Three-Day Town by Margaret Maron

I've been a fan of Margaret Maron's since discovering her through DorothyL many many years ago.  

After reading all her Deborah Knott novels (there weren't too many back then), I heard about her Sigrid Harald series, which she had stopped writing.  So now I had an author who had two series, and two female protagonists I was over the moon about.  

Like many, I've hoped against hope for another Sigrid novel and every year had to face the fact that it just probably was not going to happen.

Instead, what we've just been given by Ms. Maron is one of the nicest gifts I know I'll be receiving this holiday season.  A book with both Deborah and Sigrid.

After a year of married life, Dwight and Deborah are finally able to get away for a honeymoon, and head to New York City.  You immediatelty get a sense that this is a couple who will be on an eternal honeymoon and it's a joy to sit back and enjoy it with them.

Dwight's sister-in-law, Kate, has arranged for them to stay in her Upper West Side Apartment for a week.  And Mrs. Lattimore, Sigrid's Colleton County grandmother, has asked Dwight and Deborah to deliver a package to her daughter.  Before the package can be delivered though, it's stolen and a body is found. 

There are Maron fans who love the novels where Deborah sticks close to home with the rest of the Knott clan (I'm one of them).

And there are Maron fans who love the novels where Deborah travels around North Carolina (I'm one of them).

And there are a whole bunch of Dwight Bryant fans who kept begging Ms. Maron for years to help Deborah see what a great guy he was and grab him up (I'm one of them).

THREE-DAY TOWN satisfied me on every level, and I was especially happy to spend some time in New York City with Deborah and Dwight tagging along as they unabashedly did all the touristy things we should do when we go to New York City without trying to cover it up with a phoney slick sophisticated veneer - enjoy the lights on Broadway, visit the John Lennon memorial in Central Park, Rockefeller Center, sightseeing and a little shopping, of course.  Deborah and Dwight are always going to be true to themselves and that is one of the most refreshing things about them.  But when one of Deborah's nieces gets in touch with her asking for help, Deborah takes the time to help her. 

It was huge fun to catch up with Sigrid, her friends Roman and Elliott and her NYPD colleagues from the series of eight novels which took place over a one year period.  You know how you have some friends you don't see nearly as often you'd like, but when you do, it's as though no time has passed?  Margaret Maron has the unique talent of doing that with her characters.  It did not seem as though we last saw Sigrid back in 1995.  What is exciting is that we might just see her again . . . maybe???

I'm not the only one who has been waiting for this book.  I must say, it was worth the wait.

FTC DISCLOSURE:
purchased book