MISERY LOVES MAGGODY: AN ARLY HANKS MYSTERY - Hardcover

Hess, Joan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684862123 ISBN 13: 9780684862125

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1999

Synopsis

Misery Loves Maggody

And you will too.

Murder and mayhem have never been so hilarious as in the sleepy little town of Maggody, Arkansas. Population 755. And in this newest entry to the Joan Hess series, there's twice the fun when some of Maggody's most beloved inhabitants venture out of state. Meanwhile, all manner of unrest also unfolds on the familiar Maggody home front.

When beleaguered chief of police Arly Hanks hears that her mother, Ruby Bee, and best friend, Estelle Oppers, are headed for Memphis on a four-day Elvis Pilgrimage, she thinks she may be getting a break that is long overdue. But before the "pilgrims" are past the airport on the way out of Faberville, the fur starts flying, and soon the trip is completely stalled by a variety of deadly doings. Estelle calls home to report that Ruby Bee has collapsed and is in the local hospital, and even before Arly's seen the delta dawn, one of the other clients on the tour is found dead beneath the eighth-floor balcony of the hotel. Worse still, the balcony from which she plunged turns out to be none other than the room of a prominent Maggody citizen, who has been hauled off to the local jail. What's more, Estelle's pretty darn sure the tour van is being followed by thugs in an ominous black car -- and another body's about to be laid to rest in Graceland.

Back home things aren't much better and certainly no quieter, so Arly Hanks will have to be at her most resourceful to restore the peace once again to the inhabitants of Maggody -- both those at home and those who have roamed beyond the town limits.

Variously described by critics as a "rollicking tour de force" (Boston Magazine), "Bawdy entertainment" (Kirkus Reviews), "Hilarious" (St. Louis Post-Dispatch), "delectable and continually surprising" (The New York Times Book Review), Joan Hess's Maggody series is one of a kind and just keeps getting better.

About this title

Review:

Just when it seems that the denizens of Maggody, Arkansas, and their chief of police, Arly Hanks, have seen everything, author Joan Hess manages to find a way to embroil them in yet another hilarious adventure. This time around, Ruby Bee, Estelle, and their big hair have embarked on a cut-rate package tour to Graceland to pay homage to the King. Before the end of the tour, one of the other pilgrims is found dead outside her hotel room, Ruby Bee is in the hospital, and Mayor Jim Bob Buchanon has been arrested for murder. Arly drives through the night to bring order out of chaos and make sure all the citizens of Maggody return home safely--with or without their dignity intact. As usual, there are more laughs than at a log-rolling festival--Brother Verber's hymn listing sins from A to Z (to the tune of Gilligan's Island) is particularly choice.

Joan Hess has made quite a reputation for herself and garnered several awards (including Agatha and Anthony nominations) with this series set in a wide spot in the road in northwest Arkansas. Misery Loves Maggody is the 11th and continues the saga of the dull-witted Buchanons, the Voice of the Almighty Lord Assembly Hall, and Arly herself. Typically, the murders and Arly's (occasionally muddled) course to their solution are really the icing on the cake of these rich parodies of Southern Living. Although Hess's wit is a bit sharper when her cast of characters sticks closer to home, as they do in Martians in Maggody or Miracles in Maggody, an Elvis sighting or two fits right in with the general wackiness and lovable mayhem. --K.A. Crouch

About the Author:

Joan Hess is the author of the critically acclaimed Maggody mysteries, including the Pocket Books paperbacks Muletrain to Maggody, Maggody and the Moonbeams, Misery Loves Maggody, and murder@maggody.com, nominated for the prestigious Nero Wolfe Award. She has received numerous awards, including the American Mystery Award, the Agatha Award, the Drood Review Readers' Award, and the

Macavity Award. A former president of the American Crime Writers League, she is currently president of the Arkansas Mystery Writers Alliance, as well as a member of Sisters in Crime. Joan Hess lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0684862123
• ISBN 13: 9780684862125
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288