Best Selling Books by Margaret Maron

This smart, sassy series introduces Deborah Knott, candidate for district judge--and daughter of an infamous bootlegger. Deborah''s campaigning is interrupted when disturbing new evidence surrrounding a murder that has never been solved surfaces and she is implored to investigate.

When another body is found, these newlyweds will discover dark truths that threaten to permanently alter the serenity of their rural surroundings and their new life together. As Judge Deborah Knott presides over a case involving a barroom brawl, it becomes clear that deep resentments over race, class, and illegal immigration are simmering just below the surface in the countryside. An early spring sun has begun to shine like a blessing on the fertile fields of North Carolina, but along with the seeds sprouting in the thawing soil, violence is growing as well. Mutilated body parts have appeared along the back roads of Colleton County, and the search for the victim''s identity and for that of his killer will lead Deborah and her new husband, Sheriff''s Deputy Dwight Bryant, into the desperate realm of undocumented farm workers exploited for cheap labor. In the meantime, Deborah and Dwight continue to adjust to married life and to having Dwight''s eight-year-old son, Cal, live with them full time.

With friends and family over-reacting to her announcement that she plans to marry Sheriff''s Deputy Dwight Bryant, Judge Deborah Knott gratefully seizes the opportunity to put a five-hour drive between herself and Colleton County when the Chief District Court Judge offers her a week on the bench in Cedar Gap. It is early autumn, leaves are turning, and summer residents are preparing to close up their mountain "cabins" (palatial houses perched atop the most desirable locations) and return to their winter homes in Florida. But Deborah''s peaceful break is disrupted when one Floridian is found murdered. He won''t be going home, and Deborah won''t be either - until she tracks down the killer.

A relic of Manhattan''s Gilded Age, the Erich Bruel House on Gramercy Park contained three floors of glorious art--and one Christmas corpse. Now it''s up to Lieutenant Sigrid Harald to wrap up this homicide before the killer strikes again.

A moonlit autumn night brings out half the county to fill the Tilt-O-Whirl with squealing riders and the dirt around Polly''s Pitch Plate with losers'' quarters. But in an air nostalgically sweet with caramel apple and spun sugar, one crooked game ends with a brutal death ... and Judge Deborah Knott will discover more than a body. For beneath the carnival''s razzle-dazzle surface swirl dark secrets that Deborah has kept hidden for almost twenty years. Now as family loyalties war with the demands of the law, she must struggle to win a carny''s trust-before the killer pins a bull''s-eye on yet another victim.

Three-Day Town is the winner of the Agatha award for best novel where Deborah and Dwight must team up with Lt. Harald to catch the killer before he strikes again. After a year of marriage, Judge Deborah Knott and Sheriff''s Deputy Dwight Bryant are off to New York City for a long-delayed honeymoon. January might not be the perfect time to take a bite of the Big Apple, but Dwight''s sister-in-law has arranged for them to stay in her Upper West Side apartment for a week. Deborah had been asked to deliver a package to Lieutenant Sigrid Harald of the NYPD from Sigrid''s Colleton County grandmother. But when the homicide detective comes to pick it up, the package is missing and the building''s super is found murdered.

Margaret Maron—winner of the most prestigious awards in mystery fiction—returns with another novel featuring her critically acclaimed sleuth Deborah Knott. Unchecked urbanization has begun to eclipse the North Carolina countryside. As farms give way to shoddy mansions, farmers struggle to slow the rampant growth. In the shadows, corrupt county commissioners use their political leverage to make profitable deals with new developers. A murder will pull Judge Deborah Knott and Sheriff''s Deputy Dwight Bryant into the middle of this bitter dispute and force them to confront some dark realities.

Major hurricanes developing in North Carolina coincide with raging domestic disputes, particularly after a lawyer''s promiscuous wife is murdered in a motel, and stories of illicit affairs involve the most unlikely people.--

A judge''s new marriage is tested as she and her husband hunt for his missing ex-wife and son in the twelfth entry in this award-winning mystery series. "Outstanding. . . . Maron brilliantly connects the unconnected, hides one killer in plain sight and tucks another into a most unexpected position." — Publishers Weekly (starred review) It''s one month after their wedding, and the future looks bright for Judge Deborah Knott and Sheriff Deputy Dwight Bryant—until a disturbing call from Dwight''s eight-year-old son Cal calls him back to Virginia. When he arrives, he is shocked to find that his ex-wife has left the boy alone for almost twenty-four hours. Worse, as Dwight tries to confront her, she takes the child and leaves town without a word. As Dwight embarks on an all-points search, Deborah hurries to his side. But will they be able to work together to decipher the ex-wife''s motives—and, more importantly, will they find young Cal before he comes to harm? "In Maron''s charming, folksy, small-town world, even the mayhem is domestic in nature, in this case prompted by stolen antiques and highway litter." — Booklist

Judge Deborah Knott of Seagrove, North Carolina, must unearth a local family''s tragic past to find a vengeful killer in the eighth installment of the award-winning mystery series by Maron.

At a stop along her campaign trail, Judge Deborah Knott attends a community picnic at the Mt. Olive Church. When the historic building is destroyed by a fire shortly after the outing; and the charred skeleton of a young man is found among the ashes; Knott begins her own investigation into the tragedy. Earlier national news reports of a fire at a local African-American church had already gained the attention of Wallace Adderly, a Black Panther from the 70s. Knott and Adderly team up to discover if the blazes are merely coincidence, or the work of a racist arsonist. As the number of suspects rises, Deborah finds herself re-examining her own beliefs and values as she and Adderly race to prevent another devastating loss in the community.The mass market edition of Killer Market (Mysterious Press 8/97) will be published simultaneously with Home Fires Burning.A Main Selection of The Mystery Guild.

Second in the Deborah Knott series - Deborah Knott''s swearing-in ceremony is barely over when a brutal murder brings to light dark secrets from Deborah''s own family.

Fourth installment in the multi-award-winning Deborah Knott mystery series by acclaimed author, Margaret Maron. Winner of the Agatha Award for Best Novel of 1996.

New York Times bestselling author Margaret Maron returns with a thrilling new Deborah Knott mystery where Deborah, Dwight, and Sigrid once again work together to catch a killer, uncovering long-buried family secrets along the way. 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.

From New York Times bestselling, award-winning author Margaret Maron--winner of the Edgar Award, Agatha Award, Anthony Award, and Macavity Award for her classic mystery The Bootlegger''s Daughter--comes a stunning mystery featuring NYPD Detective Sigrid Harald. "Every Margaret Maron is a celebration of something remarkable." -- New York Times Book Review "Maron writes with wit and sophistication." -- USA Today "There''s nobody better." -- Chicago Tribune NYPD Detective Sigrid Harald is still reeling from the untimely death of her lover, acclaimed painter Oscar Nauman, when she is called to investigate the poisoning of two homeless men in the West Village. As she examines the mysterious deaths, Sigrid uncovers a grim neighborhood scandal surrounding two influential women: one a haughty mafia widow, the other a retired opera prima donna, both with dark secrets they''ve kept under wraps for decades. Was the poison really meant for the homeless men, or were they merely unintended victims as the decades-long feud between the two women comes to a head? And still, Sigrid can''t stop wondering what brought her late lover so urgently across the country to the winding mountain road that took his life--until she meets a man who may hold the answers she seeks . . . . "Opening a new Margaret Maron is like unwrapping a Christmas gift." -- Cleveland Plain Dealer "Of today''s series writers none has been more successful at weaving the bond between star and audience than Margaret Maron." -- San Diego Union-Tribune

Recently widowed Kate Honeycutt returns to North Carolina and finds that another of her husband''s old war buddies from Vietnam has been killed, and that the man who may have the answers has disappeared