582

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).

Reviews for Murder Superior

[joycepa_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Gregor Demarkian series is not a heavy-weight one centering around brooding and/or hard-boiled detectives with troubled lives of one sort or another. Its protagonist is a mid-50s, ex-FBI man who, after the death of his beloved wife Elizabeth, returns to the Armenian-American neighborhood of his childhood--which neighborhood not only supplies a colorful and at times hilarious backdrop to his occasional work solving murder cases but at times is an integral part of the plot.In this instalment, Demarkian is present at the first convocation of the Order of Divine Grace nuns, run with a firm (not to say iron) hand of the Reverend Mother General. When a nun dies during the opening reception--obviously murdered by the intake of exotic fugu fish--Demarkian becomes involved in the investigation by the express invitation of Reverend Mother General and more or less bemuusedly agreed to by the Cardinal archbishop of Philadelphia--who is well aware, as he wryly notes, that although he is the nominal religious superior of the nuns, he really has no say in what happens in the convent. Again, this is not a heavyweight plot. But in this book, Haddam's affectionate treatment of an order of nuns provides the main entertainment. Definitely, nuns in this order have entered the 20th century post-Vatican II with a will, and their differing reactions to a universally hated Mother Superior of a regional house provides much of the humor in the book. Another instance: when Demarkian wants certain people present at the scene of the crime, the Cardinal archbishop of Philadelphia confidently assures Demarkian that he can deliver any practicing Catholic within the archdiocese. Reverend Mother General coolly states that she can deliver the pope--and you believe her, you believe her! And that is a typical intereaction.The Armenian-American neighbrohood and Demarkian's friends in it, including the priest, Father Tibor, are recurring characters in this series, and very welcome ones. The book is a bona-fida mystery with a light-hearted touch. Highly recommended.