SOUTHERN DISCOMFORT
by Margaret Maron
Colleton County district lawyer Deborah Knott (Bootlegger's Daughter, 1992), elevated to district judge when Perry Byrd keels over and dies, returns to the house she's helping the WomenAid project build—and discovers her niece Annie Sue, half-concussed and with her panties pulled down, plus the hammered-to-death body of sexy building-inspector Carver Bannerman. At the same time, Annie Sue's dad Herman is admitted to the hospital—a victim of arsenic poisoning. Carver's body also contains arsenic, and Deborah wonders whether the multi-member Knott clan has been up to bludgeoning (understandable) and relative-poisoning (inexplicable). Annie Sue's best friends—Paige, the late judge's unhappy daughter, and Cindy, a recent conquest of the married Carver—also fall under suspicion, but all becomes clear with a viewing of the family tape made at Deborah's swearing-in festivities. Less edgy than last year's strong debut for Deborah, but, like it, awash with southern kinfolk, pesky neighbors, North Carolina down-home-isms, and a sturdy if slowly paced plot.