title: Maggody and the Moonbeams (Arly Hanks Mysteries)
author:  Joan Hess 
description: The ever-inventive Hess proves that a long-running series doesn't have to be stale in this latest outing for Arly Hanks, chief of police of Maggody, Ark., population 759. Arly is stuck chaperoning the church youth group on a trip to Camp Pearly Gates to help renovate the site. Accompanied by Mrs. Jim Bob, the ever-slimy Brother Verber and the high school shop teacher, Larry Joe Lambertino, Arly thinks her biggest challenge will be keeping the girls and the boys in separate cabins. There's the pesky problem of Duluth Buchanon's missing wife, Norella, but it's not until one of the girls stumbles over a dead body that Arly really starts to worry. The dead woman is one of the "moonbeams," a member of an all-female sect located near the campgrounds. With their white choir robes and shaved heads, they are sometimes mistaken for aliens, and their reluctance to cooperate with the ensuing murder investigation drives Arly nearly to distraction. (The "moonbeams" provide the author a chance to satirize not only cults and the way they prey upon the needy but also the ways in which women are victimized in our culture.) Hess makes effective use of her inimitable mix of Southern satire and smoothly paced plotting as Arly juggles horny teenagers, the ever-officious Mrs. Jim Bob and a prime suspect who keeps breaking out of jail. There may not be too many surprises, but Hess makes sure there are plenty of laughs from first page to last. (Aug. 7)Hess has won Agatha and Macavity awards and is also the author of the Claire Malloy series.
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  Also by Joan Hess
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  THE MAGGODY SERIES
  
  
  Muletrain to Maggody
  
  
  Maggody and the Moonbeams  
  murder@maggody.com
  
  
  Misery Loves Maggody
  
  
  The Maggody Militia
  
  
  Miracles in Maggody
  
  
  Martians in Maggody
  
  
  O Little Town of Maggody
  
  
  Maggody in Manhattan
  
  
  Mortal Remains in Maggody
  
  
  Madness in Maggody
  
  
  Much Ado in Maggody
  
  
  Mischief in Maggody
  
  
  Malice in Maggody
  
  
  THE CLAIR MALLOY SERIES
  
  
  The Goodbye Body
  
  
  Out on a Limb
  
  
  A Conventional Corpse
  
  
  A Holly, Jolly Murder
  
  
  Closely Akin to Murder
  
  
  Busy Bodies
  
  
  Tickled to Death
  
  
  Poisoned Pens
  
  
  Death by the Light of the Moon
  
  
  Roll Over and Play Dead
  
  
  A Diet to Die For
  
  
  A Really Cute Corpse
  
  
  Dear Miss Demeanor
  
  
  Murder at the Murder at the Mimosa Inn
  
  
  Strangled Prose
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  SIMON & SCHUSTER
  
  
  Rockefeller Center
  
  
  1230 Avenue of the Americas
  
  
  New York, NY 10020
  
  
  This book is a