Margaret Maron’s latest Judge Deborah Knott mystery begins with a quote by James Cameron: “I love short trips to New York; to me it is the finest three-day town on earth.” Even if I hadn’t already read the whole series, that alone would’ve made me want to read the book, as I can honestly say that that’s exactly how I feel about the Big Apple.
Deborah and her husband of a year, Dwight Bryant, finally get their opportunity to take a honeymoon in Maron’s Three-Day Town when his sister-in-law offers them the use of her Manhattan apartment for a week in January. A huge snowstorm, a murder in their apartment, and Deborah’s meeting with a distant relative combine to make their honeymoon a bit different than most. Let’s just say there’s more detecting than romance. And it doesn’t seem the least bit odd that they decide to go home early.
This book is different from most in the series, in that Deborah’s (huge) family plays pretty much no role in the mystery. Aside from a few phone calls and emails to nieces and nephews who need a little help with a Facebook problem, the family is notable only for its absence. Instead, we get to see Deborah and Dwight on their own in the big city, and though they aren’t supposed to be working, they really can’t avoid wondering about the body of the apartment building janitor, found dead during the next-door neighbor’s party on their second night in town, or about the statue an elderly neighbor/distant relative sent via Deborah to her granddaughter, Sigrid Harald, who may turn out to be a friend as well as the NYPD lieutenant who heads up the investigation into Phil’s murder.
I’m still waiting for the day that I can take my daughter for a long weekend in New York, although I hope our trip is a bit less eventful. In the meantime, reading a Deborah Knott mystery is enough for me.
