Killer Market

Deborah Knott Mysteries #5

by Margaret Maron

Since the first Deborah Knott mystery, Bootlegger’s Daughter, swept the top mystery awards in 1993, the feisty judge has proven herself an investigator ranking with today’s best—dedicated to justice, driven by private demons, and prone to decide with her heart. From the first, Deborah Knott’s co-star has been an insider’s North Carolina from the back woods to the Crystal Coast. Now in the series’ fifth book, author Margaret Maron slightly alters the landscape, giving Deborah a chance to investigate the interior geography of human folly in an exquisite plot created with polish and élan…

Arriving in High Point, North Carolina, to substitute for a vacationing colleague, Judge Deborah Knott finds there is no room at the inn, the Radisson, or anywhere else. The International Home Furnishings Market, with the largest assortment of furniture and home decorations in the world, has taken over the town and left the judge hanging. All Deborah wants is a bed for the night, not thousands of living room suites and dining room ensembles. And the last thing she needs is murder.

A chilling misadventure begins when Deborah, hunting high and lowboy for lodging, is befriended by an eccentric old lady calling herself Mrs. Jernigan. Deborah follows the chiffon-clad Good Samaritan through rooms of French provincial and high-tech modern when the lady suddenly vanishes, leaving a sexy hunk of manhood dead and motionless on a pricey piece of “motion” furniture.

Who is the mysterious Mrs. Jernigan and why is Deborah herself suspected of killing a furniture executive who specialized in making after-hours bedroom arrangements and cutthroat deals? To clear her name, Deborah has to table all other plans and investigate. But the knotty heart of this case is a secret well hidden behind a wall of silence about a woman’s past. It will take all Deborah’s courtroom experience and intuitive skills to strip through layers of deception to solve a whodunit that is strictly top-shelf.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Cozy Mystery, Southern, Audiobook, Crime

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 1997

About the author

Born 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.

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Reviews

[Susan in NC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read years ago, set near my hometown, at the Furniture Market! Loved this series, set in my adopted home state of NC, read one after another years ago.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would be 2.5 stars if I could. Maron's books featuring Deborah Knott are very inconsistent. I like the character, Judge Knott, and her humor, but the setting of this one was difficult to wade through. Knott becomes involved with a death and a mysterious woman who keeps appearing and disappearing in a furniture convention where manufacturers and designers have space to display and entertain potential customers. I listened to the audio, but I don't think it would have been any less confusing trying to follow people as they moved from space to space, building to building. I did understand how Knott works out the solution to who committed the murder; so not all was lost!

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something about this one felt jumbled and disjointed.

[Dara S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good to get back to this series. I thought the story was a good one.

[Chris Kennelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve read several of these now decades old Deborah Knott mysteries, and they’re perfect short reads for when I can’t decide which big important book to read next. And I can read about North Carolina without going there.

[Richard Brand · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this story was a little better than some of the others I read. Like so many of these mystery series they spend a lot of time educating you about different things. This one spent a lot of time in educating you about a furniture market in High Point, N.C. There were a couple of filler chapters where the Judge did Judge work on a soiled rug or a child custody case. There seemed to be a consistent theme of illegitimate children in this story. Lots of babies who did not know who daddy was and did not have daddies. The hunt for Savannah was a long theme that did not conclude until the end of the book. Another feature of so many of these mystery series is that the star of the series has to be either the target of the evil or accused of doing the evil. Deborah is a suspect in this death. It was interesting to hear that Dwight Bryant got a little more play than the game warden, so perhaps we are moving more to a courtship with him.

[Kwoomac · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were definitely things I enjoyed about this book but not more than an okay rating. The protagonist is a 30 something woman who's a judge. She has a spotty history. Her family wasn't in this book but she has 11 overprotective brothers and a bossy father. The setting was kind of interesting, the story takes place in a big furniture town in North Carolina during the international home furnishings market.

What I was less thrilled with was the constant rehashing of who was where, who had a motive at the time of the murder. So I slogged through. The ending was nicely done so I was happy enough with this one. It did serve it's purpose which was to provide a light and distracting read.

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is book five in the Knott series and we have Judge Deborah Knott substituting for a vacationing colleague in High Point, North Carolina. The author places the murder in the middle of the Furniture Market Show. There are lots of suspects including Knott. Knott runs into an old law school friend as well as lots of unusual characters.

The plot is full of twists and turns to keep the reader turning pages. There is southern hospitality, lots of furniture lore, industry jargon and realistic dialogue. C. J. Critt does a good job narrating the story. It is great they have kept the same narrator so far in the series.

[Cornerofmadness · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another library sale find that is part of an established series I know nothing about. It's not usually a problem in mysteries and it wasn't now. Deborah Knott is judge and she's in a smaller town in NC to sit in for someone in court but she's arrived during a huge furniture convention and every hotel in forty miles is booked out for this, which is how she gets dragged into the murder.

There were two problems I had with the book and this was one of them. Okay this is written mid-90s so no cell phones but that's not really an issue. Deborah acted like 30 miles was 300 miles. Whatever is she going to do? I'm like it's a half hour drive, have the Holiday Inn call out and find you one...But no she meets someone she doesn't know in the food court of this furniture con and trusts this complete stranger to help her find a room to sleep in in someone's house. I found that to be very unbelievable (especially of a judge, I mean she knows how bad people can be and she should be relatively intelligence)

This woman, Savannah, promptly comes up with forged ID badges and drags Deb into the convention to get all the free food and booze where Deb runs into someone she knew from law school and someone who she knew as teenager, the woman loving Chan. Naturally he ends up dead and her purse ends up next to him after she accidentally switches bags with Savannah. So eyeroll.

Deb of course has to get involved to clear her name. The mystery part of it was good (though I figured out most of it early on) but there were other issues. Her friend has a granddaughter who was the daughter of the murdered man. Lynette gets entrusted to Deb at least once and the girl takes off at the convention with Savannah and no one seems to care much (other than Deb) including a security guard. Code Adam for missing kids was a thing by this point but no one does much. Another eye rolling moment for me.

So not a bad mystery but it was slow to get started. It took nearly 100 pages in a book less than 300 pages long for a crime to happen. And know what's not that exciting? Reading about furniture conventions. This didn't lure me into reading the rest of the series.

[Laura Edwards · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite the low rating, "Killer Market" was not an awful book, but a couple of things brought the rating down for me.

Because of the tedious passages concerning the intricacies of furniture and furniture selling, the book moved at a snail's pace. I finally started skimming long paragraphs jammed with descriptive passages of furniture and accessories. In doing so, I missed nothing pertinent to the story. It wouldn't have been bad if there were only one or two such passages, but it was ongoing throughout.

The set up of the story just did not work for me. It's hard to believe a judge would so easily trust a strange, odd lady who uses stolen or falsified badges to get into private parties. Like me, I'd think a judge would enough sense to rough it in the car for one night. I also find it difficult to believe that the person asking Deborah to fill in for a week was unaware of the convention and the dearth of hotel rooms. Wouldn't housing arrangements have been made? At the very least, I'd think the High Point officials would put a cot in the loaned office space with apologies.

Also, why the big secret about knowing Chandler? There would be nothing odd about admitting he cut her aunt's lawn as a teenager. No further information is needed, so no needs to know about their silly teenage "romance" or lack thereof. Yeesh.

I also was disappointed by the ending and felt Lynette ended up with the wrong person. Dixie had already lost her daughter and now loses her granddaughter. To me, her willingness to let Lynette go and avoid a bitter showdown was done in Lynette's best interest, proving she put the child's needs before her own, unlike the aunt. So, I was a little bummed about that.

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is from an older series that I discovered a few years ago, and have enjoyed enough to continue reading. I’m not from the area, but these books give me a good feel for the more rural areas of the southern US and the problems they face. I really like Deborah, the MC – the way she’s worked her way up the career ladder to become a judge, the way she hasn’t forgotten her roots and the way she shows compassion in her court cases. Parts of the story definitely show their age – the detective giving someone his pager number! – but that doesn’t really affect the overall book.

Deborah has traveled to a nearby town to cover for a judge who has become ill, so she is out of her usual surroundings, and without her usual cast of supporting characters. The story revolves around events related to a large home furnishings trade show, a field I’m not at all familiar with, so I appreciated learning a bit more about trade shows and how manufacturer’s sell their products. The descriptions of the warehouse featured near the end of the book painted a vivid picture, but I would love to see it for myself :)

There were quite a few probably suspects to consider for the murder, each with their own motive. Even with the clues uncovered along the way, it was hard to narrow it down to just one character. The guilty party was someone who was on my list, but not who I considered to be the most likely killer. I’m glad some of the side stories ended the way they did, and look forward to reading the next book in this series.

[R · Rating 4 out of 5]

**MINOR SPOILERS**
This book is the part of the Deborah Knott mystery series. It can be read as a standalone.
There are a few mystery storylines in the book and Deborah untangles the different threads throughout the book. The book is told from Deborah’s point of view. Deborah is highly confident in herself.
Deborah made a morally questionable decision about keeping something a secret. It reflected on how she made judgments and her character. You can decide if you agree with her action.
A few things were unlikely.
It was interesting to hear about Market Week and a little bit about how the furniture industry works in North Carolina.
Deborah is asked to substitute for another judge and I thought the amount of work that she did for this other job was pretty light. It basically allowed Deborah to act as a detective. I would suspect that if the judge really had that little to do, they could have postponed the cases.
I read the book about 25 years after it was originally published and there were societal references applicable to the period.
I probably will not read another book in the series.

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Judge Deborah Knott is in High Point, NC, to cover court for another judge. Only problem is it’s furniture market week, and there is no room in any inn. Deborah luckily finds someone who might be able to help her. But the woman doesn’t help (a little out of it) — then Deborah bumps into an old friend from law school and the woman’s son-in-law who Deborah knew once upon a time. Son-in-law winds up dead, and Deborah goes sleuthing. Finds the woman (Savannah) is bi-polar and may have killed Chan but many could have including Deborah because never told the cops she knew him as a teen. Deborah staying with Dixie and gets help from her old friend, Pell. Deborah helps with granddaughter, Lynnette, who Savannah believes is her granddaughter.

Winds up being Drew who was in love with Chan. She may have killed (Chan’s wife) by accident. Didn’t mean to kill Chan; she just wanted to make him sick so he wouldn’t take a new job far away. She did shoot at Savannah because she thought Savannah would give her away about Evelyn.

Pretty good. I prefer it when Deborah’s family is around.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Judge Deborah Knott travels to High Point, NC, to fill in for another judge who is away. She can’t find a hotel room because it is the week of The Market, an annual gathering of furniture makers and sellers. She meets up with an eccentric woman who says she will help her find a room, but what she gets is swept up into a the investigation of a mysterious death. She encounters a woman she knew in law school, who is related to the deceased, and gets further drawn into the drama. This is a story of past loves, secret babies, professional jealousies and dealing with the consequences of actions from long ago. I didn’t guess who the killer was, but did figure out some of the sub plots. I noticed some bad reviews of this book, but I enjoyed it.

[Jeff Tonkinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

At about 3/4 through I would've rated it 4.5 stars. It brought you into the arcane world of furniture making, marketing, and wholesaling. (Not as deep as John Dunning brings you into the world of used books, but enough to get a sense of place.) The protagonist is not a professional sleuth but, like Miss Marple, somehow finds herself in the middle of a murder and to it's solution. The story moved comfortably and interestingly along. However near that 3/4 it seemed to drown in dialog. And I found the big reveal disappointing and unrealistic at the same time. But it was good enough to read another in the series.

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This time Deborah is in a community where it's all about furniture. You can see how Maron enjoys learning the ins and outs of an insular world where everything within that world is life or death to those within it and to to those outside looks a lot like a tempest in a teapot.

And the intrigue is thick. Given that the book was written in the 90s, with characters thinking back to their youth in the 60s or so, it provides an interesting compare and contrast between those time periods and now as well, as far as options "unwed mothers" have, gay identity, mental health, etc.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in High Point, NC, the furniture capital of the US, District Judge Deborah Knott investigates and is a suspect in the death of Chan. This was my first encounter with a book by Margaret Maron and while it was an okay read, similar in tone and complexity to books by Sue Grafton, it didn't measure up to Grafton's expertise in creating the sassy Kinsey Milhone. Probably my one and only dip into her series.

[Cynthia Grove · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having a binge re-read of my Margaret Maron books. Although this is a good book and I found the identity of the killer very hard to guess (or maybe guessed but then discarded) this has never been my favourite in the Deborah Knott series - probably because there are no other Knott family members in this story. The setting for this story is interesting but incredibly chaotic. Irhink the chaos is a piece of excellent writing by Maron as it well describes the atmosphere but it's not one I enjoy.

[Crystal Toller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Judge Deborah Knott comes to High Point to serve as a substitute judge for a judge who has had a family emergency. What Deborah doesnt know is that it's the twice yearly Market time for furniture makers and there is not a hotel room to be found. Deborah runs into an old friend and an old lover and when there is a murder she's right in the middle of it. How she discovers the killer and how things turn out make an intriguing read. Highly recommend this book and the series.

[Mary Cassidy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, and I do like the Judge Knott series, but really only a three and a half stars because for me at least the description of the High Point furniture mart was a bit of a drag. I thought it would be a draw, since I lived in Greensboro for a few years, but I am very much not a shopper. My feeling is that if I am not good in this life I shall end up in Walmart for eternity. So I guess the High Point furniture mart is more like Limbo.

[Ariadne Cares · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my favorite or second-favorite book in this series so far. In this installment, Maron takes Judge Knott to High Point for the world-renowned furniture market, and the setting and characters are outstanding! The motive/method for one of the murders is a bit far-fetched, but in general this is a very creative and unique mystery.

[Lila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in North Carolina's furniture markets, this fifth Judge Deborah Knott mystery features a bi-polar character who is definitely off her meds. Knott is subbing for a friend and is tryng to juggle her court duties with finding a place to stay when her penicillin goes missing; a man is found dead, who is suspiciously allergic to the antibiotic.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m generally a fan of this series with Judge Deborah Knott and her large extended family set in rural North Carolina. But in this volume, the setting at a bustling Home Furnishings conference in High Point, NC took over the book, so the characters (and mystery) took second (and third) place.

[Snarl Furillo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perfectly cromulent mystery. A bit dated in 2020, with some homophobic remarks, but the kind gay decorator doesn't die OR kill anyone. Lots of exposition about the 90s furniture industry. You know if that's up your alley or not!

[Val · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually had the whole thing figured out before the end. 😊 Confusing as all get out at times 😕 what was with all those name changes? The story was good though and seeing Deborah in court is my favorite part. I like it better when she's home but I still read every book. 😉

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another interesting Knott book, I'm cruising through the series and will be sad when they end. The mysteries, the locations, the clues, everything is very good. I love the character development of the main characters and the location in NC is just really magic.

[Mary Longo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend the Deborah Knott Mystery series. Deborah Knott always seems to figure it out by the end (even if I don't) and all is explained putting sense back into the world. Very satisfying!

[Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book takes Judge Knott to High Point, North Carolina. Unfortunately it was Market Week, you need to reserve a Hotel room months ahead of the International Home Furnishings Market so Judge Knott has no place to stay! she has to be in Court tomorrow, whats she to do?

[MJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed learning a little bit about the furniture trade : )

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love Margaret Maron. Deborah Knott is a great character and someone I would really love to meet. I am well into this series and have enjoyed every book.