A moonlit autumn night brings out half the county to fill the Tilt-O-Whirl with squealing riders and the dirt around Polly's Pitch Plate with losers' quarters. But in an air nostalgically sweet with caramel apple and spun sugar, one crooked game ends with a brutal death ... and Judge Deborah Knott will discover more than a body. For beneath the carnival's razzle-dazzle surface swirl dark secrets that Deborah has kept hidden for almost twenty years. Now as family loyalties war with the demands of the law, she must struggle to win a carny's trust-before the killer pins a bull's-eye on yet another victim. ( )

No. 9 in the Judge Deborah Knott series. This one was a carnival ride...no, really. Maron likes to pick a little world and make it real for us; she's done it with the North Carolina furniture industry; the realm of pottery-making; the feud between fishermen and land-developers along the Atlantic coast....and now, she has taken us into the caravans and grab wagons of the small traveling carnival, where humans are no more nor less greedy, venial and murderous than they are anywhere else. Deborah's family and love life continue to provide emotional ups and downs for her and for us. May it ever be thus. This series is not getting old.
Review written July 2014 ( )

Carnival comes to Colleton County and provides a corpse with its mouth stuffed with quarters. When the body is identified, a relationship with the Knott's family is discovered. Solving the crime gets a bit untidy with another murder and needs to be resolved before the carnival moves on. As always a good story from this fine author with little twists sprinkled throughout so that the reader sustains their interest. ( )

Synopsis: The carnival is in town and Deborah goes along to see what is happening. At one of the games, Deborah finds the person who is supposed to be running the event dead with nickels stuffed in this mouth. What makes this worse is that he's the son of a long lost niece who actually owns the carnival. In other news, Deborah and Dwight finally find each other.
Review: This was interesting since the setting was in a carnival and the author provided some background for the context. The plot was also interesting in that it didn't telegraph the culprit until the last few pages. ( )

SLOW DOLLAR by Margaret Maron

Fans of Deborah Knott will appreciate this novel that introduces some long lost relatives, visits a carnival and finds murder among the rides and “stores.” You will learn quite a bit about carnivals and the carnies that populate them. Deborah’s relatives are kind, forgiving, mean spirited, long suffering, angry – you name it. They are all here just like in real life.
Maron supplies us with another tightly crafted, engaging mystery. Although the 8th tale in this series, you can read this book without having read any of the others. The family tree is helpful in identifying all of Deborah’s many brothers and their progeny.
A satisfying read. 4 of 5 stars ( )