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The name Sigrid Harald refers to a series of police procedural novels from the 1980s. The books follow the exploits of Sigrid Harald, a female NYPD homicide detective.
Order of Sigrid Harald Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | One Coffee With | 1981 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | Death of a Butterfly | 1984 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | Death in Blue Folders | 1985 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | The Right Jack | 1987 | Description / Buy | |
| 5 | Baby Doll Games | 1988 | Description / Buy | |
| 6 | Corpus Christmas | 1989 | Description / Buy | |
| 7 | Past Imperfect | 1991 | Description / Buy | |
| 8 | Fugitive Colors | 1995 | Description / Buy | |
| 9 | Take Out | 2017 | Description / Buy |
Margaret Maron is known primarily for her work on the Deborah Knott Mysteries series.
However, those books started publication in 1992. Before the author ever created Knott’s amateur sleuth, she was writing about Sigrid Harald, a female detective working for New York’s police department.
In fact, One Coffee With, the first novel in the Sigrid Harald series, was Margaret Maron’s first full-length novel. Before that, the author primarily dabbled in short stories and novellas.
The book introduces readers to Quinn, a professor who died of poisoning. Sigrid must sift through a group of suspects that include a colleague who slept with Quinn’s wife and a young secretary.
People who started with the Deborah Knott series before moving backward to consume her earlier work probably remember Sigrid from Three-Day Town.
The 2011 Deborah Knott novel found Knott traveling to New York to deliver an art piece to Lt. Sigrid Harald, a member of her extended family.
Margaret has a lot of followers who had no interest in reading anything that she had published before the Deborah Knott series. But when they learned that her next book (Three-Day Town) would feature Sigrid, a number of them were finally convinced to peruse the series, if only to get a better sense of its heroine before they met her again in Three-Day Town.
While the Deborah Knott novels lean heavily towards the Cozy Mystery genre, the Sigrid Harald books are police procedurals.
Margaret places more emphasis on the mysteries than she does the characters. This is the reverse with the Knott series.
Sigrid Harald takes center stage as the only woman in her NYPD precinct. Life in the 1980s isn’t particularly welcoming to women.
As such, Sigrid must fight to overcome the sexism that assaults her at every turn. When she isn’t contending with her chauvinistic male colleagues, she must shrug off the reporters from women’s magazines who are determined to put her on a pedestal.
Sigrid is joined in her investigative efforts by her partner Tildon, her superior who never uses his rank to push her around.
In the beginning, Sigrid presents a very reserved and withdrawn personality. She is quite attractive but she seems unaware of her beauty.
Over time, the heroine’s interactions with the people around her draw her quirkiness to the surface. The author uses the individual novels in this series to slowly but surely peel away the layers surrounding her protagonist.
Sigrid Harald Awards
Corpus Christmas, the sixth novel in the series, was nominated for an Agatha and Anthony Award in 1989 and 1990 respectively.
Best Sigrid Harald Books
Margaret Maron’s fans love the fact that these books were written in the 1980s; because there are no modern forensic tools for Sigrid to use, she must rely solely on her keen intellect to succeed, with some of the best books in the series including:
Past Imperfect: Sigrid Harald is a respected NYPD homicide detective. Her father was also a cop. He was actually killed in the line of duty.
When Harald is called upon to investigate an incident involving an off-duty cop, the clues she discovers compel her to take a closer look at her father’s death.
Fugitive Colors: Sigrid Harald’s world was shaken when Oscar Nauman, her lover, and an artist, died. Sigrid withdrew from her career, her family, and her friends.
She tried and mostly failed to overcome her grief over Oscar’s passing. Then galleries began clamoring to sell Oscar’s paintings and Sigrid was drawn into New York’s art world, a place of greed and violence hiding beneath a vibrant surface.
When a shocking homicide occurs, Sigrid is forced to don her badge once more. She must prove that she still has what it takes to uphold the tenets of her department.
Other Book Series You May Like
Be sure to check out the “Jessica James Mystery” Series by Kelly Oliver. Jessica James is a brilliant, courageous academic who works alongside the tech-savvy hippie Amber and the wise-cracking stoner Jack to right wrongs wherever she finds them.
You may also like the “Jupiter Grove” Series by Karin Kaufman. Rachel Stowe came to Jupiter Gove to find the good friends and the quiet life she deeply desired. But Jupiter Grove has no shortage of trouble. Whenever Rachel’s friends end up on the wrong side of the law, she does not hesitate to leap into the fray to help them.
What Is The Next Book in The Sigrid Harald Series?
There doesn't seem to be an upcoming book in The Sigrid Harald Series. The newest book is Take Out and was released on June, 1st 2017.