Martians in Maggody

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Dutton, 1994 - Fiction - 264 pages
Arly (Ariel) Hanks is still chief of police in Maggody, Arkansas (pop. 755), a sleepy little town in the Ozarks where nothing ever happens - until the day UFOs, Martians, Bigfoot, and tabloid reporters descend on Maggody...and bring along a case of murder. The summer starts out normal enough. The molting neon sign outside the Flamingo Motel reads V CAN Y, Ruby Bee is serving up chicken-fried steak at her bar and grill, and somebody is making moonshine up on Cotter's Ridge. Then strange geometric designs appear in Raz Buchanan's cornfield. Before Arly can remind people that Raz Buchanan lives with a pedigreed sow named Marjorie, tells tall stories by the bushel, and is charging folks a dollar apiece to look at his land, the media is setting up a UFO watch. Soon hysterical reports of strange lights, silver-headed Martians, cattle mutilations, and a hairy creature with very large feet are pouring into Arly's office.

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About the author (1994)

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.

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