High Country Fall: A Deborah Knott Mystery [Hardcover]

Margaret Maron (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 24, 2004 | Series: Deborah Knott Mysteries

Perennially popular Judge Deborah Knott returns in Margaret Maron's latest mystery in her award- winning series. With friends and family overreacting to her announcement that she plans to marry Sheriff's Deputy Dwight Bryant, Judge Deborah Knott gratefully seizes the opportunity to put a five-hour drive between herself and Colleton County when the Chief District Court Judge offers her a week on the bench in Cedar Gap. It is early autumn, leaves are turning, and summer residents are preparing to close up their mountain 'cabins' (palatial houses perched atop the most desirable locations) and return to their winter homes in Florida. But Deborah's peaceful break is disrupted when one Floridian is found murdered. He won't be going home, and Deborah won't be either-until she tracks down the killer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The leaves of autumn are in full splendor, and so is Maron's talent in her 10th Deborah Knott adventure (after 2002's Slow Dollar). Asked to fill in for a vacationing judge up in the Blue Ridge high country, Deborah jumps at the chance to put some space between her and Colleton County detective Dwight Bryant, whose engagement ring has suddenly and almost inexplicably appeared on her finger. But Knott quickly finds that the serene appearance of Cedar Gap belies the troubles brewing beneath its surface. One man is dead before Deborah even arrives, and his accused killer, Daniel Freeman, is a friend of Deborah's nieces, who are sharing their parents' mountainside condo with Her Judgeship. Yet before heads or tails can be made of the current situation, Knott is present when an evening of pickin' and grinnin' ends with the disappearance of one of a newly formed trio of real estate developers. And her ride home with the stunningly handsome "Lucius the Luscious" Burke, the local DA, may just put an end to her quandary about getting hitched to Dwight. Her entire stay in Cedar Gap is fraught with dangers, romantic and otherwise, as Deborah finds herself pursued to the brink of death itself. The roadways aren't the only thing with hairpin turns in this gripping puzzler.
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From Booklist

North Carolina judge Deborah Knott may be all business when it comes to court, but she's usually fun loving when she's around her energetic family and her friend turned fiance Dwight Bryant. The stress of her impending marriage has made her prickly and uneasy, though, so she jumps at the chance to sub for a judge in another part of the state. After all, what better place to do serious thinking about her life than a gorgeous tourist town in the Blue Ridge Mountains? Unfortunately, the town is abuzz with the recent murder of a local doctor, and the accused is a friend of Deborah's college-age twin nieces. The twins are convinced their friend is innocent, and when another man is found dead, it begins to appear they are right. The mountain setting plays a huge role here, and Maron does a beautiful job with it, adding local color, as well as delightful regionalisms, to give her characters plenty of personality. When it comes right down to it, however, it's the comfortable ordinariness of Maron's distinctively unheroic heroine that makes this entry in the long-running series so appealing. Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Mysterious Press (August 24, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892968087
• ISBN-13: 978-0892968084
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #527,977 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars High Enjoyment for Maron's readers, August 29, 2004

By 

Dr Cathy Goodwin (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: High Country Fall: A Deborah Knott Mystery (Hardcover)

About this time next year, we can expect to see a trio of mystery heroine weddings. Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon, Marcia Muller's Sharon McCone and now Margaret Maron's Deborah Knott all are strong women headed for the altar. We've had some great wedding scenes -- Susan Wittig Albert married off China Bayles in a cascade of lavender and Susan Conant created a dog-loving wedding for Holly Winter. Let's see if these three can live up to their predecessors.

I'm rooting for Deborah Knott. In High Country Fall, Knott finds herself caught up in a puzzling case while she substitutes for a judge in a small High Country town. Hearing a murder case, Deborah finds probable cause to bind the young suspect, but she doesn't believe he's guilty. A second murder confirms her hunch: the method is similar and this time the suspect has a tight alibi.

The solution to the murders hinges on a twist of partnership agreements that Deborah knows from her own experience. As other reviewers noted, the author plays fair: we could have followed a trail of clues, but they're not really obvious. We're also provided with a clever and amusing subplot involving Deborah's twin cousins.

This mystery is about as cozy as they come. There's not much suspense. Author Maron takes liberties available to authors writing their tenth mystery: The climactic suspense episode is not related to the main mystery, although Deborah emerges with the clues neatly arranged in her own mind.

As a small-town dweller (and we *do* have a Wal-Mart), I am amazed at mystery heroines who manage to find not only great men -- good-looking, smart and sensitive -- but also great restaurants with perfectly mixed drinks. It makes for good reading but, alas, also a bit of skepticism on the part of some of us readers.

I suspect most readers will read High Country Fall not for plot but for a chance to spend time with Deborah Knott. She's brilliantly drawn, a combination of southern upbringing and contemporary lifestyle. She's totally unpretentious and down-to-earth. And she's got that wonderful family all over the state, flawed but fascinating and always ready to help one another. Deborah's smart without being intellectual. She has a rich exterior life and an astute social sense. And she's strong.

Can she and Dwight live happily ever after? We'll have fun finding out.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Add this series to the Must-Read List if you haven't already, January 13, 2005

By 

Corinne H. Smith (Athol, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: High Country Fall: A Deborah Knott Mystery (Hardcover)

I picked up this book on a whim, based on the simple cover graphics (a sugar maple leaf in four stages of autumn color), the setting (the North Carolina mountains) and the title (I like both mountains and autumn). What a good decision! I love reading mysteries, and this one meets every criteria I can think of to make a good, entertaining, and suspenseful read. Other reviewers have spoken about the plot, so I need not address it. Suffice it to say that Judge Deborah Knott is an independent woman of a sensible age who is intrigued by crime and murder even when she's not on her home turf. All of the characters here are believable and likable -- at least, at first -- and they talk like people do in real life. Maron's descriptions paint such complete scenes that I could picture the town of Cedar Gap fully: the streets, the businesses, the big MacMansions built by the Florida seasonals. I spent such an enjoyable time in Cedar Gap that I must go back and read the other nine Deborah Knott novels, in order. Perhaps by the time I'm caught up, another one will be waiting on the shelf...

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Awesome, September 14, 2004

By 

Alana J. Konieczka "mystery lover in IL" (Glenwood, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: High Country Fall: A Deborah Knott Mystery (Hardcover)

Margaret Maron continues her series of the Southern Judge, with an excellent book. Trying to get some time away from her family, who are just thrilled about her wedding plans, Judge Knott takes a temporary job in a different community.. She uses a condo, which also has some of her cousins staying there, and they are up to something. Of course, a murder occurs, and the judge is off and running. THe end of the book provides a very welcome surprise. I think this book is very well done, with all the characters we're used to, and some good Southern Humor. This author has not dropped off at all, like some of the other series authors have done this year.