Hess, Joan's Books

Martians in Maggody

By: Joan Hess

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Police chief Arly Hanks tries to keep her head when the people of Maggody get UFO fever in this uproarious cozy mystery. Life is so boring in Maggody, Arkansas, population 755, the locals have resorted to reading supermarket tabloids, gobbling up every rumor of wolf men, zombies, and creatures from outer space they can get their hands on. And as the only sane woman in town, Chief of Police Arly Hanks just smiles and nods whenever her neighbors rave about the latest conspiracy theories. But to Arly’s eternal horror, it looks like Maggody is about to become ground zero for an extraterrestrial invasion. The aliens will never know what hit ’em. It starts when strange circles appear in Raz Buchanon’s cornfields, drawing reporters, newscasters, and every nut west of the Mississippi. But as supernatural fever hits Maggody, Arly is confronted with a very terrestrial murder. There may be aliens on Main Street, but in a town this strange, how could anybody tell the difference? Life has always been nutty in Maggody, but the madness is about to go paranormal. Master of cozies Joan Hess knows better than anyone how to push a mystery to the brink of madness—and then push it a whole lot farther. Martians in Maggody is the 8th book in the Arly Hanks Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

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233

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1504037243

ISBN 13

9781504037242

Big Foot Stole My Wife

And Other Stories

By: Joan Hess

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Big Foot Stole My Wife

And Other Stories

By: Joan Hess

Eleven stories of jealousy, lunacy, and murder told in the uproarious style of Joan Hess, the creator of Maggody, Arkansas. As he waits in the checkout line at Consumers Market, Jay Jay Anderson is certain of one thing: His wife, Cookie, deserves to die. In the tabloids, he finds a story about a man whose wife was kidnapped by Big Foot, and Jay Jay can’t imagine a luckier fellow. But Cookie is a wino with nicotine-stained fingers, badly bleached hair, and a voice shrill enough to cut glass. . . . Big Foot wouldn’t be interested. If Jay Jay wants out of his rotten marriage, he’ll have to kill Cookie himself. “Big Foot Stole My Wife!” is classic Joan Hess: diabolical, hilarious, and utterly unpredictable. This sparkling collection of stories, which includes two tales culled from the Maggody police files of beloved small-town sheriff Arly Hanks, shows a master of comic mysteries operating at her very best. Fans of the comic small-town mysteries of Donna Andrews or Liz Lipperman will adore Joan Hess. The creator of the outrageous Ozarks hamlet of Maggody, she’s one of the funniest authors in mystery fiction, and these stories show her at her laugh-out-loud best.

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157

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Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1504037308

ISBN 13

9781504037303

murder@maggody.com

By: Joan Hess

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murder@maggody.com

By: Joan Hess

When the uproarious town of Maggody, Arkansas, plugs into the Internet, the digital age turns deadly. Aside from the odd stolen dog or vandalized lawn ornament, there’s been no recent crime in Maggody, Arkansas, population 755, and that’s how Chief of Police Arly Hanks likes it. Things have been so quiet she’s taken to sitting in on school-board meetings, and she’s doing just this when the high school announces the new computer lab, which will be open to everybody in town. To Arly—who doesn’t trust her neighbors to handle a toaster, much less a computer—it seems like an invitation to disaster. Little does she know that when Maggody logs on, the results will be murderous. As soon as the first modem is plugged in, Maggody’s computers are flooded with hackers, pornography, libel, and worse. And when a newcomer is brutally murdered, Arly must use low-tech resourcefulness to catch a digital killer—and save Maggody from the information age. Fans of Ellen Byron’s Cajun Country mysteries will find themselves right at home in Maggody, where everyone knows everyone—and everyone is related. This is unquestionably one of the funniest mystery series of all time. Murder@maggody.com is the 12th book in the Arly Hanks Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

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248

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Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1504037286

ISBN 13

9781504037280

A Holly, Jolly Murder

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

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A Holly, Jolly Murder

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

Languishing from a fizzled love affair and keen for a lark during the holiday season, mild-mannered bookseller Clair Malloy visits a cabal of would-be Druids and Wiccans who find their wealthy benefactor murdered.

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292

Publisher

Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

0312349165

ISBN 13

9780312349165

Murder as a Second Language

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

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Murder as a Second Language

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

With her bookstore, the Book Depot, being run by a competent graduate student, Claire Malloy is at loose ends. Her attempt to learn French cooking meets with dismay, so when her daughter, Caron, and Caron's friend Inez sign up to tutor English-as-a-second-language students to beef up their college applications, Claire offers to help tutor. After being turned down as a tutor since she missed the training session, Claire is roped into becoming a board member of the Farberville Literacy Council. She soon learns there are problems with the council's books, and then an elderly Polish student, Ludmilla, is murdered at the council's office. The unpleasant Ludmilla's death is not even mourned by her own grandson, so there are plenty of suspects. As Claire investigates, she uncovers other nefarious deeds that have transpired among the employees of the literacy council, and she becomes a target." --

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301

Publisher

Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

1250011965

ISBN 13

9781250011961

Caveat Emptor

And Other Stories

By: Joan Hess

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Caveat Emptor

And Other Stories

By: Joan Hess

Delightfully deadly short fiction from the pen of Joan Hess, creator of Maggody, Arkansas. Althea is caught in a romance writer’s worst nightmare: She’s been trapped in one of her own melodramatic creations. Around her, strapping men chase after elegant women whose bosoms heave and whose bodices beg to be ripped. There’s no television, no women’s lib, and absolutely no escape. Worst of all, Althea fits right in. Everyone recognizes her as the penniless orphan rescued from a cruel uncle by a charming nobleman. Althea would rather be dead—and if she’s lucky, she will be soon. The creator of the Claire Malloy Mysteries, which chronicle the adventures of a bookselling sleuth, Joan Hess knows better than anyone how dangerous romance novels can be. In “Death of a Romance Writer” and the other six stories in this volume, she redefines what it means to die laughing.

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Open Road Media

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ISBN 10

1504037316

ISBN 13

9781504037310

Death by the Light of the Moon

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

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Death by the Light of the Moon

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

Things that go bump in the Bayou... For bookseller and amateur sleuth Claire Malloy getting a root canal beats going to a Malloy family reunion. But it is time her fifteen-year-old daughter Caron visits her deceased father's relatives. Now Claire and Caron have arrived at Malloy Manor, a run-down mansion in Louisiana's bayou country...where the mosquitoes are big enough to barbecue, the swamp is crawling with alligators, the butler looks like he stepped out of a teen slasher movie, and the wheelchair-bound matriarch, Miss Justicia, races around the grounds cackling like a loon. It's the perfect setting-for a murder. Before a night has passed, Miss Justicia is sleeping with the fishes. The police call it a "tragic accident." Caron is all for calling a cab. But Claire wants to have a closer look at her "loving" relatives since she has a hunch leaving Malloy Manor isn't going to be all that easy...and neither is staying alive.

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261

Publisher

Minotaur Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1466807628

ISBN 13

9781466807624

Roll Over and Play Dead

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

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Roll Over and Play Dead

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

Murder is going to the dogs. . . Bookstore owner and amateur sleuth Claire Malloy has donned another hat (or is that a collar?)-as a petsitter extraordinaire. Her furry charges are Miss Emily Parchester's beloved basset hounds, Nick and Nora, and two very good dogs they are. Everything is just ducky...until they vanish. Other neighbors' pets have also disappeared, and no doubt a dognapper is on the prowl. . . Switching to her sleuthing chapeau, Claire quickly locates the shabby abode of Newton Churls, who runs a black market in stolen animals. But instead of a pen filled with purloined pooches, Claire finds one very dead Newton-and it appears his own pit bull terriers did him in. Or did they? Claire smells a human rat behind the brutal murder. And mysteriously, Nick and Nora are still missing. Now Claire is doggedly determined to find them...and run a killer to the ground.

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270

Publisher

Minotaur Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

146680761X

ISBN 13

9781466807617

Malpractice in Maggody

An Arly Hanks Mystery

By: Joan Hess

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Malpractice in Maggody

An Arly Hanks Mystery

By: Joan Hess

The receptionist for a new psychiatric facility is found murdered on its grounds.

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384

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

074344390X

ISBN 13

9780743443906

Damsels in Distress

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

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Damsels in Distress

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

A Renaissance Fair is coming to the relatively quiet college town of Farberville Arkansas, which is not the sort of news that usually sets local bookseller Claire Malloy's heart racing. But with Caron, Claire's perpetually petulant teenage daughter, being pulled into volunteering (or face the horror of doing homework over the summer) and her fiancé, Police Lieutenant Peter Rosen, away, Claire finds herself drawn into the strange inner workings of the group putting on the fair. But just as Claire has decided that her time might be better spent fretting over the details of her upcoming nuptials, one of the volunteers helping with the Ren Fair falls victim to arson, her body found burned in the wreckage of her rented home. Even stranger, none of the members of the local chapter of The Association for Renaissance Scholarship and Enlightenment (ARSE) – the group putting on Farberville's first RenFair – had ever met the woman in the flesh and can't provide any information about who she is and where she came from. However, someone is definitely dead and the fire looks very suspicious – but is it murder? When the fair opens, tensions expose the dark secrets and malevolent schemes that lurk beneath the superficial congeniality of the ARSE members. The lords are leaping, the ladies are lying, and the knights are fighting--while someone is committing murder most heinous. And with Claire's dreams of a blissful wedding hanging in the balance, she has no choice left but to fling herself into the battle and match wits with the killer...

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324

Publisher

Minotaur Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1429948736

ISBN 13

9781429948739

Mischief in Maggody

An Ozarks Murder Mystery

By: Joan Hess

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Mischief in Maggody

An Ozarks Murder Mystery

By: Joan Hess

Smalltown police chief Arly Hanks is beset by an influx of new neighbors, one of whom, she is sure, has something to do with the death of the town prostitute and a booby-trapped marijuana field

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202

Publisher

St Martins Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0312017928

ISBN 13

9780312017927

Tickled to Death

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

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Tickled to Death

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

Murder is no laughing matter—especially when it comes to marriage. So before Luanne gets in too deep with her new flame, a dentist named Dick, she'd like her best friend to do a background check. Did Dick murder his two previous wives? That's what Arkansas bookseller and amateur sleuth Claire Malloy intends to discover... Everything Claire turns up on this would-be blue-beard keeps leading her down a slippery slope. The police are determined to prove Dick guilty of double homicide, but Claire's not so sure. Something about his story just doesn't add up. But if Dick didn't do the deed, who did? The only thing Claire knows for sure is that Luanne won't have a moment's rest until she finds out...

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303

Publisher

Minotaur Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1429946822

ISBN 13

9781429946827

Out on a Limb

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

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Out on a Limb

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

Farberville, Arkansas is normally a quiet college town, where bookseller Claire Malloy tends her small store and raises her somewhat dramatic teenage daughter Caron. But this week, it's gone a bit out of control. A local group of activists calling themselves the Farberville Green Party is protesting a developer's plan to remove a copse of trees by having retired schoolteacher Miss Emily Parchester camp out in one of them while chained to it by the ankle. While concerned about the aged Miss Parchester's vigil in the tree, Claire isn't able to talk her down-and if that wasn't turmoil enough, a baby is left on Claire's doorstep with a note from his mother asking her to care for him for a few days. While trying to track down the mother, Claire tries to avoid alerting either the authorities or the local gossips, but both efforts are doomed to failure. When Claire is sighted buying diapers, the unlikely rumor that her daughter has an illegitimate child runs rampant in Caron's high school. And when Claire does track down the mother of the child, it is because the teenager has been arrested for the murder of her own father - who is the local developer at the center of the controversy surrounding the trees. Unconvinced that the baby's mother is really responsible, and juggling feedings and diaperings for the first time in fifteen-some years, Claire decides that the only way to rescue Caron's reputation and the baby's mother - not to mention coaxing Miss Parchester down out of the tree - is to uncover the truth behind the murder.

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318

Publisher

Minotaur Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1429905395

ISBN 13

9781429905398

Closely Akin to Murder

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

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Closely Akin to Murder

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

At first it seems like a prank. How could Veronica Landonwood be the voice on the other end of the phone when she died three decades ago? But as Arkansas bookseller and amateur sleuth Claire Malloy is about to find out, her cousin "Ronnie" is very much alive—and in trouble. And could use Claire's help... Today, Ronnie is a renowned scientist living in Chicago. But when she was a teenager, she had a run-in with a famous Hollywood producer in Acapulco, Mexico. He attempted to sexually assault her—and she killed him. Having served time in prison, Ronnie finally put her this episode behind her...until now. Just when she has a real shot at the Nobel Prize, a ruthless blackmailer is threatening to expose the secrets of her past. Can Claire help to preserve Ronnie's reputation and keep her out of harm's way? That will depend on Claire's investigation—and what really happened on the night of the murder so many years ago...

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270

Publisher

Minotaur Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1429958154

ISBN 13

9781429958158

Strangled Prose

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

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Strangled Prose

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

Claire Molloy runs a bookstore called the Book Depot in a small college town. She lets her friend, romance author Azalea Twilight, use the store for a book signing party. But when the town's toughest feminist bursts in and reads from Azalea's book, Claire discovers the smutty romance uses details from her own husband's death. Incensed, Claire is ready to kill Azalea, but someone beats her to it. Azalea is dead, and Claire is a suspect, along with half the faculty at the college, all of whom Azalea offended along the way.

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194

Publisher

Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

0312968647

ISBN 13

9780312968649

The Goodbye Body

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

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The Goodbye Body

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

Claire Malloy runs a bookstore in the normally quiet college town of Farberville, Arkansas - an enterprise which provides the verging-on-meager living for her and her deeply sarcastic teenage daughter Caron. So when emergency work forces Claire and Caron to abandon their apartment for a few weeks, they are in no financial position to put themselves up in style and Claire is thrilled to accept a customer's offer to let them stay at her well-stocked, well-equipped palatial home while she is traveling. Of course, nothing is ever that easy. No sooner do Claire and Caron ensconce themselves than disquieting events start to occur - dubious people show up looking for the 'traveling' owner of the house; the owner herself turns out not to be who she claimed and is now seemingly on the run; and a dead body keeps turning up - and subsequently disappearing - around the grounds of the house. Determined, for once, to stay out of the mysterious doings, Claire's hand is finally forced when the disappearing body turns out to be only the first corpse to turn up...

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324

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Minotaur Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1429905409

ISBN 13

9781429905404

Mischief in Maggody

By: Joan Hess

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Mischief in Maggody

By: Joan Hess

When a woman is shot in a cannabis patch, Arly Hanks must restore order to her Ozarks community, in this sharp-witted mystery by an Agatha Award–winning author. When small-town police chief Arly Hanks returns to Maggody, Arkansas, after vacation, she finds the population has risen to a booming 802. Among the newbies: Madame Celeste, the psychic who’s holding locals in thrall with her predictions of doom; a handsome new high school guidance counselor; and a gaggle of mantra-chanting hippies who have turned the old general store into the source for cosmic harmony. Unfortunately, life in Maggody is anything but harmonious. Robin Buchanon—a member of Maggody’s most abundant family—has been murdered. The moonshiner, prostitute, and mother of four foul-mouthed little bad seeds was found shot to death in a booby-trapped marijuana field. Assuming the weed harvesters are sending a message to trespassers, Arly decides to hold vigil and set her own trap. But when another, seemingly unrelated, murder catches Arly off-guard, even Madame Celeste can’t predict where this case is headed. An Agatha Award finalist, Mischief in Maggody is just the kind of “bawdy, cheerful entertainment” that has brought countless fans to Joan Hess’s quirky, long-running Maggody series (Kirkus Reviews). Mischief in Maggody is the 2nd book in the Arly Hanks Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

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269

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1504043472

ISBN 13

9781504043472

Madness in Maggody

By: Joan Hess

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Madness in Maggody

By: Joan Hess

Chief of Police Arly Hanks will do whatever it takes to keep Maggody from losing its mind in this charming cozy mystery. In a town as peculiar as Maggody, Arkansas, it doesn’t take much to tip the community into chaos. When Mayor Jim Bob Buchanon’s SuperSaver Buy 4 Less takes out a full-page ad boasting the new supermarket’s authentic tamales, gourmet deli counter, and various other bells and whistles, every restaurateur in town fears that Jim Bob is going to put him out of business. So when it comes time for the Buy 4 Less’s gala opening, one citizen decides to play dirty, slipping something into Jim Bob’s famous tamale sauce that leaves twenty-three unsuspecting attendees sick with food poisoning—and one dead. Was this a prank that got out of hand, or is there a maniac on the loose in Maggody? Finding out the truth will mean digging into the dangerous underbelly of Maggody’s cutthroat restaurant community, and quick-witted police chief Arly Hanks is the only woman for the job. Joan Hess is one of the funniest mystery writers in the business, and this outlandish look into the greedy schemes of small-town business owners shows her at the top of her form. Cozy mystery fans know that once you visit Maggody, you’ll never want to leave. Madness in Maggody is the 4th book in the Arly Hanks Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

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240

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1504037200

ISBN 13

9781504037204

Misery Loves Maggody

By: Joan Hess

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Misery Loves Maggody

By: Joan Hess

The madcap citizens of Maggody, Arkansas, descend on Graceland, and a bizarre murder mystery forces police chief Arly Hanks to pay homage to the King. When Chief of Police Arly Hanks came home to Maggody, Arkansas, after a bad divorce, she thought life here would be simpler than it was in New York City. But it’s been one insane episode after another, and the latest eruption of chaos may just drive poor Arly around the bend. After all, Maggody is more than a town; it’s a state of mind—and that mind is a bit deranged. When Arly’s mother, Ruby Bee Hanks, and a few fanatics leave town on a pilgrimage to Graceland, Arly hopes for a few days of peace and quiet. But before you can say, “Blue Suede Shoes,” one of the Elvis enthusiasts has been found dead, and the Memphis police are flummoxed by the tourists’ unique brand of crazy. Arly will have to solve the murder herself because, as she knows all too well, it’s not insane—it’s Maggody. The people of Maggody love having a tacky good time, and Elvis-lovers know that there’s nowhere tackier, or more fun, than Graceland, Tennessee. The madmen of Maggody should fit right in. Misery Loves Maggody is the 11th book in the Arly Hanks Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

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250

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1504037278

ISBN 13

9781504037273

Much Ado in Maggody

By: Joan Hess

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Much Ado in Maggody

By: Joan Hess

A hilarious police procedural set in the strangest town in the Ozarks, where whip-smart sheriff Arly Hanks does everything she can to keep the peace. Nothing ever happens in Maggody, Arkansas, population 755. Aside from handling the occasional barroom brawl or exploding still, Chief of Police Arly Hanks spends her days sipping coffee and squashing flies. She returned to Maggody two years ago, licking her wounds after a bad Manhattan divorce, and she fell backward into the role of sheriff. From Hizzoner the Moron—also know as Jim Bob Buchanon, the pettily corrupt mayor—to Ruby Bee Hanks—Arly’s mother and the town’s foremost gossip—the people of Maggody are all crazy in their own ways, and that craziness is about to turn deadly. When Joanna Mae Nookim returns to work after giving birth, the bank manager bumps her down to minimum wage as punishment for taking time off. It’s outrageous, but there’s nothing Arly can do. But when the bank burns to the ground and the head teller is found dead, Maggody threatens to burst into an all-out revolution for the sake of women’s rights. Fans of comic mysteries have known for years that no small town is quite like Maggody. With its wild cast of characters and its no-nonsense female detective, Much Ado in Maggody is evidence of master of cozy mysteries Joan Hess at her best. Much Ado in Maggody is the 3rd book in the Arly Hanks Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

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218

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1504037197

ISBN 13

9781504037198

Malice in Maggody

An Ozarks Murder Mystery

By: Joan Hess

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Malice in Maggody

An Ozarks Murder Mystery

By: Joan Hess

Recuperating from a disastrous marriage in New York City, Arly Hanks, returning to her home town of Maggody, Arkansas, to become its first woman sheriff, is shocked when murder and mayhem turn the town upside down

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178

Publisher

St Martins Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0312000510

ISBN 13

9780312000516

A Really Cute Corpse

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

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A Really Cute Corpse

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

When Claire Malloy's best friend Luanne Bradshaw goes down with a badly sprained ankle, someone must fill in her shoes as Thurberfest beauty Pageant coordinator and usher a bevy of aspiring beauty queen through the two-day event. Enter Claire Malloy to the rescue. But this is one job Claire would gladly be fired from. Now, already fending off a hostile theater owner, and overly-agressive personal trainer, an incontinent show-dog, a fifteen-year-old daughter with more growing pains than she can count, and a talent contest in need of some talent, Claire must face one more problem--someone is trying to kill the reigning Miss Thurberfest. When a ghastly murder scene signals the culprit's success, Claire's investigative instincts take over, but when she digs too close to the truth, the race is on to discover the killer's identity before Claire herself is crowned the next victim...

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249

Publisher

Minotaur Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1466815736

ISBN 13

9781466815735

O Little Town of Maggody

By: Joan Hess

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O Little Town of Maggody

By: Joan Hess

Country music, greed, and the unique madness of Maggody, Arkansas, collide in this delightful cozy mystery starring unflappable police chief Arly Hanks. Matt Montana is the favorite son of sleepy Maggody, Arkansas. With the voice of an angel and a smile as charming as that of the devil, he’s made a name for himself under the bright lights of Nashville and become one of the most famous faces in country music. Meanwhile, Maggody has sunk into the worst recession in years. So when Matt announces that he’s returning home to play a benefit concert, the locals do everything they can to cash in on Montana fever. The oddballs of Maggody smell a payday, and not even murder can stop them from cashing in. As every shop in town stocks up on Matt Montana memorabilia, police chief Arly Hanks—the only sane woman in town—tries to keep her head down. But when one of Matt’s entourage turns up dead in a store window, it’s up to Arly to make sure this isn’t country music’s last act. The Arly Hanks Mysteries have skewered topics from Hollywood filmmakers to right-wing militias to the greedy schemes of televangelists, and this take on country music superstars shows the town of Maggody at its best. Fans of cozy mysteries know that nobody does it better than Joan Hess. O Little Town of Maggody is the 7th book in the Arly Hanks Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

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221

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1504037235

ISBN 13

9781504037235

Dear Miss Demeanor

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

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Dear Miss Demeanor

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

Agatha Award-winning author Joan Hess, the prolific creator of the Claire Malloy and Maggody mysteries, is beloved for her clever sleuths, quirky characters, and her ingenious plotting. We invite you to enjoy this delightful Claire Malloy mystery, and to discover why Sharyn McCrumb calls Joan Hess "the patron saint of comic mystery." At Farberville High, it's reading, writing...and murder. Who knows what evil lurks in the halls of Farbervilles' high school-or what blackmail is hidden in Miss Demeanor's Falcon Crier advice column? Certainly not bookstore owner and amateur sleuth Claire Malloy-until her daughter Caron persuades her to substitute for disgraced column editor and journalism teacher Emily Parchester. Surely Miss Parchester cannot be guilty of embezzlement. But the petty charges graduate to murder when Principal Weiss gets his last licks from Miss Parchester's peach compote. Miss Parchester herself, last seen at a local sanitarium, is suddenly missing. And now it's up to Claire to find someone who's been schooled in the fine art of murder...

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212

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St. Martin's Paperbacks

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ISBN 10

1429923180

ISBN 13

9781429923187

The Murder at the Murder at the Mimosa Inn

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

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The Murder at the Murder at the Mimosa Inn

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

Strange title. Claire Malloy investigates a real murder at a murder mystery weekend.

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196

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Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

0312971788

ISBN 13

9780312971786

Maggody and the Moonbeams

By: Joan Hess

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Maggody and the Moonbeams

By: Joan Hess

A youth trip turns deadly, and Chief of Police Arly Hanks must catch the killer while serving as chaperone, in this hilarious small-town mystery. Arly Hanks has caught all sorts of killers since she returned home to Maggody, Arkansas, population 759, but she’s never tangled with anyone as devious as the local youth group. While chaperoning a trip to Camp Pearly Gates, Arly watches the kids as closely as she would any hardened criminal, but when teenagers have a mind to get into trouble, there’s nothing a police chief can do but limit the damage. She’s just about got the situation under control when one of the kids finds a body, and all hell breaks loose in classic Maggody manner. The murdered woman sports a shaved head and a white robe, marking her as a Moonbeam, a member of a particularly kooky local cult. And caught between the sect and the law, Arly may be forced to sacrifice what little sanity she has left. Nobody pokes fun at religion quite as effectively as Joan Hess. This is another laugh-out-loud entry in one of the funniest mystery series of all time. Maggody and the Moonbeams is the 13th book in the Arly Hanks Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

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209

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1504037294

ISBN 13

9781504037297

Maggody in Manhattan

By: Joan Hess

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Maggody in Manhattan

By: Joan Hess

Small-town police chief Arly Hanks takes on the New York Police Department to save her mother from a murder rap in this madcap police procedural. When her marriage went up in smoke, Arly Hanks left Manhattan and never looked back. As police chief of Maggody, Arkansas, population 755, Arly is a glorified traffic cop, and she couldn’t be happier. But when Arly’s mother, the indomitable Ruby Bee Hanks, is invited to a baking contest in New York, Arly is forced to return to the city she hates—and the Big Apple is even more rotten than she remembered. Ruby Bee has hardly preheated her oven when a naked man is found shot in her bedroom and the NYPD throws her in jail. As tempting as it may be to let her mother rot on Rikers Island, Arly has no choice but to solve the case herself, facing down killers, bakers, and the most dangerous villain of all: her ex-husband. Joan Hess is better than anyone when it comes to writing small-town murder mysteries, and Maggody in Manhattan shows she knows her way around big cities too. When the wacky residents of Maggody are loosed on the Big Apple, New York City will get turned upside down. Maggody in Manhattan is the 6th book in the Arly Hanks Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

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237

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Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1504037227

ISBN 13

9781504037228

Death by the Light of the Moon

By: Joan Hess

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Death by the Light of the Moon

By: Joan Hess

Invited to her late husband's ancestral home in the Louisiana bayous for a family reunion, Claire Malloy finds a gathering of ill-tempered relatives obsessed with the latest will of the family matriarch.

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227

Publisher

New York : St. Martin's Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0312069499

ISBN 13

9780312069490

Busy Bodies

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

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Busy Bodies

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

Since his recent arrival, avant-garde artist Zeno Gorgias has been turning heads and attracting gawkers in the otherwise tame college town of Farberville Arkansas. Zeno's "interactive" art—featuring an undressed woman lounging beside a coffin on his front yard—is neither welcome by the community nor punishable by law. But as local bookseller and amateur sleuth Claire Malloy is about to find out, sometimes there's a dark side to one's freedom of artistic expression... Strange things keep happening to Zeno and his oeuvre. First, his estranged wife comes to town, demanding he be committed to a mental institution. Then Zeno's house mysteriously goes up in flames. And if that's not enough, a dead body is found inside of the infamous coffin. Now that Zeno has been arrested for murder, it's up to Claire to figure out what on earth is going on in Farberville...while the real killer remains on the loose.

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301

Publisher

Minotaur Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1429966025

ISBN 13

9781429966023

A Conventional Corpse

By: Joan Hess

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A Conventional Corpse

By: Joan Hess

Farberville, Arkansas is playing host to its first ever mystery convention. Sponsored by the Thurber Farber Foundation and held at Farber College, Murder Comes to Campus is playing host to five major mystery writers representing all areas of the field. Dragooned into running the show when the original organizer is hospitalized, local bookseller Claire Malloy finds herself in the midst of a barely controlled disaster. Not only do each of the writers present their own set of idiosyncracies and difficulties (including one who arrives with her cat Wimple in tow), the feared, distrusted, and disliked mystery editor of Paradigm House, Roxanne Small, puts in a surprise appearance at the conference. Added to Claire's own love-life woes with local police detective Peter Rosen, things have never been worse. Then when one of the attendees dies in a suspicious car accident, Wimple the cat disappears from Claire's home, and Roxanne Small is nowhere to be found, it becomes evident that the murder mystery is more than a literary genre.

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Page Count

195

Publisher

Macmillan + ORM

Published Date

ISBN 10

1429975407

ISBN 13

9781429975407

Malice in Maggody

By: Joan Hess

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Malice in Maggody

By: Joan Hess

After a crossbow killing at a cheap roadside motel, Ozarks police chief Arly Hanks finds herself investigating her first murder case. Her marriage over and career gone bust, Arly Hanks flees Manhattan for her hometown: Maggody, Arkansas. In a town this size, nothing much ever happens, so Arly figures she’s safe as the town’s first female chief of police—until the husband of one of the local barmaids escapes from state prison and heads for town. And that’s not all. An EPA official with ties to polluting the local fishing hole has suddenly vanished off the face of the earth. As if two manhunts aren’t enough to contend with, a body has been discovered at the pay-by-the-hour Flamingo Motel, shot clean through the neck with an arrow. For some reason, Maggody’s residents—all 755 of them—have gone tight-lipped, stonewalling Arly’s investigations, and Arly hasn’t a soul to trust but her half-wit deputy. Now, as Maggody’s finest, she’ll have to show a little muscle and a lot of cunning to curtail the inhospitable mountain malice that’s overtaken her town. And she’ll have to watch her own back every step of the way. From Agatha Award–winning author Joan Hess, Malice in Maggody is the novel that introduced police chief Arly Hanks—the indomitable sleuth of the popular and long-running Maggody series. Malice in Maggody is the 1st book in the Arly Hanks Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

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Page Count

280

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1504043464

ISBN 13

9781504043465

Muletrain to Maggody

An Arly Hanks Mystery

By: Joan Hess

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Muletrain to Maggody

An Arly Hanks Mystery

By: Joan Hess

Under the benign watch of Police Chief Arly Hanks, things are pretty quiet in the sleepy Arkansas town of Maggody these days. Not even the prospect of a historical society-funded Civil War documentary on the locally touted (albeit historically insignificant) Skirmish at Cotter's Ridge of 1863 does much to stir up the denizens of this sleepy backwoods town. What does finally get the rumor mill buzzing, however, is the revelation that two saddlebags of Confederate gold were hidden in a local cave to keep them from falling into Yankee hands. Once word gets out that the saddlebags were never recovered, almost everyone in town has a plan to get their hands on the lost gold. Meanwhile, a colorful cast of outlanders has taken over Maggody. They include a dewy Charleston belle, a famous writer of historical romances, her ne'er-do-well son, and three dozen obsessive reenactors who have not yet acknowledged that the Civil War ended over a hundred years ago, as well as a documentary film crew and a handsome, if enigmatic, filmmaker with ties to Arly's past. Arly has more than enough on her hands trying to locate missing senior citizens and keeping the visitors from each other's throats, but when the genealogist of the Stump County Historical Society dies under questionable circumstances, and a member of the Buchanon clan is the victim of a vicious and fatal attack, Arly finds herself faced with the most baffling whodunit of her career, with a disgruntled ghost a possible prime suspect.

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Page Count

290

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

0743249690

ISBN 13

9780743249690

Busy Bodies

By: Joan Hess

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Busy Bodies

By: Joan Hess

Since his recent arrival, avant-garde artist Zeno Gorgias has been turning heads and attracting gawkers in the otherwise tame college town of Farberville Arkansas. Zeno’s “interactive” art—featuring an undressed woman lounging beside a coffin on his front yard—is neither welcome by the community nor punishable by law. But as local bookseller and amateur sleuth Claire Malloy is about to find out, sometimes there’s a dark side to one’s freedom of artistic expression… Strange things keep happening to Zeno and his oeuvre. First, his estranged wife comes to town, demanding he be committed to a mental institution. Then Zeno’s house mysteriously goes up in flames. And if that’s not enough, a dead body is found inside of the infamous coffin. Now that Zeno has been arrested for murder, it’s up to Claire to figure out what on earth is going on in Farberville…while the real killer remains on the loose.

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Page Count

304

Publisher

Minotaur Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

0312384629

ISBN 13

9780312384623

A Diet to Die For

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

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A Diet to Die For

A Claire Malloy Mystery

By: Joan Hess

Coerced into escorting overweight, depressed heiress Maribeth to her diet and fitness sessions, Claire Malloy discovers that someone is trying to kill her down-in-the-mouth friend. Reprint.

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Page Count

257

Publisher

Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

0312981376

ISBN 13

9780312981372

Book's by Hess, Joan

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