Customer Reviews

Past Imperfect

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I don't understand why several of the BEST books in the Sigrid Harald series are out of print. For my money, this series is even better than the Deborah Knott series, though I like them both enormously.

To make matters worse, because Sigrid's character changes so dramatically (but believably) during the series, it's imperative that the books be read in order. And "Past Imperfect" includes some critical developments in Sigrid's life.

I regret that I gave away the copy I'd bought used, as my sister is now eager to read it. Given the difficulty in finding copies, and the prices for the used copies, it appears I'm not the only one who wants this book back in print. If you come across a copy - grab it and read it.

for my personal favorite of the Sigrid Harald mystery series by Margaret Maron.

Maron makes some quantum leaps with this book...unravels the ongoing tension between MacKinnon and Anne Harald, giving Sigrid some insight, at last, into the career of her father, a detective in the same NYC division that she is now with.

She also perfects telling her tale from several points of view, the most interesting of which is Detective Sergeant Jarvis Vaughn, an interesting potential future partner for Harald.

Lastly, the dual mysteries and deaths in the novel, hit close to home, as someone is killing cops and police dept. civilians. Who the killer is, kept me guessing until it was revealed in the last chapter.

Oscar Nauman plays only a bit part here, and Maron also fades out Tillie, to some extent. The danger to Harald's life, as the murderer is revealed is well drawn and the action scene is memorable.

Past Imperfect showcases all Maron's skills and successfully fills in several gaps in Harald's life. Truly a fine novel, that will hopefully be available in a reprinted version in the near future.

As a preface to any review of the Sigrid Harald series, I think it only right to include the author's note from the final book "Fugitive Colors".

"Lieutenant Sigrid Harald, NYPD first appeared in... "One Coffee With" in 1981. "Fugitive Colors" is her eighth adventure, with each book set in what was - and is - the current "now."
"One Coffee With" began on a blue-sky sunny April day. Spring gave way to summer, then autumn in New York, followed by Christmas and one of the worst Februarys in the city's memory (in Sigrid's memory, too, unfortunately)
For the author, fourteen years have passed. For Sigrid Harald herself, no matter how much internal evidence alert readers may cite to the contrary, it has been only one short tumultuous year.
And now it is spring again. . . "

As mentioned, this jewel of a character study spans the course of eight full length novels plus two short stories, one, "Lieutenant Harald And the `Treasure Island' Treasure" was originally published in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, and the other, "Lieutenant Harald And The Impossible Gun" first appeared in Marilyn Wallace's fourth anthology. Both can be found in Margaret Maron's short story anthology "Shoveling Smoke".

As other reviewers have noted, these stories must be read in the correct order to fully understand the amazing transformation Sigrid goes through in the span of a short year, both internally and externally. And yet, all of the books can stand alone as well-plotted mysteries. This is the mark of Maron's true genius.

"Past Imperfect" (1991) - In February, the fatal shooting of off-duty detective Michael Cluett, recently transferred from Manhattan to Brooklyn and days short of his 40-year tenure, sets off the series of intertwining investigations pursued in Maron's engrossing procedural. After the shooting, Lieutenant Sigrid Harald, Cluett's boss in Manhattan, learns that he and her own boss had worked with her father, also a policeman, and may have shared a dark secret about his death in the line of duty many years before. The subsequent killing of the computer operator checking on the Cluett murder weapon suggests police involvement and leads Harald to probe her father's death. Alternating with the narrative of her search is the voice of Jarvis Vaughn, a black police detective from Brooklyn whose first-person account gives an intimate view of the internal investigation.

Maron writes a terse, technically expert police procedural, its hard-boiled plot undiluted by sentimentality. For Sigrid, this story starts off with her being at the emotional highpoint of her life. Her relationship with Nauman is solid, and provides a way for her to connect with her mother. She now finds herself with friends. Detective Tildon has returned to active duty, and life at work is back to normal. Yet, by the end of the novel, her life is torn apart yet again. This is a must have book in this series!