The Right Jack [Mass Market Paperback]

Margaret Maron (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1995

It takes a lot to crack New York City homicide detective Sigrid Harald's cool-as-ice demeanor. But now she's hot. Her partner was at a posh Manhattan hotel when a bomb blast landed him in intensive care. Who was the real target? Sigrid is determined to find out and put the bomber behind bars before he, or she, strikes again. Previously out of print.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

MARGARET MARON grew up on a farm near Raleigh, North Carolina, but for many years lived in Brooklyn, New York. When she returned to her North Carolina roots with her artist-husband, Joe, she bagan a series based on her own background. The first book, BOOTLEGGER'S DAUGHTER, because a Washington Post bestseller that swept the top mystery awards for its year and is among the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century as selected by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. Later Deborah Knott novels UP JUMPS THE DEVIL and STORM TRACK won the Agatha award for Best Novel.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Mysterious Press (May 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446404179
• ISBN-13: 978-0446404174
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #673,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE BEST MYSTERY WRITER EVER!, June 6, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Right Jack (Mass Market Paperback)

I've read each of Maron's books at least three times; the first time to read the story, and afterwards for the pleasure of visiting her characters AND rereading the story. Her scenario does not pall because you now know the ending. I've been reading mysteries for 50 years, starting with Nancy Drew, and I didn't think any writer could come up with a denouement that I hadn't figured out. Maron has surprised me every single time. And her protagonist, Lt. Sigrid Harald, plus all the secondary characters (like Sigrid's sidekick, Detective Tilden--who figures largely in "The Right Jack") are so 3-dimensional that they become valued friends. Maron's other strengths include writing well (and grammatically) so that you are not irritated in that vein. She is only a step behind Thomas Perry and Nicholas Blake in sheer writing talent, but ahead of everyone in writing a mystery with a guaranteed surprise ending that is fair and legitimate. As you gasp at the solution, you realize there are many clues sprinkled throughout the preceding pages. I found her talent for writing mysteries superior to Christie, Sayers, Rendall, James, and even Tey! I also recommend her Judge Deborah Knott mysteries; they are equally superb.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good mystery for cribbage players, December 25, 2000

By 

Elizabeth B. Daykin "eabone" (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Right Jack (Mass Market Paperback)

Margaret Maron's mysteries tend to be very predictable. Generally, it doesn't take too long to figure out whodunit. This is a fun book because of the cribbage element. For cribbage players, this is a must read. This isn't the best in the series, she hasn't yet mastered suspensefullness, but it's still a good read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Favorite Sigrid Novel, February 23, 2011

By 

Karen in OR (Oregon City, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Right Jack (Sigrid Harald Mysteries) (Hardcover)

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.

"The Right Jack" (1987) - In mid-October, NYPD Homicide Detective Sigrid Harald's partner, Detective Tildon, should have been safe at his cribbage tournament in a posh Manhattan hotel but a bomb blast leaves him in intensive care. Sigrid is sent to investigate who the real target was - the college professor with a radical past, the millionaire banker, or the lovely naval intelligence officer? Only by identifying who the real target was - the "right jack" - will Lieutenant Herald be able to solve this case.

This case also marks the complete integration of Sigrid's personal and professional lives. Not only is Sigrid's partner severely injured, but Nauman is close friends with one of murdered competitors and his grieving widow. Another competitor knows both Sigrid and Nauman socially. Will these close personal ties help or hinder Sigrid solve the case? Sigrid finds out that her boss had been her father's partner at the time of his death in the line of duty. And Sigrid's mother finds out about Nauman!

This is one of the most complex plots and one of my personal favorites. It breaks with tradition in that the victim is totally sympathetic. Its complexity comes from trying to identify who the actual intended victim really was.