What We're Reading: Rita

Sand Sharks, by Margaret Maron

This is the 15th entry in Maron’s Deborah Knott series and finds the “bootlegger’s daughter” attending a judge’s conference in Wrightsville Beach, NC, which sounds like a lovely setting for a working weekend getaway. Of course, this being a mystery series, a dead body turns up and Judge Knott is immediately embroiled in the investigation. Readers familiar with the series will appreciate the maturation of Deborah’s character from a young attorney running for a seat on the judicial bench to her current status as new wife and stepmother and, as always, an insider’s look at the protagonist’s (and author’s) native North Carolina. This is an intelligently written mystery series which includes, in addition to an engaging main character and lovely descriptions of North Carolina locales, plots that incorporate current social issues such as urban sprawl and the plight of migrant workers. To fully appreciate the series, start at the beginning.

1. Bootlegger’s Daughter
2. Southern Discomfort
3. Shooting at Loons
4. Up Jumps the Devil
5. Killer Market
6. Home Fires
7. Storm Track
8. Uncommon Clay
9. Slow Dollar
10. High Country Fall
11. Rituals of the Season
12. Winter’s Child
13. Hard Row
14. Death’s Half Acre
15. Sand Sharks