Malice in Maggody (An Arly Hanks Mystery)

If you start to get a little tired of the fast-paced suspense thrillers, the gritty mysteries and the noir police procedurals; if you miss a good, old-fashioned mystery, with charming people in a charming place; check out the Magoody series. While my previous sentence might make you think this series is too "precious," I can assure you that it is not at all. These are well-written mysteries - even murders - but done with a back-home country twang that you can't help but love. Arly Hanks - after going through a bitter divorce and leaving her job as a police detective in New York City - moves back home to Magoody, Arkansas, and takes over as chief of police. It is a quiet job in a very small town (which population I can't find again now that I want it, but it was smaller, I remember, than my own home town, which boasted about 700 people in town and another 300 throughout the country thereabouts ...) where nothing ever happens. Until now. There is need for new waste-relocation sources for a neighboring town, and when the EPA OKs the dumping of sewage into Magoody's favorite fishing hole, people are up in arms. The EPA bureaucrat who is supposed to show up and get all the paperwork signed ... doesn't show up. And then a barmaid - young, pretty and about to "escape" to cosmetology school - turns up dead. This is a really fun series - I've read three or four of them - and although they are somewhat hard to find, they are definitely worth the effort to get and read. Don't miss out!

This is the first book in the truly hillarious Arly Hanks series. This may be the first book that has ever made me actually laugh out loud while reading it. The cast of characters are priceless, and you can look forward to meeting all of them again in each book of this fantastic series. Highly recommended for cozy mystery lovers!

Meet Chief of Police, Arly Hanks. She's back home in Maggody, Arkansas, population 755, recovering from a nasty divorce. She wanted some quiet time to decompress and gather her wits about her, and that's just what she got. Life in Maggody is slow, really slow. There's no crime to speak of, and about the only action she ever sees is a car wreck out on the highway, once every month or so. Her biggest chief of police decisions usually involve where to set up the speed trap, in the school zone, or at the signal light. So it comes as a big surprise when two real crime cases fall her way on the same day. First a former Maggody resident, now housed at the state correctional institution escapes and looks to be heading home. Then an EPA contract specialist sent to sign the paperwork for an unwanted sewage treatment plant that the residents of Maggody are sure is going to pollute their swimming and fishing holes, goes missing. Add to that the murder of a local, and it looks like Arly is going to have to buckle down and get busy, fast. With the whole town tight lipped and stonewalling her investigation, it's going to take all her cunning and training to sort out all this mayhem and madness, and get to the truth..... Sit down and get comfortable, Joan Hess is about to take you on a roller coaster of a ride through the Ozarks. This is a light, comical mystery, easily read in one sitting, that will have you smiling, chortling, and laughing out loud. Her entertaining story line is well paced and clever, and her writing is crisp, witty and full of irreverent dialogue and back-woods southern humor. But it's Ms Hess' well drawn, engaging and original characters that really make this novel stand out, and once you've gotten to know Maggody's finest and not so finest, you'll be hooked for sure. Malice In Maggody is the first of a marvelous and delightful series. Do yourself a big favor, start here at the beginning, and read them all.

This is just the type of mystery I love. Small town filled with eccentric characters, lots of humor, not to mention plenty of sex! I had seen this series for years, but always assumed it was a very cozy, sweet little series. Wrong! Laugh out loud funny in the style of Kathleen Taylor's Dakota series. Highly recommended.

_Malice in Maggody_ is light, comical, yet keeps you on the edge of your seat. Arly Hanks is definetly NOT the "Nancy Drew" type, which is one reason I liked the book so much. Her relationship and interaction with the other characters in the book, especially with her mother, is very believable. Though it is not difficult to read, the "mystery" is captivating. You can't wait to read just how she will figure everything out. This is definetly a "Must-Read!"