Description

If there's certainly any such thing being an American "comfortable,"Margaret Maron's books of the South suit the bill. Not that DeborahKnott, the attractive, wise youthful center court judge whose expanded group of 10siblings, a curmudgeonly father who was previously a moonshiner, anduncles, aunts, nephews, and nieces too many to count, contains anyresemblance towards the maiden women of that precious English style. But like herEnglish alternatives, Maron eschews gore and blood, and concentratesinstead on manners, mores, and reasons. And she's few equals on either sideof the Atlantic; she weaves informing pictures of ordinary people dealing with out-of-the-ordinary conditions, usually in less thana handful of phrases, and informs the entire background of the landscape and a wayof life in one single brief section.