Sat 29 Mar 2025
JOAN HESS – Strangled Prose. Claire Malloy #1 (of 20). St. Martin’s, hardcover, 1986; Ballantine, paperback, February 1987; St. Martin’s, paperback, 1998.
A reception for an author of romantic novels at Claire Malloy’s bookstore is disrupted when it is discovered that several characters in the lady’s latest epic have very close counterparts in real life. When she’s later found murdered, Lt. Rosen helps investigate.
The book is a lot of fun, perhaps too much so. The witty repartee is all but but endless.Everyone is a master of it, and it (eventually) is too much. In spite of the barbs, Claire and Rose are attracted to each other. (No surprise.)
— Reprinted from Mystery.File.4, March 1988.
March 29th, 2025 at 10:04 pm
A little less repartee, a bit more murder and this would have been a much better read for me.
March 30th, 2025 at 1:22 pm
And as far as I can recall, this was the only novel by Joan Hess that I ever read. The wicked banter between the participants just wasn’t enough to bring me back. Twenty books in a series sure isn’t bad, though.
March 31st, 2025 at 6:38 am
I’ve enjoyed the quirkiness of her two main series, but after the 63rd (or so) book in each series, they do get to be a little wearing.