Thirtieth and final Gregor Demarkian mystery, published posthumously by the author’s sons, who provide a moving tribute to their mother at the end.

Elegiac, humane, timely, unsparing yet hopeful – a fitting end to the series.

A garbage bag falls out of the back of a mysterious black van skidding on icy Philadelphia streets. In the bag is the barely breathing Marta Warkowski, a reclusive older woman at odds with her changing neighborhood, sleazy landlord, and bullying building superintendent. In Marta’s immaculate apartment, police find the super’s body. To the annoyance of the Philly police, higher-ups ask former FBI agent Gregor Demarkian to consult on the investigation.

The book focuses on bringing the series’ continuing storylines and characters to appropriate resolution and offering a benediction of social commentary, which played an increasingly important part of the series. The mystery itself is a bit thin, with some muddled motives.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is intriguing but not an all time favorite of mine. I read an early copy for review for Netgalley. At times, the story was confusing, and the characters confusing also. I can usually predict if I will enjoy a book from the first few pages. This one was predictable.

This was a tough one for me. It's probably my fault-I saw it was the last in a series but tried it anyway. Nothing happened until about 30% into the book when they found out who the body was, If I had been on Amazon and read a sample, I would have passed. By the time it started to get good, I was already skimming it. If I had been a fan before, I probably would have liked this book. Maybe I'll try again at a later date, but right now this book wasn't for me.

Marta Warkowski no longer feels safe in the Philadelphia neighborhood where she grew up. Most of the other Polish families have moved on, replaced by refugees from Central America. They look at her with suspicion; teenage boys taunt her in a language she can’t understand. She no longer feels like she belongs here, but she has nowhere else to go. When her super once again hassles her to give up her larger apartment to one of the larger families in need, she’s had enough. She is afraid to go out at night, but she can’t wait to take her complaints to the building’s owner, Cary Alder.
Alder is an unpopular, unscrupulous property developer. The low rent properties he owns are his bread and butter, but he caters to the one percent. It’s well known that he uses coyotes to smuggle in illegals to work for him. It’s also rumored that his bookkeeping is somewhat creative. Marta is a major pain in his side, always complaining, frequently taking his business to court. The police have been investigating him for years, but so far he’s covered his tracks.
St. Catherine’s School staff provide education, spiritual guidance, and other assistance to their students and the community. They also find foster homes for unaccompanied refugee children. They are accustomed to the frequent ICE raids and visits from social services, but the unmarked black vans cruising the neighborship recently are something new. It is from one of those vans that a bundle wrapped in garbage bags is ejected. Two witnesses discover the bags contain the body of an elderly woman, barely clinging to life. At the hospital she is identified as Marta Warkowski, a long-time parish member at St. Catherine’s.
Gregor Demarkian is a retired FBI agent living in the neighborhood. He still consults with the Philadelphia police, but his long-suffering wife Bennis has been looking forward to the end of that involvement for some time. Now that they’re fostering Javier, a young refugee boy with emotional issues, Gregor agrees this might be the right time. When Gregor is asked to consult on the investigation of the attack on Marta Warkowski, the murder of a man found dead in her apartment, and the possible connection to Cary Alder, he decides he can take on one last case.
This is indeed the final case for Gregor Demarkian, and the final novel for Ms. Haddam/Orania Papazoglu. The story lines for the main characters are tied up neatly, and the reader knows they will be fine in the future. Fans of the series will be pleased and satisfied with its ending. In a touching epilogue, her sons Matthew and Gregory DeAndrea pay homage to her and her long and successful career.

I read this book knowing it would be the last Gregor Demarkian book. I'll miss this series so much.

Bennis and Gregor decide to foster a child who had come into the US as an unaccompanied minor. Being a Jane Haddams book, of course it draws on current events. All of her books do so. A black van has been driving by the Catholic school and church that arranged the foster. The nuns are nervous that it could be ice. During an ice storm, one of the black vans hits a light pole and a body wrapped in a garbage bag falls out the back. It takes awhile to identify the person, who survived but is in a coma. Gregor is asked to assist the Philadelphia police on the case. The body is a cantankerous older woman who is constantly suing her landlord. What does she have to do with the van and ultimately the child, Javier, that is the foster child. All through the book there is a side plot about Russ, the man who shot Gregor, and his family. Russ believes there will be a civil war and his paranoia concerns his family and Father Tibor. There are a lot of characters in this book who we have grown to know and love over the previous 29 books. If this review confuses you on who they are, you should go back to the beginning and read the whole series.

The book ends with a surprise twist and a happy hopeful ending. It made me smile. Then I read the afterwards written by Jane's sons and I cried.

Excellent job Orania and it was a pleasure knowing you.

Final case of Gregor Demarkian, former FBI agent and now consultant.
I have read a few of the books in this series, and eventually will get to them all. This book gives you a glimpse in the world of the illegal/undocumented, those who have entered legally, and 2nd plus generations. Their hopes, drives, cultural difference, all pulled together in a tale involving murder, conspiracy, fraud, human trafficking. I enjoyed how the different characters were introduced and how they eventually crossed paths, and how Gregor puts it all together.
You can easily read this book on its own, but you will want to go back and read the rest. I was saddened when I realized that the author has passed away.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for letting me have an early read.

In Jane Haddam's One of Our Own, Gregor Demarkian, former FBI agent and police consultant, returns for his final case—a surprising murder and an attempted murder, which threaten the safety of his Philadelphia neighborhood.
Sadly this author passed away and there will be no more in this wonderful series. This is the 30th and I feel that this series goes out on a good note. If you haven't read any of this series, you have a lot of catching up to do. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

A wonderful final book in an outstanding series. Gregor, Bennis and the rest of the people on Cavanaugh Street are at their best in the last book Jane Haddam wrote before her death. If you are a fan of the series it is a must read.