New Releases by Joan Hess

Under the benign watch of Police Chief Arly Hanks, things are pretty quiet in the sleepy Arkansas town of Maggody these days. Not even the prospect of a historical society-funded Civil War documentary on the locally touted (albeit historically insignificant) Skirmish at Cotter''s Ridge of 1863 does much to stir up the denizens of this sleepy backwoods town. What does finally get the rumor mill buzzing, however, is the revelation that two saddlebags of Confederate gold were hidden in a local cave to keep them from falling into Yankee hands. Once word gets out that the saddlebags were never recovered, almost everyone in town has a plan to get their hands on the lost gold. Meanwhile, a colorful cast of outlanders has taken over Maggody. They include a dewy Charleston belle, a famous writer of historical romances, her ne''er-do-well son, and three dozen obsessive reenactors who have not yet acknowledged that the Civil War ended over a hundred years ago, as well as a documentary film crew and a handsome, if enigmatic, filmmaker with ties to Arly''s past. Arly has more than enough on her hands trying to locate missing senior citizens and keeping the visitors from each other''s throats, but when the genealogist of the Stump County Historical Society dies under questionable circumstances, and a member of the Buchanon clan is the victim of a vicious and fatal attack, Arly finds herself faced with the most baffling whodunit of her career, with a disgruntled ghost a possible prime suspect.

When a friend''s pets become the latest victims in a series of neighborhood disappearances, Claire Malloy investigates a suspicious animal dealer who soon meets a violent end.

Agatha and Macavity Award-winning Author In the title novel, "The Deadly Ackee," retired florist Theo Bloom lucks into what appears to be a perfect situation -- escorting his teenage niece and her five friends to lush Jamaica, where he can study the tropical flora to his heart''s delight. But there are serpents in paradise; his squabbling charges are enough to drive even mild-mannered Theo to drink, and when an old friend from the CIA turns up, it''s more than coincidence. But when a body is found floating in the resort pool, Theo''s vacation turns murderous, and only he can solve the mystery before another victim is found. Also included is a selection of short stories, including one from "The Maggody Files." Joan Hess lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Claire Malloy believes there is just one thing better than chocolate...and it''s not jumping a round in an aerobics class. Nonetheless, she gets roped into accompanying a chubby heiress named Maribeth to Faberville, Arkansas''s hottest new fitness center. Personally, Claire thinks the best way for Maribeth to lose 160 unnecessary pounds would be to dump her abusive husband. But while Claire''s teenage daughter Caron unsuccessfully tries every fad diet she can find (as long as it doesn''t mean cutting out pizza), Claire has to admit Maribeth''s commitment to diet, workouts, and supplements is working...until things go horribly wrong. Besides becoming moonstruck over the big-muscled fitness instructor, Maribeth is acting loony outside the gym as well. And when she ends up "accidentally" dead, Claire starts to exercise her instincts for crime...and hunt for a killer.

This new collection by Agatha and Macavity Award-winning author Joan Hess offers a fine sampling of Ms. Hess''s considerable talent, with four short stories and a complete novella. In the title story, one writer learns the consequences of letting characters take over plots. In a group of women watching male strippers perform, one might have more than beefcake on her mind in "Too Much to Bare."

Farberville, Arkansas is playing host to its first ever mystery convention. Sponsored by the Thurber Farber Foundation and held at Farber College, Murder Comes to Campus is playing host to five major mystery writers representing all areas of the field. Dragooned into running the show when the original organizer is hospitalized, local bookseller Claire Malloy finds herself in the midst of a barely controlled disaster. Not only do each of the writers present their own set of idiosyncracies and difficulties (including one who arrives with her cat Wimple in tow), the feared, distrusted, and disliked mystery editor of Paradigm House, Roxanne Small, puts in a surprise appearance at the conference. Added to Claire''s own love-life woes with local police detective Peter Rosen, things have never been worse. Then when one of the attendees dies in a suspicious car accident, Wimple the cat disappears from Claire''s home, and Roxanne Small is nowhere to be found, it becomes evident that the murder mystery is more than a literary genre.

Fourteen spine-tingling stories of suspense include P. D. James''s "The Victim," in which a gorgeous celebrity uses her infatuated ex-husband as a murder weapon, and tales by Ruth Rendell, Patricia Highsmith, and other authors. Original.

Moran was something of a grind. Her only concern was getting good grades so she could qualify for a special school. The one day in physics class, she heard a voice: " Hey, gorgeous. How about a date? The problem was -nobody else heard the voice."

When Claire Malloy and her daughter Caron attend the mock murder weekend at the charming Mimosa Inn, everything goes swimmingly until Harmon, the leader of the theatrical group staging the event, turns up as the corpse . . . for real. Now the game turns to deadly earnest . . .