Download or read book Martians in Maggody written by Joan Hess and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2016-06-07 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Police chief Arly Hanks tries to keep her head when the people of Maggody get UFO fever in this uproarious cozy mystery. Life is so boring in Maggody, Arkansas, population 755, the locals have resorted to reading supermarket tabloids, gobbling up every rumor of wolf men, zombies, and creatures from outer space they can get their hands on. And as the only sane woman in town, Chief of Police Arly Hanks just smiles and nods whenever her neighbors rave about the latest conspiracy theories. But to Arly’s eternal horror, it looks like Maggody is about to become ground zero for an extraterrestrial invasion. The aliens will never know what hit ’em. It starts when strange circles appear in Raz Buchanon’s cornfields, drawing reporters, newscasters, and every nut west of the Mississippi. But as supernatural fever hits Maggody, Arly is confronted with a very terrestrial murder. There may be aliens on Main Street, but in a town this strange, how could anybody tell the difference? Life has always been nutty in Maggody, but the madness is about to go paranormal. Master of cozies Joan Hess knows better than anyone how to push a mystery to the brink of madness—and then push it a whole lot farther. Martians in Maggody is the 8th book in the Arly Hanks Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
Download or read book Maggody and the Moonbeams written by Joan Hess and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2016-06-07 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A youth trip turns deadly, and Chief of Police Arly Hanks must catch the killer while serving as chaperone, in this hilarious small-town mystery. Arly Hanks has caught all sorts of killers since she returned home to Maggody, Arkansas, population 759, but she’s never tangled with anyone as devious as the local youth group. While chaperoning a trip to Camp Pearly Gates, Arly watches the kids as closely as she would any hardened criminal, but when teenagers have a mind to get into trouble, there’s nothing a police chief can do but limit the damage. She’s just about got the situation under control when one of the kids finds a body, and all hell breaks loose in classic Maggody manner. The murdered woman sports a shaved head and a white robe, marking her as a Moonbeam, a member of a particularly kooky local cult. And caught between the sect and the law, Arly may be forced to sacrifice what little sanity she has left. Nobody pokes fun at religion quite as effectively as Joan Hess. This is another laugh-out-loud entry in one of the funniest mystery series of all time. Maggody and the Moonbeams is the 13th book in the Arly Hanks Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
Download or read book Malpractice in Maggody written by Joan Hess and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2006 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The receptionist for a new psychiatric facility is found murdered on its grounds.
Download or read book Muletrain to Maggody written by Joan Hess and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2004-02-23 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Under the benign watch of Police Chief Arly Hanks, things are pretty quiet in the sleepy Arkansas town of Maggody these days. Not even the prospect of a historical society-funded Civil War documentary on the locally touted (albeit historically insignificant) Skirmish at Cotter's Ridge of 1863 does much to stir up the denizens of this sleepy backwoods town. What does finally get the rumor mill buzzing, however, is the revelation that two saddlebags of Confederate gold were hidden in a local cave to keep them from falling into Yankee hands. Once word gets out that the saddlebags were never recovered, almost everyone in town has a plan to get their hands on the lost gold. Meanwhile, a colorful cast of outlanders has taken over Maggody. They include a dewy Charleston belle, a famous writer of historical romances, her ne'er-do-well son, and three dozen obsessive reenactors who have not yet acknowledged that the Civil War ended over a hundred years ago, as well as a documentary film crew and a handsome, if enigmatic, filmmaker with ties to Arly's past. Arly has more than enough on her hands trying to locate missing senior citizens and keeping the visitors from each other's throats, but when the genealogist of the Stump County Historical Society dies under questionable circumstances, and a member of the Buchanon clan is the victim of a vicious and fatal attack, Arly finds herself faced with the most baffling whodunit of her career, with a disgruntled ghost a possible prime suspect.
Download or read book murder maggody com written by Joan Hess and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2016-06-07 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the uproarious town of Maggody, Arkansas, plugs into the Internet, the digital age turns deadly. Aside from the odd stolen dog or vandalized lawn ornament, there’s been no recent crime in Maggody, Arkansas, population 755, and that’s how Chief of Police Arly Hanks likes it. Things have been so quiet she’s taken to sitting in on school-board meetings, and she’s doing just this when the high school announces the new computer lab, which will be open to everybody in town. To Arly—who doesn’t trust her neighbors to handle a toaster, much less a computer—it seems like an invitation to disaster. Little does she know that when Maggody logs on, the results will be murderous. As soon as the first modem is plugged in, Maggody’s computers are flooded with hackers, pornography, libel, and worse. And when a newcomer is brutally murdered, Arly must use low-tech resourcefulness to catch a digital killer—and save Maggody from the information age. Fans of Ellen Byron’s Cajun Country mysteries will find themselves right at home in Maggody, where everyone knows everyone—and everyone is related. This is unquestionably one of the funniest mystery series of all time. [email protected] is the 12th book in the Arly Hanks Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
Download or read book O Little Town of Maggody written by Joan Hess and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2016-06-07 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Country music, greed, and the unique madness of Maggody, Arkansas, collide in this delightful cozy mystery starring unflappable police chief Arly Hanks. Matt Montana is the favorite son of sleepy Maggody, Arkansas. With the voice of an angel and a smile as charming as that of the devil, he’s made a name for himself under the bright lights of Nashville and become one of the most famous faces in country music. Meanwhile, Maggody has sunk into the worst recession in years. So when Matt announces that he’s returning home to play a benefit concert, the locals do everything they can to cash in on Montana fever. The oddballs of Maggody smell a payday, and not even murder can stop them from cashing in. As every shop in town stocks up on Matt Montana memorabilia, police chief Arly Hanks—the only sane woman in town—tries to keep her head down. But when one of Matt’s entourage turns up dead in a store window, it’s up to Arly to make sure this isn’t country music’s last act. The Arly Hanks Mysteries have skewered topics from Hollywood filmmakers to right-wing militias to the greedy schemes of televangelists, and this take on country music superstars shows the town of Maggody at its best. Fans of cozy mysteries know that nobody does it better than Joan Hess. O Little Town of Maggody is the 7th book in the Arly Hanks Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
Download or read book The Merry Wives of Maggody written by Joan Hess and published by Minotaur Books. This book was released on 2010-01-19 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Maggody, Arkansas (pop. 755) is perceived of as a two-bit hick town, filled with one-bit hicks. But Mrs. Jim Bob Buchanan seeks to change that perception with her latest scheme—a charity golf tournament. This presents a bit of a challenge, since no one in Maggody plays golf and there is no course. But when the prize for the first hole-in-one is announced—a top of the line bass boat—nearly everyone in town develops a new-found interest in the sport. The town goes golf crazy, trying to learn the sport in time to win the bass boat, with limited success and maximum domestic disorder. Sheriff Arly Hanks, who has better things to worry about, just wishes it would all go away. When a small-town golf instructor wins the bass boat on the first day of the tournament, it looks like all the excitement is over. But the next morning, when he's found dead, sitting in the parking lot in the front seat of the bass boat, the prize is once again up for grabs and nearly everyone in town is a murder suspect.
Download or read book Shoveling Smoke written by Austin Davis and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2006-06 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tired of the corporate hassle, burnt-out attorney Clay Parker abondons Houston to set up practice with a small firm in an East Texas town, only to find himself caught up in the middle of a fraud case and defending the nasty Bevo Rasmussen.
Download or read book Gumshoes written by Mitzi M. Brunsdale and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2006-04-30 with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The enormous explosion of crime fiction over the last decade means that more people are looking for a good mystery than ever before. This dictionary of fictional detectives helps readers learn about the series in which their favorite detectives are featured. Included are alphabetically arranged entries on roughly 150 fictional detectives, which provide information about the works in which the detective appears, the locales in which the detective operates, the detective's investigative methods, and other important information. Helpful bibliographical citations direct the reader to other interesting works. The volume closes with a selected, general bibliography; various appendices; and an extensive index. The enormous explosion of crime fiction over the last decade means that more people are looking for a good mystery than ever before. Many of the most popular mystery books appear in series, and these series feature carefully developed detectives.
Download or read book Murder as a Second Language written by Joan Hess and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2013-12-17 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "With her bookstore, the Book Depot, being run by a competent graduate student, Claire Malloy is at loose ends. Her attempt to learn French cooking meets with dismay, so when her daughter, Caron, and Caron's friend Inez sign up to tutor English-as-a-second-language students to beef up their college applications, Claire offers to help tutor. After being turned down as a tutor since she missed the training session, Claire is roped into becoming a board member of the Farberville Literacy Council. She soon learns there are problems with the council's books, and then an elderly Polish student, Ludmilla, is murdered at the council's office. The unpleasant Ludmilla's death is not even mourned by her own grandson, so there are plenty of suspects. As Claire investigates, she uncovers other nefarious deeds that have transpired among the employees of the literacy council, and she becomes a target." --
Download or read book Pride v Prejudice written by Joan Hess and published by Minotaur Books. This book was released on 2015-04-07 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Claire Malloy, for as long as she can remember, has been the local bookseller and owner of the Book Depot and the widowed mother of teenage Caron, who frequently speaks in ALL CAPS. But her life has changed dramatically in recent years. Claire has married her longtime beau, Deputy Police Chief Peter Rosen. Still the owner of the Book Depot, Claire has passed the day-to-day running of it on to her very efficient employees. With Caron inching ever closer to college, there's but one thing that remains steadfastly unchanged—Claire's astonishing ability to attract, find, or even just randomly stumble across trouble. Summoned for jury duty, the prosecutor on a murder case, harboring a grudge against her husband, decides to humiliate Claire and dismiss her. Having done so in spectacular enough fashion to make the local news, Claire decides that revenge will be the next dish she serves. She hunts down the defendant in the case, a woman accused of murdering her husband, and offers to help prove her innocence. And not just because Claire wants to humiliate the prosecutor. There are only two problems. One—the defendant is looking guiltier by the minute. And two—the worst day imaginable has finally come: Claire's dreaded new mother-in-law is coming to visit and life in prison is starting to look good.
Download or read book Mystery Women Volume Two Revised written by Colleen Barnett and published by Sourcebooks, Inc.. This book was released on 2011-12-31 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many bibliographers focus on women who write. Lawyer Barnett looks at women who detect, at women as sleuths and at the evolving roles of women in professions and in society. Excellent for all women's studies programs as well as for the mystery hound. Look at the popularity of such reading guides as Willetta Heising's Detecting Women (3rd ed. 0-9644593-7-X) or Amanda Cross' fiction (Honest Doubt 0-345-44011-0 11/00).
Download or read book Sleuths in Skirts written by Frances A. DellaCava and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is a comprehensive collection of critical essays on The Taming of the Shrew, and includes extensive discussions of the play's various printed versions and its theatrical productions. Aspinall has included only those essays that offer the most influential and controversial arguments surrounding the play. The issues discussed include gender, authority, female autonomy and unruliness, courtship and marriage, language and speech, and performance and theatricality.
Download or read book Funny Thing About Murder written by David Geherin and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2017-10-11 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on crime fiction and films that artfully combine comedy and misdeed, this book explores the reasons writers and filmmakers inject humor into their work and identifies the various comic techniques they use. The author covers both American and European books from the 1930s to the present, by such authors as Rex Stout, Raymond Chandler, Robert B. Parker, Elmore Leonard, Donald E. Westlake, Sue Grafton, Carl Hiaasen and Janet Evanovich, along with films from The Thin Man to the BBC's Sherlock series.
Download or read book Isn t Justice Always Unfair written by J. Kenneth Van Dover and published by Popular Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Isn't Justice Always Unfair? explores the uncommonly long and uncommonly rich relationship between the fictional detective and his or her South. It begins with the New Orleans expatriate, Legrand, uncovering Captain Kidd's treasure on an island off Charleston, South Carolina; it covers the satires and parodies of Mark Twain and the polished stories of Melville Davisson Post and Irvin S. Cobb; and it concludes with surveys of the many good and excellent writers who are using the form of the detective story to compose inquiries into the character of life in the South today. At the center of Isn't Justice Always Unfair? lies an analysis of a most remarkable phenomenon: William Faulkner's exploitation of the genre as an avenue into his postage stamp of Southern experience, Yoknapatawpha County.
Download or read book The Maggody Militia written by Joan Hess and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2016-06-07 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this hilarious cozy mystery, small-town police chief Arly Hanks tries to stop a right-wing militia from turning Maggody into a battlefield. The sign welcoming travelers to Maggody, Arkansas, reads “Pop. 755,” and don’t expect Hizzoner Jim Bob to repaint it just because there’s someone new in town. The mayor won’t go out of his way for anyone, especially someone wicked—and a woman who would open a pawnshop in Maggody must be very wicked indeed. Kayleen Smeltner decided to open the shop after her husband was killed during a burglary. She came to Maggody expecting peace and quiet, but she’ll find this quaint little patch of nowhere isn’t as peaceful as it seems. When a right-wing militia takes up residence in the pasture behind the pawnshop, police chief Arly Hanks knows it’s only a matter of time before the bullets start to fly. The strange citizens of Maggody are on the verge of civil war, and it will only take one spark to set the town ablaze. There’s no politics like small-town politics, and there’s no town on earth like Maggody. This madcap take on right-wing militias is one of Joan Hess’s most topical—and outrageous—mysteries yet. The Maggody Militia is the 10th book in the Arly Hanks Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
Download or read book Maggody in Manhattan written by Joan Hess and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2016-06-07 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Small-town police chief Arly Hanks takes on the New York Police Department to save her mother from a murder rap in this madcap police procedural. When her marriage went up in smoke, Arly Hanks left Manhattan and never looked back. As police chief of Maggody, Arkansas, population 755, Arly is a glorified traffic cop, and she couldn’t be happier. But when Arly’s mother, the indomitable Ruby Bee Hanks, is invited to a baking contest in New York, Arly is forced to return to the city she hates—and the Big Apple is even more rotten than she remembered. Ruby Bee has hardly preheated her oven when a naked man is found shot in her bedroom and the NYPD throws her in jail. As tempting as it may be to let her mother rot on Rikers Island, Arly has no choice but to solve the case herself, facing down killers, bakers, and the most dangerous villain of all: her ex-husband. Joan Hess is better than anyone when it comes to writing small-town murder mysteries, and Maggody in Manhattan shows she knows her way around big cities too. When the wacky residents of Maggody are loosed on the Big Apple, New York City will get turned upside down. Maggody in Manhattan is the 6th book in the Arly Hanks Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.