Sunday, 22 December 2019

Jane Haddam - Not Creature Was Stirring


Rating: 4/5

Review:
Very enjoyable

I enjoyed Not A Creature Was Stirring. It is the first in a long series featuring Gregor Demakian, and Armenian-American ex-FBI investigator who here gets drawn into the case of a sequence of murders in one of Philadelphia’s richest families.

As a story it’s all pretty cosy and really the equivalent of a familiar Country House mystery set in 1990 Philadelphia. I thought more than once that it was very like a Poirot and then one of the characters said almost exactly that (although the denouement was more Miss Marple than Poirot) – and all that was just fine with me. The real strength of the book lies in Jane Haddam’s very good writing and structure (although it did drag a little in the middle, I thought), her thoughtful characterisation – especially of Demarkian – and her depiction of the Armenian community, all of which I found very good.

I am grateful to Susan Riaz for introducing me to this series. This opener isn’t a classic but is very enjoyable and has real promise for the rest of the series, of which I shall definitely be reading more. Recommended.

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