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Malice in Maggody
Malice in Maggody
Malice in Maggody
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Malice in Maggody

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

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After a crossbow killing at a cheap roadside motel, Ozarks police chief Arly Hanks finds herself investigating her first murder case.

Her marriage over and career gone bust, Arly Hanks flees Manhattan for her hometown: Maggody, Arkansas. In a town this size, nothing much ever happens, so Arly figures she’s safe as the town’s first female chief of police—until the husband of one of the local barmaids escapes from state prison and heads for town. And that’s not all. An EPA official with ties to polluting the local fishing hole has suddenly vanished off the face of the earth.

As if two manhunts aren’t enough to contend with, a body has been discovered at the pay-by-the-hour Flamingo Motel, shot clean through the neck with an arrow. For some reason, Maggody’s residents—all 755 of them—have gone tight-lipped, stonewalling Arly’s investigations, and Arly hasn’t a soul to trust but her half-wit deputy. Now, as Maggody’s finest, she’ll have to show a little muscle and a lot of cunning to curtail the inhospitable mountain malice that’s overtaken her town. And she’ll have to watch her own back every step of the way.

From Agatha Award–winning author Joan Hess, Malice in Maggody is the novel that introduced police chief Arly Hanks—the indomitable sleuth of the popular and long-running Maggody series.

Malice in Maggody is the 1st book in the Arly Hanks Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateFeb 14, 2017
ISBN9781504043465
Author

Joan Hess

Joan Hess was the author of the Claire Malloy Mysteries and the Arly Hanks Mysteries, formally known as the Maggody Mysteries. She was a winner of the American Mystery Award and the Agatha Award (for which she was nominated five times), a member of Sisters in Crime, and a former president of the American Crime Writers League. She died in November 2017, four months after the publication of The Painted Queen.

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Rating: 3.2343749625 out of 5 stars
3/5

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    When an EPA contract specialist happens through Maggody, Arkansas--the tackiest town on earth--the inhabitants devise a hair-brained method of keeping him from his appointed duties. Mayhem and murder ensue and Police Chief Arly Hanks must find a murderer, who may be the person she least expects. Pleasant start to a good series.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This isn't Joan Hess' first book, but it's the first in a series set in a little town called Maggody. The residents are all very unique. The main character is Chief ARly Hanks, the Chief (and one of two employees) of the Maggody Police force. She doesn't get any support from Mayor Jim Bob Buchanon and his zany bunch of crazy town council members.The mystery is who killed a young woman resident of Maggody, Jaylee. A state police Sargent is Arly's 'partner' while trying to find the killer. Add in Arly's mother Ruby Bee Hanks, who seems to have a penchent for getting in trouble.It was a very busy story, lots of subplots that sort of came together to make the main plot. Sometimes it got a bit choppy here and there, but it was done well overall. The scenes also went between third person and the first person from Arly's point of view. It took a bit to get used to that, but after a bit it flowed smoothly and I barely noticed the change between the point of view.What was annoying was just how pretty much all the characters were jerks, dismissive, even mean. I can take having a few of those characters in a story, but not all. The 'everyone's against Arly' also started getting on my nerves by the end of the novel.It was an okay read, an interesting, but slightly weird three stars.

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Malice in Maggody - Joan Hess

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