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Malice in Maggody Hardcover – January 1, 1987

by Joan Hess (Author)
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 626 ratings
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Recuperating from a disastrous marriage in New York City, Arly Hanks, returning to her home town of Maggody, Arkansas, to become its first woman sheriff, is shocked when murder and mayhem turn the town upside down
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  1. Book 1 of 16
    The Arly Hanks Mysteries
  2. Print length
    178 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    St Martins Pr
  5. Publication date
    January 1, 1987
  6. ISBN-10
    0312000510
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0312000516
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ St Martins Pr; 1st edition (January 1, 1987)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 178 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0312000510
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0312000516
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 626 ratings

About the author

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Joan Hess

Joan Hess

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Oh dear, this seems so personal. I was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas, luckily a blue dot in a red state. Did the normal kid stuff, avoided the long arm of the law. I earned a BA in art from the U of A, and a MS in early childhood development from Long Island University. I was teaching art in a preschool (pretty clever combination of the degrees, right?) when a friend suggested I write a romance novel. I wrote ten unpublishable ones before I realized I needed a splash of blood and a slather of humor in my prose and turned to mysteries. The Claire Malloy series came first, followed by the Maggody series. A third series, the Theo Bloomer mysteries, sputtered out after two novels, alas (it was going to be my "travel" series, requiring me to take tax-deductible business trips to do the research).

Now I live in Austin, Texas (also a blue dot, but a bigger one), a ten-minute drive from my absolutely adorable twin grandchildren Jack and Annabelle, soon to be three years old. Please don't ask me if they're identical. Their gracious mother frequently allows me to drop whatever I'm doing and dash over to babysit. And I do.

I'm currently working on my forty-fifth (or so) mystery, a Claire Malloy based on my brief experience in the jury pool. When I'm not babysitting, that is.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
626 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

N. Thompson
5.0 out of 5 stars but I have to admit that I found this story just plain fun to read
Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2014
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This is not my typical style of mystery. I prefer Nordic fiction with healthy doses of angst, but I have to admit that I found this story just plain fun to read. Maybe I needed a change of pace, but I thought the story was fun and loved the characters (even though the evil-dooer just didn't seem all that evil). And the ending was a nice surprise. A fun read all around.
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WelshDragon
4.0 out of 5 stars Lookout for the Polecats!
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2020
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This is yet another"new to me" author and I enjoyed the story. The characters were quirky, yet believable, the plot as twisty as a sidewinder, and the humor was dry and full of Southern charm. All in all, it is a story worth reading.
2 people found this helpful
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Serena
3.0 out of 5 stars Seems Like a Cast of Thousands
Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2017
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Well, maybe at least 15 characters who speak and have a definite personality. It says a lot about the talent of the author when there are so many characters and their personalities are so defined that I know who is speaking. I didn't have to skim backwards to figure out who Estelle or Jim Bob were.

This is the first book in the Maggody series and the first I have read. As you probably know by now it takes place in a small Arkansas town with a population of less than 1,000. The surprising thing to me is that a town that small even has a sheriff AND a deputy. The town has much more murder and mayhem than Mayberry, but then, it doesn't have Andy Griffith and Barney Fife.

This book has a lot of mildly amusing moments and there were times I came close to a quiet chuckle. Yes, there are four letter words which have become so common in books that I didn't notice. Kind of sad, really. However, considering the number of raunchy, classless characters in this book the bad language does fit.

I was surprised at who was murdered and who did the murdering. I don't want to spoil it by saying more.

This is a mildly entertaining book. I do get a little tired of women police in books who are too tough. However, Arly does have some human moments. And, of course, there are the kernels of a romance planted. I guess that's obligatory in every book. I gave the book three stars because
it wasn't the page turner it needs to be to get a higher score. However, Malice in Maggody was interesting enough that I will read the next book in the series. And, I have to find out how the Marshland Duck is progressing.
23 people found this helpful
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Linda S
5.0 out of 5 stars I cannot put these books down!
Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2017
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I love Joan Hess books, especially the Maggody series. As odd as the characters are, they are believable--there is just enough snarkiness and pragmatism in these well-written books to hold my interest from halfway through the first page! I heartily recommend them to anyone who wants a chuckle and a very good story!
8 people found this helpful
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D. P. Birkett
4.0 out of 5 stars The first Arly Hanks
Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2002
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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.
10 people found this helpful
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Elizabeth J
5.0 out of 5 stars Always a fun romp
Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2011
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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!!!
2 people found this helpful
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D. Warfield
2.0 out of 5 stars Don't believe every review....
Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2022
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I love Barbara MIchaels/Elizabeth Peters.
I heard that Joan Hess was one of her favourite writers, which is why Barbara chose her to complete "The Painted Queen" before she passed away.
(As you can see) It took me QUITE a while to cave in and buy one of her books - I wished I'd waited longer. A lot longer.
As other reviewers have stated, it's basically just an amalgam of foul language, juvenile humourous asides, unlikeable hicks and a barely-there plot.
One of my main pet peeves is she'd throw in a tongue-in-cheek fly-away and then, in parentheses, give hints in the vein of, "You get it?", to make sure I didn't miss it.
A - I am not stupid; B - I got it, I just didn't think it worth a chuckle.
Amazed that Barbara Michaels, a woman who wrote so well and was famous for her understated humour, would go on record stating this was one of her faves...
I guess you can't account for someone else's taste...
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N. Cantwell
5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious
Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2021
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The Maggody books are true gems. Joan Hess is at her best in this series and is sorely missed. She was a real storyteller.
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Top reviews from other countries

caroline
5.0 out of 5 stars timing
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 11, 2020
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excellent service
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Alfhard Brandl
5.0 out of 5 stars While it is a detective story, with a real ...
Reviewed in Canada on May 2, 2018
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While it is a detective story, with a real crime that's being solved, the main attraction of this book is its humour. The characterization of the inhabitants of Maggody is priceless. Hard to put down. Made me buy all the other books of the Arly Hanks Mysteries series by Joan Hess.
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Paul Haslem
5.0 out of 5 stars Fun little cosy mystery
Reviewed in Canada on July 11, 2017
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A quick and entertaining read. I would highly recommend it. Reminds me a little of Andy of Mayberry. The same sort of down home humour.
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