Customer Reviews

Dear Miss Demeanor (Claire Malloy Mysteries, No. 3)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When the journalism teacher at Faberville High School is accused of pilfering petty cash and suspended from work, Claire Malloy finds herself pushed into substitute teaching while trying to clear the teacher's name. The principal is poisoned and all clues point to the dear journalism teacher. Then a second body turns up. Claire works to clear the journalism teacher's name before having to chaperone the school's dreaded Friday night home coming dance. While the characters could have been better developed, this does not detract from the story. Antics at Farberville High rival the best soap opera plot, motives abound and humor prevails - all adding up to a page turning, fun mystery.

I picked this book up at a school book sale amidst piles of paperbacks that had been donated for their fundraiser. The witty writing, light but intelligent style, and intriguing mystery combine to make a great, fast read.

Hess' humor is so enjoyable, and I love the fact that Claire Malloy is a bookstore owner and that the series has nothing to do with cooking. Hess is definitely a unique voice in the mystery world.

I got started on Joan Hess books from her Arly Hanks Maggody series (fantastic books). These are not as good but still quite entertaining little stories. The books are never more then 225 pages and are easy reading. The dialogue between Claire and her daughter is worthy enough to be a SNL skit. These books will not make you think but they will make you laugh.

Book Depot owner Claire Malloy, the recreational sleuth of Faberville, is urged by her daughter Caron to investigate the dismissal of an elderly spinster journalism-teacher at Faberville High: Miss Parchester, the daughter of a former judge of the Supreme Court, was accused of embezzling petty cash from the journalism-fund of Faberville High.

Suddenly the ghastly prinicipal of Fabervile High as well as the nasty janitor/custodian are poisoned and naturally old Miss Parchester seems to be the culprit. However, several of the teaching staff seem to have a motif to quieten the principal and/or the janitor.

Substituting in teaching Claire does her bit of sleuthing in order to solve the crimes.

As I have mentioned before, this book is not a thriller. Claire Malloy is a witty person, however, and has to cope with raising a teenage daughter mostly always speaking in capital letters and therefore is nearly incessantly involed in "adolescent melodrama" (p. 3). Yet another funny tidbit is Claire's relationship to local CID-boss Peter Rosen who seems to be a hunk, but a bit clumsy when it comes to investigating.

Result: The right book, if you want to spend an afternoon chuckling in front of the fireplace or in the garden.

A high school principal and janitor are poisoned with cynanide. The scene is Farberville and Claire Molloy the bookstore owner is the detective. Nobel Prize prose it's not. It's written in an almost old-fashioned style with lots of cliches and weak jokes (as you can see from sample pages on this WEB site) but I think this is deliberate attempt to create the cosy atmosphere (If it really is deliberate then I should have given an extra star). No sex or violence. It's light bland entertainment and the victims' deaths are no tragedy. Clues are placed that should enable you to figure whodunnit. The plot is clever enough and the suspects likely enough to keep you turning the pages. Not quite up to Agatha Christie, but in that style. The only ethnic diversity is that Molloy's policeman boy friend is called Rosen and comes from New York. Some curious anachronisms. There are references to jitterbugging and back street abortions but also to the high school class of 1990 and to the 60's "fifteen years ago" (Roe v Wade was 1973). Suspend critical judgement and relax and enjoy.

Didn't have to work too hard to finish this book, it was a good read, an interesting little book, and not difficult to follow at all. Well written, I must say, and I did enjoy it.

This book was saucy and I enjoyed it very much. Until the ending. I was left feeling as though it wasn't finished. But there wasn't any conclusion concerning Miss Dort, and Miss hart's fickle boyfriend. Miss Dort, helped the now dead principle with a crime, and I feel that before the book ended, they both should have been dealth with. So although I liked the book, I certainly didn't like the ending, it didn't solve anything. I hope in one of her future books she will take care of this. anna cook

Dear Miss Demeanor is the third book in the Claire Malloy series written by Joan Hess. This book is about a bookstore owner and amateur detective, Claire Malloy, who finds herself in the thick of it when she agrees to go undercover to investigate a possible case of fraud. It is also about a principle and janitor that are poisoned with greediness. I recommend this book to people that like crime, mystery, comedy, and people that like to read short novels. Dear Miss Demeanor contains some things that make it bad and some that make it good.
This novel contains certain things that made it really good to read and some that made it bad. One thing in particularly that made it really bad was that the end was confusing. The ending was confusing since it did not really seem like it solve anything about the crime. Maybe it is because she is planning on continuing this story on another book, which will probably make this book more easily to understand. Another thing that made this book confusing is the picture in the cover. When you see the cover you do not expect the book to be dealing about a crime and fraud because the picture shows a hand holding a pizza, on top of a pizza box, with a bunch of books and papers on the back.
An example that made this book good is the plot which is base on a high school journalist teacher being accused of stealing money. Another thing that made this book really interesting is that a principle was dead by the end of the book. This made the book interesting because I'm the type of person that enjoys a bit of violence in books. The novel had some funny things in the book like Claire's relationship with the CID boss, Peter Rosen, who seems to be "gook looking", but really bad at the whole investigating business. One last thing that made this novel really interesting is that cover really attracts you because of the quote that says "Hess's books are funny, acerbic, touching, and terrific", which of course would make you want to read a book.
In conclusion this book should be read by people with interest in crime, mystery and comedy. Even though this book has some things that make it bad keep in mind that it also has things that make it good. This was a book that I would not have read because it did not have some of the things that I was expecting by the looks of the cover. I was expecting something like adventure or anything but crime and mystery. I guess it is true that you should not judge a book by its cover.

This was a very powerful book for me. I loved every minute of it. I would recommend it for anyone who just wanted to pick up a great book to read.