Customer Reviews

Uncommon Clay

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Continuing my love affair with the works of Margaret Maron, I returned to her Deborah Knott series and really enjoyed "Uncommon Clay", which is a quick read with an ending that surprised me.

Deb is again on the road, visiting Asheboro this time, and the reader gets the treat of learning more about NC folk crafts...(prior novels have featured furniture), this time with the work of Carolina's folk pottery industry. Some interesting and colorful new characters and friends are added to the story line. The book also continues the saga of Deb's romances, and how badly they go sometimes. In this tale, Deb has two embarrassing scrapes with the down side of relationships. Maron also takes the time to insert a small tidbit about Oscar Nauman, a character from her Sigrid Harald series, in a way that makes the reference seem real and natural.

With its interesting plots, spunky heroine, delightful descriptions of large southern families and friends, and its ability to educate the reader on the life and times of beautiful NC, the Knott series is a fast, entertaining, and well written group of books. Uncommon Clay still leaves me hungry for more!

Judge Deborah Knott is called to a town where she is to mediate the splitting of property during the divorce settlement of two well-known potters. Soon after she arrives, one of the disputants is found dead. Deborah does some investigating and finds out that there is a history of problems among the members of this artistic family. The patriarch, Amos, rules over his clan with an iron fist and causes jealousy and infighting when he keeps changing his will as to who will inherit the business. Several people seem to have a motive for murder, and soon other murders occur. As usual, author Moran evokes a vivid picture of the North Carolina countryside and the folk artists who inhabit this particular area of the state. This is a good read!

In this novel Deborah Knott visits the pottery making area of Asheboro, NC. She is sent to the area by the Chief Judge to help clear out a backlogged court calendar. She hopes to buy a platter for her new home. One of the cases involves the divorce of two people from famous potting families. Just before their valuable collection is divided, the husband is brutally murdered. In addition to untangling the marital woes of the area, she now has to solve a murder.

This is another excellent novel by Maron. She takes us to yet another area of North Carolina, and her descriptions are very vivid. She gives you many clues to solve the mystery, yet I still didn't figure it out until nearly the end. Great book!!

Uncommon Clay is not one of Margaret Maron's best Judge Deborah Knott books. That said, it is still very much worth reading. The ending was a little too easy to figure out for my tastes. However, Maron (in the Knott series) has a great ability to describe people and places so that you truly feel that not only can you imagine what it would be like - but you can feel like you are there. Uncommon Clay taught me a lot about pottery making in the area. Also, we learn more about Deborah's friendships. I was glad to see the end of her relationship; although, I do think it would be nice to see her get revenge. "Living well is the best revenge" and by the end of the book, I'm not sure I was satisfied that she was living well. I highly recommend all of the Judge Deborah Knott books.

I have been a fan of Margaret Maron's for years. I read all of her first series of books, the Sigrid Harald mysteries. I was at first disappointed when she had made the switch to Deboral Knott and had a hard time liking Deborah as much as Sigrid - maybe with Sigrid, "like" is not the right word, but rather "fascinated by" is better put. I have now, however, come to enjoy this series as much. In this episode, Judge Knott has recently broken with her semi-boyfriend and she is assigned to a divorce settlement case in a neighboring city. One of the divorcing spouses is killed and Deborah steps in to help solve the murder. This is a bit different from the regular Judge Knott mysteries as she does not actively work on finding the culprit, rather she lets people around her gossip, watches peoples'interactions, and puts two and two together. Maron's writing, as usual, is topnotch; the mystery is easy to figure out but the book is still a winner because she always makes the surrondings and people inhabiting the book interesting. Can't wait for the next episode, "Slow Dollar." Keep 'em coming, Ms. Maron!

The Nordan family has problems. The death of three of them in rather gruesome ways is the least of it. The head of the family Amos Nordan is a cave man in his thinking, about woman, and the government interfering with his business, and its causing the rest of the family nothing but trouble. Lucky for the readers there Judge Deborah Knott, with her easy and funny look on life, and of course the need to stick her noise into places it shouldn't be, but than what kind of Judge would she be if she didn't do thank. In the end all the string will be neatly tied, and of course the killer will get what's coming to um.

Margaret Maron really writes a great mystery. The book is fun to read, and the killer isn't all that obvious. Her characters truly come to life within these pages. This is the first of her books I have read, but it will not be last. If you are fan of southern mysteries, with real woman characters, you'll love this book. I can also recommend this book highly to fans of Sharon McCrumb, another great southern mystery writer.

Except for Storm Track, I've read all of the Deborah Knott series. To me, Uncommon Clay is the best yet! The research and information that Margaret supplied about the NC pottery industry was a bonus to the solid mystery she always provides. I'll be going to Seagrove soon. Too bad I won't be able to find her fictious potteries - I'd love to meet these characters!

I delayed reading this book, because Killer Market was so bad.
The other Deborah Knott books were good. As I live only 9 miles
from Seagrove I wanted to see if the book was accurate and it
was to my knowledge, except for one little detail and that is
Dorothy and Walter Auman had a son and grandchildren, but they
are not in the pottery business, so this detail is not at all
important. I'm forgetting Killer Market and am going to return
to reading all the Margaret Maron books, right after I go to
Seagrove and buy some more pottery.

The best parts of the book were the details woven into the story about the potting industry and the inanimate objects d'art - the pottery itself. Maron did a great job describing the items and helping the reader understand the intricacies of this art form, and what it takes to be a great potter.

The next best parts were about Deborah and her friends, especially the hilarious romantic encounters (although I cannot envision how she could see what she described underneath the judge's black robe).

The big problem with this book was with the truly unlikable potters who were central to the plot. They were so completely unsavory - greedy, unethical, callous, despicable people - that I found I didn't really care who murdered them. In fact, there were times when I felt the killer was doing us a favor by ridding the world of such creeps. So the ending was rather sad for me; i.e., the killer is now going to be separated from a loving family member who needed the relationship.

If you read this book, you will learn to appreciate what it takes to be a potter who, day after day and year after year, is able to turn lumps of dirt into pieces of dinnerware and lovely art. But I don't think you'll be lamenting the loss of those dreadful people who were murdered.

This was an enjoyable mystery set in rural North Carolina. The main story line in the book revolves around the Norden family and thier pottery. Judge Deborah Knott is sent to Seagrove, North Carolina, to preside over the final property division to finalize the divorce between local potters James Lucas Norden and his soon-to-be-exwife Sandra Kay Norden. But when James Lucas is found gruesomely murdered at the Norden family pottery, Judge Knott finds herself embroiled in the Norden family's drama. This interesting story is full of surprising plot twists.

In addition to the well-told mystery, the author weaves in a lot of information about the craft of making pottery.

This is the eighth book featuring Judge Deborah Knott. It's the first one that I have read and I definitely plan on going back to the beginning of this series and enjoying them all!