Arly Hanks

Something suspicious is going on at the local bank. An out-of-town attorney for women's rights arrives to stir up the female populace, but has a secret reason of her own for visiting Maggody. During the women's march on the bank, it burns to the ground.

Some of the hardier citizens of Maggody, Ark., take on Manhattan and triumph. Ruby Bee Hanks visits New York for the finals of the Krazy KoKo-Nut cook-off, but ends up in jail for shooting a naked man in her bed. Daughter Arly (last seen in Mortal Remains in Maggody ) grudgingly comes to the rescue, even though doing so means returning to the scene of her failed marriage. Arly finds the food fest to be considerably less exciting than the promotional literature promised; held in the seedy and almost empty Chadwick Hotel, it proves a chaotic disappointment to both the contestants and the young people organizing it at the orders of their superiors, now conveniently out of the country. A teenage nymphomaniac, murder, drugs, a disappearing body, two love affairs and some unsporting shenanigans among the contestants make for confusion that only Arly can untangle, somewhat to the dissatisfaction of the local cops. Hess's risky decision to take her characters out of the Arkansas setting that has worked so well in five previous mysteries pays off with rousing success in one of the best "country hicks vs. city slickers" stories in a long time

You'd think by now, with the ninth appearance of sharp-witted, sharp-tongued Police Chief Arly Hanks, the shysters and quacks of this world would know to steer clear of Maggody, Ark., pop. 755. But handsome, slick televangelist Malachi Hope has his eyes set on developing a Christian theme park on the outskirts of town; and his silken promises of miracle cures, prosperity and fame for the region draw crowds of contributing believers to his nightly laser-lit revival meetings. While most of the locals see their own dreams depicted in the Reverend's vision of Maggody's future, skeptical Arly, who spent some time in Manhattan, doesn't trust Hope, nor his entourage, including his glamourous wife and her sullen teenage sister. The girls' basketball coach is found dead in the high-school gym, a murder quickly followed by another. To track the killer, Arly goes behind the scenes of Hope's organization and into the equally daunting world of local teendom. From Brother Verber, scoping out the threat to his congregation in disguise, to the massive and newly pregnant Dahlia Buchanon, who resumes her junk-food diet after Hope says Jesus has cured her diabetes, the citizens of Maggody continue to deliver guaranteed laugh-out-loud entertainment.