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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780446617598
ISBN number: 0446617598
Label: Grand Central Publishing
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 352
Printing Date: August 01, 2007
Publishing house: Grand Central Publishing
Sale Popularity Level: 27984
Studio: Grand Central Publishing
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Product Description:
It's one month after their wedding, and the future looks bright for Judge Deborah Knott and Sheriff Deputy Dwight Bryant--until a disturbing call from Dwight's 8-year-old son Cal calls him back to Virginia.When he arrives, he is shocked to find that his ex-wife has left the boy alone for almost 24 hours. Worse, as Dwight tries to confront her, she takes the child and leaves town without a word. As Dwight embarks on an all-points search, Deborah hurries to his side. But will they be able to work together to decipher the ex-wife's motives--and, more importantly, will they find young Cal before he comes to harm?
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Rated by buyers -
Margaret Maron has become one of my favorite authors and I especially enjoy the Deborah Knott mysteries. Deborah is a judge and has just recently married Dwight. Dwight gets a call from his son and upon arriving in Virginia finds out that his ex-wife Jonna is missing which left his son Cal on his own. It was a great mystery and it also brought Deborah into the world of Dwight's ex-wife. A second mystery is in progress back home in North Carolina where Dwight is the Sheriff Deputy. This also proved to be an interesting mystery about a man shot in the middle of nowhere. Margaret has a smooth, enjoyable written style and leaves no time for the reader to be bored.
Rated by buyers 
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Written so well I actually felt the winter chill, even here in Texas in the summer. Interesting plot and the Deborah Knott/Dwight Bryant partnership is the best. I can't say more without giving away the plot, but it is definitely a "must read".
Rated by buyers 
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Winter's Child is not the kind of novel that you should really read when starting a new series - I guess. I found this out by reading it very first of any of Margaret Maron's novels. Coming in the middle of things, I was very confused by what was going on.
Apparently the main protagonist for the author is a smart southern lady who is a judge in North Carolina. In this novel, however, she is relegated to the fringes of the story since the focus of the story is on her husband's previous marriage and his son from that marriage.
It all starts with a killing of the town's bad boy. This character beats up his wife, carries on affairs with other married women, gets drunk at any opportunity, picks fights in the bar and elsewhere, and litters. So, when he is killed more people than not heave sighs of relief. Since the judge's husband works as a detective, he is involved in figuring out what caused someone to kill the bully and we are treated - off and on - to a police procedural of how to track down a killer.
However, the main focus of the book is elsewhere. The detective gets a call from his 8 year old son who asks him to come to school with him. This is a bit of a problem as the son lives in Virginia. Nonetheless, hero dad goes off to Virginia for the day and is immediately embroiled in his wife's disappearance and ultimate death; his son's apparent abduction; and all kinds of shenanigans involving the ex-wife's family, friends, and town.
The judge - current wife - jumps into the fray and comes to Virginia to assist. And, thanks heaven for that, as she unravels both sets of murders and provides clues and assistance without which neither crime would be solved.
There is some sort of scizophrenia here. It appears that the judge is the central character, even in a story in which she is not the featured central character! This is only compounded by the odd choice of having the chapters that speak from the judge's point of view in the very first person, and from the detectives' in the third person. That gets particularly awkward when the two meet and work together in solving the crimes.
Another thing that grated on me is the obvious placement of the women in the lead roles as both the protagonists, and the solvers of all that is going on. The men are basically clueless hunks who wonder around to support the smarter women. That is made even worse when the women are also the main ones involved in the violence - both as victims and as the perpetrators! Was it really necessary to have the judge knocked out by a conk on the head? and the female deputy grazed by a bullet?
The ultimate resolution of everything is that pride and prideful people are really violent and prone to create problems for society to avoid having to admit their failings.
Maybe because this novel is a way point on a journey to a place I do not understand, but I will not be following the travails of these people from now on which is too bad since I like the appeal of a young woman judge in the south as a crime solving sleuth!
Rated by buyers -
Newly married Deputy Dwight Bryant gets landed with a chilling duo of murders to investigate. The very first is the vexed question of who shot J.D. Rouse in his pickup truck, and there are a lot of suspects because he was a wife beater and a troublemaker. Then before he can come to grips with this, he gets a disturbing phone call from his son by his very first wife. When he arrives in Virginia in the small town where his ex-wife grew up, he discovers the boy has been alone all night. He's both steamed and disturbed. Whatever her faults, his ex-wife was an excellent, careful mother. He reports her disappearance to the police and swings by her house to pick up clothes for his son. The boy lets his dog out and when Dwight is still checking the house for clues, the boy vanishes.
This mystery is a little different from others in the Deborah Knott series in the split focus between the usual suspects in North Carolina and the chilling mystery that cuts very close to Deborah's heart in attacking her stepson and her new husband. Highly recommended.
Rated by buyers -
There are two murder mysteries in this novel. They may seem unrelated, but when motives are established, a common thread appears.
The one death involves a man who was disliked by almost everyone. He abused his wife, consorted with other women (at least one of whom was married to someone else), picked fights, and generally gave a lot of people reasons to kill him. I suspected the killer, but could not see a motive until the end.
The second death involves Dwight's ex-wife. A generally well thought of woman from a good family who did work in the community and was a member of local society. What secret was there in her life. I did not have a clue until the surprising (at least to me) conclusion of the story.
Dwight leaves the very first case to his deputies back in North Carolina, while he goes to Viginia, at very first in response to a strange call from his eight-year-old son Cal, then staying when Cal turns up missing and his ex-wife turns up dead. As the case unwinds, there are questions of realities vs. wannabe. People can lead sham lives, giving people false impressions.
The cases involve pride, and secrets in people's lives. It was a little slow going at first, but when I got further into the novel, it was harder to put down. Everyone is not who they seem, even historic figures.
Deborah does end up with a stepson to care for (and a dog) promising changes in her life.
I have read the novels in this series out of order, but they read well as stand alone novels.
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