Christmas Mourning

A Deborah Knott Mystery

By: Margaret Maron

Narrated by: C.J. Critt

Margaret Maron’s best-selling Deborah Knott mystery series won instant acclaim upon its debut in 1993. In this 16th entry in the series, the judge is faced with a horrifying holiday murder case. After a beautiful young cheerleader is found dead in a car wreck, Judge Knott’s husband Deputy Dwight Bryant discovers evidence that the death was anything but an accident.Now Knott and Bryant are on a desperate search for a killer before he or she trikes again.

Solve more cases with Deborah Knott.©2010 Margaret Maron (P)2010 Recorded Books, LLC

Rambling disconnected

Liking the series and the lead characters less and less with each book. Judge Knott quite pompous and has little to no insight on her own bad behaviors. Reading through to see how this all wraps up but this was a hot mess.

Everyday Life and a Mystery

This is the first book of this series I have read. The "mystery" part of the story is revealed gradually. That annoyed me at first, and I wondered if the book had been classified incorrectly. However once the mystery began to unfold I became more engrossed in the entire story. Be aware that this book spends alot of time describing the every day lives of the main characters and their families. Once I got used to the style, I appreciated and enjoyed it. In fact I liked it so much I have purchased another, earlier book in the series.

I found the main characters to be likable and interesting. I live in the northern U.S. The rural southern location of this story was interesting and appealing to me. Part of that appeal may have been due to the fact that temperatures here were well below zero during the days I was listening to this book!

Narrator C.J. Critt is very good. Her diction is clear. She does a good job differentuating character voices.

Plot twists, misdirection and surprises layer the story.

Enjoyed listening to the story building but was left loosing my immediate investment into the story to check if the app was still playing due to the excessive pauses between chapters. A few chapter pauses had me reaching g and checking that my phone was still playing…distracting it was,

Always learn so much from each book

Have learned so much from the Judge Deborah Knott series! From the opening intro of chapters, the preacher/pragmatist, professions, family and friends, law, teaching,…….

One of the worst I've heard on Audible so far

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The narrator!

Would you be willing to try another book from Margaret Maron? Why or why not?

Probably not. I found myself groaning a good deal more than anything else.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Let me count the ways...accent, tone of voice, just overall poor reading.

Was Christmas Mourning worth the listening time?

No.

Any additional comments?

I've read several of the books in this series, and I find them to be uneven in how good they are. I love some of the books--and feel the author has interesting knowledge that she weaves in. But sometimes there is too much "filler" for story. Although the actual mystery aspects are usually very good, they are not tops on my list because I never know what to expect. Had thought I might feel differently if I heard one read (and I might have, with a different narrator.)