Southern Mystery Novelist

Arkansas native and self-described “smart ass” Joan Hess is an extremely funny writer—her “Maggody” series, set in the make-believe hamlet of Maggody, Arkansas, is hilarious. Her heroine is Arly Hanks, police chief (and sole member of the force) who must deal with the outrageously eccentric residents of Maggody while trying to resolve assorted murder and mayhem. Continuing characters include Arly’s mother, Ruby Bee (proprietor of the only motel in town) and Ruby Bee’s best friend, Estelle (a beautician of uncertain talents). Both women, when not criticizing Arly’s life-style (or lack of it) do their best to interfere with her investigations. Also featured are various members of the Buchanan clan, such as newly-wed Kevin (a little dim but very much in love) and Dahlia (there’s so much of her to love!), the philandering mayor Jim Bob and his strait-laced wife, Mrs. Jim Bob Buchanan Buchanan, and moonshiner Raz and his beloved pet pig Marjorie. The misadventures of these and many other intensely annoying but ultimately endearing folks, viewed with a cynical yet affectionate wit by Hess, make for light-hearted reading.

Hess is also the author of the Claire Malloy mystery series. Although not so southern in flavor, the series is written with her trademark humor. It is set in a small college town in Arkansas where her heroine is the bookstore owner and inveterately curious Claire Malloy.

Born in North Carolina and living in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, Sharyn McCrumb is a prolific writer with several series to her credit over the years. Her most recent project, the Appalachian Ballad novels, is not really a series at all, although some characters, like the immensely wise and dignified mountain healer Nora Bonesteel, and the quiet but deep-thinking Sheriff Spenser Arrowood, appear in each book. The Appalachian Ballad novels, set in Tennessee, are not mysteries, although crime features in most plots; rather they are truly fine storytelling in the best southern tradition. McCrumb’s Scots-Irish ancestors settled in the Smoky Mountains in the late 18th century, and this series reflects all her extensive knowledge, love and respect for the culture of the mountain south. The most recent title in the series, Ghost Riders, is an extraordinary tale of real historical characters and Civil War re–enactors and their ghostly near-meeting in McCrumb’s beloved hills.

McCrumb made her name with the amusing Elizabeth MacPherson mystery series, and with the cult classic, the hilarious science fiction farce, Bimbos of the Death Sun and its sequel.