Sigrid Harald Books In Order

Publication Order of Sigrid Harald Books

The “Sigrid Harald” series by Margaret Maron is about a police lieutenant that works in New York City. The main character, Sigrid Harald, is related to Deborah Knott (which is another character that Margaret Maron writes about). The first book was released in the year 1981 with the release of “One Coffee With”. The series crossed over with the “Deborah Knott” series with the seventeenth installment of the series.

The series blossomed from a short story that Margaret wrote about her time as the secretary at Brooklyn College, in their art department. There were some exotic, not to mention quite dangerous, chemicals used in the making of prints and photography courses. Students were able to sign for the key to the locked closet and had to return the key right away, but usually, she had to hunt it down at the end of every day. Obviously, she had the idea that anyone could just help themselves to whatever deadly chemical they wanted, for whatever they wanted.

This story stuck around, in her mind, while she was writing short stories. It wound up being her longest that she had written, and it was during a time when the market for short stories was beginning to run dry. That being said, novels were too long for her, and she was intimidated by the mere idea of them. Her stories were about 57 thousand words too short for a novel.

Originally, the story starred a character, who was a cop, named for Niels Bohr. But then, it was rejected a lot of places, so she expanded it to first a novelette, later a novella, and eventually a full novel. The character became Sigrid Harald, as she saw little point in allowing critics to call the character a boring Bohr.

She knew, too, that the book she was working on (later called “One Coffee With”) would be book one of a series. Margaret knew that she would also be a lot more comfortable writing from a female point of view. The series would take place over just one year, and through the course of events, she would change and evolve just in that one year.

She wanted to have a mystery that would arch throughout the entire series; it would concern how her father, a police officer, was killed while on duty and how this would affect her life in the present.

Sigrid was made a cop and not just an amateur sleuth, because she could not come up with enough plausible reasons for some artist, knitting mother, or fashion designer to keep stumbling over bodies over the course of a few installments.

“One Coffee With” is the first novel in the “Sigrid Harald” series and was released in the year 1981. Professor Quinn’s morning cup of coffee had more than just coffee in it. There was a spoonful of poison dumped in by someone from the office of the art department.

There are many suspects in the case. One is an angry Hungarian man who does maintenance, a colleague that was sleeping with Quinn’s wife, as well as a young secretary. New York Police Department detective Sigrid Harold is given the case to find out who the killer is. They have aptitude for killing and an artistic type temperament.

Sigrid has an interesting back story, is competent professionally despite being socially awkward. Fans of the novel enjoyed this one and would check the other books in the series out. This is a wonderful read that will keep you reading, making it hard to set the book down for very long.

“Death of a Butterfly” is the second novel in the “Sigrid Harald” series and was released in the year 1984. Julie Redmond’s death or the tragedy that surrounds it is not what concerns Sigrid. It is the life that she was living that becomes the thing that interests her. Her death only showcases what she did to those that are still living.

Many could have had motives for killing her, as Julie was cold but gorgeous, demanded a lot and was self-centered. The neighbors, who gave Julie’s son Timmy the love she did not. Mickey Novak, who was her brother and a criminal; Julie did not give him any sisterly attention.

Harald has the assistance of a fifteen year old sleuth and with this help, she is able to find out about the blackmail, stolen gems that are worth half a million dollars, not to mention murder. A mastermind is exposed and her savage behavior caught up to her.

Fans of the novel found the characters were the best part of the book; they had many layers and on the whole, were likable. The books has a solid mystery and a strong plot. This is an interesting series that some enjoy re-reading multiple times, and some feel it is too bad that she did not write further novels in the series.

“Death in Blue Folders” is the third novel in the “Sigrid Harald” series and was released in the year 1985. Clayton Gladwell (who is an attorney) has files that only he can access, these are cases that he dubs as special and puts in blue folders. He announces that he will soon be retiring and it dawns on someone that what are in these files are not safe. Unless, of course, everyone associated with them are dead.

There is a washed up cleaning woman, Algonquin Roundtable personality, movie star (long deceased), a senile person spending their last years in a nursing home, and a trendy art gallery’s owner. Harald must figure out who was afraid of or hated Gladwell so much that they would shoot him.

The story was enjoyable and the characters kept things moving very nicely in this one. Sigrid is an interesting character; she has worked very hard to get where she is, is complex, and can be standoffish sometimes. Some liked following along with all of the clues to try to figure things out, to see if they could solve the case themselves. There are interesting mysteries inside of the main mystery in the book. Fans of the novel find that this author writes with a solid style and the plot twists that are present in her later books are seen here.