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North Carolina judge, Deborah Knott of Colleton County, has a full workload these days. She spends a lot of time deciding cases that have to do with bar brawls, migrant workers, and divorces. Her latest divorce case is between a very rich couple, Buck Harris and his wife, who own a substantial farm. Buck hires cheap immigrant workers and exploits them. On the day of the case Buck's wife appears before the judge but her soon to be ex-husband doesn't show up. The court is filled with people waiting for Buck, including his mistress. Finally the case is put off until Buck's lawyer can locate him, but his lawyer and mistress are very concerned. Meanwhile body parts are turning up all over Colleton County; an arm here, a leg there, a hand somewhere else, and it's up to Deborah's new husband, sheriff's deputy, Dwight Bryant, to find out who is being killed and why the body parts are left at different places. Back at home, Deborah is trying to get a little closer to Dwight's young son Cal, from a previous marriage. Cal's mom has recently died and he is now living with his father and Deborah. Even though Deborah's relationship with Cal seems OK, the boy still misses his mother and it is hard for Deborah to try to discipline him. Then there is Deborah's family farm. Deborah has 11 brothers. Her father was married prior to marrying Deborah's mother and nine of the 11 sons are from his first marriage. There are now many, many cousins, nieces and nephews, not to mention Deborah and Dwight, her brothers, their wives and so they all, and her father, have to figure out what to raise next on the family farm. Every one of them has a different opinion. HARD ROW by Margaret Maron is a little too much of a hodge-podge for my taste. The reader never gets very involved in anything because there is just too much going on. We get an excess of information about Deborah, Dwight, and Cal, her family farm, a wife abuse case, the missing Buck Harris and his farm, Buck's mistress, Buck's ex-wife, the life of the migrant workers, the scattered body parts, hockey, along with facts about Deborah's sister-in-laws, and her friends. You would thing that with everything that is going on, this book would have over a thousand pages, but with 320 pages and so much happening it was tough to focus in on the murder/mystery part of the story. In fact, the murder kind of gets lost in the shuffle as we read about everything else that is going on in Deborah's life. If you're a fan of Maron and the long-running Deborah Knott series, this book might be perfect for you. But if you're new to the work, as I am, all the side stories will bore you as you patiently wait for the murder to be solved.
Reviewed by Sharon Katz, September 2007
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