Margaret Maron

The author’s Judge Deborah Knott series is among my favorites – Margaret Maron is a tried-and-true writer who can be counted on for great stories and characters. Her earlier series featuring Lt. Sigrid Harald is more police procedural than cozy. I read most of them at the time they were published and recall enjoying that character, too. Unfortunately, three of the Sigrid Harald books are out of print (see book lists below) but available used through Amazon. I spotted one first edition hardcover there with an asking price of almost $1,000. For readers who don’t wish to pay that much of a premium to own copies of the books but want to read them, the author is kind enough to include synopses of all three on her website (http://www.margaretmaron.com/) for readers who need to be filled in on what happened between available books. She also includes there a family tree for Judge Knott – I for one really appreciate knowing more about her family’s complicated genealogy. New readers have lots of catching up to do – always a treat to find.

Books

Deborah Knott series

* Selected as one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century. For complete list, click http://www.mysterybooksellers.com/favorites.html

Sigrid Harald series

Non-series

Author Profile:

"From the time I was a little girl and first realized there was a connection between ordinary people and the printed page, I have wanted to write. I was born and bred in North Carolina, dropped out of college to marry a naval officer I met while working in the Pentagon, then lived in Italy and New York for the next few years until we returned to my family's homeplace. We had a son, life was full, yet all the time, I kept promising myself that I was going to be a writer "someday."

 

Eventually, with the passing years, I realized that if I didn't get down to it, the dream would never happen on its own. Poetry was my first love and continues to enchant me, but when I began writing seriously, short stories seemed to be my natural form.

 

"For the first twelve years of my professional life, it never occurred to me that I could write books. I was totally intimidated by the long form. But circumstances prevailed. The short story market dried up in the late '70s and I backed into the novel by doubling a short story three separate times until I finally had enough pages to call it a book.

 

"Since then, I've done it twenty-one more times, yet I'm still intimidated and still face each new book with the fear that I won't be able to pull it off again."

 

Photo and profile from author's website. Used with permission.

Author website: http://www.margaretmaron.com/