One of our own

The excellent 30th and final series whodunit from Edgar winner Haddam (1951--2019) featuring the brilliant but all too human Gregor Demarkian, who frequently consults for the Philadelphia PD, finds him still dealing with the fallout from 2014's Fighting Chance, in which he was shot by someone he trusted. Senator John Jackman and Police Commissioner Bill Jefferson ask Demarkian to help investigate an attempted murder. Someone bludgeoned an elderly woman into unconsciousness and placed her in a garbage bag, which accidentally fell out of the back of a van onto a Philly street, an incident witnessed by Demarkian's close friend, Fr. Tibor Kasparian. Jackman and Jefferson suspect the assault may be connected to Cary Alder, an unscrupulous real estate magnate believed to have bribed "the mayor and half the building inspectors in the city," because the woman had a gold coin in her possession that's accepted as legal tender in some of Alder's properties. As always, Haddam cleverly integrates political issues such as illegal immigration and affordable housing into an intricate and gripping plot. This is a fitting coda to the career of one of America's best contemporary fair play authors.

Gregor Demarkians last case.Marta Warkowski has lived all her 72 years in a three-bedroom apartment in Philadelphia's Alder Arms despite the best efforts of Miguel Hernandez, the buildings super, to cajole her to leave or evict her. She knows all the dodges: Bring your rent check directly to Cary Alders office; make sure to get a receipt every month; and dont let the bastards think they can get away with bullying you. About the only thing that will get her to move is death. Even when her body, stuffed into a plastic garbage bag, is tossed from a van onto the street, shes not quite dead, only comatose. Its Hernandez whos dead, lying on the floor of her coveted apartment. Father Tibor Kasparian and 14-year-old Tommy Moradanyan, who are on the scene, are already preoccupied with their own problems, which range from the imprisonment of Tommys father, attorney Russ Donahue, to Tibors recent placement of Javier, an abandoned child, in foster care. Since Russ Donahues crimes include shooting Gregor Demarkian, whos also agreed with his wife, Bennis Hannaford, to take in Javier, its only natural that the Philadelphia Police Department comes calling on Gregor for help. This time, though, the interest in the Armenian American Poirots sleuthing is outpaced by Haddams exposition of an all-too-plausibly widespread plot to smuggle undocumented people into the country and exploit them in every possible way. The result is a fitting sunset vehicle for Haddam, a pseudonym for Orania Papazoglou, who died in 2019 and is memorialized in a brief, glowing afterword.One last testament to the importance of community in maintaining the values that make America great, or at least human. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.