Azalea Twilight wrote some pretty torrid romances -- but that hardly seemed a reason to murder her. But Claire Molloy finds that Twilight's romances contained as much fact as fiction, and perhaps hold the clue to her killer's identity!
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Book Description
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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"Joan... is the patron saint of comic mystery." --Sharyn McCrumb
--This text refers to an alternate
Mass Market Paperback
edition.
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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!,
By
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,
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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,
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.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
There is no place for a body in the little office at the back of my bookstore-not even mine. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Lieutenant Rosen, Book Depot, Professor of Passion, Azalea Twilight, Douglas Twiller, Miss Belinski, Mildred Twiller, Miss Brandon, Farber Hall, Britton Blake, Douglas Willer, Nancy Drew, Maggie Holland, Martin Carlow, Claire Malloy, Inez Brandon, Miss Holland, Sheila Belinski, Douglas Tiwiller, Joan Hess, Rhonda Maguire, Blane Brittom, Farber College, Farber English, Scotland Yard New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
There is no place for a body in the little office at the back of my bookstore-not even mine. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Lieutenant Rosen, Book Depot, Professor of Passion, Azalea Twilight, Douglas Twiller, Miss Belinski, Mildred Twiller, Miss Brandon, Farber Hall, Britton Blake, Douglas Willer, Nancy Drew, Maggie Holland, Martin Carlow, Claire Malloy, Inez Brandon, Miss Holland, Sheila Belinski, Douglas Tiwiller, Joan Hess, Rhonda Maguire, Blane Brittom, Farber College, Farber English, Scotland Yard New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
14
books
cite this book:
See all 14 books citing this book
- Death by the Light of the Moon (Claire Malloy Mysteries, No. 7) by Joan Hess in Front Matter (1), Front Matter (2), and Back Matter
- A Really Cute Corpse (Claire Malloy Mysteries, No. 4) by Joan Hess in Front Matter (1), Front Matter (2), and Back Matter
- Roll Over and Play Dead (Claire Malloy Mysteries, No. 6) by Joan Hess in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- A Conventional Corpse (Claire Malloy Mysteries, No. 13) by Joan Hess in Front Matter (1), and Front Matter (2)
- Out on a Limb (Claire Malloy Mysteries, No. 14) by Joan Hess in Front Matter (1), and Front Matter (2)
See all 14 books citing this book
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