Busy Bodies

I love Joan Hess! No matter if she is writing the Maggody series or the Claire Mailloy series, I enjoy how she creates characters we all know - or wish we knew in our daily lives. I think I have read all she has written now, and I look forward to many years of Claire Malloy and Maggody!

Reading Joan Hess is like visiting with an old friend, and BUSY BODIES is one of her best outings in the Claire Malloy series. Nick and Nora are a hoot, as is the very well-constructed and highly entertaining plot. I wish this title was in print because everyone should have their own copy!

Miss Emily and her basset hounds, Nick and Nora, have gotten Claire into trouble before (Roll Over and Play Dead and Dear Miss Demeanor) and are not totally innocent bystanders when it happens again. Claire, daughter Caron, and Caron's chum Inez comprise the trio which manages to run amuck on Willow Street--to the expressed displeasure of Lieutenant Peter Rosen. Peter, an employee of the local homicide division of the police department, is Claire's ardent lover and friend. In the past he has made many vehement objections to her forays into the areas of his expertise and, on occasion, has had her arrested to keep her from the fray. This time a famous painter, a nearly-naked neighbor, a writer, promoter, lawyer, two missionaries, and a soon-to-be-dead-wife all contrive to upset the tea party and give Peter ample reason to complain. If you, too, want to discover why the fire department arrives, what makes Miss Parchester say, "Could it be related in some way to the bears I saw in my backyard?", and who kills the second victim, you will have to read the latest and very funny Joan Hess mystery starring Claire Malloy--Busy Bodies.