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    Christmas Mourning
    Christmas Mourning
    Christmas Mourning
    Audiobook9 hours

    Christmas Mourning

    Written by Margaret Maron

    Narrated by C. J. Critt

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Margaret Maron's best-selling Deborah Knott mystery series won instant acclaim upon its debut in 1993. In this 16th entry in the series, the judge is faced with a horrifying holiday murder case. After a beautiful young cheerleader is found dead in a car wreck, Judge Knott's husband Deputy Dwight Bryant discovers evidence that the death was anything but an accident. Now Knott and Bryant are on a desperate search for a killer before he or she strikes again.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateNov 15, 2010
    ISBN9781449828325
    Christmas Mourning

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    Reviews for Christmas Mourning

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      Judge Deborah Knott has a busy December. She's got a full docket as judge in Colleton County, North Carolina. It's Christmas and she has presents to buy for her 11 brothers and their families; plus it's her first wedding anniversary. Her husband Dwight Bryant is busy, too, as Chief Deputy. Both must take time for murder.But before the murders of the ne'er-do-well Wentworth brothers, Deborah and her neighbors puzzle over and mourn the death of Mallory Johnson, the golden girl at the West Colleton High School, who was killed in a single-car accident that no one who knew her can quite figure out. Everyone in Colleton County knows everyone's history -- and everyone's history is entwined with everyone else's. While Dwight works on the official investigations of the Wentworth murders and Mallory Johnson's accident, Deborah keeps her eyes and ears open, asks a few questions and whispers the answers into Dwight's ear. Christmas mysteries are among my favorites -- although reading them in February isn't my usual choice. But Margaret Maron's mysteries are also among my favorites, so I'll read her any time her books become available. Christmas Mourning doesn't' disappoint. Margaret Maron does everything right -- plot, characters, dialog -- you name it. Christmas Mourning is a fast read even though it has a complicated plot with many characters (including all Deborah's nieces and nephews) and multiple viewpoints. The author captures the essence of small-town life, where everything and everybody are interconnected generations back. Christmas is not just a backdrop to the story, but is an integral part of it. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      Judge Deborah Knott has returned for another installment in her long-running mystery series by author Margaret Maron. I always enjoy reading what Deborah, Dwight, and their families are up to, and the series moves along at a fairly sedate pace making it possibly to know these folks more intimately. I was a little disappointed in this book because I figured out "who done it" about two-thirds of the way through the book and was a little disgusted that it took Dwight and his colleagues at the sheriff's department so long to come to the same conclusions. Nonetheless, it's a fun read set at Christmas time and sure to put the reader in the right frame of mind, even if several murders do pop up along the way!
    • 5/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      Another good entry in this fine and comfortable series. An auto accident and the death of two ne'er do wells seem to be unrelated as the Sheriffs Department starts its investigation. Lots of family events provide many sources of information As the plot unfolds. Deb'bra and Dwight settle into their life with Cal and look forward to the Holidays. An old relationship ending in an accident becomes key to the investigion as does a bag of roadside debris. Links to a NYC detective are revealed fly some senior family member and a belated honeymoon is scheduled.
    • 2/5
      Not up to Maron's usual standards...simplistic ploy, no character development, and the cast of characters is like reading the early chapters of the Bible...way to many names of people who are doing absolutely nothing, but decorating the scenery. I like Judge Deborah Knott, but this book, must've been written to raise some quick Christmas cash for the author.
    • 4/5
      I don't really read these Deborah Knott mysteries for the mystery anymore. Not because the mysteries are bad. Generally, and the one in Christmas Mourning is no different, the mysteries are superb and some of the most well crafted I've ever read. But, I can read a million different mysteries, this series is the only place that I can read the awesome story lines of Deb Knott, her crazy awesome extended family, her hilarious friends and even her Dwight Bryant and his son Cal. It's the subplots, like why in the world Cal suddenly is calling Deb 'she, 'her' etc instead of Deborah. That's the kind of filler for the mystery that makes the story just leap off the page.The mystery is the story of a teen named Mallory, a senior in high school, a popular cheerleader, who crashes her car in a one car crash. Lots of theories get explored throughout the novel and the ending, while not exactly horribly surprising, was a good ending.All in all it was another Maron gem. Now comes the real hard part of the Margaret Maron books. Waiting for the next one to be created and published.
    • 3/5
      While not my favorite Margaret Maron book, I still enjoyed it a good bit. As usual, love the North Carolina setting, and the narrator was good.
    • 5/5
      It is such fun to spend time in Colton County with Judge Deborah Knott, her Deputy Sheriff Dwight, his son Cal and her extended family of Knott's that are spread across the county and the country.

      This book starts with a tragedy when a young woman about to graduate from high school is killed in an automobile accident. Or was it? On a seemingly unrelated thread two young men are found shot to death in their front yard.

      As usual Deborah tries to stay our of Dwight's investigation but her extended family and friends network give her hints and assistance to unravel the deaths. She doesn't do as much hands-on investigating this time but it is fascinating how her "network" works.

      Looking forward to the next in the series.
    • 5/5
      Another book in one of the best loved series i've ever read. I love to read what Deborah and her family are up to, they have become comforting southern types for me ,and Margaret Maron always throws in a good mystery and history to make all her reads fun.
    • 4/5
      Very well written as usual. I love the picture of Carolina family life and the cast of characters thought large are all very unique. The mystery was good but not all that mysterious. Once you apply the no extraneous characters rule, it becomes pretty clear as to what the connections are. But still, it was done in an interesting and honest way.
    • 4/5
      Like the previous ones in the series, the reader is immediately returned to a family of epic proportions and Maron's inclusion of a family tree in the beginning of the volume is an enormous help in getting each character in place quickly.This one involves a popular cheerleader who is killed while driving home one evening. Controversy swirls when her father refuses to believe the coroner's report showing alcohol in her system. Shortly after this accident, two young men who had frequent flyer status with the local law enforcement establishment are found murdered. Is there a connection between these two happenings? Deborah and her husband Dwight (the local sheriff) sacrifice a planned for romantic evening celebrating their first wedding anniversary to investigate leads about what really happened. A well written, well plotted, enjoyable read. While it is set during the Christmas time period, it is not necessarily a holiday story and can be enjoyed at any time of the year. I'm looking forward to reading the others of the series I haven't yet gotten to. Stay tuned in 2011.
    • 3/5
      This is a mystery series set in North Carolina about a female judge, Deborah Knotts, and her huge family of relatives. I like this series, for it emphasis on family and simple living. This story centers on the death of teenagers due to drinking and texting while driving. Also presented are the plight of repeat criminals and the sense of evil that continues in a family. Maron presents a picture of the wealthy and the down trodden, and a view of all the blended families.
    • 4/5
      Judge Deborah Knott has returned for another installment in her long-running mystery series by author Margaret Maron. I always enjoy reading what Deborah, Dwight, and their families are up to, and the series moves along at a fairly sedate pace making it possibly to know these folks more intimately. I was a little disappointed in this book because I figured out "who done it" about two-thirds of the way through the book and was a little disgusted that it took Dwight and his colleagues at the sheriff's department so long to come to the same conclusions. Nonetheless, it's a fun read set at Christmas time and sure to put the reader in the right frame of mind, even if several murders do pop up along the way!
    • 4/5
      Number 16 in the Judge Deborah Knott of North Carolina series.I’m a big fan of this series, because I think that in Deborah Knott, Maron has created a different female police procedural protagonist--sharp, independent, witty, feminist, steel magnolia who subscribes to many of the traditional values such as marriage and strong family ties. She’s also a “yellow dog” Democrat (meaning rather than vote Republican, she’ll vote for a yellow dog if it’s on the Democratic ticket) in a Democratic district in a state that has gone Republican since the Dixiecrats walked out (think Strom Thurmond). I thought of Maron on Election Night in 2008 when North Carolina barely, just barely went Democratic for the first time in nearly 50 years.She also has a huge family--11 brothers with wives children and grandchildren, the offspring of a notorious bootlegger, her father Kezzie Knott. The very presence of that massive family provides enough spare characters and situations to keep the books lively and full of interest. Character development is one of her best points.Maron is superb with local color, which is another attraction of the series. Colleton County is fictional, but she has final more or less admitted that it’s copied from Johnston County, where she lives. Her writing is very good to excellent and she has a fine ear for dialogue. Her plots are pretty standard, but they hold up and furnish plenty of tension to keep the books interesting and the series one I want to continue to read.Usually although not in every book, Maron comments on some social or even environmental issue connected with the plot. But the issues, while developed for the setting and situation, are never resolved in a standard way. In this book, which takes place just before Christmas, the issue is teen use of cell phones and text messaging while driving, and the story opens with separate accidents and four teen deaths in which the use of cell phones is implicated.Maron does a good job with teens, and the story is believable. But as usual, it doesn’t resolve in an expected way. It’s not the best in the series, but it’s still a very fine read from a very fine author who has wisely matured and developed her protagonist and other characters as the years have rolled on, giving the reader the satisfying feeling of growing up with all of tthem. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      The death of yet another teenager in a car accident casts a pall over Colleton County shortly before Christmas. The sheriff's department is also busy investigating the shooting deaths of two young layabouts. And the Knott family are preparing for the holidays. All of this keeps Deborah and company busy.Not the best in the series, but certainly not bad. An enjoyable visit with old friends, with the hint of more coming in the next book.