Joan Hess

Bookseller-turned-sleuth Claire Malloy returns in the story of Zeno Gorgias, an outrageous artist who lives next door to Claire's friend, Miss Parchester, and creates turmoil in the neighborhood with his artwork and as a murder suspect.

Claire Malloy's life is turned upside down when the mystery convention she is organizing goes haywire.

The winter solstice festival of the Druids in Arkansas is marred by the murder of a doctor, the cult's principal benefactor. As bookstore owner and sleuth Claire Malloy investigates, suspicion centers on members of the cult who were his tenants.

At Farberville High, it's reading, writing ... and murder. Who knows what evil lurks in the halls of Farbervilles' high school-or what blackmail is hidden in Miss Demeanor's Falcon Crier advice column? Certainly not bookstore owner and amateur sleuth Claire Malloy-until her daughter Caron persuades her to substitute for disgraced column editor and journalism teacher Emily Parchester. Surely Miss Parchester cannot be guilty of embezzlement. But the...

When scientist Veronica Landonwood's shot at winning the Nobel Prize is threatened by a blackmailer who knows all about her sordid past, she calls upon her cousin, amateur sleuth Claire Malloy, for help. Unfortunately, Claire's inquiries seem to be leaving a path of dead bodies and she has reason to believe the next one may be her own.

Three cozy mysteries set in a small, eccentric Arkansas town where a divorcée is getting a fresh start as police chief. With her career and marriage gone bust, Arly Hanks leaves Manhattan behind for her small hometown of Maggody, Arkansas. She thought not much would happen after she became the town's first female police chief, but Maggody is full of surprises… Madness in Maggody: The mayor's supermarket opening gala is ruined when tainted tamales...

Delightfully deadly short fiction from the pen of Joan Hess, creator of Maggody, Arkansas. Althea is caught in a romance writer's worst nightmare: She's been trapped in one of her own melodramatic creations. Around her, strapping men chase after elegant women whose bosoms heave and whose bodices beg to be ripped. There's no television, no women's lib, and absolutely no escape. Worst of all, Althea fits right in. Everyone recognizes her as the penniless...

Staying at the home of a wealthy customer when her own apartment is rendered unlivable, bookstore owner Claire Malloy becomes increasingly convinced that the house's owner is not who she claims to be.

Claire Malloy and her daughter, Caron, are caught in the middle of an ill-tempered gathering at the Louisiana mansion of Claire's late husband. When the family matriarch is found drowned in the bayou, they must sort through lies and dark family secrets.

Strange things keep happening next door at the Kappa Theta Eta sorority house, but when someone is killed, Claire must reluctantly get involved. Little does she suspect that the secrets of the sorority girls are more blue than pink. Claire's investigation unearths some oddball characters and leads to a sleazy motel.