Description
From Publishers Weekly North Carolina Judge Deborah Knott, introduced in the multiple award-winning Bootlegger's Daughter , returns in her third adventure in as many years. Maron constructs a tight mystery, peoples it with an original cast and powerfully evokes her Outer Banks setting, but dry issues of civil law drag at the narrative. Deborah, filling in for an ailing judge at the Carteret County courthouse, stays in her cousin's waterside cottage and, while clamming, finds the body of the president of the Independent Fishers Alliance, shot in the chest. The murder quickly involves her in local conflicts among commercial fishermen, upstate sportsmen, land developers and conservationists. Real estate mogul Linville Pope, with an eye on the half-billion-dollar tourist industry, wants to buy the Neville Fishery property owned by the wife of a local judge. When Pope turns up dead, dressed in the colors of the endangered loon, suspects range from the judge, whose hands might be dirty, to a crusty islander who is--illegally--building a boat on Pope's property. Deborah discovers corpses, reads dull files for clues and falls for a local cop, but she doesn't determine the killer until she's looking down the barrel of a .22 rifle. In this drama, she's more a passive participant than a catalyst. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal District Court Judge Deborah Knott, a native North Carolinian, looks forward to filling in for a sick colleague at the Harker's Island courthouse. But on her first fishing trip after arriving on the island, she discovers the body of an old fisherman known to her since childhood. Without taking much action, Knott learns of a motive for the murder: the victim's opposition to an environmentally damaging development scheme. The down-home prose flows well, spiced by Judge Knott's wit, charm, and extended family as well as by references to the local food and drink. A highly recommended work from the author of Southern Discomfort (LJ 5/1/93).Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist Maron is marvelous at evoking both the old South--lazy afternoons, columned mansions, cool drinks, slow drawls, buried passions--and the fast-changing, growth-oriented South of today. Heroine Deborah Knott is attractive, ambitious, and no one's fool when she presides in the Colleton County, North Carolina, district court. In Maron's latest, Deborah travels to the coastal town of Beaufort, the site of many happy childhood summers, to fill in for a fellow judge who's ill. Shortly after arriving, she discovers the bullet-riddled body of a fisherman who was active in the local war among the pro-status quo natives, the commercial fishermen whose livelihood is threatened by new regulations, and the big-bucks real estate developers. When Deborah finds a second body, she decides it's time to figure out what's really going on under the idyllic surface of Beaufort. Maron's usual humor and charm do much to overcome her occasionally preachy spiels on the effects of commercialism, tourism, and other "isms," but while this third entry in the series is certainly worth buying, it isn't quite as much fun as the earlier ones, especially the Edgar-winning Bootlegger's Daughter (1992). Emily Melton From Kirkus Reviews Filling in for an ailing jurist on the North Carolina coast, Judge Deborah Knott (Southern Discomfort, 1993) is welcomed to Harkers Island by an unpleasant discovery: the body of neighboring Andy Bynum, founder of the Independent Fishers Alliance. Opposing at different times conservationists bent on protecting endangered species, visiting sport fishermen whose activity threatened their livelihood, and investors bent on developing Harkers Island, the IFA had made inoffensive Andy his share of enemies. But the real eye of the storm is grasping realtor Linville Pope--who has her eye on IFA stalwart Barbara Jean Winberry's Neville Fishery and, evidently, every other property and eligible man that's not nailed down--and it's no surprise when the next corpse turns out to be hers. Environmentalists, sportsmen, family fishermen, developers: Maron certainly doesn't duck the issues. What makes this novel special is her ability to bring this web of conflicts to subtle, vivid life while still leaving Deborah time for a good man and some great shellfish. (Mystery Guild selection) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. Read more
Features & Highlights
- The third case in the series that began with Bootlegger's Daughter unfolds in a picturesque North Carolina village, as a struggle between commercial fishermen and real-estate developers leads to murder--and Judge Knott's ex-lover is implicated. 25,000 first printing. Tour.
