Death's Half Acre

Margaret Maron continues to excel with her depiction of rural North Carolina. In this addition to her series, developers are buying up prime land from unsuspecting families. The apparent suicide of the county's greedy commissioner brings in Deputy Dwight Bryant. When the case is discovered to involve corruption and murder, his wife, Judge Deborah Knott, gets involved, too. Narrator C.J. Critt more than does justice to Maron's well-written text and sublime dialogue. Deborah, Dwight, and Deborah's elderly dad contrast perfectly with the town's younger generation and unscrupulous commissioners, as well as the city slickers who come to do big business. Even those unfamiliar with Southern traditions and expressions will be wonderfully entertained. S.G.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine