Customer Reviews

Malice in Maggody

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Meet Chief of Police, Arly Hanks. She's back home in Maggody, Arkansas, population 755, recovering from a nasty divorce. She wanted some quiet time to decompress and gather her wits about her, and that's just what she got. Life in Maggody is slow, really slow. There's no crime to speak of, and about the only action she ever sees is a car wreck out on the highway, once every month or so. Her biggest chief of police decisions usually involve where to set up the speed trap, in the school zone, or at the signal light. So it comes as a big surprise when two real crime cases fall her way on the same day. First a former Maggody resident, now housed at the state correctional institution escapes and looks to be heading home. Then an EPA contract specialist sent to sign the paperwork for an unwanted sewage treatment plant that the residents of Maggody are sure is going to pollute their swimming and fishing holes, goes missing. Add to that the murder of a local, and it looks like Arly is going to have to buckle down and get busy, fast. With the whole town tight lipped and stonewalling her investigation, it's going to take all her cunning and training to sort out all this mayhem and madness, and get to the truth..... Sit down and get comfortable, Joan Hess is about to take you on a roller coaster of a ride through the Ozarks. This is a light, comical mystery, easily read in one sitting, that will have you smiling, chortling, and laughing out loud. Her entertaining story line is well paced and clever, and her writing is crisp, witty and full of irreverent dialogue and back-woods southern humor. But it's Ms Hess' well drawn, engaging and original characters that really make this novel stand out, and once you've gotten to know Maggody's finest and not so finest, you'll be hooked for sure. Malice In Maggody is the first of a marvelous and delightful series. Do yourself a big favor, start here at the beginning, and read them all.

This is just the type of mystery I love. Small town filled with eccentric characters, lots of humor, not to mention plenty of sex! I had seen this series for years, but always assumed it was a very cozy, sweet little series. Wrong! Laugh out loud funny in the style of Kathleen Taylor's Dakota series. Highly recommended.

If you start to get a little tired of the fast-paced suspense thrillers, the gritty mysteries and the noir police procedurals; if you miss a good, old-fashioned mystery, with charming people in a charming place; check out the Magoody series. While my previous sentence might make you think this series is too "precious," I can assure you that it is not at all. These are well-written mysteries - even murders - but done with a back-home country twang that you can't help but love.

Arly Hanks - after going through a bitter divorce and leaving her job as a police detective in New York City - moves back home to Magoody, Arkansas, and takes over as chief of police. It is a quiet job in a very small town (which population I can't find again now that I want it, but it was smaller, I remember, than my own home town, which boasted about 700 people in town and another 300 throughout the country thereabouts ...) where nothing ever happens.

Until now. There is need for new waste-relocation sources for a neighboring town, and when the EPA OKs the dumping of sewage into Magoody's favorite fishing hole, people are up in arms. The EPA bureaucrat who is supposed to show up and get all the paperwork signed ... doesn't show up. And then a barmaid - young, pretty and about to "escape" to cosmetology school - turns up dead.

This is a really fun series - I've read three or four of them - and although they are somewhat hard to find, they are definitely worth the effort to get and read. Don't miss out!

This is the first book in the truly hillarious Arly Hanks series. This may be the first book that has ever made me actually laugh out loud while reading it. The cast of characters are priceless, and you can look forward to meeting all of them again in each book of this fantastic series. Highly recommended for cozy mystery lovers!

Generally I read pretty heavy murder mysteries (James Patterson, John Sandford, etc.). But now and then I like to take a
break from novels that are of course fiction, but are close enough to reality to make you uneasy. The Maggody books are
murder mysteries but they are also little gems of cartoon like comedy set in a one stop light town on a not so busy highway. If you're looking for an easy read and a pleasant diversion you should spend a little time in Maggody.

_Malice in Maggody_ is light, comical, yet keeps you on the edge of your seat. Arly Hanks is definetly NOT the "Nancy Drew" type, which is one reason I liked the book so much. Her relationship and interaction with the other characters in the book, especially with her mother, is very believable. Though it is not difficult to read, the "mystery" is captivating. You can't wait to read just how she will figure everything out. This is definetly a "Must-Read!"

This is ground zero, the first in the Maggody series and now rather difficult to obtain (the first hardcover edition sells at a premium as a collector's item). Actually you don't get a lot of extra detail about Arly Hanks that you wouldn't have figured out from the later books. This is not a roman fleuve (pardon my French) like, for instance, Sue Grafton's alphabet series that we read almost as much to follow what will happen next in Kinsey Milhone's life as for the plot of the individual book.
The series is set in a a small town in the Ozarks, populated by simple country rubes, where Arly Hanks, a displaced and divorced New Yorker is chief of police. The stories are told partly in the first person by Arly but switch to other characters' points of view. There are the usual faults that we criticize Joan Hess for. Delia is funny because she is fat and eats a lot. Brother Verber is funny because he is a blatant hypocrite. I suspect that Hess is faux naif (French again) and the cartoonish drawing of supporting characters is a deliberate ploy to fix the town of Maggody in our minds. She never makes any bones about saying what a depressing place Maggody is, and often describes stark tragedy, yet the effect is somehow cheerful and reading a Magoddy book is a delightful relaxation.

Joan Hess is a delightful, fun read. Her Maggody books are very light hearted murder mysteries (if there can be such a thing). They are cozy mysteries, she is kind of a smart alec southern writer. I often break into snickers because as another southerner I relate to her characters. The character types are in all small southern towns. Bravo!!!

I'd have to say this is probably my favorite so far of the Maggody books. It's funny and a page turner! Definitely an enjoyable read.

I used to live in a small town like Maggody, but it was in Idaho. I worked for a lady who was much like Ruby Bee in the later books. I think this was one of the 1st in the series. Ruby Bee is better in the later books, as she gets crustier. But I love the whole series & am eagerly awaiting the next one.