Margaret Maron delivers another solid installment in the Deborah Knott series. Judge Deborah Knott gets to delve into her parents' past when her father becomes a suspect in the death of a wife-beating former moonshiner. Thankfully, there are other suspects in Vick Earp's murder. He not only battered his wife, he beat up his younger brother, his cousin, the neighbor's cat, and whoever was unfortunate enough to cross his path. Deborah and her husband Dwight work the clues in the present and back to the 1940s to try to find out who killed Vick and dumped his body on Knott land. 288 pages.
