Sand Sharks

June 8, 2009
Discovering a murdered colleague isn't quite the adventure Deborah Knott anticipated during her getaway/conference in Wrightsville Beach, N.C., but as fans of Maron's Edgar- and Anthony-winning series know, trouble seems to cling to her like cornmeal on hush puppies. Her 15th outing (after 2008's Death's Half Acre
) finds the feisty judge agreeing to aid local investigators with discreet inquiries among her fellow conventioneers. She quickly encounters plenty of folks none too distressed by the victim's demise, including one of her own exes, and escalating danger. Unfortunately, as the pace quickens the plot starts to fall apart, culminating in a pell-mell scramble to a rather unconvincing denouement. On the plus side, Maron's homespun evocation of people and place is typically pitch-perfect, her use of the judicial milieu skillful—and her engaging heroine as welcome a companion as you could wish for under a beach umbrella.

July 1, 2009
It's open season on the North Carolina judiciary.

While her new husband, sheriff's deputy Dwight Bryant, and his son Cal clear out belongings from his first marriage, Judge Deborah Knott (Death's Half Acre, 2008, etc.) heads to Wrightsville Beach for the annual conference of North Carolina district court judges. It has attracted former lovers, would-be lovers, philandering husbands and, once again, a body or two. Slightly bent Judge Jeffreys—who accepted bribes in custody suits, dismissed a case that left a carjacker free to commit rape and murder and ran a dirty campaign that scuttled another man's election—winds up strangled and tossed in the bushes. Deborah, relieving herself of too many margaritas, finds the body and, bad luck for her, is in the parking lot when Judge Fitzhume is smacked into a coma by a marauding driver who's later found dead in the red Geo that sped from the scene. Could one of the conference attendees be a killer? As a reward for trying to piece together motive and opportunity with the help of local law enforcement, Deborah finds herself locked in the trunk of her own car, escaping thanks to a trick she learned at Dwight's insistence.

Deborah's mojo is having an off day, and the tale sorely lacks the gumption of old-timer Kezzie. Midlevel Maron, with slightly repugnant homophobia as a subplot.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

July 14, 2009
It's hard to believe that Judge Deborah Knott is making her 15th appearance (after Hard Row). This time Deborah is attending a District Judges' conference while her husband, Dwight, and stepson travel to Virginia to take care of Dwight's first wife's estate. Deborah stumbles over a dead body of an unpopular "bent" judge, and the plot thickens as a retiring judge is injured, an aspiring actor/waiter goes missing, and Deborah becomes the next target. Maron writes with such a strong sense of place that you can even smell the ocean air on Wrightsville Beach. Verdict The plot, populated with enticing characters, moves swiftly; an essential read for Maron fans and mystery lovers.-Susan T. Hayes, Chattahoochee Valley Libs., Columbus, GA

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2009
North Carolina district judge Deborah Knott is in a snit as she leaves for her first state conference at the beach since her recent wedding to sheriffs deputy Dwight Bryant, unfairly angry at him and remembering that such conferences sometimes resulted in romantic entanglements for her in the past. But shes soon distracted by finding the body of a uniformly disliked colleague, who turns out to have been severely lacking in judicial ethics. A hit-and-run attack on a much-loved retiring judge soon after seems connected to the earlier murder, and the discovery of the crashed car and dead driver appears to tie things up tidily. But Deborah, invited in on the case, searches for motive until she puts herself in jeopardy. The fifteenth entry in this series (after Deaths Half Acre, 2008) focuses more on the professional than the personal Deborah, who acts annoyingly immature early on. But she redeems herself in the end, and Marons fine evocation of the WilmingtonWrightsville Beach area adds to the pleasure. Not a series highlight, but an entertaining installment for longtime fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)