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Late summer in North Carolina and Judge Deborah Knott is hearing cases in her courtroom, when something a little different comes her way. Three men are before her for destroying a carnival ride. Their excuse is that they were trying to get back their tools, which they had placed in a storage locker the last time Judge Knott had jailed them for being drunk and disorderly. They hadn't paid the rent and the facility owner had auctioned off the contents of the locker. Brazos Hartley and his stepfather, Arn Ames, owner of a small travelling carnival, had bought the contents, as they were wont to do, with Arn taking the larger, more easily salable items, and Braz taking the slower way, by selling the smaller items on eBay. Judge Knott finds for Tallahassee Ames, wife of Arn and mother of Braz, and jails the three troublemakers. A couple of weeks later, the carnival comes to Colleton County, and Deborah, Portland and Avery Brewer, Sylvia Clayton and Dwight Bryant, and other assorted members of the Knott clan, are all having fun on the midway. They run into Tally who gives them an escorted tour of the show, and continue to hang out, playing the games and generally enjoying themselves, until later that night, when going to get more quarters to play one of the games, Knott finds a dead body. Almost 40 years before, one of Deborah's older brothers (she has 11) had an affair with a woman named Carol who gave birth to a baby she named Olivia. Andrew never acknowledged that baby, but Deborah's mother told her the story on her deathbed. Deborah never forgot. Something drew her to Tally, who turns out to be Olivia. The dead man, Brazos Hartley, Tally's son, had been Andrew's grandson. Knott invites Ames to bury Braz in the Knott cemetery, and to meet old Kezzie Knott, the patriarch. Sometimes it's good to visit family, and Judge Knott's family is a good one to visit. A death is a good excuse to have a party and all of Deborah's sisters-in-law pitch in to make Braz' funeral a fun event.. As usual, Maron makes Colleton, North Carolina and its residents come alive, and has a lesson to teach. This time we learn that carnival folks are family also.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, August 2002
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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