Last Lessons of Summer

A little bit slow sometimes but still an interesting whodunnit. I like the protagonist, Amy. It made me want to find an old abandoned house to explore...just without all the blood-shed.

I really enjoy Maron's Judge Deborah Knott series, but this one is a stand-alone about a young woman Amy who inherits a family business - The Pink and Blue publishing company - and a house from her grandmother. The house is in North Carolina and since she has such fond memories of spending time

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there with her grandmother, she returns to NC to go through her grandmother's treasures before selling the house. At the same time, she is looking for clues to help her understand why her mother killed herself when Amy was only 3 years old. The mysteries she unearths, the assorted relatives whose apple carts she upsets, and the suspense created by all this make for a very satisfying read.

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I enjoyed listening to this book of Margaret Maron's in the car. She spins a good tale, and I enjoyed the references to Raleigh and nearby Wake County places. I was also interested in it since I've enjoyed children's books since my teaching days, and some of the characters work for a children's

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book publisher. I didn't know whodunnit until the end.

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Synopsis: Amy has inherited the controlling interest in a publishing company. Their products are children's books with expansions into other products for children. She Isn't quite sure if she wants to take over the company when her step-dad retires, but she is sure that she wants some answers to

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the questions that have haunted her since childhood, particularly why her mother committed suicide. She also wants to know why her grandmother was murdered, and her trip to the house to get it ready to sell puts Amy in the way of the murderer.
Review: Although not one of the Deborah Knott books, the setting is the same as are some of the minor characters in this story.

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This is a stand-alone novel, but a couple familiar characters from Maron's Deborah Knott series do appear. Amy Steadman, principal heir to her grandparents' fortune, which includes controlling interest in the family publishing/marketing business, heads for North Carolina to clear out her

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grandmother's house before selling the highly desireable chunk of land it sits on. Her local family members have been eager for this sale, as they all own adjacent properties that will be included and they all have plans for "when the money comes through", but Grandmother was a hold-out. Now, she's dead, and it looks like murder. Complicating matters further, this house is where Amy's mother supposedly shot herself when Amy was just 3 years old. Amy has no memory of the event, nor even of her mother, so she's asking a lot of questions, trying to fill in a missing hunk of her past, but the answers don't add up. Above average, page-turning escapism.
Review written June 2017

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Another North Carolina clan with NYC connections is featured in this Maron story. Amy is closing her grandmother's house prior to selling it. The grandmother's murder and her mother's apparent suicide are still unresolved in her mind as she seeks answers from diaries and letters found in the attic

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of the family home. Another family death by poison and threats to her make past problems part of the present in this good crossover story by Margaret Maron.

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