Take Out Mass Market Paperback – March 27, 2018

I was intrigued when I first read a review in the newspaper about this book. It seemed to stress the importance of Margaret Maron as a top mystery writer. her heroine is Sigrid Harald, a detective lieutenant in PDNY. She also lost a former lover, Oscar Naumann, to a mysterious car accident in California. She finds herself inheriting Naumann's vast artwork collection, among other things. Then two seemingly homeless men are found poisoned on a park bench in the West Village. One was a godson to the wife of a notorious gangster, the other would not be identified until the middle of the book. There are few twists and surprises in this ponderous, statically written book. The one surprise is the appearance of a young man from his travels in Europe who tries to make a claim to Naumann's fortune. The characters are not vivid. There is opportunity here to lend some color to the characters, some personality, but Ms. Maron doesn't seem to care. I've read reporters' accounts on crimes that were more enlightening than this book. There is enough of a plot idea in this book to have made this into a really intriguing, thrilling book- you know, the type of book that in the last third picks up momentum, picks up thrills, and the reader feels he/she cannot put down the book. I did not experience this with this book. In fact, I guessed the killer. And you, as the reader will, too. That is, unless due to the static, passionless writing you may experience, you decide to just give up on this book and go back to Michael Connolly's mysteries.

The one positive thing I can say about "Take Out" is that it is better written than "Three Day Town", but not by much. I loved and miss Judge Deborah Knott and her interesting, realistic family and suspenseful plots, therefore it's hard to believe that the same writer wrote this bloodless tome. It reads like it was written in a monotone by Sgt. Joe Friday. Every character is two dimensional. The plot is never exciting. Miss Marple books are more interesting.The plots and characters in the earlier Sigrid Harald books are more interesting. This one is emotionally disconnected, the characters are never fleshed out, and it reads like it's a story outline outline waiting to be brought to life.

TAKE OUT by Margaret MaronI love Maron’s Deborah Knott books. This is only the second Sigrid Harald novel I have read. I was unfamiliar with the recurring characters, so I was often to turning back to see “who is this”, especially considering there are three separate plots and three sets of characters to keep straight. Once I got familiar with them, all the plot(s) moved along quickly.The New York setting was on point with a number of neighborhood businesses and interest points used. Lt. Harold’s relationship with artist Oscar Nauman is part of the plotting along with a gallery, a mobster’s family and an aging opera star. The plots are intriguing and keep you guessing (I did quickly figure out one point, yea, me) with enough ambiguity to keep you reading.Good reading, but I still like the Deborah Knott books better.4 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a classic mystery where you follows the clues and get to the answer., although I must admit I really hadn't figured out who the murderer was by the time I got to the end . The characters were all likable and well described. There was more than one plotline but it never became complicated or hard to follow. This is a good book for anyone who likes an Agatha Christie type mystery. I will have to go back and read some of her other novels since this one supposedly is the last one she's going to write . That would be a shame.

Maron wrote an introduction to one of Rex Stout ' s Nero Wolfe mysteries. So after binge reading Nero and Archie for the 2nd time (4th for some books but I am a retired 76 y/o so that's finally a fairly valid excuse), I started on Maron's Sigrid series. Moving on to binge on Maron's Judge series. Better binging books than booze when they are this good.

I liked Fugitive Colors as an end to the series so much better! It was a brilliant,.moving story. This seemed forced and tied up loose ends in a predictable way. Still love the characters.

I like all of her books, some more than others. I suppose it is nice that Sigrid is starting to come alive a bit, but I am not sure how she got so buttoned up in the first place. Still, I enjoyed the book.

My favorite so far. I like how loose ends from previous books were tied off,but she still crams her denouements into a few pages when they should in my opinion be dwelled on just a bit more. Even so, she is one of my very favorite writers..