Customer Reviews

The Goodbye Body (Claire Malloy Mysteries, No. 15)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In Farberville, Arkansas, Claire Malloy lectures her landlord Mr. Kalker about rats in the kitchen, mice everywhere else, and ants running amuck ever since he rented the downstairs to summer tenants who believe trash is next to godliness. Mr. Kalker agrees to have exterminators clean out the building, but Claire and her sixteen years old daughter Caron will need temporary quarters for the next two weeks. In her bookstore, The Book Depot, Claire vents to customer Dolly Goforth, who offers her lavish home as a place to stay while she is on the road.

After Claire, Caron and friend Inez Thornton move into the Goforth house, the two teens find a corpse near the gazebo. By the time the police and Claire arrive, the body is missing. The cops assume the "victim" is alive while Claire figures her daughter is a drama queen who needs to go to school in Canada or Finland. Soon afterward an assortment of traveling kooks show up asking for Dolly and claiming open ended invitations to stay. When the original body turns up but vanishes again and Dolly is no where to be found, Claire, who prefers not to get involved, reluctantly begins to investigate the case of THE GOODBYE BODY.

Joan Hess is at her amusing best with this complex enjoyable amateur sleuth tale. The story line contains Claire's cynical humor whether the victim is her landlord, her daughter, rodents, her lover, or a vanishing corpse. Fans of the series will appreciate this jocular yet deep tale while newcomers will think of Hitchcock's The Trouble with Harry. A relationship decision with the man of her dreams (and several nightmares) adds a surprise twist to a fine regional tale.

Harriet Klausner

I have to admit that I did not like her last couple of books. In the last two books Joan Hess wrote in the Claire Malloy series, I found myself more irritated by the characters instead of entertained. Rather than purchase this one like I did the others, I borrowed it from the library. This one would definitely be worth buying. The Goodbye Body is more on the lines of her earlier books. I thoroughly enjoyed this book even finding myself laughing out loud at some of Claire's comments and thoughts. I would definitely recommend The Goodbye Body and I hope her next is as good as this one.

Joan Hess does not disappoint in this latest Farberville installment. I've never read a book by Hess that didn't make me laugh out loud!

Claire Malloy, daughter Caron, and Caron's friend Inez are house sitting for a mild mannered, souffle-making, tango-dancing Book Depot customer. But things at Dolly Goforth's palatial home are not what they seem, i.e. the dead body that keeps popping up in the oddest places. Dolly has warned Claire about the multitude of cleaners/maintenance people coming by, but never mentioned disappearing cadavers, visiting relatives, or her past connections to some unsavory factions of society. The doorbell, true to form, rings and rings. Half the fun of this book is seeing who's on the other side of the door.

With a wacky style that's like nothing else out there, The Goodbye Body held my interest from start to finish. A trip to Farberville is pure escape!

Claire Malloy, owner of The Book Depot, in Farberville Arkansas is having a bad day. There are rats in her kitchen and she is going to have to move out while the problem and other emergency work is taken care of. This could take weeks.

Fortunately, Dolly, one of her customer's at the store is going away for a few weeks and wants Claire to housesit for her.

So she moves into the palatial estate with her daughter Caron and Caron's best friend Inez. What could be more perfect?

Not this. No sooner does she move in than Caron and Inez claim to have found a dead body in the back yard. The body has disappeared by the time the police show up and Claire tries to convince herself that the girls really hadn't seen anything.

Then things start to get strange. Madison and Sara Louise, claiming to be nieces of Dolly show up and claim their car had broken down while coming down to see Dolly and they needed a place to stay.

Other strange people seem to be lurking around the area and when Claire see's a dead body in the yard, which also disappears before the police can show up makes her worried about everyone's safety, which proves true, when the much seen dead body shows up in the freezer in the garage.

Who is the man? What was he doing there. Where is Dolly, who has disappeared and appears not to be who she says she is. What is going on, why are the FBI investigating and are they in danger?

Claire decides to investigate with the help of Lt. Peter Rosen, "her boyfriend" the web of secrets, lies and more murders as she wonders if maybe they shouldn't have stayed at the "Dew Drop Inn."

Highlights:

Claire Malloy, she is a very adult acting character. Serious-minded, but you almost have to be if you're a widow raising a teenager alone and trying to get along on an iffy business like a book store.

Peter Rosen, who is a great boyfriend and friend. He doesn't like her investigating, but helps all he can because he knows he won't be able to stop her.

Caron and her best friend Inez. Typical middle of the group teenagers, they're not in the "A" group of teenagers, although they want to be, but they're not in the "Z" group either. They are actually the funniest characters in these books.

A complex mystery. A lot of twists and turns. A very quick read.

The sci-fi fan pot-head, who spends most of his time trying to shop lift from her store. He's been in since the first of this series and add just a touch of humor whenever he appears.

Lowlights:

For the first time, Claire does some really dumb things. When you're house sitting, you don't let two total strangers move in without asking the home owner. And when they're obnoxious, and insulting to your daughter and her friend, treating them like maids and making it miserable for them to live in the house you throw them out. I didn't understand Claire's insisting that they stay, except as a plot maneuver to move the story along.

Except for Peter & Inez there aren't a lot of reoccurring characters that appear in this book. Claire needs a wider circle of friends.

Minor problems, but still a very good read.

I think this series has one of the longest time between books, the last book "Out On A Limb" came out in 2002 and it was a little difficult to get back into the characters.

Check out Joan Hess's, Maggody series, with Arly Hanks. I don't enjoy it as much as the Claire Malloy series, but it's also a good series.

Joan Hess has done it again. The latest Claire Malloy mystery is a hoot and hard to put down. I have read all of the books in the series and am waiting patiently for the next book. If you're an avid fan like myself, don't miss out on this new installment in the long-running series.

Joan Hess - the author of the Magoody Series as well - lives in Arkansas. She writes about what she knows - and brings Arkansas to life in a way that allows the reader to see both the charm and the frustration of small-town life.

Claire Malloy runs a small bookstore in an old train car, in the small, quiet college town of Farberville, AR. This provides enough to just get by for her and her daughter, Caron - a very dramatic and sarcastic character that speaks loudly to those who live with teenagers!

In this installment in the series, Claire has discovered - to her abject horror - a rat. In her kitchen. That she did NOT invite in. She bullies her landlord into evicting her downstairs neighbors (who sound almost as slobby as me!) and doing a thorough fogging and (while he is at it) remodel on her apartment. When a customer - Dolly - learns about this, she offers Claire and Caron her house - to house-sit while she goes out of town to visit family. She even throws in her fancy Mercedes for Caron to drive around in. Claire thinks they've got it made - swimming pool, luxurious living situation - until the girls see a body.

Unfortunately, when Claire goes to look, it is gone. This happens several times until eventually the body is finally found ... in the freezer. Also, people keep showing up looking for Dolly.

Full of fun characters, plenty of laughs AND a good mystery, this is a book not to be missed by fans of the series, of Joan Hess, or just people who enjoy a lighter fare in their mysteries. Definitely give this series a try!

I haven't read a Claire Malloy Mystery for a couple of years. Joan Hess is one of my favorite off-the-wall writers (though I find her handling of her iritating daughter a bit lacking), so I was looking forward to reading this latest entry that I picked off the library shelves. Is it just me or has Claire become even stupider over the years -- and have the plot twists become just a little too convenient? Why would an intelligent woman open the door to anyone who says they are with the florist, with the pool maintenance, with the cleaning company, without asking for ID or checking up on these people, particularly when it is a borrowed house? Why would anyone accept flowers that had no card when you are in the middle of a murder investigation? Why would you let two unknown young women stay with you without permission from the owner? And why would you let anyone who has introduced themself to you once, traipse through a house you are borrowing without a thought? It was just too much for me to believe (and I can take Star Trek, Star Wars, Mrs Polifax [my favorite of all], and anything Mercedes Lackey writes without a qualm). And then to have the whole thing turn out to be Mafia and explained by the fake florist in the last chapter! It was just too much. But I guess the most disbelieving factor was the police stationed around the house for 24/7. And if they were supposed to be guarding the people inside, why did they let them wander around the town without an escort?
Joan Hess usually gives us a better written, more effective plot, than this fairy tale. But I guess everyone is entitled to an off-book. Hopefully, her next will be more finely crafted.

NOTE: Do not listen to any negative review posted here. I've enjoyed most of the Claire Malloy mysteries thus far, and THE GOODBYE BODY doesn't dissapoint. The story is chock-full of surprises, twists and turns, and plenty of laugh out loud moments.

I like cuddling up with a new Claire Malloy mystery whenever possible, and this is one of Hess's best mysteries, and one of Malloy's most bizarre adventures.

If you've enjoyed other Claire Malloy mysteries, don't pass up this interesting romp. I'm looking forward to Hess's next book in the series.

Sara

I read this book for a project. It was the best mystery I have ever read. You should really buy it. You will agree with me.

I've read a few books by Joan Hess and generally like them. I've always gotten a kick out of how she shows Claire Malloy's teenage daughter's pronouncements in capitals. "That's Not Funny, Mother" is an example. Anyone with a teenager can relate. The characters are well drawn, there's humor thrown in to leaven the story.

With "The Goodbye Body", though, I was quite irritated with how Claire Malloy acts with great stupidity, even for a protagonist known for getting herself into trouble.

MAJOR SPOILER ALERT: Claire is housesitting for Dolly, a woman new in town for six months and whom she doesn't know that well and for whom she has no working contact information. A dead body has been found in the house's freezer, a young woman was attacked in the driveway, Claire's bookstore has been ransacked and she was given a concussion when someone hit her over the head. All this, and when she finds the unlockable gate to the house's back yard ajar, she hmmms and goes to pour herself a drink. All this, and she lets in two pool men and a flower delivery man and gives them drinks in the kitchen, etc, without asking for credentials or making any calls to find out if they are "real". I don't know about you, but I'd be barricading the gate or put a lock on it and I would do my best to verify who I'm inviting in the house.

The police tell her that they can find no record of Dolly existing before her six month arrival in town, they can find no record of anyone with the name of Dolly's (now dead) husband, and, oh, the dead man found with a bullet through his forehead in the house freezer was a mobster with a long rap sheet and the one call she got from Dolly was from the stiff's cell phone. All this and when Claire finds a hidden VHS of the woman she knew as Dolly dancing in a competition, she's rehides the video and doesn't bother showing it to the police.

These are examples of how the book's plot seems too contrived to me, lacking in verisimillitude. It's still an easy read, but I found myself too annoyed by the plot to really like the book.