"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 of town. This is the Arly Hanks, small town in the Ozarks policewoman series. The number of characters which the author is not making fun is limited to the main character and maybe her mother owner and cook at the local cafe. Lots of hillbilly references without using that word. Of course a murder or two but nothing that would make you feel any sadness. It will be two years til the main library where all the books anyone could ever want were housed will be reopened. In the meantime all the books are in storage and have to be requested. I can stop by the branch everyday on the chance they have arrived or wait for at least a week for the mail notice to arrive. I think the thing that bothers me most about the Maggody books is that I have to read through a lot of nonsense to get to read about the character I like, Arly Hanks. She's funny and puts up with a lot from her mom and the townsfolk of Maggody. Unfortunately, Hess uses that shifting point of view and it's all over the place. You might have 20 different characters telling the story before you get back to Arly's first person point of view. It's a shame, too, because I think it'd be a much stronger book if she just picked Arly to tell the story.In this one there's a golf tournament for the charity of golf widows. It's a scam and there are a lot of crazies showing up in Maggody. It makes life difficult for Arly who has troubles of her own.
Do You like book DEAD Merry Wives Of Maggody (2010)?
Summer reading, but not as humorous as the others in this series.
—Mai
I missed Arly and the gang. Glad they're back!
—maryjane
