Margaret Maron Winter's Child

Winter's Child

Margaret Maron

Mysterious, Aug 2006, $24.95

ISBN 0892968109

In Colleton County, North Carolina someone shoots and kills J.D. Rouse in his pick-up truck. The official homicide investigation includes Chief Deputy Dwight Bryant who recently married highly regarded Judge Deborah Knott; he hopes to keep his wife out of the inquiry because he fears for her safety, but Deborah is "Knott" a person to stand around waiting for justice.

In the middle of the night Dwight's eight-year-old son Cal calls sounding upset as his mother Jonna failed to come home. Dwight takes time off from work and the murder investigation to drive to Shaysville, Virginia where he finds his ex-wife is okay though her excuses seem to him as lies. Wondering who she is protecting Dwight is soon stunned when Jonna and cal suddenly vanish. Deborah arrives in Shaysville to help her spouse find his missing son and ex-wife even as more murders occur back in Colleton County where a frantic Dwight knows he is needed but Cal comes first.

Proving dozen is perfect, Margaret Maron's latest Judge Knott whodunit is a fantastic mystery in which the two subplots are tremendous and when the impossible plausibly connect become even that much better. The Judge is fabulous as she must provide solace to her concerned mate while placing herself in harm's way in trying to recover his son safely. Dwight is right in this tale as he is frantic with worry over Cal and to a degree Jonna while also feeling guilt over not being there when his county needs him. However, with all that going for it, the killers in Virginia and Carolina make this one of the year's best suspense tales.

Harriet Klausner