MARGARET MARON

TAKE OUT

Judge Deborah Knott and her husband, Sheriff's Deputy Dwight Bryant, are back home in Colleton County amid family and old friends. But the winter winds have blown in several new faces as well. Lt. Sigrid Harald and her mother, Anne, a well-known photographer, are down from New York to visit Mrs. Lattimore, Anne's dying mother. When the group gathers for dinner at Mrs. Lattimore's Victorian home, they meet the enigmatic Martin Crawford, an ornithologist researching a book on Southern vultures. He's also Mrs. Lattimore's long-lost nephew. With her health in decline, Mrs. Lattimore wants to make amends with her family-a desire Deborah can understand, as she, too, works to strengthen her relationship with her young stepson, Cal.Anne is charmed by her mysterious cousin, but she cannot shake the feeling that there is something familiar about Martin . . . something he doesn't want her or anyone else to discover. When a string of suspicious murders sets Colleton County on edge, Deborah, Dwight, and Sigrid once again work together to catch a killer, uncovering long-buried family secrets along the way.

"In her latest Deborah Knott mystery, Maron injects an added spark by spiriting Deborah and her husband, Dwight, to a new locale -- a delayed honeymoon in New York City. Circumstances, including a murder at their borrowed apartment, bring them in contact with Maron's detective from another series, Sigrid Harald, and introduce a new cast of fascinating personalities. I'm always glad to see a new mystery from Maron and look forward to more of both Knott and Harald!" -- Rosemary Pugliese, Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh, NC