Busy Bodies (Claire Malloy Mysteries) [Mass Market Paperback]

Joan Hess (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 28, 2009 | Series: Claire Malloy Mysteries

Since his recent arrival, avant-garde artist Zeno Gorgias has been turning heads and attracting gawkers in the otherwise tame college town of Farberville Arkansas. Zeno’s “interactive” art—featuring an undressed woman lounging beside a coffin on his front yard—is neither welcome by the community nor punishable by law. But as local bookseller and amateur sleuth Claire Malloy is about to find out, sometimes there’s a dark side to one’s freedom of artistic expression…

Strange things keep happening to Zeno and his oeuvre. First, his estranged wife comes to town, demanding he be committed to a mental institution. Then Zeno’s house mysteriously goes up in flames. And if that’s not enough, a dead body is found inside of the infamous coffin. Now that Zeno has been arrested for murder, it’s up to Claire to figure out what on earth is going on in Farberville…while the real killer remains on the loose.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The usually quite conventional life of Farberville bookstore owner Claire Malloy embraces enough zany characters and situations in her 10th adventure (following Tickled to Death) to put readers in mind of Sheriff Arly Hanks's Maggody, the domain of Hess's other mystery series. Painter Zeno Gorgias, who has recently moved to the small Arkansas town's historic neighborhood, is staging performance pieces, starring a nearly naked young woman with a rubber snake, on his front lawn. Not only are Claire's hyperbolic teenage daughter and her friend involved, but Claire's policeman lover has his hands full with crowd control. Zeno's estranged wife arrives and threatens to have him institutionalized for incompetence; she is found murdered, her body recovered from charred ashes of Zeno's house after it?and half a million dollars' worth of his paintings?are burned. Suspects include the painter, his young, nubile "star," a couple from a local Bible college and a neighbor trying to sell his house. Another murder complicates Claire's efforts to understand motives as, in true small-town fashion, she pokes into everyone's business and manages, through some adroit footwork, to bring a murderer to his knees. Nearing her 40th birthday in this neatly plotted tale, Claire seems slightly more sardonic than in the past, but no less energetic.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“Wickedly amusing.”—Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine

“A tangled maze of mischief, greed, and murder.”—Mostly Murder

“A winning series [and] sleuth.”—Houston Chronicle

“If you’ve never spent time with Claire and her crew…you’ll see wit and humanity all wrapped up in a nifty murder mystery.”—Harlan Coben

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; Reprint edition (April 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312384629
• ISBN-13: 978-0312384623
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #752,262 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All is well--Claire Malloy is in town!l, April 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Busy Bodies (Claire Malloy Mysteries, No. 10) (Hardcover)

Miss Emily and her basset hounds, Nick and Nora, have gotten Claire into trouble before (Roll Over and Play Dead and Dear Miss Demeanor) and are not totally innocent bystanders when it happens again. Claire, daughter Caron, and Caron's chum Inez comprise the trio which manages to run amuck on Willow Street--to the expressed displeasure of Lieutenant Peter Rosen. Peter, an employee of the local homicide division of the police department, is Claire's ardent lover and friend. In the past he has made many vehement objections to her forays into the areas of his expertise and, on occasion, has had her arrested to keep her from the fray. This time a famous painter, a nearly-naked neighbor, a writer, promoter, lawyer, two missionaries, and a soon-to-be-dead-wife all contrive to upset the tea party and give Peter ample reason to complain. If you, too, want to discover why the fire department arrives, what makes Miss Parchester say, "Could it be related in some way to the bears I saw in my backyard?", and who kills the second victim, you will have to read the latest and very funny Joan Hess mystery starring Claire Malloy--Busy Bodies.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful as Always, July 4, 2009

By 

I. Moore (Vero Beach, Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Busy Bodies (Claire Malloy Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I love Joan Hess! No matter if she is writing the Maggody series or the Claire Mailloy series, I enjoy how she creates characters we all know - or wish we knew in our daily lives. I think I have read all she has written now, and I look forward to many years of Claire Malloy and Maggody!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite Claire Malloy mysteries, April 15, 2008

By 

D. Chaudoir (Michigan and Arkansas, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Busy Bodies (Claire Malloy Mysteries, No. 10) (Paperback)

Reading Joan Hess is like visiting with an old friend, and BUSY BODIES is one of her best outings in the Claire Malloy series. Nick and Nora are a hoot, as is the very well-constructed and highly entertaining plot. I wish this title was in print because everyone should have their own copy!