O Little Town of Maggody: An Arly Hanks Mystery

A country and western music star is scheduled to visit his claimed home town and visit his dear old great-aunt. The usual Maggody misadventures and murders familiar to all ardent Hessians take place. I think this is a series that gets better as it goes on. There is a certain crudity and dependence on cliches and stereotypes in the earlier character drawing. The fat girl Delia is greedy; the preacher is a hypocrite. The later ones have more subtlety. "She had her cat, Pussy Toes, her apartment in a quiet neigborhood, her meetings of the genealogical society, her knitting projects for nieces and nephews, and her annual vaction to a family-run hotel in Mexico where she remained drunk out of her mind for ten days straight." You might accuse Hess of making fun of alcoholism in that portrait of Miss Vetchling but it has a certain style and sharpness.

Despite the small town of Maggody's inability to pull itself into the sophisticated world of today. Arly manages just fine. When a country music star and his entourage arrive for a Christmas special, things get kinda weird. Not to worry though, Arly has everything under control. Disappearing people and dying mannequins? Do not miss this Christmasy murder mystery.