MARGARET MARON: R.I.P.

I woke up this morning to the sad news that Margaret Maron, mystery author, humanist, and friend, passed away yesterday. I enjoyed her Sigrid Harald books and, of course, her Deborah Knott series. I, also, loved spending time with Margaret at Malice Domestic and Bouchercon. She was always so friendly, including people in her panels and chats in the lobby, bar, or book room. When she finally made it to one of my Literary Salons here on the West Coast, she not only gave a great talk, but she identified a special spider that was spinning a web 'behind my garden gate.' Who knew she was an expert on arachnia? Margaret was a woman of many talents and interests. She was smart, witty, funny, compassionate, and generous to others. She was also a wonderdful storyteller, so it's not surprising that she won all the major mystery awards, including the Macavity. She was also a Grandmaster of Mystery Writers of America. Margaret was a literary treasure and one of the nicest people I've ever known. I will miss her.

Photo: I took this in 2013. Margaret, wearing an Egyptian motif scarf that Elizabeth Peters aka Barbara Mertz gave her.

Here's the obit that was in my inbox this morning (click to enlarge):

Ending a Series: Guest Post by Margaret Maron

Margaret Maron:
Ending a Series 

When Fugitive Colors, the 8th in my Sigrid Harald series, was published, I assumed that would be the last time I'd write about this NYPD homicide detective. There was an arc to her story and that arc had been completed.

Period. The end.

Or so I thought.

But then NC District Court Judge Deborah Knott and her deputy sheriff husband Dwight Bryant decided to have a belated honeymoon in New York and her new sister-in-law offered them the use of her Upper West Side apartment. Thus, Three-Day Town. Naturally, a body wound up in that apartment and who should come to investigate?

While Dwight and Sigrid worked well together, Sigrid and Deborah did not exactly bond, which rather amused me. I thought it would be fun to see how Sigrid reacted on Deborah's turf, so I brought her south in Buzzard Table. Again, she and Dwight were on the same page, but it was clear that she and Deborah were never going to become BFFs.

Nevertheless, rereading the series reminded me that I had indeed left some loose threads the first time around: unanswered questions about her artist lover's death, some early modern paintings hidden in an old historical house in lower Manhattan. Chronologically, Take Out comes after Fugitive Colors, but well before Three-Day Town. Subways still took tokens then, the Trade Towers still stood, and one could smoke in most restaurants.

Now I've tied off all those threads and this time, it really is the end.

At least I think it is, just as I think that Long Upon the Land is the last in my Deborah Knott series. I've said almost everything there is to say about her and her huge family. I don't want to start repeating myself and I'm more than ready to be done with deadlines. I began my career with short stories and that's how I plan to end it. (Two are currently in the queue at EQMM.) Life in the slow lane. I want to smell the gardenias and put a dent in the stack of books piled beside my favorite reading chair.

On the other hand . . .?

Deborah's first appearance was in a short story anthology that Sara Paretsky edited. She just walked into my head running her mouth and wouldn't shut up, so who knows if another character will do the same?

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Margaret Maron is a founding member and third president of Sisters in Crime. Named a Grand Master by Mystery Writers of America, she was inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2016. 

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The Deborah Knott Series (20): 
▪ Bootlegger's Daughter, 1992 
▪ Southern Discomfort, 1993 
▪ Shooting at Loons, 1994 ▪ Up Jumps the Devil, 1996 
▪ Killer Market, 1997 
▪ Home Fires, 1998 
▪ Storm Track, 2000 
▪ Uncommon Clay, 2001 
▪ Slow Dollar, 2002 
▪ High Country Fall, 2004 
▪ Rituals of the Season, 2005 
▪ Winter’s Child, 2006 
▪ Hard Row, 2007 
▪ Death’s Half Acre, 2008