Most Popular Books by Margaret Maron

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.

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.

Book 7 in the award-winning Deborah Knott series

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.

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

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.

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 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.

As Deborah and her husband, Sheriff''s Deputy Dwight Bryant, investigate they cross paths with an unlikely set of suspects: Rachel''s longtime minister; her neighbor, the respected local doctor; the friendly single father who often sought her advice; and perhaps the most puzzling party of all, the Designated Daughters, a support group for caregivers that Rachel''s own daughter belongs to. When Judge Deborah Knott is summoned to her ailing Aunt Rachel''s bedside, she assumes the worst. Thankfully when she arrives at the hospice center she learns that Rachel hasn''t passed; in fact, the dying woman is awake. Surrounded by her children, her extended family, and what seems like half of Colleton County, a semi-conscious Rachel breaks weeks of pained silence with snippets of stories as randomly pieced together as a well-worn patchwork quilt. But the Knott family''s joy quickly gives way to shock: less than an hour later, Aunt Rachel is found dead in her bed, smothered with a pillow. Who would kill a woman on her deathbed? Was it an act of mercy, or murder? Soon Deborah and Dwight realize that the key to solving this case is hidden in Rachel''s mysterious final words. Her mixed-up memories harbored a dark secret-a secret that someone close to them is determined to bury forever.

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.

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.

- "High Country Fall, Margaret Maron''s most recent installment in the Deborah Knott series, was published in Mysterious Press hardcover in 8/04, with a first printing of 40,000 copies.- Margaret Maron swept the top mystery awards with her first Deborah Knott hardcover, "Bootlegger''s Daughter (Mysterious Press, 1992), receiving the Edgar1 Award for Best Mystery Novel, the Agatha Award, the Macavity, and the Anthony. She also won a 1992 Agatha Award for the short story that introduced the character of Deborah Knott, and later, she received the Agatha Award for Best Novel for "Up Jumps the Devil (Mysterious Press, 1996). Maron was nominated for an Agatha Award for "Home Fires (Mysterious Press, 1998), and most recently, "Storm Track (Mysterious Press, 2000) won the Agatha Award for Best Novel. "Last Lessons of Summer (Mysterious Press, 2003), was also nominated for an Agatha Award.- "Last Lessons of Summer, Slow Dollar, and Uncommon Clay were all selected as Mystery Guild Main Selections.

It''s Christmas in rural North Carolina''s Colleton County and Judge Deborah Knott is looking forward to a family celebration when a tragedy clouds the holiday season. A beautiful young cheerleader dies in a car crash and the community is devastated by her death. Sheriff''s Deputy Dwight Bryant soon learns that her death was not a simple accident, and more lives may be lost unless he and Deborah can discover why she died.

Margaret Maron, New York Times bestselling author and Mystery Writers of America Grand Master, returns to Colleton County with an exciting Deborah Knott mystery . . . LONG UPON THE LAND On a quiet August morning, Judge Deborah Knott''s father Kezzie makes a shocking discovery on a remote corner of his farm: the body of a man bludgeoned to death. Investigating this crime, Deborah''s husband, Sheriff''s Deputy Dwight Bryant, soon uncovers a long-simmering hostility between Kezzie and the slain man over a land dispute. The local newspaper implies that Deborah''s family may have had something to do with the murder-and that Dwight is dragging his feet on the case. Meanwhile, Deborah is given a cigarette lighter that once belonged to her mother. The cryptic inscription inside rekindles Deborah''s curiosity about her parents'' past, and how they met. For years she has wondered how the daughter of a wealthy attorney could have married a widowed, semi-illiterate bootlegger, and this time she''s determined to find the answer. But why are Deborah''s brothers so reluctant to talk about the dead man? Is the murder linked to Kezzie''s illegal whiskey business? And could his courtship of Deborah''s mother have something to do with the bad blood between the two families? Despite Deborah''s promise not to interfere in Dwight''s work, she cannot stop herself from doing everything she can to help clear her brothers and her father from suspicion . . .

A small-town judge finds drama, danger, and murder at an oceanside work conference in this fifteenth entry in the award-winning mystery series. "Maron''s homespun evocation of people and place is typically pitch-perfect, her use of the judicial milieu skillful—and her engaging heroine as welcome a companion as you could wish for under a beach umbrella." — Publishers Weekly When Judge Deborah Knott travels to Wrightsville Beach for a summer conference for North Carolina District Court Judges, she stumbles upon the body of one of her colleagues. Meanwhile, Deborah''s husband, Sheriff''s Deputy Dwight Bryant, is in Virginia with his son, tying up loose ends left by the death of his first wife. When another judge is found murdered at the conference, it soon becomes evident that Deborah may be the killer''s next target. Her relaxing trip to the seaside soon transforms into a harrowing experience, and she must summon all her strength and investigative expertise to track down the culprit before she becomes the next victim. "Maron is a pro . . . and Sand Sharks is up to her usual standard. As Deborah breezily narrates the details, the author spins out a scenario with plenty of intriguing characters (and possible suspects) and enough false leads to keep readers guessing." — Wilmington Star-News

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.

First in a series featuring Deborah Knot, bootlegger''s daughter and lawyer in a small North Carolina town, who is running for District Judge.