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A review by sscs
The Buzzard Table by Margaret Maron
3.0
I so want to declare one of my favorite mystery writers "back," but she's just not quite there yet. This is her best effort in years, though, since "Winter's Child" at least. While it is inevitable that the main character of a long series gets a little dull, it has been painful to watch Deborah get less interested in solving mysteries and more so in raising her stepson and what she's making for dinner. In this book the decline continues. To my thinking, here she only shines in the scenes that are in her courtroom. Taking her place as the main detectives in this book are Sigrid Harald* from Maron's other series and Deborah's husband Dwight.
Deborah's decline as a main character sucks, but this book is at least partially redeemed in my eyes by the mystery which is, thank goodness, well-written and fair play. This is Maron's first book in years that felt like it was written by an Agatha winner and is a huge climb in storytelling from the nadir that was "Sand Sharks." It's not the most difficult mystery Maron has ever written, but it is hard enough to be fun without the solution at all feeling out of the blue.
"The Buzzard Table" is a long way from Maron's best work, but it is enough to keep a diehard fan reading.
Oh, almost forgot. Got this one on audio. The lady reading it, C.J. Critt, seriously needs to dial the theatrics down a bit.
*For Sigrid Harald fans from back in the day, getting Grandmother Lattimore's perspective on Sigrid and to some degree getting her side of the story is awesome, no lie. It took literally 30 years for the Lattimore side of the family to get character development, but it happened. If Grandmother Lattimore gets her own book, I will read it.
Deborah's decline as a main character sucks, but this book is at least partially redeemed in my eyes by the mystery which is, thank goodness, well-written and fair play. This is Maron's first book in years that felt like it was written by an Agatha winner and is a huge climb in storytelling from the nadir that was "Sand Sharks." It's not the most difficult mystery Maron has ever written, but it is hard enough to be fun without the solution at all feeling out of the blue.
"The Buzzard Table" is a long way from Maron's best work, but it is enough to keep a diehard fan reading.
Oh, almost forgot. Got this one on audio. The lady reading it, C.J. Critt, seriously needs to dial the theatrics down a bit.
*For Sigrid Harald fans from back in the day, getting Grandmother Lattimore's perspective on Sigrid and to some degree getting her side of the story is awesome, no lie. It took literally 30 years for the Lattimore side of the family to get character development, but it happened. If Grandmother Lattimore gets her own book, I will read it.