There's the Durham couple whose dog has a nose for trouble, a goat-raising bed-and-breakfast owner in Fuquay-Varina and an activist from Greenville for people with disabilities.

Maron offered cameo appearances to anyone who donated $2,500 to the Johnston County Heritage Center, a local history clearinghouse where her mother was a longtime volunteer.

She had three takers.

"Hard Row," which Maron is finishing this summer, will be the 13th in the Deborah Knott mystery series, set in a county based on Johnston County.

The cameos won't stick too closely to real life, the author said, but will capture glimpses of her characters' namesakes.

Durham retirees Frank and Phyllis Ward get the mystery rolling when their dog, Taffy, finds a body part.

East Carolina University faculty and former students pitched in on a donation to give the late Linda Allred, a psychology professor at ECU and avid mystery reader, a spot in the book. Allred died in December of complications from post-polio syndrome.

A tireless activist for people with handicaps, Allred used a wheelchair and was deputized so she could write tickets for people illegally parked in spots for people with handicaps.

The third cameo appearance will be by Robbie Lane Jackson, who runs the Carambola Inn on a farm in Fuquay-Varina where she raises goats. The historic inn is billed as able to house all pets except snakes and mice.

Maron said Jackson was game for just about any portrayal.

"She said, 'You want to make me the villain, the killer, feel free,' " Maron said. "I think I'm going to make her the sexy lover of the murder victim -- the other woman."

Maron said she has little difficulty incorporating cameo appearances because her novels have so many characters, something her critics cite as a problem.

But the author blames her heroine, a small-town lawyer. "She interacts with a lot of people," Maron said.