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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780446196109
ISBN number: 044619610X
Label: Grand Central Publishing
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 272
Printing Date: August 20, 2008
Publishing house: Grand Central Publishing
Sale Popularity Level: 2483
Studio: Grand Central Publishing
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Product Description:
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.
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Rated by buyers 
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Once again, Margaret Maron writes a compelling mystery with all the right ingredients: a strong believable heroine, a suspenseful plot, a strong sense of place and even a few touches of humor. Luckily I set aside some time on a rainy weekend. It's not a book I can put down easily.
Fans of Deborah Knott will be relieved to find that Deborah's marriage has not weakened the series. We don't get drowned in domestic details but we see glimpses of Deborah enjoying the challenges and rewards of her new roles as wife, stepmother and dog owner. She's caught up in the dynamic economy of North Carolina and the plot details are firmly grounded in 21st century technology and culture.
The plot has been summarized elsewhere. I didn't feel the solution was given away (or else I'm particularly dense) but the ending was consistent, believable and totally satisfying.
As other reviewers noted, Maron has a gift for creating characters who are neither angels nor devils. We might raise an eyebrow at some actions of the "good guys" and it's hard not to be sorry for the villains as they're carted off to jail, served with lawsuits or (in one delightful subplot) simply outwitted by a cunning old-timer.
This series has become one of my favorites. I look forward to each volume and get withdrawal pangs when I finish and realize there's a long wait for the next.
Rated by buyers -
I recently discovered Margaret Maron's charming Judge Deborah Knott mystery series. Before you get misled by the whole "judge" thing, let me assure you that these tales aren't loaded with technical legal jargon you're going to have to be up to speed on. Rather, if you're not from the rural areas, you're gonna have to learn ruralisms and add a bit of redneck to your diet.
Maron has carved out a space of her own with her Knott stories, and I look forward to each new novel every year. Deborah Knott has an extended, and complicated, family, and I've adopted them as my own. Sitting down with these books is almost like going back home to attend a family reunion. There's business, of course, but there's also a lot of gossip about what's going on in the family and in the town.
This time around, the ecology of the town and the outlying lands take up a lot of Deborah's - and the reader's - attention. This is an issue I've been taking into consideration myself, especially since my hometown is starting to insist on bursting at the seams. I love the fact that every restaurant I used to drive to is now practically in my back yard, but traffic and population density have gotten to be problems. And a lot of the trees are gone. I miss the trees.
The murder in DEATH'S HALF ACRE takes a while to get discovered, even though it takes place in the opening pages. Maron introduces the other issues and the mystery almost sits on a back burner too long. Once Candace Bradshaw's secret dealings start to slide out into public view, it doesn't take long before another murder becomes necessary.
I like Maron's characters a lot. Not just the family, though they're a hoot, but also the various bit players. Candace Bradshaw reminds me of some of the hard-nosed women and girls I grew up around. Small towns are going to make those women as a byproduct every time because it's easy to get ostracized in a small town.
The pacing was good, and I liked the subplot where Deborah's daddy had to deal with the local reverend who was taking advantage of his flock. Maron ties together a television show and that plot very well, and I saw what was coming just ahead of the reveal, which is the best place to do that.
However, I was disappointed in how little Deborah was in the book at first. She was definitely in at the end, with her life on the line, but through the meat of the book she was conspicuously missing in action. I read these books to hear her "talk" to me, to nudge me and make me think, and to let me know that we have a lot of the same outlooks and values. Hopefully Deborah will be back on stage more in the subsequent novel.
If you haven't discovered this wonderful series, you can pretty much jump in with any of them. Maron lays out the family and the background pretty quickly, then you're usually in the middle of the plot. These mysteries are great for the beach and for quiet, rainy days.
Rated by buyers 
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I was very disappointed in Margaret Maron's latest book, "Death's Half Acre." It seemed a little thin to be, both literally and figuratively. One of the main reasons I love these books is because of the main character, Deborah Knott and by extension, the rest of the Knott family. I felt like we did not get nearly the same side stories about her family as we have in the past. And the one we did get, about Kezzie, was BORING.
This book deals with a hot topic, commercialization of rural towns. I thought the story was pretty weak given the material Maron had to work with.
But mainly, I'm irritated because I did not get as much of a glimpse of Deborah and her family as I am used too. Not to much about Cal either, and that could be a big plotline on its own.
Oh well, better luck subsequent year.
Rated by buyers -
Pivotal characters in this fourteenth book of the series are Candace Bradshaw, the beautiful but insecure chairman of the Colleton County board of commissioners; Kezzie Knott, Deborah's aging but wiley father; and Faison McKinney, a demanding and underhanded preacher. These people and other characters in the book are involved in land schemes, illicit sex, and even murder. As usual author Margaret Maron spins the plots and characters in a way which keeps the reader interested from cover to cover.
My favorite moments in the series are when Judge Deborah Knott is with her husband, Dwight, and stepson, Cal, or they are with her large, extended family. You gotta love a woman who has 11 older brothers and who overcomes having a bootlegging father to become a judge, devoted to upholding the law. Deborah and the series seem to have adjusted to her as a married woman and the books have returned to being as entertaining as the very first ones of the series.
Rated by buyers -
What I enjoy most about Maron's mysteries are hearing about them in Deborah's voice which is insightful, amusing and often witty. We get much less of Deborah's voice in this offering because of the staging of the plot. It wasn't hard to figure out early on "who done it" in this mystery. It was enjoyable but not one of her best efforts.
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