Hess, Joan

Damsels in Distress: A Claire Malloy Mystery

Average customer rating:

A disappointing read
Entertaining amusing mystery series set in college town
don't like renaissance fairs
A laugh a minute in a Renaissance murder setting
Laugh Out Loud Fun

Damsels in Distress: A Claire Malloy Mystery
Joan Hess
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Minotaur
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0312315015
Release Date: 2007-04-03

Book Description

A Renaissance Fair is coming to the relatively quiet college town of Farberville, Arkansas. Though resistant to getting involved, Claire Malloy, local bookseller and mother of the perpetually petulant teenager Caron (she who speaks in ALL CAPS), finds herself drawn into the strange inner workings of the group putting on the fair. But suddenly, a dark mood falls over the festivities when one of the organizers is a victim of arson, and her body is found in the burned wreckage of her rented house. The circumstances of the crime take an unusual turn when it seems that no one can identify the body, since mysteriously no one has seen the woman in the flesh. Someone is definitely deadbut is it murder? And how does it all relate to the very singular members of the local chapter of The Association for Renaissance Scholarship and Enlightenment (ARSE)?

Customer Reviews:

A disappointing read .......2007-06-11

I really had to work to stay with this to the end, and wasn't worth my time. The renaissance stuff was tedious, a really disappointing read.

Entertaining amusing mystery series set in college town .......2007-05-14

This lastest clever mystery by Joan Hess moves you from your armchair to a college town coping with a medieval fair with a cast of characters funny but believable.

don't like renaissance fairs.......2007-05-09

I disliked this book. I don't like Renaissance fairs as it is, and I far prefer Hess's Maggody books to the Claire Molloy stories. This book had conversations that went on way too long with the "thee" and "thou" Renaissance speech that I find tedious. She also tossed in some quotes that seemed unnecessary and self-serving. Sure showed me that I know nothing of literature. I think I've bought all of Hess's books. From the beginning I observed that Hess's phrasing is so trite, it's almost high school quality. (No offense to articulate high schoolers.)
< Les équilibres meurtriers, Tome 1 : Shark

Les équilibres meurtriers, Tome 1 : Shark

Les équilibres meurtriers, Tome 1 : Shark
Authors: Ptoma
Catalog: Book
Media: Album
Release Date: 12 September, 2003
Publisher: EP Editions
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Livres:

The Goodbye Body (A Claire Malloy Mystery)
Muletrain to Maggody: An Arly Hanks Mystery (Arly Hanks Mysteries)
Grape Expectations: A Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery (Pennsylvania Dutch Mysteries with Recipes)
A Holly, Jolly Murder (A Claire Malloy Mystery)
Damsels in Distress: A Claire Malloy Mystery

ASIN: 074344390X

Download Description

When the beautiful young receptionist found drowned in the garden pool is identified as a local girl from nearby Farberville, it's clear the case may not only involve the suspicious characters who've recently moved to town, but also some of the citizens of Maggody, who may have a secret or two to hide themselves. There's the doctor who can't resist a dose of his own medicine and a roster of patients that reads like a who's who of tabloid headlines, as well as the local pastor who gets his spiritual inspiration with a little help from the sacramental wine, and the mayor's wife who makes it her business to know everything about everyone. Soon Arly finds herself on the trail of a killer and discovers she may be the only innocent person left in town.

Customer Reviews:

I love Maggody.......2007-05-13

Interesting new twists for our heroine in this one. A must read for fans of Maggody. All the usual from that most amusing place.

Funny and Entertaining.......2007-03-23

I had quite a few laughs with this one.The people who are forced to be together at the rehab center start acting up and it is hilarious.When it comes to showing the childish behavior of spoiled celebrities,Joan really nailed it here.The best dialogue in the book occurs when the 'inmates' start griping.Get your hands on the book.If your down and need a few laughs,this will get it done for you.

Evolving?.......2006-12-26

This read like a transition to a more serious Arly, which I very much hope doesn't actually happen. I found it disappointing that, like every other fictional female sleuth, she suddenly needs a man to solve her problems; the strong and caustic loner is going all domestic. If it's true to the trite formula that applies to Hess's other series, Jack will start complaining about Arly sticking her pretty inept nose where it doesn't belong in the next installment, especially given the ending (which just make me groan -- and why the heck do Ruby and Estelle KNOW this in the first place? That's just gross). And all the discussion about her New York Socialite past was scary -- does the character really need to go there? I could see this going in an interesting direction if Jack is suddenly out of the picture and Arly is allowed to return to character, given the not-too-surprising ending, but otherwise this might be the death of the series.

Fair.......2006-09-09

I was so glad to see another Maggody book! And, I liked it - but...think it dragged in parts - I almost felt as if this was the "wrap it all up" book - because it seemed every single citizen of Maggody had to be mentioned - no matter how obsurely. I liked the book - just not as much as I've liked the others. The humor was not as sharp.

Surprising.......2006-07-18

I have found the Maggody series to be boring and irritating for the last several novels. This new one actually surprised me with several departures from the formulaic. There were actually a few likeable/sympathetic characters for a change. And a little witty dialogue!

Maybe if we continue to see a few more of these positive changes, there is hope for this series.

The Goodbye Body (A Claire Malloy Mystery)

Average customer rating:

Now You See It, Now You Don't
Not as good as I had hoped...
A page turner
A fun read
Golden Goodbye

The Goodbye Body (A Claire Malloy Mystery)
Joan Hess
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0312989067
Release Date: 2006-04-04

Book Description

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...

Customer Reviews:

Now You See It, Now You Don't.......2005-09-02

Claire Malloy, owner of The Book Depot, in Farberville Arkansas is having a bad day. There are rats in her kitchen and she is going to have to move out while the problem and other emergency work is taken care of. This could take weeks.

Fortunately, Dolly, one of her customer's at the store is going away for a few weeks and wants Claire to housesit for her.

So she moves into the palatial estate with her daughter Caron and Caron's best friend Inez. What could be more perfect?

Not this. No sooner does she move in than Caron and Inez claim to have found a dead body in the back yard. The body has disappeared by the time the police show up and Claire tries to convince herself that the girls really hadn't seen anything.

Then things start to get strange. Madiso Aufwind : 5ème 4ème, pour la classe (cassette audio)

Aufwind : 5ème 4ème, pour la classe (cassette audio)

Aufwind : 5ème 4ème, pour la classe (cassette audio)
Authors: Biscons
Catalog: Book
Media: Cassette audio
Release Date: 11 September, 2003
Publisher: Didier
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Livres:

Martians in Maggody (Arly Hanks Mystery)
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ASIN: 0525940510

Amazon.com

Sharyn McCrumb says "Joan Hess is the patron saint of comic mystery," and that endorsement by a fine writer of mostly non-comic mysteries should be good enough for anyone who likes a chuckle with their chills. For the uninitiated, Maggody is the small Arkansas town where Arly Hanks rules as police chief and where trouble usually begins with an M--as in the previous adventures as Madness in Maggody, Malice in Maggody, Martians in Maggody, Mischief in Maggody, and Much Ado in Maggody. (Well, it does make the books easy to identify.) In this latest, just out in paperback, Hess brings greedy televangelist Malachi Hope to town, and all hell breaks loose.

Customer Reviews:

Mirth in Maggody.......2000-08-12

Miracles in Maggody is one of a series of mysteries set in the mythical town of Maggody, Arkansas. Joan Hess has created a town full of interesting (and very funny) people. Living in Maggody might be hell; reading about Maggody is heaven. If you were turned off by the Claire Malloy series by Hess (and who isn't irritated by heroines who can only unmask a killer by doing something incredibly stupid), don't worry. The Maggody series is blessed with humor, wit and charm and a likable heroine. Miracles in Maggody unfairly stereotypes fundamentalist Christians. But Hess unfairly stereotypes most other ethnic and religious groups -- and does it with so much light hearted style -- that even a dyed in the wool fundamentalist like me enjoyed the book.

Good for giggles and getting away from it all........1998-09-15

Serendipity is one of my favorite states of mind and finding Joan Hess and her sheriff/heroine Arly Hanks was a serendipitous treat a few years ago. In the latest edition that I picked up in paperback, Miracles in Maggody, Arly is once again the oasis of sanity in the odd little town of Maggody, Arkansas, as she takes on evangelist Malachi Hope and his entourage which includes his wife Seraphina and "adopted" daughter Chastity. The plot won't be much of a surprise to mystery lovers--or even television or movie watchers (I thought of the Steve Martin movie Leap of Faith while reading). But if you are unacquainted with the genre of comic mysteries, the Arly Hanks series is about as good as you'll get for a starting point. Like many authors who write a series centered on a main character, Ms. Hess allows the reader to pick up any single edition and feel comfortable with the charaters, their background, and the setting. The Maggody series is so place-specific, though, that I highly recommend reading them in order. This town is full of the rarest of characters, many of them in-bred, and each book seems to build on their collective quirks and foibles and unexpected delights--to say nothing of belly laughs--so reading them in order is more like moving to Maggody and getting to know the town characters over a period of time. Don't expect sex (well, not much and not really x-rated) or rough language or even convoluted plot lines. But the mystery hangs together well enough to keep you intrigued, as well as the subsidiary plot lines. And even though I guessed the "bad guy" long before the denouement, it didn't spoil the fun of getting away to the backwoods of Arkansas for a few hours.

Average customer rating:

Not Her Best work
Terrific book, I read it in one day!
Murder at the Pearly Gates
Getting more high falutin'
MAGGODY AND THE MOONBEAMS SHINES!

Maggody and the Moonbeams
Joan Hess
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0743406583

Book Description

Enforcing law and order in the Ozarks just got tougher for Arly Hanks: chaperoning the church youth group, she must keep ten hormonally-challenged teens in line on a retreat to Camp Pearly Gates. It's a hellish assignment sure to have Arly and her fellow travelers -- Mrs. Jim Bob Buchanon, the mayor's wife; the high school shop teacher; and preacher Brother Verber -- praying for strength. But adolescent angst soon turns to shocking revelation when the body of a white-robed woman turns up on the campgrounds. She belonged to the quirky cult Daughters of the Moon -- and now Arly, fishing for clues with a handsome angler named Jacko, must walk a narrow path to snare a killer who works in mysterious ways....

Customer Reviews:

Not Her Best work.......2005-01-25

when ever Hanks and Co. leave Maggody (ie Moonbean or Maggody in New York) the stories generally are not as fun to read. This is no exception. Stick with the Maggody based works they are much more enjoyable.

Terrific book, I read it in one day!.......2004-07-16

I loved this book so much I read it in one day! The many characters in Maggody are just that characters. It is a small town in Arkansas where Arly Hanks is the Police Chief. She has her hands full in this book as she is roped into being a chaperone for the church youth group. They are going to Camp Pearly Gates to do some volunteer work to built bleachers. Mrs. Jim Bob Buchanon, the mayor's wife, and Brother Verber, the local preacher, would make it interesting eno Bonne nuit !

Bonne nuit !

Bonne nuit !
Authors: Agnès Vandewiele, Vincent Desplanches
Catalog: Book
Media: Broché
Release Date: 11 September, 2003
Publisher: Larousse
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Livres:

ringtone88.com rs" border="0">

Not her best, but still good!
Sheer propaganda!

Roll Over and Play Dead: A Claire Malloy Mystery
Joan Hess
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Minotaur
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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The Murder at the Murder at the Mimosa Inn

ASIN: 0312988281

Book Description

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.

Customer Reviews:

Not her best, but still good!.......2003-11-08

Roll Over & Play Dead reveals Hess as her usual entertaining, witty self, but this time it's with a twist: she takes on the controversial issue of animal testing. Most of the general public really doesn't know (and may not want to know) what goes on in the world of animal testing. I do know; I've been in some animal testing labs. The world of animal testing is much uglier & more unconscionable than animal research scientists would have you believe. Hess always writes a good story, and this time she includes a worthy cause that definitely needs more press. I'm impressed that she tackled the issue!

Sheer propaganda!.......1999-05-26

I have recently become a dedicated Joan Hess fan. However, I have been reading her books out of order. Yesterday I started "Roll Over and Play Dead" ready for another light, funny story. Unfortunately, I got a speech from a soapbox. On page 28 one of the "good 'guys'" states: "The National Institute of Health gives away over three and a half billion dollars of your tax dollars so researchers can cut animals up, cripple them, blind them, burn them, infect them with diseases, and in general torture them. Over seventy million animals die this way every year so that someone can determine that you really shouldn't drink paint solvent or put it in your eyes."

WHOA! Where to begin? In the context of this story the reader is led to believe that the majority of these poor animals are pets - cats and dogs. NOT!!! Yes, I have been involved in animal research. I, like the vast majority of whole animal researchers, use rats. Never have I caused a rat undue pain (they are anesthetized by legal and moral code). Never have I pounded nails in a skull or any of the atrocities put forth in this book. In fact, I have never even heard of such a thing occuring in a lab. On the other hand, I HAVE heard of such things in pets homes from a vet tech student of mine. Such horrible cruelties are much more commonly afflicted upon animals by their "loving" owners.

I stuck with this book through the end even after countless assults on scientists and the necessity of medical research. I have never worked with dogs but I still take offense at the insults steeped high in the course of the story.

I respect the views of animal rights groups. However I fully agree with a poster hanging in the lab where I worked. It shows a group of protesters and the caption reads "Because of animal research, they have 20.9 more years to protest." The next time you pop an antibiotic to cure your bronchitis, or a pill to lower your blood pressure thank a scientist and a group of rats.

Out on a Limb (A Claire Malloy Mystery)
Average customer rating:

Unique Storyline

A disappointing addition to the series

Just so-so

Fun book to read

Great addition to series

Out on a Limb (A Claire Malloy Mystery)
Joan Hess
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Minotaur
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0312986327

Book Description

Faberville bookstore owner Claire Malloy is ruminating over the state of her love life when she gets disturbing news. Elderly Miss Emily Parchester is up a tree. Chained to an old oak, packing a thermos of tea and a gun, the retired schoolteacher is ready to go down with the ship, or rather the tree, before she'll let another historic piece of Farberville be bulldozed in the name of "progress," i.e., developer Anthony Armstrong's condominiums.With Miss Parchester armed, and therefore dangerous, Claire fears this noble act will end tragically. Unfortunately, it does-when someone murders Armstrong. And suddenly Claire herself is out on a limb: a baby has been left on her doorstep, the child's teenage mom is suspect number one in Armstrong's death, and Claire needs to find the real killer fast. Especially when she discovers Miss Parchester knows more than she's willing to tell......

Customer Reviews:

Unique Storyline.......2004-02-06

Joan Hess is one of my favorite authors, so my opinion of Out on a Limb is biased by the fact that I was sure I would like it before I bought it.

The best part of this book was the unique storyline. As you have no doubt read the description supplied by the publisher, I won't rewrite it here. I will just say that while other humorous mystery writers use the same storylines over and over, Hess comes up with fantastic new ideas each time. I loved this story about the Green Party, and I love the recurring character Dictionnaire de l'économie de A à Z

Dictionnaire de l'économie de A à Z

Dictionnaire de l'économie de A à Z
Authors: Sophie Gherardi, Pierre Bezbakh, Collectif
Catalog: Book
Media: Broché
Release Date: 11 September, 2003
Publisher: Larousse
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Livres:

ringtone88.com anor ($3.99 value edition) (Claire Malloy Mysteries)

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ASIN: 0312971788

Book Description

When you make a game of murder, be careful who the players are....Who could resist the mock-murder weekend at the charming Mimosa Inn-- certainly not bookstore owner and amateur sleuth Claire Malloy, who decides to bring her petulant daughter Caron along for some detecting. As the guests settle in for a weekend of sleuthing, dressed as their favorite literary detectives, many a Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot stand poised to solve a murder. But fiction becomes alarmingly real, as the mock-murder victim isn't just playing dead-- he's really been bashed to death. More determined than even to find the killer, Claire combs the grounds of the lovely inn for this most uninvited guest.

Customer Reviews:

Pretty Good Mystery.......2005-07-04

This mystery reminds me of the Agatha Christie novel, And Then There Were None. Guests come to the Mimosa Inn for a "mock" murder weekend only to find that one of the actors has actually been murdered. It was interesting to discover all the actors' true identities as their mock "storylines" had me convinced that they were someone else. The silly thing about this book is Claire's lack of supervision of her daughter with a murderer running around. Also, I think reading the first novel would be advisable as there is obviously a prior storyline between the Detective and Claire. Overall, it was a fast, light read.

MURDER ISN'T A GAME!.......2003-04-01

Taking a break from the daily bookstore grind, Claire decides to get away from it all and drafts her daughter Caron to accompany her on a mystery murder weekend at the Mimosa Inn. Her boyfriend Peter Rosen (an investigator with the Farberville police department) scoffs at the whole idea of solving a pretend murder. This only makes Claire more determined to take part in the mystery murder weekend and become the person who solves the murder.

To complicate matters, Lt. Rosen shows up at the Inn shortly after Claire, who is positive he is only there to show her up. Clues are dispersed to the mystery participants up until the point when the murder victim turns up murdered for real.

With a situation like this, it's a given that Claire will try to out-sleuth Peter, and only get herself in harm's way. And with Joan Hess's comic flair and skillful plotting it turns into a pretty interesting read. It's the kind of book you want to read when you just want to get away from it all for a bit. Actually I enjoyed the book so much; I grabbed her A Diet To Die For from my bookshelf as my next book to read. (Also reviewed today on Amazon.)

Deadly Game.......2002-06-29

Here's an intriguing tale in the "traditional/cozy" mystery genre. Claire Malloy drags her reluctant teenaged daughter, Caron, to a murder mystery weekend at the Mimosa Inn. Claire, bookstore owner and amateur detective, is determined to solve the mystery and win the prize: champagne. It's not that she wants to outwit the charming and disarmingly sexy local police detective, Pete Rosen. It's just that...well....The game progresses until, suddenly, the "victim" turns up dead. Really dead.

This is an early Hess mystery -- the second, I think, and her devil-may-care style is just developing. MURDER AT THE MIMOSA INN is unpretentious and good entertainment, almost as much fun as actually attending a murder mystery weekend.

Sunnye Tiedemann (aka Ruth F. Tiedemann)

A classic Joan Hess mystery!.......1999-11-08

Joan Hess, creator of the Maggody series, introduces a new slueth in this amusing romp. Claire Malloy is wonderful as the bored bookstore owner looking for some excitement in her life. Claire's daughter Caron is every mothers' teenaged nightmare. The book provides a great introduction to this series of amateur detective fiction at it's funniest.

The title is the best thing about the book.......1998-09-18

Joan Hess's "The Murder at the Murder at the Mimosa Inn" begins with great promise as Claire Malloy takes her daughter to the Mimosa Inn for a mystery murder weekend. Claire is obsessed with the idea of solving the mystery and winning the Champagne prize, and her efforts are amusing as she runs around gathering clues and viewing the other guests with inordinate suspicion. For roughly the first half of the book, the story is enjoyable, particularly when Peter Rosen, an actual cop and Claire's friend, lover, and competitor, shows up on some sort of secret mission.

When the mock murder is interrupted by a real murder, though, the story turns into a farce of tragic proportions. Claire turns out to be obsessed with interfering in the investigation of an actual murder while placing her daughter in jeopardy. It is a reasonable criticism of mysteries, particularly cozy mysteries such as this, that murder is often treated too lightly. Here, especially, the real murder never takes on the feel of anything other than the entertaining diversion of the staged theme murder for the weekend.

Nothing about the second half of the book is convincing. With a real murderer running around, for example, Claire is more concerned with solving the crime than with ensuring her daughter's safety by leaving. And the cop, rather than protecting the guests, illegally forces them to stay in the hotel with the murderer. The "game" of the real murder becomes truly absurd when Claire starts blurting out statements told to her in confidence by Peter (the cop). In short, the characters seem very real when they're solving a pretend murder, but when it comes to a real murder, they act in extraordinarily bizarre ways, and the novel suffers immeasurably as a result.

A Conventional Corpse: A Claire Malloy Mystery
Average customer rating:

What a disappointment!

Cat, Kids and Authors

Paging Arly Hanks

Not as much fun as I'd hoped for.

Disappointed

A Conventional Corpse: A Claire Malloy Mystery
Joan Hess
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Catalog: Book
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Release Date: 11 September, 2003
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ringtone88.com The teenagers add spice. The frightfully spoiled cat was a hoot.
Joan Hess always entertains but I think her plot twists in this book were especially clever. Also her character's anger toward her on again off again boyfriend rang true. Although as an incurable romantic I wanted to see them get together. In fact it is my hope that one book will contain a wedding and another perhaps a honeymoon with murder of course.
I recommend this book to all the Claire Malloy fans.
Paging Arly Hanks.......2001-04-17
I started reading the Claire Malloy mysteries because I am a huge fan of Joan Hess' Maggody, Ark. series. While never as good, the Malloy books were always a fun, quick read. Lately, however, the series seems to have taken a distinct turn for the worse. While the Maggody books continue to be ribald, wry and blissfully silly, the Malloy books have become muddled, badly written and stale (culminating in this negligible installment). It's interesting how the same writer can miss so consistently with some characters and hit the target so often with others. I've decided to skip Claire Malloy's future exploits and stick with Sherrif Arly Hanks and friends.
Not as much fun as I'd hoped for........2000-11-02
I'm a big fan of this series, which features widowed bookstore owner Claire Malloy, and I have been eagerly awaiting this latest entry for some time. Although it was enjoyable to visit with these characters again, the laughs were fewer and farther between than I'm used to from this writer, and the mystery was quite a let-down.
The titular "convention" is a mystery convention with five major mystery writers arrived in Farberville from out of town. Claire, who hopes to make a small fortune in book sales during the convention, ends up in charge when the organizer is hospitalized. Between herding the errant authors from one place to the next while keeping track of her own teenage daughter, Claire hardly has time to rebuff the apologetic overtures of her estranged boyfriend, Lieutenant Peter Rosen. But convention chaos becomes the least of Claire's worries when a conference attendee dies under suspicious circumstances.
There's a lot of Hess's trademark charm in this book, including the characterization of the mystery authors, each a unique and interesting personality. Claire is a wonderful character, and her relationship with her daughter is fun and realistic.
Unfortunately, the plot just isn't strong enough. Hess goes to a great deal of trouble to depict the complex and frequently hostile relationships between the authors, even though these relationships have very little to do with the mystery. The resolution of the mystery is startlingly weak and poorly thought out. And the bizarre subplot involving Peter Rosen, which is presumably meant to be humorous, is so far out of character as to be contrived and distracting. Hess doesn't need to work this hard for laughs.
Despite the disappointing ending to this book, I hope I don't have to wait too long for the next Claire Malloy mystery.
Disappointed.......2000-10-06
This book just didn't grab me. I finished it but the end was kind of anticlimatic. The thing that bothers me most is that the main characters never seems grow or change. Caron has been sixteen(and speaking in CAPITAL LETTERS) forever just as Claire has been Forty and in a going nowhere relationship with Peter Rosen. Enough already. This series needs a major overhaul!

Poisoned Pins (A Claire Malloy Mystery)
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Poisoned Pins (A Claire Malloy Mystery)
Joan Hess
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Minotaur
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
Women Sleuths | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
Hess, Joan | ( H ) | Authors, A-Z | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Mystery & Thriller Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
( H ) | Authors, A-Z | Mystery & Thrillers | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0312349173
Release Date: 2007-04-03

Book Description

Claire Malloy loves her life. But how did it go by so fast? A bookstore owner, part-time sleuth, and full-time single mother, Claire is about to turn the big four-oh! Good thing her teenage daughter, Caron, has just been recruited by the Kappa Theta Eta girls—whose sorority house is next door to the Malloys’—to be a consultant for the cosmetics empire My Beautiful Self, Inc. At the very least, Claire can get a little help with those fine lines around her eyes…but at what cost?

Turns out there’s a high price to pay to look one’s best. After a series of dangerous and suspicious incidents, including a hit-and-run “accident” that kills a sorority sister, it becomes clear to Claire that the beauty business in Farberville, Arkansas, is getting pretty ugly—and with every new makeover another dark circle rises from beneath the surface….

Authors:

Hesse, Hermann

Heyse, Paul

Hiaasen, Carl

Hickman, Tracy

Highsmith, Patricia

Hightower, Jim

Hill, Geoffrey

Hill, Lawrence

Hillerman, Tony

Hirsch, Edward

Authors
Authors