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Searching... McMinnville Public Library | Hess, J. | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Woodburn Public Library | Hess | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Claire Molloy runs a bookstore called the Book Depot in a small college town. She lets her friend, romance author Azalea Twilight, use the store for a book signing party. But when the town's toughest feminist bursts in and reads from Azalea's book, Claire discovers the smutty romance uses details from her own husband's death. Incensed, Claire is ready to kill Azalea, but someone beats her to it. Azalea is dead, and Claire is a suspect, along with half the faculty at the college, all of whom Azalea offended along the way. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.
Summary
She would have killed for a bestseller--but someone beat her to it...
Professor of Passion, the smutty new romance from Mildred Twiller--a.k.a. Azalea Twilight--isn't the kind of book Claire Malloy likes to hock at her bookstore, but Claire agrees to host a book party for her friend's trashy tale. As torrid as the novel is, it's nothing compared to the evening. After the party, poor Mildred is found dead in her home--stranged with a tightly knotted silk scarf. Now it's up to Clair to find Mildred's killer, and it won't be easy--the two-bit author had offendednearly every faculty member she worked with at nearby Faber College. But who could have hated Mildred with such smoldering passion? Find out in Joan Hess' first Claire Malloy mystery novel Strangled Prose.
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)
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 (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Hess enlivens her mystery with humor and the bumptious doings of narrator Claire Malloy's daughter Caron. A widow, Claire supports herself and 14-year-old Caron by running a college-town bookstore, where Mildred Twiller insists the reception for her new lurid romance be held. Mildred's husband, Prof. Douglas Twiller, revels in the fortune his wife earns under the pen name Azalea Twilight. But when guests at the party hear themselves libeled in excerpts from the novel, Douglas is aghast and Mildred/Azalea goes home in tears. Later she's found strangled, and Douglas endures grilling by detective Pete Rosen, until the professor is strangled too. Rosen then turns the inquisition onto Claire (whose late husband is accused in the novel of philandery) and onto some of the other people in academe. Caron and a friend, wimpy Inez, cause distractions that inhibit the investigation, which ends at last after several developments that strain credibilityparticularly when Inez vanishes for a long time with no indication that anyone is particularly alarmed. Despite its weaker aspects, the novel is satisfying light entertainment. February 3 (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Widowed Claire Malloy and teen-aged daughter Caron live in the college town of Farberville, where Claire runs a bookshop. Her friend Mildred Twiller, wife of English professor Douglas, is also Azalea Twilight, writer of torrid best-selling romances. For the latest of these, Professor of Passion, Mildred has arranged a party at the bookshop. An uninvited guest, threatening a libel suit, is Maggie Holland, the college's leading feminist, who reads excerpts from the book describing shameful episodes in the lives of thinly disguised members of the faculty, Claire's late husband among them. Then, Mildred flees the party and is found strangled some hours later by Maggie's acolyte, Sheila Belinski. Lieutenant Peter Rosen quickly discovers the secret in Mildred's life, is baffled by a second murder, but manages to save nosy Claire from becoming victim number three. The author's style is conversational and airy, full of rue and wry. It manages to keep the story afloat despite a clumsy, unconvincing plot. So, overall: a promising debut--and there may be better cases ahead for this talented writer. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Hess enlivens her mystery with humor and the bumptious doings of narrator Claire Malloy's daughter Caron. A widow, Claire supports herself and 14-year-old Caron by running a college-town bookstore, where Mildred Twiller insists the reception for her new lurid romance be held. Mildred's husband, Prof. Douglas Twiller, revels in the fortune his wife earns under the pen name Azalea Twilight. But when guests at the party hear themselves libeled in excerpts from the novel, Douglas is aghast and Mildred/Azalea goes home in tears. Later she's found strangled, and Douglas endures grilling by detective Pete Rosen, until the professor is strangled too. Rosen then turns the inquisition onto Claire (whose late husband is accused in the novel of philandery) and onto some of the other people in academe. Caron and a friend, wimpy Inez, cause distractions that inhibit the investigation, which ends at last after several developments that strain credibilityparticularly when Inez vanishes for a long time with no indication that anyone is particularly alarmed. Despite its weaker aspects, the novel is satisfying light entertainment. February 3 (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Widowed Claire Malloy and teen-aged daughter Caron live in the college town of Farberville, where Claire runs a bookshop. Her friend Mildred Twiller, wife of English professor Douglas, is also Azalea Twilight, writer of torrid best-selling romances. For the latest of these, Professor of Passion, Mildred has arranged a party at the bookshop. An uninvited guest, threatening a libel suit, is Maggie Holland, the college's leading feminist, who reads excerpts from the book describing shameful episodes in the lives of thinly disguised members of the faculty, Claire's late husband among them. Then, Mildred flees the party and is found strangled some hours later by Maggie's acolyte, Sheila Belinski. Lieutenant Peter Rosen quickly discovers the secret in Mildred's life, is baffled by a second murder, but manages to save nosy Claire from becoming victim number three. The author's style is conversational and airy, full of rue and wry. It manages to keep the story afloat despite a clumsy, unconvincing plot. So, overall: a promising debut--and there may be better cases ahead for this talented writer. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.