Malice in Maggody, Joan Hess
Malice in Maggody, Joan Hess
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Malice in Maggody

Author: Joan Hess

Narrator: Courtney Patterson

Unabridged: 6 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/15/2021


Synopsis

After a crossbow killing at a cheap roadside motel, Ozarks police chief Arly Hanks finds herself investigating her first murder case.

Her marriage over and career gone bust, Arly Hanks flees Manhattan for her hometown: Maggody, Arkansas. In a town this size, nothing much ever happens, so Arly figures she's safe as the town's first female chief of police—until the husband of one of the local barmaids escapes from state prison and heads for town. And that's not all. An EPA official with ties to polluting the local fishing hole has suddenly vanished off the face of the earth.

As if two manhunts aren't enough to contend with, a body has been discovered at the pay-by-the-hour Flamingo Motel, shot clean through the neck with an arrow. For some reason, Maggody's residents—all 755 of them—have gone tight-lipped, stonewalling Arly's investigations, and Arly hasn't a soul to trust but her half-wit deputy. Now, as Maggody's finest, she'll have to show a little muscle and a lot of cunning to curtail the inhospitable mountain malice that's overtaken her town. And she'll have to watch her own back every step of the way.


About Joan Hess

Joan Hess (1949-2017) was an award-winning author of several long-running mystery series. Born in Arkansas, she was teaching preschool when she began writing fiction. Known for her lighthearted, witty novels, she created the Claire Malloy Mysteries and the Arly Hanks Mysteries, both set in Arkansas.


Reviews

Goodreads review by PamG on June 07, 2024

Malice in Maggody by Joan Hess is a mystery set in Maggody, Arkansas and featuring Chief of Police Arly Hanks. After her divorce, Arly moves back to her home town and becomes the chief of police. Nothing has been happening to keep herself and Officer Paulie Buchanon busy other than writing speed......more

Goodreads review by Charles on December 13, 2023

Not a very friendly book to its rural, Southern setting. Making fun of "rednecks" while writing stories and making money off of them just isn't quite the thing. Or, given current events, perhaps I should have said it isn't quite kosher. I read somewhere an opinion claiming a similarity of these Maggo......more

Goodreads review by Karen on January 10, 2013

Joan Hess' Maggody series was my introduction to humorous mysteries and I've loved her books, as well as the subgenre of humorous mysteries, ever since. I admire Joan Hess so much that I planned a trip to Arkansas around a signing she was scheduled to do in Little Rock! I'm very happy to say that I......more

Goodreads review by Gary on September 10, 2017

Maggody. A fictional town in Arkansas, probably located near Pixley and Bugtussell. (I am sure some will get that reference). The town's recently hired police chief is Ariel (Arly) Hanks. Arly has to cope with a vanished EPA paper pusher, an escaped con who maybe headed towards town and ultimately a......more

Goodreads review by Betty on February 06, 2017

I have always enjoyed the Maggody series. It some of the best satire I have read. Ar!y Hanks has returned home after crushing divorces. She wants only solitude to recover. Arly accepts the office of Police of Chief Her Mother owns Ruby Bee Bar and Flamingo Motel. In this one, Arly finds herself not......more