From Inside My Book Fort - - - "Slow Dollar" by Margaret Maron

Annabelle and I welcome you back to "From Inside My Book Fort"


Today I'm going to share a passage from Margaret Maron's "Slow Dollar."

"Slow Dollar" is the ninth book in Margaret's Deborah Knott series.


From Publishers Weekly

Step right up! Play a game and win your girl a prize! The carnival's in town and Maron brings to this ninth Judge Deborah Knott mystery (after 2001s Uncommon Clay) the vigor and verve that have served her so well to date. Larceny, both grand and small, as well as death hover over the Ames Amusement Corporations show on its arrival in Colleton County, N.C. Deborah, her irrepressible siblings (she's one of 12, the youngest and the only female) and some newfound kinfolk gather to mourn her great-nephew and carnival worker Brazos Hartley, after the young man is stomped to death, his mouth stuffed with quarters. The rural North Carolina dialogue and "carny" talk are perfect, especially descriptions of food, fashion and enchanting scenery of Indian summer in the South. The author draws family relationships so clearly you feel you could melt right into the crowd for barbecue, biscuits, slaw and cobbler. Before Maron is done, there's a bizarre theft of some tacky paintings, a second murder and a steamy romance.

If you're new to the series, or have not quite gotten to this one yet, I'd suggest you get caught up with the previous eight before listening because this contains a major series spoiler.


It's a passage I love, and it's one that makes me cry.


I'm a big re-reader of books and authors I love, and this is a series I've read more times than I remember.


And this particular passage makes me cry every single time, even though I know it's coming.

I love this picture.

It's one Donald took when Margaret, along with Clyde Edgerton and Carl Sandburg, was inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2016.  A well deserved honor, indeed.

Happy Sunday - Enjoy!