Out on a Limb

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 characters in Claire Malloy's life -- in this case, Miss Parchester.Even if I had guessed the ending of Out on a Limb before the last page of the book, I enjoy the style of Hess' writing so greatly that I cannot wait to see what Claire will do next.If you like the Maggody books or have read the other Claire Malloy books, I recommend this one. It's a light, easy read that will at times make you Laugh Out Loud Caron Malloy-style.

this was a fun book to read & it kept you guessing. Claire sure knows how to get around a question when the police ask her something. She kept everyone guessing through the whole book & the ending is a surprise. Another wonderful book by Joan Hess

Claire Malloy, bookseller and amateur sleuth, is a person I would love to have living next door. She is wickedly funny and incredibly sharp. With a cast of supporting characters who weave in and out of the main storyline, her neighborhood seems the most interesting in Farberville, Arkansas. Humor and an intriguing storyline make this a welcome addition to the Claire Malloy series which seems refreshed with every entry. I recommend them all for fun reading.

You could say that it all started about a month ago, when Claire Malloy, owner of Faberville's only bookstore, part-time amateur sleuth, and mother to sixteen year old Caron, helped deliver the baby of an (apparently) abused teenager living on the streets. But after having seen that the girl and her newborn son made it to the shelter for abused women, Claire never thought to see either them again. And yet here's the baby boy, left (literally) at her doorstep with a note from the mother begging Claire to look after her son while she tries to sort a few things out, extolling Claire NOT to contact the authorities and promising to retrieve the child in a few days. Unfortunately, the next thing Claire knows is that she's watching a newsclip on her TV of the baby's mother being arrested for murder! It turns out that the baby's mother is Daphne Armstrong, the only daughter of Faberville's own shady land developer, Anthony Armstrong. Daphne had runaway from home the previous year when she realised that she was pregnant and when her father had demanded that she have an abortion. Now Anthony Armstrong has been found murdered in his own study, and witnesses (who include Armstrong's trophy wife and her sister) claim to have seen Daphne fleeing the scene minutes after shots were fired, gun in hand. It looks like an open-and-shut case, but Claire is sure that Daphne is innocent of the crime. And so decides to investigate. (It's either that or risk being lumbered with caring for the baby for the next 16 years). But this soon proves to be a case with quite a few 'legs.' Many people had a reason to dislike Armstrong immensely -- like the members of Faberville's Green Party, who claim that Armstrong is bribing the planning commission in order to build at sites that should be preserved. Claire's good (and slightly eccentric) friend, retired school teacher Emily Parchester, has even decided (to Claire's dismay) to 'sit' in a tree until the planning commission rethinks it's decision to allow Armstrong to destroy a valueable corpse of trees. And then there is Armstrong's first wife and Daphne's mother, Sheila, whom he divorced and who received a very shabby divorce settlement. And of course one must not forget Daphne herself who had reasons of her own to resent her father... Soon, Claire is busy hanging out with Faberville's rich and trendy set as she tries to discover if anyone else in Armstrong's set could have had a strong enough motive to kill him and pin the murder on Daphne. But she also has to keep an eye on Emily Parchester, and make sure that she doesn't come to harm. As well as make sure that Peter, the police detective she's dating, doesn't get wind of what she's up to (they have a very complicated relationship)! And then there is Caron's (Claire's 16 year old daughter) strained and tempestuous reaction to what's going on... Perhaps Claire is juggling a bit more than she can take on?Joan Hess's Claire Malloy mystery series has always been a firm favourite.

Farberville, Arkansas is usually a quiet little town but every once in a while trouble seems to erupt and everyone just knows crime solver Claire Malloy will be in the middle of it. To make way for more housing, a group of trees have to be cut down but environmentalist Miss Emily Parchester plans a protest by living in a tree until she wins her point. Claire, who aided and abetted the elderly woman before with a false murder charge, tries to talk some sense into her but fails in the face of the Emily's determination.When she returns home, Claire finds her sixteen-year-old daughter nearly hysterical. A newborn baby only four weeks old has been put on Claire's doorstep. Clair delivered the baby whose the teenage mother lived in the streets but she has no idea who she was. Anthony Armstrong, the developer who wants to cut the trees down, is murdered and his daughter, arrested for the crime. Claire recognizes her as the baby's mother and enlists her friends into helping her prove the young mother is innocent.OUT ON A LAMB is an entertaining and poignant cozy that intertwines several social issues into the main story line. Joan Hess is a witty writer who uses subtle touches of humor to diffuse the tension when it reaches too high a level. The author is an expert at characterizations and readers are pulled into the plot because they want to know what the characters will do next especially since they are so unpredictable.Harriet Klausner