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“Haddam manages to produce each time a layered, richly peopled, and dryly witty book with a plot of mind-bending complexity.” *—Houston Chronicle *on *Glass Houses* Sheila Dunham is a gossip columnist’s dream—she’s famous, loud and, to most who meet or see her, deeply offensive. As a result, she’s been fired from every job on television she’s ever had—first as a serious journalist, then as a personality, finally as a reality show judge. Now she’s producing and hosting her own reality show, “America’s Next Top Anchor,” shot in her hometown of New Fenwick, Connecticut. Everyone she employs is terrified of her; everyone one else hates her. And everybody seems to want Sheila dead. Finally it seems someone has decided to try. After millions of dollars of jewels are stolen from her home, she is found beaten into unconciousness, next to the murdered body of a local girl. If nothing else, her show’s ratings are going to improve. Gregor Demarkian, a retired FBI agent, is already scheduled to appear on her show but he’s going to consult on the biggest murder case to hit that part of Connecticut since the Revolutionary War. But how do you narrow down the suspects when the victim was hated by everyone? ** ### From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Edgar-finalist Haddam craftily leaves major clues in plain sight in her outstanding 25th mystery featuring Armenian-American detective Gregor Demarkian (after 2009's Living Witness). Demarkian, who's recently returned home to Philadelphia from his honeymoon, gets involved in two cases: the possible poisoning of a reclusive elderly neighbor and the attempted murder of repellent Sheila Dunham, the moving force behind a top-rated TV reality show, America's Next Superstar. When an unknown young woman, who's not a show contestant, tries to shoot Dunham as Dunham prepares to choose finalists for a contest from a pool of 30, Dunham's personal assistant calls in Demarkian. The puzzle deepens when a murder occurs on the very spot where Demarkian's father-in-law was killed years earlier. Haddam has few peers at misdirection, and she cleverly satirizes the reality show industry while continuing to add depth to the relationship between her lead and his wife, Bennis. Fair-play fans will be delighted by Demarkian's insights into Agatha Christie's work. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ### From Booklist The Gregor Demarkian series, well past its twentieth volume, shows no signs of lethargy or a paucity of ideas. This time the former FBI agent is asked to consult on a case involving an assault on a widely disliked reality-TV host, the murder of a young girl with the host at the time of the assault, and a cast of potential killers that would rival an Agatha Christie novel. (In fact, the book is modeled after a Christie novel, which Haddam acknowledges with the occasional allusion to Dame Agatha.) Setting a mystery in the world of reality TV is not a brand new idea, either: Ben Elton did it in 2001’s Dead Famous, to name but one. But, as fans of the Demarkian novels know, Haddam isn’t interested in retracing someone else’s steps. Her take on reality TV, its egos and backstage battles, is fresh and entertaining, and (as usual) the mystery is sharply plotted. Eventually Haddam may have to deal with the fact that Demarkian’s age will prevent him from continuing to solve crimes, but let’s hope that’s not for a while yet. --David Pitt