Frank Carlson Library

"Claire Malloy, for as long as she can remember, has been the local bookseller and owner of the Book Depot and the widowed mother of teenage Caron, who frequently speaks in ALL CAPS. But her life has changed dramatically in recent years. Claire has married her longtime beau, Deputy Police Chief Peter Rosen. Still the owner of the Book Depot, Claire has passed the day-to-day running of it on to her very efficient employees. With Caron inching ever...

Another “great” cozy mystery set in outrageous Maggody, Arkansas, a town so strange that even Hollywood filmmakers can’t believe it’s real (Library Journal).
From the Kwik-Stoppe-Shoppe to the Pot O’ Gold Mobile Home Park, there isn’t much glamour in Maggody . . . but this flyspeck Arkansas town is about to become famous. When a Hollywood production company chooses Maggody as a backdrop...

"Claire Malloy--now a married woman of leisure--tries her hand at volunteering, but instead lands her right in the middle of another murder investigation Longtime bookseller and single mother, Claire Malloy has recently married her long term beau and moved out of her less than opulent apartment into a sprawling, newly remodeled house. Her daughter, Caron, is making plans for college. All of which leaves Claire with something she hasn't had in quite...

A hilarious police procedural set in the strangest town in the Ozarks, where whip-smart sheriff Arly Hanks does everything she can to keep the peace.
Nothing ever happens in Maggody, Arkansas, population 755. Aside from handling the occasional barroom brawl or exploding still, Chief of Police Arly Hanks spends her days sipping coffee and squashing flies. She returned to Maggody two years ago, licking her wounds after a bad Manhattan divorce,...

Another outrageous Maggody mystery, starring police chief Arly Hanks alongside a smooth-talking televangelist and a whole town full of sinners.
Some days, police chief Arly Hanks can’t help but see Maggody, Arkansas, as little more than a cesspool of poverty, ignorance, and incest—the kind of glorified trailer park that gives the South a bad name. But hey, it’s home. So when silver-tongued televangelist Malachi Hope...

Three cozy mysteries set in a small, eccentric Arkansas town where a divorcée is getting a fresh start as police chief. With her career and marriage gone bust, Arly Hanks leaves Manhattan behind for her small hometown of Maggody, Arkansas. She thought not much would happen after she became the town's first female police chief, but Maggody is full of surprises… Madness in Maggody: The mayor's supermarket opening gala is ruined when tainted tamales...

The madcap citizens of Maggody, Arkansas, descend on Graceland, and a bizarre murder mystery forces police chief Arly Hanks to pay homage to the King.
When Chief of Police Arly Hanks came home to Maggody, Arkansas, after a bad divorce, she thought life here would be simpler than it was in New York City. But it’s been one insane episode after another, and the latest eruption of chaos may just drive poor Arly around the bend. After...

Police chief Arly Hanks tries to keep her head when the people of Maggody get UFO fever in this uproarious cozy mystery.
Life is so boring in Maggody, Arkansas, population 755, the locals have resorted to reading supermarket tabloids, gobbling up every rumor of wolf men, zombies, and creatures from outer space they can get their hands on. And as the only sane woman in town, Chief of Police Arly Hanks just smiles and nods whenever her...

Delightfully deadly short fiction from the pen of Joan Hess, creator of Maggody, Arkansas. Althea is caught in a romance writer's worst nightmare: She's been trapped in one of her own melodramatic creations. Around her, strapping men chase after elegant women whose bosoms heave and whose bodices beg to be ripped. There's no television, no women's lib, and absolutely no escape. Worst of all, Althea fits right in. Everyone recognizes her as the penniless...

Claire Malloy balances her duties as single mother and bookstore owner against her part-time sleuthing when she investigates the murder of a local sorority girl.