Here we have Claire and Peter finally married and back from the honeymoon! But Peter is gone almost during the whole story, so he provides resources for our female sleuth (which of course everyone is glad about), but does not come into the dialog much. Perhaps it is for the best. Caron and Inez s...
I haven't read any of the books in this series in a long time and only remembered that I didn't much care for it, but couldn't remember why. I was lazy when I went to the library and didn't feel like going downstairs to the stacks, so I just grabbed this off of the new book rack. As soon as I s...
"It had never been a quaint little town with ivy-coated cottages. The locals weren't charmingly eccentric; they were surly, ornery, and opinionated."Once again I have misjudged how long it will take the library to come up with my book request and this was all that was available while I was out o...
Rating: 3.25* of fiveClaire Malloy, bookselling sleuth of the Farberville Book Depot, returns for her umpty-zillionth murder investigation (well, okay, only the sixteenth) but this time at a *shudder* Renaissance Faire!Now seriously. Have any of y'all been to a Renaissance Faire? Have you not wis...
I really enjoy this series featuring book store owner Claire Malloy. This book was no exception, although at one point there was a situation that was a bit unbelievable, even within the at times limitless confines of fiction. (view spoiler)[When a young lady was killed who had been staying with h...
Arly returns from a camping trip with boyfriend, Jack, to find the Maggody town folk stirred up. The local nursing home has been sold to a snarky diet doctor who plans to transform the building into an upscale rehab center called the Stonebridge Foundation. His plans begin to fall apart when the ...
Very disappointing addition to the Claire Malloy series. A Holly, Jolly Murder has been tagged as a "Holiday Themed" book. Only by stretching the imagination to its very outer limits would I categorize it that way. Merely because Hess mentions Christmas or Santa Claus now and then doesn't make th...
I've read some of other's reviews on this book and they seemed to be mixed (which is with all books, some like them some don't) I very much enjoyed the 4th Ozarks Mystery, everyone in Maggody finally gets what's coming to them in terms of lying and flapping their gums. The Mayor is opening a Supe...
It seems downright peculiar that all the alien babies are born in South America," Estelle was grumbling as I came across the tiny dance floor of Ruby Bee's Bar & Grill.How's that for a first line of a novel, doesn't it make you want to know just what's going on in Maggody. Arly the sheriff who ca...
I truly wish I could give this more than 2 stars. I love Joan Hess, but this isn't one of her better entries in the Claire Malloy series. From the moment Claire received a call from her presumed-dead-for-30-years cousin Veronica (aka "Ronnie") asking Claire to look for a blackmailer, to Claire's ...
I wanted to like Joan Hess' Claire Malloy but with this book I just couldn't do it. I don't hate her but she seems very wishy-washy and I certainly wouldn't enjoy the relationship she has with her daughter (I'd sit her right down and tell her if she doesn't like her life with mom, she knows where...
This was my first adventure with Claire, but I found myself enjoying the dialogue, the mindset, and the whimsical nature of this novel. Claire, an amatuer sleuth, and her daughter, go to visit her dead husband's family and quickly find themselves in a scene that is not-far-removed from the Addams...
#13 in the Chief of Police Arly Hanks comedic mystery series. Set in the small rural Arkansas town of Maggody, pop. 755 filled with low IQ barely making it financially people with many from the same extended family. Very little happens that requires police work. Arly's tranquillity is disturbed w...
Claire Malloy believes there is just one thing better than chocolate...and it's not jumping around in an aerobics class. Nonetheless, she gets roped into accompanying a chubby heiress named Maribeth to Farberville, Arkansas's hottest new fitness center. Personally, Claire thinks the best way for ...
It's been awhile since I've read Joan Hess's Claire Malloy series. I'd forgotten how much I love it. The writing is extremely entertaining and doesn't take itself too seriously. It's very refreshing, especially these days when there are a glut of cozy mysteries whose authors take themselves an...
This is the kind of funny book that many mystery authors wish they could write. Hess has it down.It's holiday time in Maggody and the town is ready to welcome home one of their own. Matt Montana, country singer, is a hometown boy who is making good. So in order to give him some free, good publici...
I love the interesting cover, and the plot of murder at a mystery writers convention showed great promise, but I had to force myself to read this book. The characters are cardboard, main character Claire Malloy is just THERE and seems totally unable to pull things together or solve anything, and ...
I found this mystery interesting because they describe the Southern Ozark peoples as they are. My Grandparents lived in the Ozarks and I have visited them often. Lackadaisical is a word to describe the attitude of this Southerner. The county police force consists of one woman! Her mother, Ruby Be...
This review is for the audiobook ISBN 1-4025-7539-4:Oh. My. Stars. There is no way that I can tell you whether or not I like the story, the characters or even the author's writing style. The narrator on this audiobook, C.J. Critt, gave such a nails-on-the-blackboard rendition that after less th...
Just fun. With Joan Hess as my guide, it's a memorable trip. Arly Hanks is back from her so-called vacation and having to deal with a psychic, hippies, a new high school counselor, plus the usual crowd. When the local prostitute/moonshiner goes missing, her children go searching for some assistan...