Read without knowledge of the music and you will enjoy a perfectly fine mystery. Add knowledge of the music and you will find a literary basis seldom if ever achieved in the mystery genre. High Country Fall contains enough layers and permutations, allusions and metaphors to rank in the top level of literary efforts. For example, the country music mentioned in the novel is more than just good music; the words enhance and deepen the characterizations of various characters. "The Brown-Eyed Handsome Man" (written by Chuck Berry and recorded originally by Waylon Jennings) speaks volumes of Judge Deborah Knott's depth of feeling for Dwayne Bryant. "You Are My Sunshine" and "Muhlenberg County" express themes central to the development of the characters and the story.
High Country Fall is the tenth book in Margaret Maron's continuing series with Judge Deborah Knott as the protagonist. The quality started high and has remained consistently so. Judge Knott has deep roots in the fictional Colleton County which has the look and sound of a real place. In various novels, she has used the very accurate device of having the judge fill in for a vacationing judge in order to move her around North Carolina. Judge Knott has been to the furniture market in High Point (Killer Market), to Harker's Island on the coast (Shooting At Loons), and to Seagroves, capitol of exquisite hand-thrown pottery (Uncommon Clay). In each novel, Knott becomes - always by her choosing to intervene - actively involved in a murder investigation. And, she usually gets shot at or knocked on the head.
Maron is the consummate Southern storyteller. The story is as long as it needs to be; there is no rush. Appropriate characters are fleshed out, their idiosyncrasies highlighted and often celebrated. The relationships among characters are important. It is necessary to know that Aunt Sister travels four months of the year in a Winnebago, but thinks Debra ought to settle down. Or, that Maidie, her father's housekeeper, is writing out family recipes in anticipation of Knott's wedding. Maron gets the language right, whether it is the legalese of the courtroom or a farmer's speech. People have no dog in a fight and speak to the difficulty of hiding a mule in a petunia patch. There are no false notes.
It is not necessary to have read the previous novels in the series to enjoy this one, or to understand or appreciate Judge Knott. Because Maron is such a good storyteller, background information is naturally a part of every telling of a story. That background information does not have to be directly tied to the story being told, but it is integral to the telling of a good story.
It is not necessary to have read the previous novels in the series to enjoy this one, or to understand or appreciate Judge Knott. Because Maron is such a good storyteller, background information is naturally a part of every telling of a story. That background information does not have to be directly tied to the story being told, but it is integral to the telling of a good story.
Maron sends Judge Knott, who is not entirely comfortable with heights, to the northwest mountains of North Carolina. Judge Rawlings is going on vacation at the coast so Knott comes to Cedar Gap, a picture postcard town in the high country, to fill in for a week. She goes up in the fall. Will she, or someone, literally fall? She's engaged to a childhood friend, but will she fall for "Luscious Lucius"?
High Country Fall captures the beauty of the mountains and the growing tensions between the natives and the newcomers who think they are coming to the "Florida Mountains." It is these outsiders (flatlanders) who are driving up real estate prices. These outsiders who do not wave to people as they pass. These outsiders who do not pull to the side of the road for a funeral procession. These outsiders who bring new and often unwanted values to the coves and "hollers" of fictional Lafeyette County and the town of Cedar Gap.
High Country Fall captures the beauty of the mountains and the growing tensions between the natives and the newcomers who think they are coming to the "Florida Mountains." It is these outsiders (flatlanders) who are driving up real estate prices. These outsiders who do not wave to people as they pass. These outsiders who do not pull to the side of the road for a funeral procession. These outsiders who bring new and often unwanted values to the coves and "hollers" of fictional Lafeyette County and the town of Cedar Gap.
