Hess, Joan

 Joan Hess lived in Fayetteville, Arkansas and celebrated the region with two mystery series, the Maggody series set in the fictional town of Maggody, Arkansas, and the Claire Molloy series set in Farberville, Arkansas.  

Arly Hanks has returned to her hometown of Maggody, Arkansas, after living in New York City and enduring a painful divorce, to serve as the town's police chief where most of her duties consist of policing the criminal activities of the inbred but not overly bright Buchanon clan.  In Misery Loves Maggody, the only Maggody book I have, Arly's mother Ruby Bee and her best friend Estelle take off on a tour bus following the Elvis trail into Tennessee and Mississippi.  These books were fun to read once, but the "hicks in the sticks" routine gets a bit old after a while; I read most of them years ago, but I'm glad I don't have any more of them.  Grade:  C.  

I also have one book, The Goodbye Body, from another Hess series; Claire Molloy is the owner of a bookshop in Farberville, Arkansas, who has been accidentally involved in several murder cases.  Claire and her daughter are forced to evacuate their home for a couple of weeks while the landlord has it fumigated to get rid of the rats other tenants have attracted, and a friend offers them the use of her house while she's on vacation.  No sooner have they moved into the house when Claire's daughter and her friend find a dead body behind the pool house, although it has disappeared by the time the police arrive.  Soon two young women show up looking for the woman, with whom they claim some sort of vague family relationship.  The plot gets more complicated from there, but unfortunately not any more interesting.  I'm giving this on a C, too, and probably won't keep either one of these books.  Grade:  C.