Long Upon the Land

By: Margaret Maron

Narrated by: Margaret Maron

Margaret Maron, New York Times bestselling author and Mystery Writers of America Grand Master, returns to Colleton County with an exciting Deborah Knott mystery . . .

LONG UPON THE LAND

On a quiet August morning, Judge Deborah Knott's father Kezzie makes a shocking discovery on a remote corner of his farm: the body of a man bludgeoned to death. Investigating this crime, Deborah's husband, Sheriff's Deputy Dwight Bryant, soon uncovers a long-simmering hostility between Kezzie and the slain man over a land dispute. The local newspaper implies that Deborah's family may have had something to do with the murder-and that Dwight is dragging his feet on the case.

Meanwhile, Deborah is given a cigarette lighter that once belonged to her mother. The cryptic inscription inside rekindles Deborah's curiosity about her parents' past, and how they met. For years she has wondered how the daughter of a wealthy attorney could have married a widowed, semi-illiterate bootlegger, and this time she's determined to find the answer.

But why are Deborah's brothers so reluctant to talk about the dead man? Is the murder linked to Kezzie's illegal whiskey business? And could his courtship of Deborah's mother have something to do with the bad blood between the two families? Despite Deborah's promise not to interfere in Dwight's work, she cannot stop herself from doing everything she can to help clear her brothers and her father from suspicion . . .

Critic reviews

Praise for DESIGNATED DAUGHTERS:

In DESIGNATED DAUGHTERS, practically the whole clan shows up at the hospice where Aunt Rachel has interrupted the process of dying to deliver a rambling account of all the things that have been on her wandering mind. It's quite a lovely deathbed aria, narrated in the honeyed accents of the region. But someone must have feared Aunt Rachel might divulge a buried secret because that someone creeps into her room and smothers her with a pillow.

Maron knows how to adorn a solid murder mystery with plenty of ancillary entertainments. But her broader theme involves the way families flourish when they work together for the common good. While there are charming scenes of group projects like building a pond shed and assembling a bluegrass band, the clan members Maron really cherishes are those who devote themselves to caring for the elders of the family. Living saints they are, every last one of them.
—New York Times Book Review

Praise for DESIGNATED DAUGHTERS:

In MWA Grand Master Maron's outstanding 19th mystery featuring judge Deborah Knott of North Carolina's Colleton County (after 2012's The Buzzard Table), Deborah's elderly aunt, Rachel Morton, lies near death in a hospice. Rachel attracts a crowd of friends and relatives as she talks of "babies, fires, and unpaid debts, of someone who beat his wife and of cowbirds and vegetables and broken jars." A distraction allows a killer enough time to slip into Rachel's room and smother her with a pillow, thus ending her ramblings, which apparently concealed deadly secrets. Unraveling those secrets-some 60 years old-is a slow, difficult process with lots of suspects among friends and family. Maron achieves a delicate balance as she explores differences between mistakes, sins, and crimes, and shows that justice is not always arrived at by conventional means. Humor (e.g., Deborah outfoxes an unscrupulous auctioneer) and social issues (e.g., the difficult role of caregivers to the elderly) add to the warmth of a large family with all its foibles, squabbles, and quirks.—Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

good as ever

I love this Deborah Knott series , This is great digging back to the past. She does a great job of wrapping us in the cozy blanket with old friends, and a little murder thrown in

Best one yet

I only listen to detective stories. I like this series because it has good family values and shows that police and detectives can also have a good family life also. This one is my favorite so far because it looks into the past and fills in the blanks on how this family got started.

Enjoyable tale in the series - but I miss CJ Critt

If like me you have followed this series from the first to the nineteenth book--you'll certainly enjoy this tale. Not very the best of the series, but an entertaining mystery and a warm and satisfying exploration of a bit more of the history of the Knott family and Colleton County. The mysteries were well-done and believable, plus I was pleased that I did not figure out some of the twists and turns ahead of time.

I don't know the reason for it, but the loss of CJ Critt as performer/narrator is a jarring disappointment. Critt is a wonderful performer and in the first 17 books of the series became and still is the true Deborah Knott in my mind. It is tough to complain about Margaret Maron's narrating since we are such big fans of her writing! But writing and narrating are different skills.Technically Maron's narration had only a few deficiencies: for example, pronouncing 'pragmatic' to rhyme with 'frog.' Critt gave us a younger, middle-age voice that fits Judge Knott's age over the time span of the series. Maron's performance provides a sweet grandmotherly voice that sounds out of place for contemporary Deborah. Overall, Critt's full, rich voice captures the dreamy atmosphere and pace of the Carolina south.

Both simple and complex

I have been reading Maron for several years now. I love the characters and the clever mysteries. Hear Ms. Maron actually reading the story was great fun. Her accent gives the characters life. This story deals with several mysteries, from the past and the present. Great fun. Buy it, read it or listen; you'll like it regardless.

A fitting end to the series

And Margaret Maron is a wonderful narrator. In fact, I’ve told her that if she’ll read one of the earlier books I’ll buy it again.
I hear some of you: but CJ Critt! Yes, Ms Critt is excellent ... as Stephanie Plum, of Trenton NJ. She doesn’t do so well as genuine southerner Deborah Knott.