Jane Haddam was the pen name for Orania Papazoglou (1951-2019), a college professor, magazine editor, and full-time author. Her first mystery about Patience Campbell McKenna, a romance novelist who became an investigator, was nominated for the Best First Novel Edgar Award. After four more books about McKenna, Haddam developed a second more enduring series lead in Gregor Demarkian, retired FBI department lead in Philadelphia. Each title in the first half of the series references a holiday or traditional reason for celebration, and in honor of Mother’s Day I am highlighting Murder Superior (Bantam Books, 1993) which describes a convention of the Order of the Sisters of Divine Grace on the Philadelphia campus of St. Elizabeth’s College.
Gregor Demarkian has been invited to speak about an earlier murder involving the order. Also present is shock jock Norm Kevic, offensive radio show host with a strong following, and Henry and Nancy Hare, major donors to the new field stadium being built on the college campus. Most importantly, it brings the Mothers Superior from all of the order’s houses around the world and many of the nuns in the order. One invitee that everyone could do without is Mother Mary Bellarmine of the southern California house, who is known for her mean-spirited and unpleasant approach to life. The nuns who report to her are all unhappy but Sister Joan Esther was so distressed she made a formal request to transfer and made no secret that Mother Mary Bellarmine was the reason. Mother Mary Bellarmine has held a grudge against Sister Joan Esther ever since and the convention brings them together again.
When Sister Joan Esther dies in full view of the convention, the assumption is that she has mistakenly eaten something meant for Mother Mary Bellarmine. Everyone liked Joan and no one liked Mary Bellarmine. Demarkian steps in to investigate at the request of the Diocese.
Many books in the Demarkian series delve deeply into the organizational structure of the Catholic Church and this is one of them. I always wondered what caused this fascination with the inner workings of the Church but readers get an extensive education.
And Haddam poked fun at detective fiction tropes in these books. Demarkian’s trusty sidekick is Father Tibor of the local Armenian Orthodox parish. Bookish, frail, staggeringly intelligent, he is the last person to back anyone in a physical altercation. Then for Demarkian’s so-called love interest there’s Bennis Day Hannaford of Philadelphia’s Main Line, whom Demarkian met on his first case and who has continued in Demarkian’s orbit ever since. It’s clear she’s interested in him, but he remains faithful to the memory of his dead wife and is oblivious to what everyone else sees.
The books have been criticized as slow and the action does unfold at a leisurely pace. The characters tend to be sharply drawn and I become engrossed in their antics so I don’t generally notice how long it takes to reveal the killer. It’s possible to read these books out of order but the development of the character arcs is such that reading them more or less in sequence will provide optimal background for each successive book.
One of my all-time favorite series.