Hard Row, by Margaret Maron (on CD)

I have somehow missed reading about Judge Deborah Knott up to this point. This is apparently the 13th book in the series. I'm debating whether I should add the series to my list of books to read. The prime motivator, besides being a generally good, character-driven story, is that I have family in the general area.

This one finds Deborah presiding over several interrelated cases: a domestic abuse case, a nasty divorce, and immigrant-worker issues. Her husband, Dwight, is the sheriff and has some icky remains turning up to figure out as well as a missing elderly man. Meanwhile, on the home front they are both trying to integrate their 2-month marriage along with learning to deal with an 8-year-old 'instant son' who used to live with Dwight's first wife.

Good story with lots of local color in the best sense. You really get a sense of the community and of North Carolina people. I think Maron is probably going on The List.