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Deborah Knott Mysteries #12
Winter's Child
It's one month after their wedding, and the future looks bright for Judge Deborah Knott and Sheriff Deputy Dwight Bryant until a disturbing call from Dwight's 8-year-old son Cal calls him back to Virginia.When he arrives, he is shocked to find that his ex-wife has left the boy alone for almost 24 hours. Worse, as Dwight tries to confront her, she takes the child and leaves town without a word. As Dwight embarks on an all-points search, Deborah hurries to his side. But will they be able to work together to decipher the ex-wife's motives and, more importantly, will they find young Cal before he comes to harm?
336 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
160 people are currently reading
661 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Maron
121 books757 followersBorn and raised in central North Carolina, Margaret Maron lived in Italy before returning to the USA. In addition to a collection of short stories she also authored numerous mystery novels.
Her works have been translated into seven languages her Bootlegger's Daughter, a Washington Post Bestseller won Edgar Anthony, Agatha, and Macavity awards.
She was a past president of Sisters in Crime and of the American Crime writers' league, and a director on the national board for Mystery Writers of America.
Like Margaret Maron on Facebook
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Her works have been translated into seven languages her Bootlegger's Daughter, a Washington Post Bestseller won Edgar Anthony, Agatha, and Macavity awards.
She was a past president of Sisters in Crime and of the American Crime writers' league, and a director on the national board for Mystery Writers of America.
Like Margaret Maron on Facebook
Follow Margaret Maron on Twitter
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 169 reviews
April 1, 2011
-#12 of the Deborah Knot Series-First, the good parts: I really enjoy this series. I like the characters and after the 12th book, I’m very interested in the story line. I also like the way the author pulls in history, geography and culture of North Carolina. I always learn something when I read these books. And this book in particular was very fast paced and gripping. Now the negative….the mystery was lame. I don’t really read these books for the mystery but there is no surprise, red herring, whatever you want to call it. You can usually guess the “who did-it” from the start. The other thing that bothered me about this book was the political reference the author slid in here. Note to authors, actors, celebrities….as a fan of many authors, actors, musicians etc. I like you because of your talent. When you voice your political opinion within the forum of your trade, it totally turns me off. I admire you for your talent. I don’t really care about your political views and when you use your talent as a forum to state your political views, I don’t want to be a fan anymore. The part about Reagan and the Mental Institutions was unnecessary. I would have rated the book higher, if this was left out.
March 13, 2021
Slipping into a series that I used to read makes me appreciate the tried and true. Chief Deputy and Detective Division’s Department Head Dwight Bryant is investigating the shooting of Ne’er-do-well J.D. Rouse, whose wife had left him that morning after a beating. Set in Colleton County, North Carolina, Dwight and County Judge Deborah Knott had recently married. They are enjoying their married life when Dwight gets a call from his 8-year-old-son, Cal, asking him to travel to his school the next morning in Virginia. While he was surprised to learn that he was his son’s show-and-tell, he is more concerned that his son had not seen his mother since the prior day. Before he can turn his head, both his son and ex-wife are missing. Frantically searching for clues, Deborah joins him as the shooting investigation continues back home. An enjoyable read of a series that started with Bootlegger’s Daughter, a mystery award winner.
April 6, 2016
Every once in a while when I go the library I pick up a book by a new author I’m unfamiliar with, especially when they have many novels under their belt. This time I decided to give Margaret Maron a shot.
I found the book pretty quick moving. But that was about it. Have I read worse books? Absolutely.
Are there worse writers out there? Definitely. But ‘Winter’s Child’ just never quite pulled me in. I found it draggy and was really an effort to get through.
There were several areas of concern I had.
ONE: When John McClane kills all the terrorists in Nakatomi Plaza, we go with it cause…well, it’s a movie. When Rambo kills 54 Vietnamese in the jungles we go with it cause…well, it’s a movie. We expect more in a book. More realism. Yes, an author can take poetic license. Nothing wrong with that. But there were 2 parts of this book that, to me, were far beyond poetic license. It made the story not believable.
***spoiler***
Dwight’s ex-wife, Jonna, is killed. She is found dead in a junkyard. The police scour her house for prints and DNA and come up with nothing. Yet, just 2 days later, they allow Dwight and his wife, Deborah, to stay in the house! WHAT??? Granted, the ex-wife wasn’t killed on the premises. But would any police force allow anyone—especially the ex-husband who is always the first they look at—to stay IN the home of a dead woman 24 hours after she is found? Of course not. Silly.
Deborah is preparing to sleep on the pull-out sofa. As she pulls it out, she sees strands of dark hair. Black hair. The dead woman was blonde. Obviously, it seems like the dead woman had someone sleep on the pull-out bed, right? And what does Deborah do? She says, “Hmm…” and then proceeds to wash the sheets! WHAT??? DNA!!! Duhhh!!! And this woman is a judge!!! Not believable. Silly.
Lastly, the dead woman and son, Cal, who is now missing, has a dog. A terrier. Dwight, a former police detective in Washington DC tells the dog, Bandit, “Go find Cal!” He opens the door and lets the dog runs out. Everyone knows that not all dogs can track people. Well, everyone, apparently, except the author. Silly. Not believable.
TWO: Characters. I should have known when the first thing in the book is a family tree. The book takes place in 2 different small towns in North Carolina. It eventually became VERY confusing. It seemed like everyone was related to someone else. This person is that person’s second cousin twice removed. This one if the ex-wife of the niece of the uncle who married the step-brother of so-and-so. You get the idea. What added to the confusion was that certain names can be applied to both men and women and it was hard to keep track of. There’s someone named Portland (woman), Terry (not sure if it was male or female), someone’s last name is Richards who was female and “Rae” which normally can be a woman’s name. Yet, was short for Raeford.
THEEE: The main character, Deborah and her husband Dwight are, I believe, in their early 40’s. However, they use words and dialogue that are more apt to people much older. I’m older than the Deborah and Dwight. Yet, they used words like my grandmother would. For example, in one scene, Dwight becomes irate, incensed. His child has gone missing and he finds out that some woman has been lying to him, misleading him, putting his son’s life in grave danger. He’s upset, he’s furious, he’s angry. And what does he say to this double-crosser? “Where the frick is my son?” Now, really? I know some people are offended by cursing in a book. But sometimes, it is necessary to make the story believable. Think Mel Gibson in Ransom. If you were Dwight, you’d say, “Where the f*** is my son?” “Where’s my GD son?” Even “Where the hell is my son?” Where the frick???
FOUR I am a man and I don’t want to sound sexist. But it seemed to me that Ms. Maron clearly gears her books to females. Two of my favorite authors—Tess Gerritsen and Lisa Scottoline—are females. But their books, writing style and characters appeal to both men and women. As a man, I thought the description was over the top. Every time a woman walked into a room we got a paragraph or two detailing how they were dressed. Every time one of the main characters walked into a room, we were told abundant details of furniture, frilly coverlets, lacey blankets and the type of drapes. As a guy I just wanted to move the story along.
FIVE: In one scene, two detectives come under sniper fire from across the street. Pedestrians are out walking around when gunfire erupts. One person shot. Another person shot. The detectives would obviously scream, “Get down! Get Down!” But no. They shouted something like “We are the police! Hide! Go back inside! Take cover!” Too many words. In the heat of battle, by the time they get all of that out, more innocents would be gunned down.
SIX: This may sound petty but here goes. I am a dog lover. Big time dog lover. The dogin this book is named Bandit. He’s a Terrier though the author never tells us what breed. Be that as it may, the dog was the pet of the son now missing, Cal, and his mother, now dead. The dog stays in the home where Dwight and Deborah are now staying. What bothered me, as a dog lover, was the fact that the poor dog was constantly locked in crate. The dog was let into the backyard to pee. Then rushed back inside and locked back up in the crate. No reason for that. Even when Dwight and Deborah were having lunch, the dog was put back in the crate so they wouldn’t see the dog ‘begging.’ For someone who is a big time animal lover, this made me pretty much dislike the main characters.
So, I gave Margaret Maron a shot. Will I ever read more of her books? Well, perhaps, in a year or two I may try another one. But honestly, I am in no hurry and I doubt it
I found the book pretty quick moving. But that was about it. Have I read worse books? Absolutely.
Are there worse writers out there? Definitely. But ‘Winter’s Child’ just never quite pulled me in. I found it draggy and was really an effort to get through.
There were several areas of concern I had.
ONE: When John McClane kills all the terrorists in Nakatomi Plaza, we go with it cause…well, it’s a movie. When Rambo kills 54 Vietnamese in the jungles we go with it cause…well, it’s a movie. We expect more in a book. More realism. Yes, an author can take poetic license. Nothing wrong with that. But there were 2 parts of this book that, to me, were far beyond poetic license. It made the story not believable.
***spoiler***
Dwight’s ex-wife, Jonna, is killed. She is found dead in a junkyard. The police scour her house for prints and DNA and come up with nothing. Yet, just 2 days later, they allow Dwight and his wife, Deborah, to stay in the house! WHAT??? Granted, the ex-wife wasn’t killed on the premises. But would any police force allow anyone—especially the ex-husband who is always the first they look at—to stay IN the home of a dead woman 24 hours after she is found? Of course not. Silly.
Deborah is preparing to sleep on the pull-out sofa. As she pulls it out, she sees strands of dark hair. Black hair. The dead woman was blonde. Obviously, it seems like the dead woman had someone sleep on the pull-out bed, right? And what does Deborah do? She says, “Hmm…” and then proceeds to wash the sheets! WHAT??? DNA!!! Duhhh!!! And this woman is a judge!!! Not believable. Silly.
Lastly, the dead woman and son, Cal, who is now missing, has a dog. A terrier. Dwight, a former police detective in Washington DC tells the dog, Bandit, “Go find Cal!” He opens the door and lets the dog runs out. Everyone knows that not all dogs can track people. Well, everyone, apparently, except the author. Silly. Not believable.
TWO: Characters. I should have known when the first thing in the book is a family tree. The book takes place in 2 different small towns in North Carolina. It eventually became VERY confusing. It seemed like everyone was related to someone else. This person is that person’s second cousin twice removed. This one if the ex-wife of the niece of the uncle who married the step-brother of so-and-so. You get the idea. What added to the confusion was that certain names can be applied to both men and women and it was hard to keep track of. There’s someone named Portland (woman), Terry (not sure if it was male or female), someone’s last name is Richards who was female and “Rae” which normally can be a woman’s name. Yet, was short for Raeford.
THEEE: The main character, Deborah and her husband Dwight are, I believe, in their early 40’s. However, they use words and dialogue that are more apt to people much older. I’m older than the Deborah and Dwight. Yet, they used words like my grandmother would. For example, in one scene, Dwight becomes irate, incensed. His child has gone missing and he finds out that some woman has been lying to him, misleading him, putting his son’s life in grave danger. He’s upset, he’s furious, he’s angry. And what does he say to this double-crosser? “Where the frick is my son?” Now, really? I know some people are offended by cursing in a book. But sometimes, it is necessary to make the story believable. Think Mel Gibson in Ransom. If you were Dwight, you’d say, “Where the f*** is my son?” “Where’s my GD son?” Even “Where the hell is my son?” Where the frick???
FOUR I am a man and I don’t want to sound sexist. But it seemed to me that Ms. Maron clearly gears her books to females. Two of my favorite authors—Tess Gerritsen and Lisa Scottoline—are females. But their books, writing style and characters appeal to both men and women. As a man, I thought the description was over the top. Every time a woman walked into a room we got a paragraph or two detailing how they were dressed. Every time one of the main characters walked into a room, we were told abundant details of furniture, frilly coverlets, lacey blankets and the type of drapes. As a guy I just wanted to move the story along.
FIVE: In one scene, two detectives come under sniper fire from across the street. Pedestrians are out walking around when gunfire erupts. One person shot. Another person shot. The detectives would obviously scream, “Get down! Get Down!” But no. They shouted something like “We are the police! Hide! Go back inside! Take cover!” Too many words. In the heat of battle, by the time they get all of that out, more innocents would be gunned down.
SIX: This may sound petty but here goes. I am a dog lover. Big time dog lover. The dogin this book is named Bandit. He’s a Terrier though the author never tells us what breed. Be that as it may, the dog was the pet of the son now missing, Cal, and his mother, now dead. The dog stays in the home where Dwight and Deborah are now staying. What bothered me, as a dog lover, was the fact that the poor dog was constantly locked in crate. The dog was let into the backyard to pee. Then rushed back inside and locked back up in the crate. No reason for that. Even when Dwight and Deborah were having lunch, the dog was put back in the crate so they wouldn’t see the dog ‘begging.’ For someone who is a big time animal lover, this made me pretty much dislike the main characters.
So, I gave Margaret Maron a shot. Will I ever read more of her books? Well, perhaps, in a year or two I may try another one. But honestly, I am in no hurry and I doubt it
August 11, 2007
WINTER’S CHILD (Police Procedural-North Caroline-Cont) – G+
Maron, Margaret – 12th in series
Mysterious Press, 2006 – US Hardcover – ISBN: 0891968109
First Sentence: The call came through to the Colleton County Sheriff’s Department just after sunset on a chilly Thursday evening in mid-January.
*** Judge Deborah Knott’s new husband, Sheriff’s Deputy Dwight Bryant, has a murder to solve. Troublemaker J.D. Rouse has been fatally shot while driving his truck. But more important to Dwight is that his ex-wife is missing and, shortly thereafter, his son, Cal, as well.
*** I rather liked that this was more Dwight’s story than Deborah’s. It was a nice change. It is definitely the characters that make this story, and this series, work. There’s always that feeling you’ve gone to visit a good friend and her entire family. That said, there were two plots to this story. The first, which was almost a secondary plot, seemed there to involve Deborah in the story and it was she who solved the case in the end. The second, involving Dwight and his son, was the more interesting, emotional and suspenseful story and the one that really kept me involved in the book. It may not have been a “wow” book, but it was a reliably good read. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Maron, Margaret – 12th in series
Mysterious Press, 2006 – US Hardcover – ISBN: 0891968109
First Sentence: The call came through to the Colleton County Sheriff’s Department just after sunset on a chilly Thursday evening in mid-January.
*** Judge Deborah Knott’s new husband, Sheriff’s Deputy Dwight Bryant, has a murder to solve. Troublemaker J.D. Rouse has been fatally shot while driving his truck. But more important to Dwight is that his ex-wife is missing and, shortly thereafter, his son, Cal, as well.
*** I rather liked that this was more Dwight’s story than Deborah’s. It was a nice change. It is definitely the characters that make this story, and this series, work. There’s always that feeling you’ve gone to visit a good friend and her entire family. That said, there were two plots to this story. The first, which was almost a secondary plot, seemed there to involve Deborah in the story and it was she who solved the case in the end. The second, involving Dwight and his son, was the more interesting, emotional and suspenseful story and the one that really kept me involved in the book. It may not have been a “wow” book, but it was a reliably good read. There’s nothing wrong with that.
March 30, 2009
This series is still very readable, but a couple of things just were not believable for me here. First of all, why would Deborah and Dwight be bunking at Dwight's dead ex-wife's place? That's just creepy and weird. There is some mention about it being logical in case Dwight's son returns. But still, Deborah was forging around in the lady's fridge for food! Tacky.
Also, Maron couldn't seem to help herself this time by crossing the line with her political opinions. She and lot of authors do this and I usually take it with a grain of salt or even try to be objective about the opinion. But Maron really bugged me on this one because it was just a petty dig on somebody, and it added nothing to the story plot. If I wanted someone to foist their unsolicited political views on me, I'd turn on the news.
I've only got two more books to go until I'm caught up on this series. Hopefully the author doesn't let me down much more. I've read series before when by the time I'm at the last couple of books, I feel like finishing is more of a job and a commitment than something for enjoyment.
Also, Maron couldn't seem to help herself this time by crossing the line with her political opinions. She and lot of authors do this and I usually take it with a grain of salt or even try to be objective about the opinion. But Maron really bugged me on this one because it was just a petty dig on somebody, and it added nothing to the story plot. If I wanted someone to foist their unsolicited political views on me, I'd turn on the news.
I've only got two more books to go until I'm caught up on this series. Hopefully the author doesn't let me down much more. I've read series before when by the time I'm at the last couple of books, I feel like finishing is more of a job and a commitment than something for enjoyment.
November 15, 2017
For some reason I'd completely forgotten the plot and subplot of this one, even though I read it when it first came out and there are references to events that take place in it in subsequent entries in the series. I'm ranking this one as one of the best in the series, and that's saying something, because Margaret Maron knows how to write a terrific traditional mystery novel.
December 15, 2019
When Dwight’s ex-wife disappears, he and Deborah try to find her in this mystery involving a small historic town in Virginia and Dwight’s son, Cal.
April 28, 2024
Good story. Interesting information about how small museums and historical houses are run.
February 19, 2019
I always enjoy the books in this series. The main characters are always true to form and the mysteries very satisfying. I enjoyed the twists and turns this case encountered.
March 13, 2017
Being a fan of Deborah Knott Mysteries, I enjoyed this story. It is one that I did manage to foresee one of the solutions to the situation. But the murders of both victims came as a sudden twist of fate,. There were two mysteries. One involved the death of Dwight's previous wife and one back in the home territory. This is the second drive by shooting that results in a death in a vehicle.Maron must like that idea. People shooting people as they drive by. Anyway that death has a very natural sound to it, but the twist at the end maybe a little of a stretch. The murder of Dwight's ex-wife is a really demanding stretch of the imagination, and the bulk of the story there is the search for Dwight's son. This murder too gets a solution that may not get proper punishment in the courts, but the read knows what happened. It was a major plot point for the series that now Dwight and Deborah, married only a month ago, have a child to work into their newly recognized passion for each other.
July 31, 2021
Cal disappears, and Deborah and Dwight need to find him. And quickly. This helped resolve plot challenges, from #13 that I read before this.
July 26, 2022
Ahhh...what a relief to read this. Maron always delivers a completely enjoyable reading experience for me. I parse these out for times when I am feeling a reading slump coming on (after reading dull material).
November 13, 2012
This addition in the series moves the personal stories forward. There are two murders in two different states connected only by the main characters.
The book opens with the shooting death of an unpopular man in NC. Dwight has just begun that investigation when he receives an urgent call from his son in VA and travels there. He soon learns that his ex-wife is missing; shortly thereafter his son, Cal, disappears as well. The book simultaneously follows both investigations with Detective Mayleen Richards heading the NC shooting investigation and Dwight unraveling his ex-wife and son's disappearance. The narrators alternate between Mayleen, Dwight and Deborah, who joins Dwight in VA when she learns of Cal's disappearance. Deborah learns that Dwight's ex-wife placed great importance on keeping up appearances. Though she shares little of those revelations with Dwight, it's key to solving the disappearances. And Deborah's recounting what appeared to be a minor incident leads police to the shooter in NC.
Two unrelated investigations told by three alternating characters were distracting and chapters jumping from NC to VA felt disjointed. There is a major change in newly-married Dwight and Deborah's personal life. That seemed to be the main point of this book. OK for series fans following their developing relationship.
The scenes that include members of Deborah's large family are always enjoyable. Each member has a distinct personality. That's one reason I prefer Colleton County NC as the setting.
Deborah is a judge, an elected office in NC, and the mysteries include in-court scenes, her rulings in cases and her thoughts on legal issues. Another reviewer complained about the politics in this book. Though the reviewer was not specific, Deborah does mention (in one paragraph) that Reagan's withdrawal of federal funds from community mental health facilities significantly increased the number of mentally ill persons going without treatment and becoming homeless. That's a factually accurate statement and germane to this story because one of the key characters is mentally ill and because Deborah sees others as defendants in her courtroom. Law and poltics are intertwined. Her opinions make her a fuller, multi-dimensional character and keeps this long-running series fresh.
The book opens with the shooting death of an unpopular man in NC. Dwight has just begun that investigation when he receives an urgent call from his son in VA and travels there. He soon learns that his ex-wife is missing; shortly thereafter his son, Cal, disappears as well. The book simultaneously follows both investigations with Detective Mayleen Richards heading the NC shooting investigation and Dwight unraveling his ex-wife and son's disappearance. The narrators alternate between Mayleen, Dwight and Deborah, who joins Dwight in VA when she learns of Cal's disappearance. Deborah learns that Dwight's ex-wife placed great importance on keeping up appearances. Though she shares little of those revelations with Dwight, it's key to solving the disappearances. And Deborah's recounting what appeared to be a minor incident leads police to the shooter in NC.
Two unrelated investigations told by three alternating characters were distracting and chapters jumping from NC to VA felt disjointed. There is a major change in newly-married Dwight and Deborah's personal life. That seemed to be the main point of this book. OK for series fans following their developing relationship.
The scenes that include members of Deborah's large family are always enjoyable. Each member has a distinct personality. That's one reason I prefer Colleton County NC as the setting.
Deborah is a judge, an elected office in NC, and the mysteries include in-court scenes, her rulings in cases and her thoughts on legal issues. Another reviewer complained about the politics in this book. Though the reviewer was not specific, Deborah does mention (in one paragraph) that Reagan's withdrawal of federal funds from community mental health facilities significantly increased the number of mentally ill persons going without treatment and becoming homeless. That's a factually accurate statement and germane to this story because one of the key characters is mentally ill and because Deborah sees others as defendants in her courtroom. Law and poltics are intertwined. Her opinions make her a fuller, multi-dimensional character and keeps this long-running series fresh.
May 29, 2008
Narrated by C. J. Critt. My first time with this author, but won't be my last. Of course, the narration by Critt, helped, but this book kept my interest while I drove. Very few "darn, I wasn't listening" moments.
This is book #12 of a series of books in which the main character is Judge Deborah Knott. Judge Knott is married to North Carolina deputy Dwight Bryant for one month when Dwight's eight-year-old son calls for his dad to come to his school several hours away in Virginia. After acting as his son's "Show and Tell", Dwight discovers his ex-wife is missing. Soon his son is too.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, a local is found murdered in his pick-up truck. Murders in two states keep the story moving.
This is book #12 of a series of books in which the main character is Judge Deborah Knott. Judge Knott is married to North Carolina deputy Dwight Bryant for one month when Dwight's eight-year-old son calls for his dad to come to his school several hours away in Virginia. After acting as his son's "Show and Tell", Dwight discovers his ex-wife is missing. Soon his son is too.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, a local is found murdered in his pick-up truck. Murders in two states keep the story moving.
June 11, 2007
The latest (as of mid-2007) in Margaret Maron's enjoyable Deborah Knotts series.
Now married, Deborah and Dwight face several challenges, including a murder Dwight must investigate in their small North Carolina town. While involved in that investigation, the pair find out that Dwight's ex-wife, Jonna (mother of his young son Cal) has gone missing. Dwight -- and eventually Deborah -- must travel to his ex-wife's hometown to search for Jonna, and soon, Cal as well.
Very enjoyable and suspenseful novel.
Now married, Deborah and Dwight face several challenges, including a murder Dwight must investigate in their small North Carolina town. While involved in that investigation, the pair find out that Dwight's ex-wife, Jonna (mother of his young son Cal) has gone missing. Dwight -- and eventually Deborah -- must travel to his ex-wife's hometown to search for Jonna, and soon, Cal as well.
Very enjoyable and suspenseful novel.
August 14, 2013
This book gets a 5. It had the perfect amount of suspense surrounded by history, psychology, and family. Dwight gets a phone call from Cal that has him drop everything to visit his son while Deborah helps pick up trash with her family. When Dwight finds out that Cal was home alone and that his mother's missing, he has to balance his work with the detective work going on right under his nose. Then, Cal goes missing, too.
An excellent read, at a perfect place in the series.
An excellent read, at a perfect place in the series.
March 28, 2011
I can't believe I read this entire book. It's a mystery, but I had the entire mystery figured out right from the start. Dull, dull, dull, dull. Like watching paint dry. The characters were dull. The situations - an abducted child, and a separate murder mystery, were somehow dull. Why did I read it? I don't know.
December 8, 2011
Not one of the better books in the series. The two separate mystery plots were both pretty uninspired and the domestic drama was a bit much for me. I was also disappointed that Deborah's role seemed to be supporting instead of her usual lead. Listened to the audio version read ably, as always, by C. J. Critt.
April 29, 2015
A good mystery book. Twelfth in the DK series. Dwight's son Cal is kidnapped and later his wife is found murdered. Issues: blended families, schizophrenia, depression, lying to keep up appearances and littering.
September 6, 2015
This book is about two unrelated murders in two different towns. It is almost like the author combined two short stories into one. As in some of her other books, the author brings in her political views that have nothing to do with the story line.
August 14, 2015
After the fifth POV change I gave up.
April 6, 2023
How did this book get published? It had virtually no story (two halfhearted, half-complete stories do not equal one story). My plight is that I will read anything, and it got handed to me, so I had no context, and it was just terrible. It seemed like an ode to how virtuous Judge “Miss” Deborah is. Yawn. The pretense for an interstate voyage was very weak, and the way the subsequent cases were handled was preposterous. When there is an Amber Alert, it is all hands on deck. What doesn’t happen is that local law enforcement turns the case over to a single law officer outside of his jurisdiction with a wink and a nod. Like…there is fiction, and there is pulling stuff out of thin air, so that we can get back to the real point of the book, which is, apparently, to lend context to Deborah’s personal thoughts and how much she scolds herself for wondering if her husband loved his ex-wife at any point (spoiler alert: he did), and to pay lip service to just how unbelievably happy her new marriage is. As someone who is not invested in Deborah and only wanted a mystery story, I simply don’t care.
It says at the top of the cover “a Deborah Knott mystery.” If it had said, “a Deborah Knott story about banalities” I would have skipped it for truth in advertising.
Also, her husband Dwight is from the military, but he doesn’t swear? Yeah, that’s a thing.
I always love when a precocious kid like Cal shows up in a book—the vulnerability of a nine year old, the vocabulary and insight of a 30 year old Ivy League grad…that’s believable.
The quotes at the top of each chapter were weird, and clearly just a ploy to lend gravitas to a toxically shallow tale.
What is with the Morrow House? Who cares? Who cares about Shaysville? It’s a fictional place, so forgive me if I am not the least bit interested in pages and pages of rich history and deep secrets that have no bearing on the “story” and are not real. This is coming from someone with a degree in history—real history.
I also don’t care about a crazy mother, a supportive aunt, and two gossiping best friends in the absence of a compelling story. It was all fluff and filler. What is their purpose?
I cannot believe this book was published in 2006. Nineteen seventy-six would seem to be a more appropriate setting.
Oh, and what caused me to want to give this negative stars was the political diatribe on page 224 of the hardcover version. The author seems to wrest control of the book from Miss Debr’ah in order to excoriate President Reagan for allowing states to create and fund their own mental health systems. That is so WTF that I’m just going to put it out there and move on.
I am not even going to get into the pathology of switching first person perspectives between chapters without giving readers any indication of who is telling the story, because I figured out why it’s done: although this is Dwight’s story, he’s just a cog in the author’s plan to advance Deborah’s story, so his perspective doesn’t even garner mentioning. I mean, he read quite stupidly to me, so I am not taking issue with the Dwight part of the equation; what I take issue with is that Deborah is not interesting or compelling to me. She is way, way too good, and, apparently, judging from “her” views on how a republic is funded, she is not smart either.
I don’t know whether to donate this book to my local library now that I am done. It might be an act of terrorism for future readers. Just banal, boring, anti-educational, and no payoff. Unless one is fascinated with a boring, insecure judge who is so morally obsessed with doing the right thing that she spends the majority of the book fretting. Not a page-turner.
It says at the top of the cover “a Deborah Knott mystery.” If it had said, “a Deborah Knott story about banalities” I would have skipped it for truth in advertising.
Also, her husband Dwight is from the military, but he doesn’t swear? Yeah, that’s a thing.
I always love when a precocious kid like Cal shows up in a book—the vulnerability of a nine year old, the vocabulary and insight of a 30 year old Ivy League grad…that’s believable.
The quotes at the top of each chapter were weird, and clearly just a ploy to lend gravitas to a toxically shallow tale.
What is with the Morrow House? Who cares? Who cares about Shaysville? It’s a fictional place, so forgive me if I am not the least bit interested in pages and pages of rich history and deep secrets that have no bearing on the “story” and are not real. This is coming from someone with a degree in history—real history.
I also don’t care about a crazy mother, a supportive aunt, and two gossiping best friends in the absence of a compelling story. It was all fluff and filler. What is their purpose?
I cannot believe this book was published in 2006. Nineteen seventy-six would seem to be a more appropriate setting.
Oh, and what caused me to want to give this negative stars was the political diatribe on page 224 of the hardcover version. The author seems to wrest control of the book from Miss Debr’ah in order to excoriate President Reagan for allowing states to create and fund their own mental health systems. That is so WTF that I’m just going to put it out there and move on.
I am not even going to get into the pathology of switching first person perspectives between chapters without giving readers any indication of who is telling the story, because I figured out why it’s done: although this is Dwight’s story, he’s just a cog in the author’s plan to advance Deborah’s story, so his perspective doesn’t even garner mentioning. I mean, he read quite stupidly to me, so I am not taking issue with the Dwight part of the equation; what I take issue with is that Deborah is not interesting or compelling to me. She is way, way too good, and, apparently, judging from “her” views on how a republic is funded, she is not smart either.
I don’t know whether to donate this book to my local library now that I am done. It might be an act of terrorism for future readers. Just banal, boring, anti-educational, and no payoff. Unless one is fascinated with a boring, insecure judge who is so morally obsessed with doing the right thing that she spends the majority of the book fretting. Not a page-turner.
July 2, 2024
SPOILER ALERT
When Deputy Dwight Bryant's eight-year-old son Calvin calls and asks him to come to see him, he agrees, drives to Shaysville, VA, hours away, and finds himself the attention of Cal's class as his "show-and-tell", especially his gun. But it is not long before Dwight discovers that his ex-wife Jonna has not been home since the previous morning, Cal having spent the night by himself. He also finds that Jonna's mother Laura played bridge that night not knowing Jonna was gone. She is a selfish woman who along with Jonna has ignored Pamela's mental health issues, putting them off as alcohol abuse.
Later that day Cal disappears. The neighbor, Leonard Carlton, saw him leave, seemingly reluctantly, with a woman he thinks was Jonna. Dwight goes to the local law emforcement, Paul Radcliff, reports her missing, and begins a search. He interviews the director of Morrow House, a mansion turned into a museum, where Jonna works parttime. Jonna is soon found shot dead in her car. Judge Deborah Knott, Deputy Bryants wife drives to Shaysville to help Dwight.
The area's residents are obsessed with legacy and heritage. Laura Shay does not have a lot on money though her family's furniture business was highly successful. But she has been subsidizing Jonna's income. As they search it is discovered that several guns that had been donated to the museum are missing. Then Deborah discovers a separate file in the computer that Jonna was researching in the inventory that seems to identify some of the museum's donated items as stolen. They were donated by a patron, Nathan Benton, who assumed the name of a local deceased ancestor and had been donating stolen items for the prestige. They find Cal in a secret room in the museum that had been used by the Underground Railroad. He had been kidnapped by Jonna's sister, who is off her meds and is delusional. She was afraid that Cal was being sought by slavers, and was saving him. He had been drugged.
A pivotal piece of this series as Cal will now join Dwight and Deborah's household.
At the same time as this development, the Colleton County Sheriff's team is investigating the murder of a local man, J. D. Rouse. A local elderly woman and her dog had discovered him in his truck, shot through the head. It will turn out that her family had adopted that stretch of road to keep clean. Rouse had nearly daily thrown his beer cans out the window as he finished his drink, and she was fed up. She just wanted to scare him but got in a lucky shot.
When Deputy Dwight Bryant's eight-year-old son Calvin calls and asks him to come to see him, he agrees, drives to Shaysville, VA, hours away, and finds himself the attention of Cal's class as his "show-and-tell", especially his gun. But it is not long before Dwight discovers that his ex-wife Jonna has not been home since the previous morning, Cal having spent the night by himself. He also finds that Jonna's mother Laura played bridge that night not knowing Jonna was gone. She is a selfish woman who along with Jonna has ignored Pamela's mental health issues, putting them off as alcohol abuse.
Later that day Cal disappears. The neighbor, Leonard Carlton, saw him leave, seemingly reluctantly, with a woman he thinks was Jonna. Dwight goes to the local law emforcement, Paul Radcliff, reports her missing, and begins a search. He interviews the director of Morrow House, a mansion turned into a museum, where Jonna works parttime. Jonna is soon found shot dead in her car. Judge Deborah Knott, Deputy Bryants wife drives to Shaysville to help Dwight.
The area's residents are obsessed with legacy and heritage. Laura Shay does not have a lot on money though her family's furniture business was highly successful. But she has been subsidizing Jonna's income. As they search it is discovered that several guns that had been donated to the museum are missing. Then Deborah discovers a separate file in the computer that Jonna was researching in the inventory that seems to identify some of the museum's donated items as stolen. They were donated by a patron, Nathan Benton, who assumed the name of a local deceased ancestor and had been donating stolen items for the prestige. They find Cal in a secret room in the museum that had been used by the Underground Railroad. He had been kidnapped by Jonna's sister, who is off her meds and is delusional. She was afraid that Cal was being sought by slavers, and was saving him. He had been drugged.
A pivotal piece of this series as Cal will now join Dwight and Deborah's household.
At the same time as this development, the Colleton County Sheriff's team is investigating the murder of a local man, J. D. Rouse. A local elderly woman and her dog had discovered him in his truck, shot through the head. It will turn out that her family had adopted that stretch of road to keep clean. Rouse had nearly daily thrown his beer cans out the window as he finished his drink, and she was fed up. She just wanted to scare him but got in a lucky shot.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 30, 2022
Genealogy can be dangerous, particularly if you seek social status hanging from your family tree.
Soon after his marriage to Judge Deborah Knott, Sheriff Dwight Bryant is summoned by Dwight's son, Cal, to Virginia, home of his ex-wife Jonna, where he discovers she has gone missing. She is found murdered. Before Dwight can pack up Cal to take him home with him, Cal, too, disappears. Dwight has been absent from Jonna's life, so he has few clues about where to look for Cal and the murderer. Deborah comes to assist and snoops around in the antebellum historical society museum in which Cal's mother and grandmother were active. She discovers museum board members are all in competition to see who can claim the most glorious ancestry, often inventing fake stories and artifacts to build face-saving reputations. Therein, abetted by family mental health problems which have been ignored also out of family pride, lies the solution to the murder.
There's also a murder that needs to be solved back home, but it's a secondary plot that also involves pride, but that one is about trash, not treasure. I was glad to get Deborah out of Colleton County, N.C., so I didn't have to try to keep track of the usual gaggle of her relatives. A Knott story set at home always reminds me of that song, "You Never See Maggie Alone," because "she brings here father, her mother, her sister and her brother...her uncle, her cousin/She's got 'em by the dozens."
Soon after his marriage to Judge Deborah Knott, Sheriff Dwight Bryant is summoned by Dwight's son, Cal, to Virginia, home of his ex-wife Jonna, where he discovers she has gone missing. She is found murdered. Before Dwight can pack up Cal to take him home with him, Cal, too, disappears. Dwight has been absent from Jonna's life, so he has few clues about where to look for Cal and the murderer. Deborah comes to assist and snoops around in the antebellum historical society museum in which Cal's mother and grandmother were active. She discovers museum board members are all in competition to see who can claim the most glorious ancestry, often inventing fake stories and artifacts to build face-saving reputations. Therein, abetted by family mental health problems which have been ignored also out of family pride, lies the solution to the murder.
There's also a murder that needs to be solved back home, but it's a secondary plot that also involves pride, but that one is about trash, not treasure. I was glad to get Deborah out of Colleton County, N.C., so I didn't have to try to keep track of the usual gaggle of her relatives. A Knott story set at home always reminds me of that song, "You Never See Maggie Alone," because "she brings here father, her mother, her sister and her brother...her uncle, her cousin/She's got 'em by the dozens."
July 14, 2023
A couple of things turned me off in this book. The biggest misstep is that for the first half of the book there is too little of Deborah. She barely figures until finally showing up in Shaysville about halfway through.
My next complaint is the main crime itself. I hate when a series has a divorced main character with a child and the best the author can come up with to place the child permanently with the main character is to kill off the ex. What a copout. Why can't we have the two characters acting like mature adults and doing what is best in the interest of the child? The child can spend part of the time with the main character parent and their new spouse (in this case Dwight and Deborah). I'd think there is a lot more potential for story arcs with the ex. And also if the author wants the two main characters alone for a certain book, the child can be with the ex-spouse at the time. I've seen this tactic (killing of the ex-spouse) in other series and don't care for it.
That said, there were a few positive points to "Winter's Child". The other mystery, who killed Rouse, was pretty darn good. I was completely wrong about the culprit.
Also, Richards might have found a love interest. I think I'm going to enjoy seeing how this plays out. I'm also relieved because I feared Margaret Maron was going to have Richards turn stalkerish concerning Dwight. Hoping that won't happen now.
My next complaint is the main crime itself. I hate when a series has a divorced main character with a child and the best the author can come up with to place the child permanently with the main character is to kill off the ex. What a copout. Why can't we have the two characters acting like mature adults and doing what is best in the interest of the child? The child can spend part of the time with the main character parent and their new spouse (in this case Dwight and Deborah). I'd think there is a lot more potential for story arcs with the ex. And also if the author wants the two main characters alone for a certain book, the child can be with the ex-spouse at the time. I've seen this tactic (killing of the ex-spouse) in other series and don't care for it.
That said, there were a few positive points to "Winter's Child". The other mystery, who killed Rouse, was pretty darn good. I was completely wrong about the culprit.
Also, Richards might have found a love interest. I think I'm going to enjoy seeing how this plays out. I'm also relieved because I feared Margaret Maron was going to have Richards turn stalkerish concerning Dwight. Hoping that won't happen now.
May 4, 2022
É um livro sem proposta, como se tivesse sido escrito na hora do almoço ou para cumprir o contrato com alguma editora.
Na verdade, o começo é até bem interessante, com assassinatos e mistério, mas depois descamba para uma trama paralela com o sumiço de uma criança que termina desfocando a história.
Os personagens não se esforçam muito para passarem alguma impressão e o protagonista, que carrega o fio narrativo, parece ter vento na cabeça o que torna ainda mais difícil acompanhar o desenrolar.
Não que a trama seja realmente complexa, ela não é. Mas, com duas histórias paralelas, personagens insípidos e um protagonista que não é lá muito cativante, fiquei com a impressão que estava ouvindo, em um estado de distração, a alguma notícia de rádio. Diferente, mas não o suficiente para me chamar a atenção.
A autora ainda insere um outro personagem, a esposa do protagonista, que faz parte de uma série própria baseada no estilo de tribunais, mas aqui ela fica tão deslocada que eu nem teria prestado atenção se não fosse por uma nota na introdução da autora.
Na verdade, o começo é até bem interessante, com assassinatos e mistério, mas depois descamba para uma trama paralela com o sumiço de uma criança que termina desfocando a história.
Os personagens não se esforçam muito para passarem alguma impressão e o protagonista, que carrega o fio narrativo, parece ter vento na cabeça o que torna ainda mais difícil acompanhar o desenrolar.
Não que a trama seja realmente complexa, ela não é. Mas, com duas histórias paralelas, personagens insípidos e um protagonista que não é lá muito cativante, fiquei com a impressão que estava ouvindo, em um estado de distração, a alguma notícia de rádio. Diferente, mas não o suficiente para me chamar a atenção.
A autora ainda insere um outro personagem, a esposa do protagonista, que faz parte de uma série própria baseada no estilo de tribunais, mas aqui ela fica tão deslocada que eu nem teria prestado atenção se não fosse por uma nota na introdução da autora.
November 24, 2025
This is set in two small Southern provinces: Colleton County, North Carolina, and Shaysville, Virginia. Dwight Bryant, chief deputy and head of Colleton County's detective division, is on his way home when he learns of an accident that is on his route. Curious, he stops and finds that a notorious ne'er-do-well has been shot in the back of the head and swerved off the road. Later, when he's home, his eight-year-old son calls him (Dwight is divorced, newly remarried, and his son Calvin lives with his ex-wife in Shaysville). The boy sounds upset, and Dwight agrees to drive up to Virginia the following day without really understanding what the boy's talking about. After arriving, he learns that his ex is missing, and Cal has spent the previous twenty-four hours by himself. What is going on? While Dwight and his ex-wife have had their differences, he knows that she's a responsible person and would never leave her child alone for any period of time. Winter's Child is one of those good, slow-moving Southern mysteries that you tend to savor the longer it goes on.
December 16, 2016
The Deborah Knott Mysteries are a new series that I just recently discovered. I have not been able to read them in order but find that I don't mind skipping around. In Winter's Child Deborah has just married Sheriff Deputy Dwight Bryan. I missed the courtship in the earlier books but had no trouble following the story. I have found each book can stand-alone. The mystery here starts when Cal calls Dwight wanting him show up at his school the next day. It turns out Cal's mother did not come home the night before and then someone takes Cal. There are a lot of red herrings along the way. Both Deborah and Dwight start to look for both Cal and his mother. There is the mystery with Cal and a murder at home that has to be solved. Each keeps the plot moving and the story fun to read or in my case listen too.
October 15, 2021
I put off reading this book because I thought Dwight would see the ex and start rethinking his marriage to Deborah. 😨 I get emotionally involved with my books so I was avoiding that if it did actually happen. Turned out the story was actually really good. 😊 I had the kidnapping figured out pretty much from the beginning but the other stuff... NOPE, NEVER, SAW, THAT, COMING! 😲 Mayleen Richards is making me angry 😠 and she is really making me question Dwight's loyalty. Hopefully she gets a man of her own soon.😡
August 31, 2025
This edition of the series seemed stilted and unhappy, like a family get together where people who don’t like each other are forced to spend time together. No one seems comfortable, not even the newlyweds. I think it was confusing, not quite explaining the lack of panic about where Cal is. I didn’t think Bandit needed to be in his crate all the time and it bothered me that Dwight almost forgot him in the cold. And why did Pam think there were slave catchers out to get her? I have read all the 11 others in this series, and this is the first that seems like it was written to meet a deadline.
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