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, face down, 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.”