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Item Barcode | Collection | Call Number | Status | Item Holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33607002288770 | Adult Fiction | HESS | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
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Summary
Summary
At first it seems like a prank. How could Veronica Landonwood be the voice on the other end of the phone when she died three decades ago? But as Arkansas bookseller and amateur sleuth Claire Malloy is about to find out, her cousin "Ronnie" is very much alive--and in trouble. And could use Claire's help...
Today, Ronnie is a renowned scientist living in Chicago. But when she was a teenager, she had a run-in with a famous Hollywood producer in Acapulco, Mexico. He attempted to sexually assault her--and she killed him. Having served time in prison, Ronnie finally put her this episode behind her...until now. Just when she has a real shot at the Nobel Prize, a ruthless blackmailer is threatening to expose the secrets of her past. Can Claire help to preserve Ronnie's reputation and keep her out ofharm's way? That will depend on Claire's investigation--and what really happened on the night of the murder so many years ago...
Author Notes
Joan Hess was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas in 1949. She received a bachelor's degree in art from the University of Arkansas in 1971 and a master's degree in education from Long Island University in 1974. For several years, she taught art in a private preschool.
Her first book, Strangled Prose, was published in 1986. She was the author of the Claire Malloy Mystery series and the Arly Hanks Mystery series. A Diet to Die For won the American Mystery Award for best traditional novel of 1989. A short story, Too Much to Bare, received the Agatha Award in 1990 and the McCavity Award in 1991. She also wrote the Theo Bloomer series under the pseudonym Joan Hadley. She finished the final Amelia Peabody novel, The Painted Queen, using the notes of Elizabeth Peters and their conversations to finish the book. It was published in 2017. She died on November 23, 2017 at the age of 68.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
YA-A phone call from her supposedly dead cousin, Veronica, sends Claire Malloy to Mexico seeking new answers to a 30-year old murder. Veronica enlists Claire's sleuthing skills to find out the identity of a blackmailer who is trying to ruin her career as a research scientist and the truth about the murder. It takes a kidnapping, a wild car chase, and several deaths before Claire pieces together the puzzle and comes up with some bizarre answers. Hess weaves the complex and well-organized plot tightly together using Claire's snappy remarks and continuous dialogue as the basic foundation for communicating events. Numerous details and several red herrings add interest and build anticipation right up to the end. Featuring a unique brand of humor and a fast-paced plot with plenty of adventurous diversions, this entertaining series entry, with its surprise ending, will appeal to teen audiences.-Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Agatha, Macavity and American Mystery Award winner Hess sends her bookseller sleuth Claire Malloy (seen last in Busy Bodies) far from her small Arkansas town of Farberville in this tightly woven tale. Out of the blue, Claire receives a call from a cousin whom she understood to have died 30 years earlier. Veronica Landonwood, who at age 17 was jailed for murdering an American movie producer in Mexico, has since made a new life for herself as a medical researcher. But now, she says, someone is threatening to reveal her past if she doesn't hand over $1 million and she insists that Claire, whose detecting exploits she has secretly followed, is the only one who can save her. Claire takes her teenage daughter, Caron, to Acapulco to find out who among those involved in the murder and subsequent trial is still living and might be blackmailing her cousin. When their hotel keeper is murdered and Caron is abducted for ransom, Claire is thrown in with a Mexican family of dubious means. She sets out on a path, marked by seven bodies and nearly as many mistaken identities, that takes her to Arizona and Illinois before leading her and Caron safely back in Farberville. Hess knots deceit upon deceit into this suspenseful story, whose tone is lightened by Claire's quick wit and warm heart. Mystery Guild selection. (May) ~ FYI: Hess also writes the Maggody mystery series. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Library Journal Review
Bookseller and series sleuth Claire Malloy answers cousin Veronica's plea for help-even though the woman supposedly died 30 years ago after murdering a Hollywood producer. Now, a blackmailer threatens to expose Veronica's new identity and the scandal. Juicy reading. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.