Series: Claire Malloy
by Author Joan Hess
A Conventional Corpse (2001)
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 ...
Poisoned Pins (1994)
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...
A Diet to Die For (2007)
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 ...
Death by the Light of the Moon (2007)
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...
Busy Bodies (1996)
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...
Closely Akin to Murder (1997)
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 ...
Out on a Limb (2003)
A Holly, Jolly Murder (2006)
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...
The Goodbye Body (2006)
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...
Damsels in Distress (2007)
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...
Deader Homes and Gardens (2012)
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...