Hard Row: A Deborah Knott Mystery

by: Margaret Maron

Published by: Warner Books

Reviewed by Kathy Perschmann

Hard Row is the thirteenth in the Deborah Knott series from award-winning author Margaret Maron.

Judge Knott and her new husband Sheriff Dwight Bryant are adjusting to married life, and being fulltime parents to Dwight’s 8-year-old son Cal, after the death of his mother.

Buck Harris, a local vegetable farmer who has become a success through hard work, is dumping his wife and hanging out with a younger woman—a gold digger. He does not show up in Judge Knott’s court in a hearing on the settlement of his property in his divorce (not a new occurrence).

He also turns out to be connected to the assorted body parts that keep turning up along the ditches of Colleton County, North Carolina. Once the body is identified, there seem to be no paucity of suspects. His treatment of his “guest workers” has earned him fines in the past, and his soon-to-be ex-wife still is trying to keep their working and living conditions acceptable. He had many lovers and some of them had angry husbands. His wife was angry and disgusted with his behavior in many areas of his life. The many inter-connections in that exist in small towns help solve this case.

Maron’s books are always great reading. Her love of North Carolina and the agrarian lifestyle shines through her books. The many changes in selling and marketing, deciding what to grow, working crops, all the fascinating details are part of this story.

Armchair Interviews says: A mystery with lots of added interesting information about raising crops.

Author’s Web site: http://www.margaretmaron.com