Joan Hess

A hilarious police procedural set in the strangest town in the Ozarks, where whip-smart sheriff Arly Hanks does everything she can to keep the peace.
Nothing ever happens in Maggody, Arkansas, population 755. Aside from handling the occasional barroom brawl or exploding still, Chief of Police Arly Hanks spends her days sipping coffee and squashing flies. She returned to Maggody two years ago, licking her wounds after a bad Manhattan divorce,...

Small-town police chief Arly Hanks takes on the New York Police Department to save her mother from a murder rap in this madcap police procedural.
When her marriage went up in smoke, Arly Hanks left Manhattan and never looked back. As police chief of Maggody, Arkansas, population 755, Arly is a glorified traffic cop, and she couldn’t be happier. But when Arly’s mother, the indomitable Ruby Bee Hanks, is invited to a baking...

Another “great” cozy mystery set in outrageous Maggody, Arkansas, a town so strange that even Hollywood filmmakers can’t believe it’s real (Library Journal).
From the Kwik-Stoppe-Shoppe to the Pot O’ Gold Mobile Home Park, there isn’t much glamour in Maggody . . . but this flyspeck Arkansas town is about to become famous. When a Hollywood production company chooses Maggody as a backdrop...

Finding what she hopes will be an ideal house to share with her new husband and teenage daughter, Claire Malloy learns that the property's previous owner died under suspicious circumstances and that a real estate agent has gone missing.

Maggody's high school has a new computer lab. Folks are calling the internet the Devil's workshop, but the adult computer class is filling up. When some unusual images flsh across monitors and a pretty student is found dead in an abandoned shack, the town demands that Arly find the answers.

"Claire Malloy, for as long as she can remember, has been the local bookseller and owner of the Book Depot and the widowed mother of teenage Caron, who frequently speaks in ALL CAPS. But her life has changed dramatically in recent years. Claire has married her longtime beau, Deputy Police Chief Peter Rosen. Still the owner of the Book Depot, Claire has passed the day-to-day running of it on to her very efficient employees. With Caron inching ever...

When charismatic evangelist Malachi Hope arrives in Maggody to set up a religious theme park called City of Hope, Arly Hanks, the local lady sheriff smells trouble once more. Two dead women later, she knows she is right.

"Chief of Police Arly (Ariel) Hanks is still hiding out in her hometown of Maggody, Arkansas (pop. 755), the land of moonshine and Ruby Bee's Bar & Grill, country roads and Nashville on the radio, cheatin' hearts and, well, maybe murder." "It all starts when Matt Montana, country music's number one superstar of the year, decides it's a great PR move to come home to Maggody for the holidays. For a town in the grip of a recession, the news means Christmas...

Claire Mallory investigates the death of her hostess at Mallory Manor in the Louisiana bayou.

As police chief of Maggody, a sleepy Arkansas town, Arly Hanks lives a pretty quiet life. Her tranquility is shattered, however, when a movie crew moves in to film a Civil War documentary. Soon, Arly is dealing with rumors of lost Confederate gold, rabid Civil War reenactors, and some very suspicious deaths.