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Sigrid Harald #7
Past Imperfect
Looking into the murder of Mickey Cluett, an incompetent cop disliked by most of his peers, Sigrid Harald, the daughter of a cop killed on duty, discovers that this case might provide a clue to her own father's murder. Reprint.
229 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
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About the author
Margaret Maron
116 books758 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.
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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 - 25 of 25 reviews
February 20, 2012
Past Imperfect by Margaret Maron was published in 1991, about 10 years after the first Sigrid Harald book, One Coffee With, and is stylistically different from the first book.
Maron uses a shifting viewpoint which is distracting. Sigrid's point of view, taking place in one police precinct and in Sigrid's world, is told in the third person. Vaughn's story, taking place in another precinct, is told in the first person. Perhaps Maron intends to begin a series featuring Vaughn.
Another difference is that the city plays a more important role in this book and that is almost distracting. Maron has some fairly long passages about the city of New York, for instance the passage about Times Square. Its really beautifully written and evocative but really doesn't have anything to add to the story because very little of the story takes place in Times Square. It was as if the passage about Times Square something Maron wrote for something else and liked. Rather than let it go she stuck it in this book.
The small neighborhoods where the cops lived play a much larger role and needed more emphasis. For instance, the feel of Cruett's neighborhood, and the walk from the Shamrock Bar to the bridge were important to the plot, yet underplayed.
As stated previously, Past Imperfect was published 10 years after the first in the series, although the story seems to take place only a few years later. Sigrid doesn't appear to have grown much as a person during that time but she does seem to be trying to reach out past her comfort zone and discover who she really is. The use of a color consultation as a bonding experience with her mother and as a trigger for Sigrid to begin acknowledging herself as a beautiful woman is contrived, however. And perhaps because Sigrid's story is told in the third person its a little harder to get grip on what's going on in Sigrid's mind sometimes.
This is a murder mystery concerning the police department itself and has the promise of an interesting plot tied into Sigrid's past. The murdered man was an unlikable police detective and his murder just sort of happened. The second murder, of a popular police administrative aide, was given a lot of emphasis. The PAA's life, thoughts, and last hours were the focus of several chapters. And the last death came as a surprise and was completely unnecessary to the plot.
The ending was disappointing. This was a book that the whole way through promised something more. One kept reading thinking that at the end "something more" would appear. That didn't happen. Though the murders were solved, the loose ends just kept flapping in the wind. An unsatisfactory read all the way around
Maron uses a shifting viewpoint which is distracting. Sigrid's point of view, taking place in one police precinct and in Sigrid's world, is told in the third person. Vaughn's story, taking place in another precinct, is told in the first person. Perhaps Maron intends to begin a series featuring Vaughn.
Another difference is that the city plays a more important role in this book and that is almost distracting. Maron has some fairly long passages about the city of New York, for instance the passage about Times Square. Its really beautifully written and evocative but really doesn't have anything to add to the story because very little of the story takes place in Times Square. It was as if the passage about Times Square something Maron wrote for something else and liked. Rather than let it go she stuck it in this book.
The small neighborhoods where the cops lived play a much larger role and needed more emphasis. For instance, the feel of Cruett's neighborhood, and the walk from the Shamrock Bar to the bridge were important to the plot, yet underplayed.
As stated previously, Past Imperfect was published 10 years after the first in the series, although the story seems to take place only a few years later. Sigrid doesn't appear to have grown much as a person during that time but she does seem to be trying to reach out past her comfort zone and discover who she really is. The use of a color consultation as a bonding experience with her mother and as a trigger for Sigrid to begin acknowledging herself as a beautiful woman is contrived, however. And perhaps because Sigrid's story is told in the third person its a little harder to get grip on what's going on in Sigrid's mind sometimes.
This is a murder mystery concerning the police department itself and has the promise of an interesting plot tied into Sigrid's past. The murdered man was an unlikable police detective and his murder just sort of happened. The second murder, of a popular police administrative aide, was given a lot of emphasis. The PAA's life, thoughts, and last hours were the focus of several chapters. And the last death came as a surprise and was completely unnecessary to the plot.
The ending was disappointing. This was a book that the whole way through promised something more. One kept reading thinking that at the end "something more" would appear. That didn't happen. Though the murders were solved, the loose ends just kept flapping in the wind. An unsatisfactory read all the way around
May 24, 2017
BOTTOM LINE: One of the best of the Sigrid Harald stories, and that's saying a lot, as it's one of my all-time favorite cosy police procedural mystery series. Sigrid searches for the murderer of an elderly policeman, and in the process also finds out rather a lot more about her own family's past than she'd bargained for.
Mickey Cluett wasn't a bad cop exactly, just a rather lazy one, carefully doing just enough work to get by as he attempts to make forty years as a policeman. And he might have made, and almost did make it, but someone murdered him, and it's up to Sigrid to find the killer. She didn't like Cluett very much, but sets out to do due dilligence in the case, working with a nice Sargent from Cluett's regular precinct, Jarvis Vaughan. The story unfolds using both Maron's usual omniscient narrator voice and Sigrid, and this time also offers Vaughan's viewpoint every third chapter or so. This process is nicely done, and not disruptive, allowing the reader to see the crimes and the entire process of solutions as it all unfolds.
Maron has grown considerably in her technique and ability to evoke emotions by the time of this fairly early novel (1991), and this 7th of the eight Harald novels is quite relentless in making Sigrid (and the reader) face up to the truth about her family's experiences, particularly about the death of her policeman father when Sigrid was a baby. We get to come along on Sigrid's journey of discovery, and the story raises many emotions - and questions!, setting the stage for the last novel in the series* FUGITIVE COLORS, 1995.
[*NOTE: Maron hadn't written anything else about Sigrid since 1995 until 2011 - in December she'll publish THREE DAY TOWN, described as being in her Deborah Knott series (Deborah travels to NYC) but including Sigrid in a murder mystery that Deborah gets inolved in and Sigrid has to solve. I like Deborah Knott, but I *love* Sigrid, and I'm very glad to know that I'll be able to finally "meet" her again. A nice Holiday present, indeed.]
Mickey Cluett wasn't a bad cop exactly, just a rather lazy one, carefully doing just enough work to get by as he attempts to make forty years as a policeman. And he might have made, and almost did make it, but someone murdered him, and it's up to Sigrid to find the killer. She didn't like Cluett very much, but sets out to do due dilligence in the case, working with a nice Sargent from Cluett's regular precinct, Jarvis Vaughan. The story unfolds using both Maron's usual omniscient narrator voice and Sigrid, and this time also offers Vaughan's viewpoint every third chapter or so. This process is nicely done, and not disruptive, allowing the reader to see the crimes and the entire process of solutions as it all unfolds.
Maron has grown considerably in her technique and ability to evoke emotions by the time of this fairly early novel (1991), and this 7th of the eight Harald novels is quite relentless in making Sigrid (and the reader) face up to the truth about her family's experiences, particularly about the death of her policeman father when Sigrid was a baby. We get to come along on Sigrid's journey of discovery, and the story raises many emotions - and questions!, setting the stage for the last novel in the series* FUGITIVE COLORS, 1995.
[*NOTE: Maron hadn't written anything else about Sigrid since 1995 until 2011 - in December she'll publish THREE DAY TOWN, described as being in her Deborah Knott series (Deborah travels to NYC) but including Sigrid in a murder mystery that Deborah gets inolved in and Sigrid has to solve. I like Deborah Knott, but I *love* Sigrid, and I'm very glad to know that I'll be able to finally "meet" her again. A nice Holiday present, indeed.]
February 6, 2023
Maron’s seventh book in the Sigrid Harald series is a hit. It’s also a little different from the previous ones as Sigrid plays a lesser role.
Sigrid has a puzzle on her hands as she tries to find the thread that connects the two murders. What a tangled web! And the ending? It’s not what you’ll expect. What you will want to do is either read the first six books in the series, or hurry up and read #8.
Short plot teaser: When a police detective, Mickey Cluett, is murdered just before his 40th anniversary in the force, lots of questions are raised. He’s not the best detective, he’s often a slacker and it seems as though he’s just putting in his time. Cluett was temporarily seconded to Sigrid’s team and now he’s back at his usual station.
On that same night, a police data clerk, Lott’s Fisher, is also murdered on her way home. She’s pushed onto the subway tracks.
Sigrid’s team investigates Fisher’s death while Detective Sergeant Jarvis Vaughn (from Cluett’s station) investigates the detective’s murder, and Internal Affairs investigates the cops.
Oh how I wish there were going to be more books in this series than the 10 Maron published before her death.
Sigrid has a puzzle on her hands as she tries to find the thread that connects the two murders. What a tangled web! And the ending? It’s not what you’ll expect. What you will want to do is either read the first six books in the series, or hurry up and read #8.
Short plot teaser: When a police detective, Mickey Cluett, is murdered just before his 40th anniversary in the force, lots of questions are raised. He’s not the best detective, he’s often a slacker and it seems as though he’s just putting in his time. Cluett was temporarily seconded to Sigrid’s team and now he’s back at his usual station.
On that same night, a police data clerk, Lott’s Fisher, is also murdered on her way home. She’s pushed onto the subway tracks.
Sigrid’s team investigates Fisher’s death while Detective Sergeant Jarvis Vaughn (from Cluett’s station) investigates the detective’s murder, and Internal Affairs investigates the cops.
Oh how I wish there were going to be more books in this series than the 10 Maron published before her death.
August 21, 2017
I had a hard time getting into this book because it's supposed to be a Sigrid book, but she's barely in it until the last couple of chapters; it's told from a mixture of perspectives from a couple of regular characters and a new detective instead. But once you get far enough in to understand why it can't really be told from Sigrid's perspective as this series usually is, it makes total sense. And the mystery and conclusion were great.
So basically, if you are reading this for the plot, it's an A+; if you are reading it because you already love the characters, you might be a bit disappointed. However, we do finally get to learn a bit more about Sigrid's dad, so there's that consolation.
So basically, if you are reading this for the plot, it's an A+; if you are reading it because you already love the characters, you might be a bit disappointed. However, we do finally get to learn a bit more about Sigrid's dad, so there's that consolation.
January 30, 2022
Detective Cluett who is close to retirement is shot to death. Lt. Harald isn't really involved except Cluett was helping her in a previous case. He was also involved with the police force when Sigrid's father was killed. Another detective is in charge of the case, but Sigrid investigates on her own.
Great writing and twists. This one flips between third person about Sigrid to first person of Detective Vaughn.
Great writing and twists. This one flips between third person about Sigrid to first person of Detective Vaughn.
June 5, 2024
Past Imperfect is the 7th book in the Sigrid Harald Mystery series that I've read. I thoroughly enjoy the character of Lieutenant Sigrid Harald and am sorry that the author Margaret Maron stopped writing the series at 9 books and went on to write another popular series. The books are short at 229 pages, whch was more common when the book was published in 1991. I recommend the entire series to anyone who enjoys mysteries.
May 24, 2021
When a detective who worked with Sigrid's squad for two months is killed, she begins looking into it, even though the IAD had formed a task force. What she discovers about the killing, as well as about her mother and father, makes for a fascinating read. Another great ending that I did not expect. Highly recommend this book and the series.
February 23, 2022
This is a good read but of all the books by Margaret Maron which I have read this was bordering on disappointing. I think the interpolation of the first person chapters for Vaughan was partly to blame. Sigrid's personality cane through as more shadowed compared to the other books.
April 14, 2022
Grittier than the others but good.
December 25, 2022
I really like this series of Margaret Maron's. Highly recommend.
February 9, 2016
#7 in the NYPD Lt. Sigrid Harald series.
NYPD Lt. Sigrid Harald series - Sixty-one days before Detective Mick Cluett is due to retire, someone shoots him out in Sheepshead Bay and his murder quickly triggers the death of a young computer clerk who ran the murder gun's serial number through the data banks four years earlier. As the investigation unfolds. Lt. Sigrid Harald is forced to confront the secrets hidden in her own past. What did Cluett know about her father's line-of-duty death thirty years ago and how involved is her own boss? One of the answers lies with a colorful homeless street beggar. Jerry the Canary had been "nesting" in the girders above the tracks when the young clerk was pushed in front of a subway train, but he's an elusive bird and as hard to catch as a New York City pigeon. Racing through the city's icy streets, Sigrid teams with a black detective from Brooklyn to find him before the killer cooks his goose.
NYPD Lt. Sigrid Harald series - Sixty-one days before Detective Mick Cluett is due to retire, someone shoots him out in Sheepshead Bay and his murder quickly triggers the death of a young computer clerk who ran the murder gun's serial number through the data banks four years earlier. As the investigation unfolds. Lt. Sigrid Harald is forced to confront the secrets hidden in her own past. What did Cluett know about her father's line-of-duty death thirty years ago and how involved is her own boss? One of the answers lies with a colorful homeless street beggar. Jerry the Canary had been "nesting" in the girders above the tracks when the young clerk was pushed in front of a subway train, but he's an elusive bird and as hard to catch as a New York City pigeon. Racing through the city's icy streets, Sigrid teams with a black detective from Brooklyn to find him before the killer cooks his goose.
August 27, 2015
I don't like the Sigrid Harald books very much because I'm not a fan of police procedurals. If you like this genre, you'll probably enjoy these books more than I did. So why did I read seven of them and immediately started an eighth when I finished this? Because I love Maron's Deborah Knott cozy mysteries. In the eighth book, the two finally meet. I read the Sigrid Harald books to have a sense of the character so I could enjoy the two characters when they finally meet. Both series are very well written, and Maron has the gift of being able to sustain a series without repeating herself or letting the quality drop.
November 1, 2009
I really don't like this foreshadowing about Oscar and his retrospective show. Please don't let this be happening. The rest of the book was good. I thought it was really interesting to have the final scene written from someone else's point of view, not Sigrid. Wow, it's amazing what Bernie was willing to do to keep his secret. All for a some money, and not all that much.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 21, 2013
Homicide Detective Sigrid Harald is tryinh to find who killed Detective Mick Cluett right before he was suppose to retire. He tried to talk with her about her father but she didn't listen and now regrets that she didn't hear what he had to say. Interesting police procedural with two points of view. In the end, Sigrid learns about her father's death. Short novel, but good read.
August 7, 2016
#7 in the New York City police department detective lieutenant Sigrid Harald mystery series. Looking into the murder of Mickey Cluett, an incompetent cop disliked by most of his peers, Sigrid Harald, the daughter of a cop killed on duty, discovers that this case might provide a clue to her own father's murder.
January 15, 2013
This novel was more complicated than some of the earlier ones in the series. Two people are murdered, and when the two crimes are seen as related, the investigation is taken over by Internal Affairs. In addition, Sigrid begins to learn what her father was really like.
December 11, 2015
One of the best in the Sigrid Harald series. Sigrid finally learns the truth about the relationship between Capt. McKinnon, her late father and her mother, Anne. A good murder plot is woven through the novel.
January 21, 2016
Sigrid investigates the murder of a cop she didn't like or respect, learns startling facts about her father's death and her parents' relationship, and at her grandmother's instigation, goes to a color session with her mother and learns more about how to choose clothes that bring out her beauty.
August 9, 2009
I like her Deborah Knott series better as I like the people more. This is a very early book of hers though so she may develop this main character more in later ones.
October 25, 2014
One of the best in this excellent series.
March 31, 2011
fills in her background
April 28, 2012
Seemed more dated than others in the series. The slang in the chapters from the point of view of another detective make me think of Dragnet.
March 14, 2013
This series continues to get better. Only one more left though :o(
September 19, 2012
She fooled me on this one.
July 7, 2014
This series keeps getting better.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews