Up Jumps the Devil (Deborah Knott Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "Most of my brothers-Most of my respectable brothers, that is-(Which also includes the ones that've sowed all their wild oats and are now settling into..." (more)
Key Phrases: ornamental corn, road frontage, corn money, Uncle Jap, Cherry Lou, Dick Sutterly (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Margaret Maron, author of Shooting at Loons and Southern Discomfort, continues her saga of change and transformation in fictional Colleton County, North Carolina, guided once again by District Court Judge Deborah Knott. Trouble comes to the county in Up Jumps the Devil with the arrival of the new interstate, which raises property values and pits neighbor against neighbor--even kin against kin. When two residents are killed after refusing to sell their land to real estate speculators, Judge Knott embarks on a quest to find the killer--or killers. The quest also forces her to take a hard look at her assumptions about her fellow townspeople and herself. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

With vivid detail and engaging, credible characters, Maron's series featuring North Carolina district court judge Deborah Knott (Edgar winner Bootlegger's Daughter, etc.) brings to life fictional Colleton County and chronicles a charming but rapidly changing South. Here, the background is the suburbanization of the rural countryside less than an hour by superhighway from Raleigh. A few days after Dallas Stancil refuses to sell his land to a speculator, his stepson and wife murder him. Then, Dallas's peripatetic cousin Allen, the devil from Deborah's past, comes to town. Several days later, Dallas's father, Jap, is killed just before he can divide the property between Merrilee Grimes, his late wife's niece, and Allen. So who killed Jap, and who gets the Stancil land?Dallas's widow? Allen? Merrilee and her husband, Pete? Billy Wall, Jap's partner in the produce business? Dick Sutterly, a real estate developer who has a signed deed to Jap's property? Suspicions extend to Deborah's own family when one of her 11 brothers, visiting from California, reveals that he's lost his job and plans to sell his acreage, which abuts Jap's. In the end, the answer derives from a combination of greed, fear and ignorance of the intricate laws of inheritance. Maron eloquently describes different behaviors toward the land, from stewardship to despoliation. The old-fashioned warmth of the extended Knott family and Maron's well-constructed plot make this series a standout. Mystery Guild selection.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (July 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446604062
• ISBN-13: 978-0446604062
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #76,338 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 4 in The Deborah Knott Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Agatha winner - entertaining tales but not much mystery, July 15, 2001

By	Carol Peterson Hennekens (Colorado Springs, CO United States) - See all my reviews

The key to enjoying this, the fourth book in the Deborah Knott series, is come in with the right expectations. It won an Agatha so you're exepecting lots of sluething. Think again. The mystery component is, at best, about one-fourth of the book. And then, just to be really annoying, Maron never really tells you why or how the killer killed. Normally this would totally sour me on the book but I enjoyed the other three-fourths of the book enough to forgive her.

What this book (and series) is really about is life in contemporary rural North Carolina as seen through the eyes of Deborah Knott. Deborah (don't even think of calling her Deb or Debbie) is the youngest of twelve children (you need a scorecard to keep the brothers straight) and is a district court judge. Between family and litigants, the book is filled with tales of small town life - paternity suit shananigans, stock car racing history, feuds over old family burial plots, and church goers who will gamble on any day but Sunday. Hunters wives (like me) will laugh out loud over the "buck fever" story towards the end of the book.

This particular book dwells on the effect of growth on the community. Land prices are skyrocketing and tract homes are replacing fields. When an elderly landowner (and former stock car builder) is killed without direct descendents, the possible heirs are all looking to grab his land and make a killing. But did they kill to make a killing? One of the possible heirs is Deborah's ex-husband from a annulled marriage - just to make things interesting.

Bottom-line: A good book for people who want to read a book in a southern setting that finds the middle ground between the angst of literary fiction and the buffoons of Jeff Foxworthy. Folks who need non-stop mystery action may want to look elsewhere.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Still having fun with this series., December 11, 2001

By	"bibliofiend" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Up Jumps the Devil (Deborah Knott Mysteries) (Hardcover)

In this fourth book of this series, we finally find out how many brothers Deborah has (11). Her large family of older brothers has been mentioned in previous books, but until now we were never told exactly how many. As for the mystery plot in this book, it is tenuous at best. If you are not paying close attention, you could be left with a lot of questions regarding motive. The main story with this book is that a developer is looking to get his hands on the property that Deborah, her father, and her brothers own (collectively approximately 2500 acres) as well as the surrounding properties owned by neighbors. One of Deborah's brothers (who lives in California) has lost his job and is condering selling his small parcel (3 acres) to the developer. The major difference with this book is that is doesn't have the 'light' humor that Maron has put into her previous books. Still, the author is maintaining a steady pace with the series.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fine addition to a good series, April 26, 1998

By A Customer

This is a good book. Woth reading if you like mysteries and/or a writer who knows how to put together believable characters and wonderful sense of location.