This image is the cover for the book Bleeding Hearts, The Gregor Demarkian Holiday Mysteries

Bleeding Hearts, The Gregor Demarkian Holiday Mysteries

Murder is in the cards this Valentine’s Day. “Never quite cozy and never quite tough, this tale combines the best of both styles to stunning effect” (Publishers Weekly).
 Psychiatrist Paul Hazzard was renowned for his insights into the human mind, until his wife was savagely murdered. She was stabbed to death with an ornamental dagger, a grisly crime for which Paul was tried but never convicted. Four years later, to escape his greedy family and his former mistress, Paul takes an unlikely lover: the homely, middle-aged Hannah Krekorian. Hannah’s neighbors, including former FBI agent Gregor Demarkian, are charmed by the sudden romance—until they find her holding an antique dagger over Paul’s bloody body. The police are convinced of Hannah’s guilt, but Demarkian knows his neighbor could never stab Paul to death. Hannah’s valentine may be gone, but if Gregor works a miracle, she’ll have something even better come February 14th: her freedom.

Jane Haddam

Jane Haddam (1951–2019) was an American author of mysteries. Born Orania Papazoglou, she worked as a college professor and magazine editor before publishing her Edgar Award–nominated first novel, Sweet, Savage Death, in 1984. This mystery introduced Patience McKenna, a sleuthing scribe who would go on to appear in four more books, including Wicked, Loving Murder (1985) and Rich, Radiant Slaughter (1988).
 
Not a Creature Was Stirring (1990) introduced Haddam’s best-known character, former FBI agent Gregor Demarkian. The series spans more than twenty novels, many of them holiday-themed, including Murder Superior (1993), Fountain of Death (1995), and Wanting Sheila Dead (2005). Haddam’s later novels include Blood in the Water (2012) and Hearts of Sand (2013).