Customer Reviews

Christmas Mourning

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It has been a year of non-stop change for Judge Deborah Knott and her husband the Colleton County Sherriff's Deputy Dwight Bryant. They are about to celebrate their first anniversary and finally have Dwight's son Cal settled into living with them after the tragedy of losing his mother. But this homey scene is rocked when Mallory, a popular teenager dies in a tragic car accident. Leaving too many questions and no answers in what should be an open and shut case.

Questions start popping up when Mallory's last voice mail to her brother plays out the final moments of her life in too real detail. The suspicion that she might have been drinking escalates into fact which causes escalation that she had been drugged since Mallory may have flirted with the boys she was not a girl known to walk against the grain and never drank alcohol. So Dwight starts digging deeper into the situation and without a day gone by two more bodies turn up and this time their cause of death is obvious - gun shots straight on. These brothers were always on the wrong side of the law but what could have caused them to have been so brutally murdered? Is this case related to the traffic accident? What is it that Mallory's family is not telling him that might be at the core of the problem? Too many questions and no one is saying a word, this definitely is not the way to kick off the holiday season that is for sure.

Dwight is tenacious, Deborah is a snoop and family is determined to find out what happened and hopefully resolving these crimes will not lead to anymore but it is not looking good. But what is going on at the house is another head scratcher? All of Deborah's nieces and nephews keep showing up at odd times, with strange explanations and even wilder more unbelievable tales to explain their presence at the house. Hopefully nothing catches on fire this year!

This series always brings to the reader a mystery, family drama and shenanigans plus some wonderful romance between Dwight and Deborah. Another year has produced another winner in this series and as always with Ms. Maron's work you have to get to the end of the book to know who done it! Margaret Maron leaves lots of clues but always throws in a curve to make sure you are paying attention. Thank you again for writing such a great series that everyone will enjoy.

I read several Margaret Maron books years ago and decided to pick this one up for a Christmas read. I remember liking her books quite well, but this one was only so-so. I quickly became annoyed with the neices and nephews, and, since it had been a while since I had visited the Knott family, I had trouble keeping straight which kid belonged to which brother. Also, the teenagers were just a little too cute and a little too flat for my taste. Maybe if there were fewer of them they could be better developed. With that being said, it was fine for a snowy Sunday afternoon. I

Although the cosy is almost my least-favorite form of mystery (just above detective-as-drunk noir and those themed things with pasta or knitting in all the titles), I always buy Margaret Maron's Colleton County books. When Deborah Knott leaves her home turf, I find the tales too thin, but when Maron keeps the judge at home, it's a feast of food, family, music, farm life, and her insights about the shocking changes in the culture and landscape of my native South.

This is a good entry in the series -- or a good entry point if you've read none of them. Deborah's family is tied to the land of eastern NC, literally and emotionally. As traditional farming gets amplified by organic and specialty crops, the latest generation of her family maintains that bond. Deborah Knott's love of the land is presented to us through dozens of casually recounted memories and family stories, as is her romance with her old friend/new husband. No, there's not much action, but Maron's ear is exquisite and the dialogue is a real treat for Southerners in exile.

The plot here touches on the problem of high school kids and their cell phone culture -- texting while driving now seems to be almost as lethal is drinking and driving. As usual, the actions of the characters in the criminal plot are shadowed by members of Deborah's enormous family, and we get a sense of how confused teens are by all the choices they have.

There's no blood, no politics, no attempts To Achieve World Peace, no gimmicks, but in this genre, that's fine. Maron's series still offers that gentle pleasure: a quiet afternoon reading on the porch.

That said, this is the first Maron I've read since discovering Louise Penny. Penny's Three Pines series elevates the cosy to a sublime level, adding both beauty -- the poetry, the perfectly crafted book-length metaphors -- and gravitas. There's an Aristotelian Choice confronting nearly every main character at one point or another. Moral virtue and intellectual virtue work toward an end that includes the reader in a worthy work. Maron's book is delightful, but if you want breath-taking, try Louise Penny.

by a hometown author. I've read just about every word Margaret Maron has had published. I own most, going so far as buying some of the old Sigrid books on Ebay. I've attended two launch parties at Margaret's home book store, Quail Ridge Books here in Raleigh, and even enjoyed a piece of Deborah and Dwight's wedding cake there. I wish Deborah was my best friend. I particularly enjoy Margaret's country dialog which is charming and spot on.

All that being said, you can believe me when I say I can be as stubborn as her greedy publisher about the price point. As of this morning, I can buy a new hardcover here for $11.75, a used hardcover for $10.99, but the Kindle version remains at $12.99. I'm a K1 "early adopter" so I am in the $9.99 for any book crowd. I did NOT purchase CHRISTMAS MOURNING, which I WOULD HAVE if the Kindle price was $9.99. Instead, a coworker let me read her library copy. This coworker also owns a Kindle and would have purchased at $9.99. So, Mr./Ms. Publisher, you lost two sales.

Also, sad to say, the editor was asleep at the wheel----"leafs"! Please!

About the story itself I'll say this was the least "mysterious" of any in the series. Deborah didn't even get herself into a perilous pickle as she has in the past. I felt this break with the recipe was amply compensated by the detail and family warmth. I enjoyed visiting with the Knott/Bryants again and savored every word. I look forward to the next installment. Keep them coming, Margaret.

I have read several of Margaret Maron's books so I looked forward to reading this one as one of my book club's December selections. I was very disappointed and truly glad I did not purchase this book, but received it on loan from my library.

Anyone familiar with Maron's work knows that there is an endless list of relatives in her stories and she even includes a family tree to keep them straight. I was assailed with endless characters on almost every page. This book seemed more a diary of Deborah Knott's than a mystery (We made Christmas cookies; How I picked my wedding dress, etc.) Somewhere in this endless prattle, there was a mystery to solve.

I quickly realized that I could follow the mystery by skimming the chapters and only reading the last few paragraphs of each chapter for the development of the story.

I found all of this background information about the various branches of her family tree distracting to the focus of the book. The mystery does not really move along until the last few chapters of the book where an old murder and 2 more-recent murders are solved.

This was an unchallenging, boring read.

This latest installment in Margaret Maron's long-running Deborah Knott mystery series may be her crowning achievement. Deborah and husband Dwight are about to celebrate their first anniversary and celebrate the Christmas holidays with Deborah's huge extended family, but the mysterious deaths of three local high-school students draw them into exploring the new deaths as well as an old, unsolved one. Maron's lilting prose had me longing to curl up with a cup of eggnog and a warm fire--and to go back and re-read all her earlier work. Christmas Mourning is truly a gift for old and new fans alike.

I hadn't read any of Margaret Maron's books before winning this one on a book review blog. Now I shall be eagerly searching for more, preferably more of the same series, though I'm sure I'd enjoy her other books too. Christmas Mourning is set in rural North Carolina where teenagers text and drive, hunters use illegal lamps to blind deer, and Judge Deborah Knott combines marriage to the local deputy, aunt-hood to a gazillion youngsters, and the baseless accusations of a maddening mother against drunk driving, all while preparing to celebrate her wedding anniversary and Christmas.

The author's ear for teen dialog and eye for teen mannerisms seem absolutely perfect. And the outspoken, generous judge is a wonderful character. I thoroughly enjoyed watching through a morning of quiet cases, while the mourning of a rich family outside for their daughter contrasted sadly with that of a poor mother for her missing sons. Mystery hides in the mist. Real people with real hopes and fears walk the road. Real life intervenes when real love sets its sights on a night out. And the whole is a delightful mix, well-seasoned, old-fashioned and thoroughly up-to-date.

Margaret Maron's writing is a pleasant reminder that there are still mysteries out there where characters have sensible, well-reasoned thoughts, where romance blooms delightfully but bedroom doors stay closed, and where the mistakes of youth are a sign of youth, not a warning that the world's about to end. I really enjoyed reading this book, and thoroughly recommend it.

In my first-ever Kindle purchase/read, I chose to download Maron's Christmas Mourning; an entry in her Judge Deborah Knott series, set in Colleton County, North Carolina. I enjoy reading her Christmastime entries during the holiday season!

I'm giving the book 5 stars, but I think that it would rate lower with readers who haven't faithfully followed the series, just because the Judge's widespread clan makes keeping up with the characters very difficult.

Judge Knott and husband, Dwight, team up to help resolve the accident of one Colleton County team in a car crash and the murder of two other young men of the county. Maron does a good job of keeping us guessing on the resolution, and along the way, delights us with the holiday customs of the family. Deborah and Dwight celebrate their first anniversary; the book is a mix of the cozy elements that make this series memorable, plus a decent mystery, and the cultural emphasis that Maron always uses, this time expounding on the tragedies of teen deaths on the road.

One of my favorite elements of the book was the big Maron hint that she would be uniting Knott and her heroine of a previous series, NYC Detective Sigrid Harald, in an upcoming plot. Can't wait!

I'm a big fan of this series and the Sigrid Harald series, but caution readers that both are best enjoyed if you read the books in order.

We return to Colleton County, North Carolina just in time for the holidays. Sadly they are overshadowed when a very popular Senior in high school, Mallory Johnson, dies in a car crash on the way home from a party. This was not the only tragedy this area has had to face, a few days later two not so popular kids were found shot to death. This happening all after another car accident just two months earlier where two other youths were killed and another was severely injured. To stay the town in stunned by these events is an understatement. Mallory was known not to drink or do drugs so what caused her to go off the road is a mystery and is her accident connected to any of the other deaths.

As usual Deborah's many nieces and nephews are always dropping by for a visit, plus it is time for the annual cookie baking party. All these kids either knew or went to school with the victims. So Deborah does what any judge/wife of a chief deputy sheriff would do, she keeps her eyes and her ears open. As she and Dwight share their gathered information they find the clues may connect to a death from several years ago. It is time to solve these mysteries before anyone else is lost and Dwight and Deborah are on the case.

Dollycas's Thoughts
This has been one of my favorite series and I enjoy every trip into the world of Deborah Knott. The closeness and trials and tribulations of the whole family dynamic never disappoint. The mystery that tags along is an added bonus.

The author is a wonderful storyteller and her characters continue to grown and develop. In this edition it was about the teenagers. I have to say I was very impressed in the way she took on a very relevant teen issue, cell phones and texting. She also makes us aware of dangerous things that can happen at teen parties, stupid pranks can have deadly consequences. She handled them without being preachy, she just put it out there and reminded us all about the dangers. This week the National Transportation Safety Board has recommended that all cell phone use be banned all non-emergency use of cell phones and other portable devices for drivers. This makes this story quite timely. I realize it was published last year but I didn't get to it for last year's holiday season and saved it for this year and I am glad I did. It helped me to remind my own kids of these dangers. Teenagers always think it can't happen to them. In this story it happened to kids that probably felt exactly that way. The mystery was great but the message was gripped me and held me in this story.

This is not your typical Christmas story but you knew that from the title. It is an excellent addition to this series.

Delivery service was great. Book is in pristine condition. Am reading it now. Very happy with this transaction.