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    Designated Daughters
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    Designated Daughters
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    Designated Daughters
    Audiobook7 hours

    Designated Daughters

    Published by Hachette Audio

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    When Judge Deborah Knott is summoned to her ailing Aunt Rachel's bedside, she assumes the worst. Thankfully when she arrives at the hospice center she learns that Rachel hasn't passed; in fact, the dying woman is awake. Surrounded by her children, her extended family, and what seems like half of Colleton County, a semi-conscious Rachel breaks weeks of pained silence with snippets of stories as randomly pieced together as a well-worn patchwork quilt. But the Knott family's joy quickly gives way to shock: less than an hour later, Aunt Rachel is found dead in her bed, smothered with a pillow.


    Who would kill a woman on her deathbed? Was it an act of mercy, or murder? As Deborah and her husband, Sheriff's Deputy Dwight Bryant, investigate they cross paths with an unlikely set of suspects: Rachel's longtime minister; her neighbor, the respected local doctor; the friendly single father who often sought her advice; and perhaps the most puzzling party of all, the Designated Daughters, a support group for caregivers that Rachel's own daughter belongs to.


    Soon Deborah and Dwight realize that the key to solving this case is hidden in Rachel's mysterious final words. Her mixed-up memories harbored a dark secret-a secret that someone close to them is determined to bury forever.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateAug 12, 2014
    ISBN9781478983606
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for Designated Daughters

    4/5

    133 ratings20 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      I love spending time with the Knott clan, seeing Deborah's relationships with Dwight & Cal develop and exploring all the family relationships. Aunt Rachel, Kezzie's sister, is in hospice and all of a sudden starts talking a blue streak. Next thing you know, she's dead and not from natural causes. What did Aunt Rachel say that made someone want to murder such a sweet old lady? Dwight and Deborah investigate and uncover many secrets along the way.
    • 4/5
      A friend in an unexpected place turned me on to Margaret Maron, and I've been hooked ever since. I've borrowed the Deborah Knott books in sequence from my local library, and admire Maron's ability to make the development of each novel simultaneously a whole, single thing in its own right (its own write, John Lennon would have said), and an important and furthermore well-proportioned development of the larger sequence, which, whether or not Maron intends this, is growing a life of its own. Maron probably DOES intend this, because my surprise friend alerted me before Maron introduced the characters in this series to the characters in the other series and plot ensued; we both awaited publication with anticipation, and read with satisfaction. Read Maron when you need something absorbing, well-written, intelligent, morally thought-provoking, and unlikely to lay you out with either grief or laughter--a good middle road when that's what your mind and heart need.
    • 5/5
      Excellent narrative and easy listening I enjoyed it very much!
    • 3/5
      As a woman who grew up in the south, some of the sayings of the characters brought back memories of my parents and older folks. That being said, the story didn’t match up to the age of the two main characters, the judge and her husband, and I wondered why the author chose to write them being of child bearing age because the child wasn’t instrumental to the story, I felt. Plus the story read older, not the habits and behaviors of 30 somethings. THAT being said, it was great that the judge wasn’t sanctimonious and participated in activities that were not quite honest but did help others in need.
    • 5/5
      This well written story draws you in and keeps you guessing as it layers story upon story. The narrator/author is superb! I could listen to her read all day. She's probably the best narrator I've listened to!
    • 4/5
      it is a really good story. No cussing, sex scenes, blood and gore. and still a good book.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      This book has an abundance of the southern charm we have come to expect from Margaret Maron's Judge Knott series. But it suffers from an overabundance of some other things, most notably characters (all related) and plot lines (all intertwined). This makes following the story, or stories, difficult. I finished the book because I like Judge Knott, but this is not one of my favorites in the series. All in all, too many Knotts.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Good plots twists and lots of Knott family back story. I love spending time in Colleton County.
    • 5/5
      When Judge Deborah Knott is summoned to her ailing Aunt Rachel's bedside, she assumes the worst. Thankfully when she arrives at the hospice center she learns that Rachel hasn't passed; in fact, the dying woman is awake. Surrounded by her children, her extended family, and what seems like half of Colleton County, a semi-conscious Rachel breaks weeks of pained silence with snippets of stories as randomly pieced together as a well-worn patchwork quilt. But the Knott family's joy quickly gives way to shock: less than an hour later, Aunt Rachel is found dead in her bed, smothered with a pillow. Who would kill a woman on her deathbed? Was it an act of mercy, or murder? As Deborah and her husband, Sheriff's Deputy Dwight Bryant, investigate they cross paths with an unlikely set of suspects: Rachel's longtime minister; her neighbor, the respected local doctor; the friendly single father who often sought her advice; and perhaps the most puzzling party of all, the Designated Daughters, a support group for caregivers that Rachel's own daughter belongs to.Soon Deborah and Dwight realize that the key to solving this case is hidden in Rachel's mysterious final words. Her mixed-up memories harbored a dark secret-a secret that someone close to them is determined to bury forever.
    • 5/5
      Don’t let the vast cast of characters stop you from enjoying this novel – the author kindly includes a family tree that is most helpful while you sort things out. Elderly Aunt Rachel is in hospice care at the hospital and likely has only hours to live. But she suddenly starts chattering away like a magpie and friends and family gather for the final farewell. When they leave the room for a snack and so Rachel can be freshened up by an aid, someone comes back and murders her in her bed. It makes little sense to murder someone who is so close to death, but then realization sets in: someone is afraid of what Rachel could reveal in her ramblings. Filled with fascinating characters and an intricate plot, this story is quite entertaining. There is more than just the one murder going on! You undoubtedly will want to read the rest of the series, but this tale can be enjoyed on its own. Good writing and a well thought-out plot with plenty of mystery mixed in with humor make the characters come alive and will have you running through the pages.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Another solid job by Margaret Maron. I almost don't appreciate her books enough if I haven't recently read something of the careless writing that passes for mysteries. I particularly enjoy the constant theme of what everybody knows and decides to ignore in order to keep the community together (and that turns out to be the motive here).
    • 4/5
      I love the books in this series because of the interesting characters, the family feeling, and the continuity from one book to the next. The writing is good and in this book the mystery is puzzling and not easy to solve unless you subscribe to the extraneous character rule.
    • 4/5
      Maron's series about North Carolina judge/amateur detective Deborah Knott is one of the most consistently well written series out there. It's worth reading the books in order, since much of the pleasure of the books (for me, anyway) revolves around the interactions of Deborah's extremely large and eccentric family, and it takes a while to figure out who's who, and the series does build on what's happened in previous episodes. The first novel, the fine _Bootlegger's Daughter_, sets the stage for what's to come by establishing the colorful history of Deborah's father, a notorious (former) moonshine runner).The best parts of _Dedicated Daughters_ delve into the complicated Knott family history and its continued influence on the present. And as in many of Maron's books, there's a thread running through the story at several different levels--in this case, it's about the complications of caring for elderly family members and the difficulty of balancing genuine concern with a respect for the individual's autonomy and experience. That all works well, and we get lots of fun detours into Deborah's court cases and her relationship with her sheriff husband, Dwight, and her stepson Cal. The plot of this one seemed a little weak to me, though--especially the way the mystery gets resolved, which was pretty anticlimactic and frankly a little unbelievable.Nevertheless, it was enjoyable to go back to Maron's fictional Colleton County for awhile. I'll always be eager to read new entries into this series.
    • 5/5
      Another winner for Margaret Maron. I have the whole collection, passed out to friends, this is one of the series most passed around. If you haven't read Deborah Knotts series, start at one and have a great time reading.
    • 4/5
      Lots of family history to ponder as this story moves resolutely towards its conclusion. No one does folksy Southern quite like Margaret Maron. She uses all the instruments in the Knott family symphony to resolve the murder of a woman only a few moments from her natural death.
    • 2/5
      I have read all the Deborah Knott novels, and sometimes the book is not as good as the others. This book left me feeling empty, like something has been missed. The killer was exposed, but with remorse and regrets. Yes, the Knotts family is huge and related to many other individuals, but the family characters prove too much for this reader. Also, the relationships between individuals did not ring true. After reading better novels, this story proved disappointing.
    • 5/5
      DESIGNATED DAUGHTERS by Margaret MaronMargaret Maron has written a mystery with heart where some of the miscreants get what they deserve and some get mercy. The Knott family saga continues with more life in the characters and more fun in the tales they tell and live out. Well plotted and with enough red herrings to challenge the best armchair detectives, DESIGNATED DAUGHTERS tells of young and old, rich and poor, cheated and cheater, but mostly Maron spins a tale of life. Her characters resonate with vitality. Maron fans will find the characters familiar as they age, grow up, mellow and are revealed in this latest novel from a master of the continuing story. If you are reading a Deborah Knott mystery for the first time, you will need the family tree found in the front of the book.
    • 5/5
      Deborah and her extended family are visiting an elder aunt who has been taken off life support. Aunt Rachel hadn't spoken for a long time but for some reason she starts one afternoon and just talks and talks and talks. What she says is very puzzling and often most of the people there have no idea what she is talking about. When everyone leaves the room to give Rachel a chance to rest someone sneaks in and puts a pillow over her face to silence her forever. The question is why? And who.Dwight and his team are working on the murder, but Deborah can't stay out of it, this was her father's sister and she wants answers. With so many people present there are plenty of suspects but finding out the "why" is the hardest part. Was it something she said? And, if so, what?This series continues to shine with an excellence in story telling and a flow of language that is a pleasure to read. Maron writes about a book a year and I wait impatiently for each one to come out.
    • 4/5
      Judge Deborah Knott's great Aunt Rachel is smothered in her hospital bed while her family eats a meal in the hospice lounge a floor below her room. She had roused from a stroke that had previously left her silent to spew out details on events from long ago. One such detail was enough to make someone present silence her forever. On a variation of a closed room mystery, Margaret Maron has created a mystery that seems very straight-forward to the reader but apparently not to the police. This reader spent the entire book wondering when the investigators would ever see the obvious suspect only to discover a real plot twist at the end. Definitely a good read as well as a chance to catch up on doings of the Knott family!
    • 4/5
      Judge Deborah Knott’s Aunt Rachel, who is in hospice care, has been silent while she and the family await her passing. But, all of a sudden, she’s talking up an incoherent storm and the hospice nurses call the family to gather. The loose regulations in the hospital’s hospice wing mean that her room is soon overflowing with a multi-generational crowd of family and friends, all recording the goings-on with cell phones. But while the family is out of the room, she dies. Not unexpected, but it’s soon apparent she was murdered. It looks as if someone sneaked back in the room to silence the old woman. It’s up to Sheriff Deputy Dwight Bryant, husband of Judge Deborah Knott, so figure out who killed Aunt Rachel – aided, of course, by his wife. They soon assemble a list of suspects, but still don’t have a motive. Looking to assemble a coherent record of her ramblings, they splice the time-stamped recordings and look to the past for a motive – from a decades-ago drowning to more recent occurrences. These Deborah Knott mysteries are among my all-time favorites and when I read one, it’s like a reunion with characters who seem quite real. Margaret Maron is a writer who can be counted on for a good story, well written. Designated Daughters is the kind of books readers expect from this author.