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Poisoned Pins: A Claire Malloy Mystery
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| List Price: | CDN$ 8.99 |
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Product Description
Turns out there's a high price to pay to look one's best. After a series of dangerous and suspicious incidents, including a hit-and-run "accident" that kills a sorority sister, it becomes clear to Claire that the beauty business in Farberville, Arkansas, is getting pretty ugly--and with every new makeover another dark circle rises from beneath the surface….
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #662770 in Books
- Published on: 2007-04-03
- Released on: 2007-04-03
- Original language: English
- Dimensions: .73" h x 5.04" w x 6.72" l, .29 pounds
- Binding: Mass Market Paperback
- 272 pages
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Hess delivers another lighthearted but tartly told mystery. Bookstore owner/sleuth Claire Malloy (last encountered in Death by the Light of the Moon ) finds herself embroiled in the affairs of Farber College's sorority, Kappa Theta Eta, whose house is next door to Malloy's. Suspecting prowlers after she hears a scream emanating from the shabby premises, Claire gains the qualified (and condescending) tolerance of the house's summer occupants: four students and the divorcee housemother. The reappearance of Claire's nemesis, Arnie Riggles, and further prowler sightings culminate in the hit-and-run death of one of the sisters. Suspicion falls on the sorority misfit, whose car was involved, but Claire follows other leads (and her own instincts), identifying a major college administrator as one of the KTE prowlers, which gives rise to further questions. Among other complications in Claire's life is the sorry state of her love affair with Farberville police lieutenant Peter Rosen, who wants her to stay out of sleuthing, and the newest get-rich-quick scheme of her teenage daughter Caron.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Adventure #8 for Farberville's bookstore owner Claire Malloy (Death by the Light of the Moon, etc.), widowed mother of teenager- from-hell Caron and sometime lover of police lieutenant Peter Rosen. Claire lives next door to this college town's Kappa Theta Eta sorority house, only sparsely occupied in the summer. Here, Claire--nosier than ever--gets involved in a series of incidents there--from screams in the night to prowlers and unexplained lights, culminating in the death of much admired senior Jean Hall, apparently run down by vanished Debbie Anne Wray, a wimpy pledge. Claire's persistence, not to say chutzpah, gradually uncovers connections to Law School Dean John Vanderson, his sleekly efficient wife Eleanor, the local hot-sheets motel, and a range of house activities undreamed of by the sorority's rules committee. Claire grows less appealing and amusing as her foibles are archly exaggerated; the plotting is also sometimes murky and unconvincing. Amiable but often dull fare. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Review
--Chicago Tribune
"A wildly entertaining series."
--Mystery Scene
"Refreshing…blends humor, eccentric characters, familiar emotions, and plot twists into an enjoyable lark."--Nashville Banner on Poisoned Pins
"A colorful kaleidoscope of plotting and clues…undeniably funny."--Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Poisoned Pins
"A winning blend of soft-core feminism, trendy subplots, and a completely irreverent style that characterizes both the series and the sleuth."--Houston Chronicle
"With her wry asides, Claire makes a most engaging narrator. The author deftly juggles the various plot strands…the surprising denouement comes off with éclat."--Publishers Weekly on Out on a Limb
"You can't go wrong with a Joan Hess novel."--Mystery Lovers Bookshop News
"If you've never spent time with Claire and her crew, I feel sorry for you. Stop reading this nonsense and hop to it. You'll see wit and humanity all wrapped up in a nifty murder mystery."
--Harlan Coben, author of Just One Look
"Joan Hess is one of the best mystery writers in the world. She makes it look so easy that few readers and fewer critics realize what a rare talent hers is."--Elizabeth Peters, author of Guardian of the Horizon
"Joan Hess is seriously funny. Moreover, she is seriously kind as well as clever when depicting the follies, foibles, and fantasies of our lives. Viva Joan!"--Carolyn Hart, author of Death of the Party
"Fresh and funny…her trademark humor is stamped on every page."--Publishers Weekly, on The Goodbye Body
"Breezy and delightful…Claire Malloy is one of the most engaging narrators in mystery."
--The Drood Review
"Hess is one very funny woman."--Susan Dunlap, former president of Sisters in Crime
"Amiable entertainment with an edge."--Kirkus Reviews
