A Really Cute Corpse (Claire Malloy Mysteries, No. 4) [Mass Market Paperback]

Joan Hess (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 17, 2002

When Claire Malloy's best friend Luanne Bradshaw goes down with a badly sprained ankle, someone must fill in her shoes as Thurberfest beauty Pageant coordinator and usher a bevy of aspiring beauty queen through the two-day event. Enter Claire Malloy to the rescue. But this is one job Claire would gladly be fired from. Now, already fending off a hostile theater owner, and overly-agressive personal trainer, an incontinent show-dog, a fifteen-year-old daughter with more growing pains than she can count, and a talent contest in need of some talent, Claire must face one more problem--someone is trying to kill the reigning Miss Thurberfest.

When a ghastly murder scene signals the culprit's success, Claire's investigative instincts take over, but when she digs too close to the truth, the race is on to discover the killer's identity before Claire herself is crowned the next victim...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Claire Malloy makes her fourth, and this time unremarkable, appearance as amateur sleuth when a beauty pageant attracts a would-be murderer. Rehearsing contestants are shocked when a sandbag suddenly drops from a catwalk, barely missing the reigning queen's head. After a fall disables the pageant director, Malloy reluctantly takes over, finding it hard to fathom that anyone would want to kill Farberville's own Miss Thurberfest. Evidence mounts, however, as a shot is fired at the queen's car and her dressing-room space-heater is tampered with. Giddy contestants, a suspicious theater manager, an intrepid agent and a handsome master-of-ceremonies who is also a senator are several of the unsurprising suspects. A few good lines surface from the endless exclamations and adjectives, but for the most part this fiction cliche is for only the inveterate Hess ( Dear Miss Demeanor ) fan.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"This book is wonderful."--Mystery News

"Hess's books are funny, acerbic, touching, terrific."--Elizabeth Peters

"Witty, ironic, and biting...Joan Hess has an unerring comedic instinct."--Bookpage

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books (June 17, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312982917
• ISBN-13: 978-0312982911
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #258,031 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A really riotous book!, July 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Really Cute Corpse (Claire Malloy Mysteries, No. 4) (Mass Market Paperback)

Fans of Joan Hess won't be disappointed with this one.The fun starts when Claire Malloy gets conned into directing the Miss Thurberfest pageant and the reigning beauty queen, Cyndi, turns up dead? Whodunnit?? There are plenty of suspects...the slick and slimy senator Stevenson...Arnie, the drunken chauffeur..or possibly Eunice,Cyndi's "trainer" (She was once Miss Cherry Tomato)Claire solves the mystery with just a little help (or is it hindrance?) from boyfriend Peter Rosen and

daughter Caron...an enjoyable book!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Joan Hess captured a new and devoted reader., March 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Really Cute Corpse (Claire Malloy Mysteries, No. 4) (Mass Market Paperback)

Joan Hess captured a new and devoted reader with her mystery, A Really Cute Corpse. Using Claire Malloy, an appealing female investigator who is both wise and witty, Hess side-steps blood and violence and focuses on character developement and humor--attractive components to female readers of any age.

A consumate Dorothy Gilman fan (author of the Mrs. Pollifax series and other delightful books) I now search the H authors on each trip to the library--hoping to find a new Joan Hess book on the shelf.

Hess has not created a leading character as lady-like as Mrs. Marple, nor as totally charming as Emily Pollifax, but certainly her women are emotionally strong, mentally awesome, and career-wise down-to-earth, as women of the 90's must be.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I love Joan Hess, March 11, 2004

By 

christy mccary (new iberia, LA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Really Cute Corpse (Claire Malloy Mysteries, No. 4) (Mass Market Paperback)

This was the first Joan Hess book that I read. I picked it up by chance at the library. I am now totally hooked on her books. I love the Maggody series as well as this one. This book is entertaining and funny. It introduces some charecters that are important to the series down the road. It also was extremely funny. This particular book in the series allows you to really begin to identify with her charecter. Though not her best book,( I liked A Conventional Corpse best) still a strong book by a great author.