The pacing was good, and I liked the subplot where Deborah’s daddy had to deal with the local reverend who was taking advantage of his flock. Maron ties together a television show and that plot very well, and I saw what was coming just ahead of the reveal, which is the best place to do that.
However, I was disappointed in how little Deborah was in the book at first. She was definitely in at the end, with her life on the line, but through the meat of the book she was conspicuously missing in action. I read these books to hear her “talk” to me, to nudge me and make me think, and to let me know that we have a lot of the same outlooks and values. Hopefully Deborah will be back on stage more in the next novel.
If you haven’t discovered this wonderful series, you can pretty much jump in with any of them. Maron lays out the family and the background pretty quickly, then you’re usually in the middle of the plot. These mysteries are great for the beach and for quiet, rainy days.
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