Strangled Prose (Claire Malloy Mysteries, No. 1) [Hardcover]

Joan Hess (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1986

She would have killed for a bestseller--but someone beat her tow it...

Professor of Passion, the smutty new romance from Mildred Twiller--a.k.a. Azalea Twilight--isn't the kind of book Claire Mallow likes to hock at her bookstore, but Claire agrees to host a book party for her friend's trashy tale. As torrid as the novel is, it's nothing compared to the evening. After the party, poor Mildred is found dead in her home--stranged with a tightly knotted silk scarf. Now it's up to Clair to find Mildred's killer, and it won't be easy--the two-bit author had offended nearly every faculty member she worked with at nearby Faber College. But who could have hated Mildred with such smoldering passion?

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Hess enlivens her mystery with humor and the bumptious doings of narrator Claire Malloy's daughter Caron. A widow, Claire supports herself and 14-year-old Caron by running a college-town bookstore, where Mildred Twiller insists the reception for her new lurid romance be held. Mildred's husband, Prof. Douglas Twiller, revels in the fortune his wife earns under the pen name Azalea Twilight. But when guests at the party hear themselves libeled in excerpts from the novel, Douglas is aghast and Mildred/Azalea goes home in tears. Later she's found strangled, and Douglas endures grilling by detective Pete Rosen, until the professor is strangled too. Rosen then turns the inquisition onto Claire (whose late husband is accused in the novel of philandery) and onto some of the other people in academe. Caron and a friend, wimpy Inez, cause distractions that inhibit the investigation, which ends at last after several developments that strain credibilityparticularly when Inez vanishes for a long time with no indication that anyone is particularly alarmed. Despite its weaker aspects, the novel is satisfying light entertainment. February 3
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Joan... is the patron saint of comic mystery." --Sharyn McCrumb

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 183 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (March 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312764286
• ISBN-13: 978-0312764289
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #778,376 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank God there are lots more Claire Malloys to read!, December 1, 1999

By 

A. L. Rubinkowski "alr3" (Chicagoland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Strangled Prose (Claire Malloy Mysteries, No. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

What a pleasant surprise! I'd read a "Maggody" mystery some time ago, not realizing there was another Joan Hess series to savor. Claire Malloy is bright, sarcastic, ironic, and funny as all get-out. The plot has enough twists and turns to keep you going... I stayed up way too late two nights in a row to finish it. Peter Rosen has definite possibilities, although his character wasn't developed quite as much as Claire's; since this was Claire's opening gambit, however, that's understandable. Loved this book, and right now I'm trying to figure out the order in which the rest were written so I can follow through properly (I always read a series in order to follow character development). Definitely have your library rustle up a copy of this one, and, I suspect, the rest of the series, as well!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Has been reprinted, June 24, 2001

By 

D. P. Birkett (Suffern, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Strangled Prose (Claire Malloy Mysteries, No. 1) (Hardcover)

... It is old-fashioned in a way. The police procedures are unrealistic and being gay can lead to being fired from an academic post. Much of the humor is heavy-handed and corny (addressing the cop as "Sherlock" for instance) but somehow I found it worked for me. It's unpretentious fun in the tradition of those old English cosies that were relaxing and easy to read if you willingly suspended disbelief.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Score one more for Joan Hess, October 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Strangled Prose (Claire Malloy Mysteries, No. 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

Typical of Joan Hess, it's engaging, interesting and hard to put down. The characters are lifelike, and the town is one you feel like you know.