Hearts of Sand: A Gregor Demarkian Novel
Retired FBI profiler Gregor Demarkian is intrigued by his latest freelance job: a woman has been murdered in the wealthy Connecticut town of Alwych, a woman who disappeared 30-odd years ago and only recently reappeared in the town where she grew up. And here’s the kicker: she disappeared all those years ago after it was revealed that she wasn’t merely an Alwych debutante, but also a bank robber and, quite possibly, a murderer. Why did she return to the town that has never forgotten her and certainly never forgiven her? Who killed her and why? As usual, the story is told in graceful prose, Haddam using the mystery as a way of commenting, gently (and sometimes not so gently), on the phenomenon of the small-town fabulously wealthy. Series fans will, as always, enjoy watching the clever and occasionally cantankerous Gregor put the pieces of the puzzle together. And ­because—like the more than 25 previous books in the series—the novel works well as a stand-alone, readers unfamiliar with Demarkian can jump right in. --David Pitt