โ Scribed by Hess, Joan
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
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.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Arly Hanks, Police Chief of Maggody, Arkansas, is forced out of her sleepy everyday routine after Ruby Bee, her diner-owner mom, wins a trip to New York as a finalist in the Krazy Koko-Nut cooking contest. Ruby's frantic call from jail brings Arly to New York's Chadwick hotel, ostensibly in the process of renovation, where the finalists are staying. Turns out that Durmond Pilverman, another contestant, was found naked and slightly injured in Ruby's bed, and Ruby was arrested and briefly held in the ensuing commotion. But that's just a start to the jumble of goings-on at the Chadwick--as a body turns up in the dumpster outside; another is found in the raunchy club where contestant Gaylene dances; teen-aged contestant Catherine seems to be a drunken nymphomaniac; cartons of Krazy Koko-Nut are laced with cocaine; and the mob is running the hotel. Woven through all this is Arly's hot affair with Durmond--plus scandalous news from home. The fine line between farce and shambles is thoroughly breached in this new chapter (Malice in Maggody, etc. etc.), which starts promisingly but winds up massively overdosed on absurdity and silly plot complications. Die-hard fans will probably love it. -- Copyright ยฉ1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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### From Publishers Weekly 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 ) gru