[e-mail]: An Arly Hanks Mystery (Arly Hanks Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Joan Hess (Author) "We were not rockin' and rollin' in Maggody, or even reelin' just a bit..." (more)
Key Phrases: portable classroom, Ruby Bee, Jim Bob, Brother Verber (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Arly Hanks, Maggody's mother-ridden police chief, is a technophobe who cringes at the sight of a mouse, especially when it's connected to a computer. But when Maggody goes online, the Net brings murder, pornography, and maybe Satan to town. Or so the God-fearing folks who live, pray, and mind everyone else's business in Maggody believe.

Gwynnie Packwood, a 17-year-old unwed mother, sees the new computer lab at the elementary school as her ticket out of town, and so does Justin Bailey, the instructor who assures the townspeople he can bring the wired world to Maggody without letting the devil in. Justin and Chapel, his dissatisfied wife, aren't the only newcomers in Maggody; there are also Lazarus and Seth, whose connection with Gwynnie just might have led to her murder. But even without the strangers, Maggody has more than its share of home-grown oddballs, especially the Buchanons, who count among their numbers the mayor of Maggody, his long-suffering wife, pigs of the two- and four-footed variety, and assorted moonshiners and feral boys. The Buchanons drive Arly nearly as crazy as Ruby Bee, proprietor of the Flamingo Motel and the Ruby Bee Bar and Grill (and Arly's mother). And while she may have infinite resources, home-spun wisdom, and irrepressible curiosity and she may see whatever Arly misses and rarely misses a chance to point it out to her aggravated daughter, she's also too much of a lady to tell the police chief when pornographic pictures of Maggody's leading citizens flit across her computer monitor. By the time Arly finds out, they're under suspicion for Gwynnie's murder too, and Satan's stalking the trailer park. Hess's cozies are full of local color and colorful locals; the mystery is merely the container for this Southern-fried ramble through lovingly described and defiantly redneck country. --Jane Adams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
The latest Arly Hanks mystery (after Misery Loves Maggody) proves once again the author's mastery of light-hearted country humor. The tiny Arkansas town of Maggody is in an uproar because one of the local high school teachers has obtained a grant to set up a computer lab for students and citizens. The move toward new technology provokes a fiery debate in the town hall, where the mayor's wife argues that the Internet's easy access to smut makes it the work of the devil. But when the computers and a systems operator arrive, everyone flocks to see the town's Web site, including a 17-year-old named Gwynnie. She and her infant son have just moved to Maggody so she can live with her aunt while studying for her GED, and more than one young man is smitten with her good looks and helpless predicament. But when Gwynnie is murdered and the town's e-mails are tainted with pornographic pictures that flash on the screen for a moment, then disappear, some residents think the devil has indeed arrived and taken up a religious crusade against the new computer lab. It's up to level-headed police chief Arly Hanks to find the earthly causes to both crimes. In order to do so, she must dig into Gwynnie's mysterious past, question a gaggle of trailer park locals and investigate the system operator's shaky marriage--all while trying to quell the detective tendencies of her mother, Ruby Bee, and her friend Estelle. Maggody's eccentric inhabitants and Hess's comic touch infuse this cozy with a refreshing dose of spunk, resulting in another triumph for both small-town America and Hess. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (January 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671016857
• ISBN-13: 978-0671016852
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #809,294 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 12 in The Arly Hanks Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "So many morons, so little time.", February 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Murder @ Maggody.com : An Arly Hanks Mystery (Madcap Maggody Series) (Hardcover)

The newest Maggody book is out and it is a hoot! If you loved the previous books, waited with baited breath for the next installment of life in Maggody, this book does NOT disappoint! The infusion of 21st Century technology in the form of a computer lab in a "temporary classroom" (read trailer) outside the high school makes for a great starting point for mystery, murder, and more craziness from your favorite characters. Updating on the twins, the cafe, the mooshiners, and the rest of the inhabitants of Maggody make the murder and the solving of it much more fun since it "feels like home!" The humor is great -- from Ruby and Estella under the trailers at the trailer park to the sudden disappearance of a load of moonshine! Buckle up! It is a great read!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars MAGGODY GOES ONLINE WITH MURDER!, April 3, 2002

By	Robert Edler "Master Of Mystery" (Saint Louis, Missouri USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is my first visit to the fictional community of Maggody, Arkansas. ....

Things move slow in Maggody, AK (population 755) and when the 21st Century gets ready to move in via a computer lab for the local high school the entire multitude of assorted and sundry Buchanons, as well as all the other good citizens, are in a royal dither. (Which I think is another way of saying an Ozarkian farce.) It seems as if everyone is worried about all the additional evils the internet will unleash - SEX, SIN, SPAM and SATAN hisself! But since the since the computers are already sitting in a storage shed behind the school, and the school is planning special cyber classes for all the adults in town it looks like Maggody will indeed be going online.

But like I said, things move slow in Maggody. (It does takes a while to catch up with all the coming and goings of the myriad Buchanons - how does Hess keep them all straight? By the way, Myriad Buchanon would probably be a good addition to the cast of characters in a future book.) So you're half way through the book before the first body shows up! (Population now 754) About the same time all hell breaks loose - people start receiving evil apparitions with their email, Ruby Bee and Estelle end up in the mud under a Pot O' Gold trailer and maybe Satan is indeed possessing the populace. To top it all off, chief of police Arly Hanks is having as hard a time getting a decent meal as she is find out what's going on.

In Maggody, I've discovered that the fun isn't in finding out "who done it" as much as it is finding out who's doing what and why among the wild and wacky cast of characters. So I'll admit it, while I hated vacationing there years ago, I'm hooked on the books! I just bought two more Maggodies and this one gets my ...!

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars What happened?, June 24, 2001

By	"bturpin" (Springfield, MO USA) - See all my reviews

Hess' Maggody books have been, until this one, clever and funny. However, this one seems strained; the plot is not well-structured, and the action rambles. If it weren't for the antics of Brother Verber, I would have rated this as 2 stars.