I really really want to like this series. Judge Knott is a great character and enjoy her crazy family.

But this mystery left me a little wishful that Ms. Maron had spent as much time on the ending as she did on the beginning.

Deborah Knott has just become a district judge and we get a birds eye view of her new life. Now an elected official, Judge Knott is helping a local organization build a house for a single mother and her two kids. And from there, things go terribly wrong. Family emergencies find themselves intertwined with a murder and Judge Knott has to find the killer to clear her name.

This story has a great deal of set up so when, halfway through, the murder happens, there are a slew of suspects. Unfortunately, it felt like Ms. Maron rushed to finish the book. All the sudden the murderer (who was rather obvious) quickly admits to the murder with the rest of the storylines all coming to a nice closure and then end. For all the set up, I felt the ending was a huge let down. Would have loved to see Dwight and Deborah take more time in discovering the killer instead of just having the killer reveal themselves.

I'll give Judge Knott another try as I really do like her. Just hope the story is more evenly thought out.

For some reason this book frustrated me. I felt as if the explanation of the clues to the mystery were arbitrarily explained in one big jumble.

Deborah Knott has been appointed to the bench as a District Court Judge by the governor of North Carolina. To fulfill a campaign promise, Deborah begins working on weekends as part of an all-female construction crew building houses for women who are victims of domestic abuse. Then one night there is a murder in an unfinished house and Deborah's hammer is the murder weapon.

2nd in the series. I liked this one better than some of the others.

Better than the first one! Can't wait to read number 3

This one is a bit dated, a bit all over the place (especially the first few chapters) but still very enjoyable. I could have done without the thing about dogs which plays into stereotypes. The prologue sort of gives away some stuff and Maron can't seem to decide whether this is a mystery or a soapie...but it's not too bad in terms of characterisation and especially Deborah Knott being quite powerful and very capable.

There's a scene where a DV perpetrator gets sent to gaol which is very satisfying despite the fact that in reality they tend not to show their true colours in court quite so much and are more likely to sweet-talk their way out of trouble. But there's an element of escapism about cosy mysteries so that's forgivable. The stuff about girls' friendships is verging on benign homophobia but I think it's unintentional and maybe the author has some unresolved baggage.

The women's collective building houses is cool and I think I will read more of these just hoping for more of that.

Have read several other books in this serious and it was nice to go back to the beginning and see how the judge started out. Liked the concept of women getting together and doing such a huge project like building a house for others. It shows compassion, ability and community. Liked the story line showing how the act of incest can destroy a young life in so many different ways. Also shows conflicts within a family and how acting out can be overdone and cause damage. Very enjoyable. Look forward to reading more in this series.

Judge Deborah Knott discovers who assaulted her teenage niece and who killed a building inspector. I enjoy Maron's Southern characters.