The Right Jack (Sigrid Harald Series #4)

by Margaret Maron

Overview

An award-winning mystery novelist and New York Times Bestseller, Margaret Maron uses her North Carolina background when writing the popular Judge Deborah Knott series.

But before Deborah Knott, there was Lt. Sigrid Harald, a homicide detective with the NYPD. "The Right Jack" is the fourth book in the Sigrid Harald series. The title is a cribbage term, but you don't have to know this card game to enjoy the book even though it takes place at a cribbage tournament in an exclusive Manhattan hotel.

Six cards are dealt to each of the two players. Each contributes two cards, facedown, to the "crib." Then the cards are cut and one card is turned up on the deck. Say it's the five of hearts. If either hand contains the jack of hearts--i.e., the "right jack"--that person gets to peg an extra point on the cribbage board between them.

When one of the boards explodes and two people are killed outright, Lt. Harald must discover which was the intended victim--their "right jack."

Of Maron's writing the San Diego Union-Tribune has written, "A born storyteller, Maron combines a lighthearted style, surefooted suspense, and a captivating cast."

Cover design by Paper Moon Graphics.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940012943934
Publisher:	Maron & Company
Publication date:	06/13/2011
Series:	Sigrid Harald Series , #4
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	169,832
File size:	376 KB

About the Author

Born and bred in North Carolina where the piedmont meets the sandhills, I grew up on a modest two-mule tobacco farm that has been in the family for over a hundred years. Tobacco is no longer grown on the farm, but the memories linger — the singing, the laughter, the gossip that went on at the bench as those rank green leaves came from the field, the bliss of an icy cold drink bottle pressed to a hot sweaty face, getting up at dawn to help “take out” a barn, the sweet smell of soft golden leaves as they’re being readied for auction. Working in tobacco is one of those life experiences I’m glad to have had. I’m even gladder that it’s something I’ll never have to do again.

After high school came two years of college until a summer job at the Pentagon led to marriage, a tour of duty in Italy, then several years in my husband’s native Brooklyn. I had always loved writing and for the first few years, wrote nothing but short stories and very bad poetry. (The legendary Ruth Cavin of St. Martin’s Press once characterized my verses as “doggerel. But inspired doggerel.”)

Eventually, I backed into writing novels about NYPD Lt. Sigrid Harald, mysteries set against the New York City art world. But love of my native state and a desire to write out of current experiences led to the creation of District Court Judge Deborah Knott, the opinionated daughter of a crusty old ex-bootlegger and youngest sibling of eleven older brothers. (I was one of only three, so no, I’m not writing about my own family.)

We’ve been back on a corner of the family land for many years now. My city-born husband discovered he prefers goldfinches, rabbits, and the occasional quiet deer to yellow cabs, concrete, and a city that never sleeps. A son, a daughter-in-law, and two granddaughters are icing on our cake.