Fountain of Death

By Jane Haddam

After twenty years in California, Frannie Jay-formerly Frances Jakumbowski-returns to her home turf: New Haven, Connecticut, a university town that has become rife with crime. The depressed aerobics instructor hopes to find new life at the Fountain of Youth – a workout studio whose weight trainer, Tim Bradbury, is the best in the business. But Frannie’s fresh start turns sour just before New Year’s, when she finds Bradbury in the bushes outside the studio, stark naked and stone dead. Former FBI investigator Gregor Demarkian comes to New Haven to assist the local police. Bradbury died of arsenic poisoning – a fate no amount of exercise can stave off – and any instructor and client in the studio could have killed him. Demarkian’s body may not be rock hard, but his mind is sharp, and he will see to it that the next weights the killer lifts will be in the prison yard.

• Language: English
• Publisher: mysteriouspress.com
• Release date: Jul 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781786698629

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 Fountain of Death

[joycepa_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

312 in the Gregor Demarkian series.Cavanaugh St. has managed to make it through Hannukah and Christmas in the usual eccentric style; now comes the New Year. A health club in New Haven, Connecticut, the Fountain of Youth, is drumming up business by advertising a two week program with the slogan "Be A New You for the New Year". But before the New Year, one of the instructors winds up murdered, poisoned.Gregor Demarkian heads for the case at the request of the bishop of Colchester, John Cardinal O'Bannion, who thus is doing a fellow bishop, that of the New Haven diocese, a favor. Gregor is welcomed enthusiastically by Tony Bandero, the detective heading the case, who promises to give him every assistance. But very soon it becomes clear that Bandero has no intention of allowing Demarkian to help; he withholds information and generally obstructs Demarkian in the investigation. Clearly, Bandero is a publicity hound who wants all the credit for himself and is unwilling to take the risk that the famous Demarkian will somehow steal his thunder.But events do not wait the New Year. A puzzling accident occurs that looks like an attempted murder--but of whom? Then another staff member is murdered, and still another is the victim of an attempt, all by poison. Demarkian has a good idea who is behind the murders, but has to prove it.This book, like others in the series, has an engaging cast of (temporary) characters, is well plotted, written to a tried-and-true formula with Haddam's stylistic humor. It lacks the eccentricity provided by Cavanaugh St.'s Armenian American community but is nevertheless well done. It also provides a fascinating glimpse into the workings of the health club industry, which substantially increases the interest level of the plot.A good read.

[reannon_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another in the Gregor Demarkian series.. This one is set in a fitness club whose owners are about to take their business national.Good story. This is the second of the series where the policeman in charge of the case is not one of the good guys. He calls Gregor in to investigate, then doesn't let him investigate, and uses the case to get his own name in front of the media as much as possible. At any rate, having, for the most part, reasonable and competent police is one of the most attractive aspects of the series. I never liked all the novels where the police are obstreperous and aggressively usless.