[.ca] murder@maggody.com: An Arly Hanks Mystery (ISBN 0671016857)

From Amazon.com:
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

Small town "comic" murder:
Having read favorable reviews, I recently picked up Joan Hess' 2000 mystery .... In the recent, fairly substantial genre of "comic" mysteries, Hess places her story in the truly hillbilly Arkansas town of Maggody, and follows her heroine, Police Chief Arly Hanks, as she bumbles insightfully to a "brutal" murder's solution. I don't read many mysteries, but I suppose this book is fairly good as such novels go. Hess has a finely tuned ear for comedy, and presents her characters with both affection and irony. The murder plot itself kept me guessing - although I confess I am not one of these readers who tries to "predict" the outcome as I go - until the final pages. I have no disagreement with the favorable reviews, but am equally grateful I pulled this book off the $ 4 remainder table, rather than paid full price. A worthwhile entertainment.

Part of the Maggody series. But start with the first one.:
MURDER@MAGGODY.COM is my first Arly Hanks book, but it looks like this one's about the 11th in the series that must have begun with MISERY LOVES MAGGODY. This appears to be a really popular series, and comes highly recommended by friends, but do NOT start with this one. Oh, sure, it has great local characters and a lot of humor, but I kept thinking I was missing out on something. The jokes seemed to be "in" jokes. I couldn't get the full understanding, as they say. I'm betting that if I went back and read the first one and then read this over I'd get more out of it. This book has a truly colorful story and takes quite a few twists and turns, but I won't read another one in this series unless it's the first one.

MAGGODY GOES ONLINE WITH MURDER!:
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 ...! ...

Joan Hess, where are you?:
The previous Arly-Hanks-in-Maggody mysteries have all rated four or five stars in my opinion. I have read most of them two or three times. Unfortunately, the 12th book in the series does not compare favorably with the earlier books. Arly is still chief of police in Maggody. Ruby Bee and Estelle are still doing their best to be helpful. Raz is still in love with his pig. The regular Maggody cast of characters is in the book, but Joan Hess' magical spark seems to be missing. (Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers had some efforts that don't rate four stars, so it can happen to anyone.) Read this one if you want to keep up with developments in Maggody, but if you have not read any of the Maggody mysteries, don't start with this one; it is not representative of the author's great talent.

Always good for a visit:
The requisite murder and its investigation are given short shrift in Arly Hanks' latest case. Still, the citizens of Maggody are good for a chuckle as their town is hit with yet another blast of culture shock. This time it's the Internet. Each of the quirky characters approaches the subject in his or her own inimitable style. Imagine Brother Verber's righteous joy at a new means of seeking out sin and depravity! Or Ruby Bee's response when told she's "performed an illegal operation." Such are the pleasures of this book.