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Arly Hanks #6
Maggody in Manhattan
Small-town police chief Arly Hanks takes on the New York Police Department to save her mother from a murder rap in this madcap police procedural.
When her marriage went up in smoke, Arly Hanks left Manhattan and never looked back. As police chief of Maggody, Arkansas, population 755, Arly is a glorified traffic cop, and she couldn’t be happier. But when Arly’s mother, the indomitable Ruby Bee Hanks, is invited to a baking contest in New York, Arly is forced to return to the city she hates—and the Big Apple is even more rotten than she remembered.
Ruby Bee has hardly preheated her oven when a naked man is found shot in her bedroom and the NYPD throws her in jail. As tempting as it may be to let her mother rot on Rikers Island, Arly has no choice but to solve the case herself, facing down killers, bakers, and the most dangerous villain of all: her ex-husband.
Joan Hess is better than anyone when it comes to writing small-town murder mysteries, and Maggody in Manhattan shows she knows her way around big cities too. When the wacky residents of Maggody are loosed on the Big Apple, New York City will get turned upside down.
Maggody in Manhattan is the 6th book in the Arly Hanks Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
When her marriage went up in smoke, Arly Hanks left Manhattan and never looked back. As police chief of Maggody, Arkansas, population 755, Arly is a glorified traffic cop, and she couldn’t be happier. But when Arly’s mother, the indomitable Ruby Bee Hanks, is invited to a baking contest in New York, Arly is forced to return to the city she hates—and the Big Apple is even more rotten than she remembered.
Ruby Bee has hardly preheated her oven when a naked man is found shot in her bedroom and the NYPD throws her in jail. As tempting as it may be to let her mother rot on Rikers Island, Arly has no choice but to solve the case herself, facing down killers, bakers, and the most dangerous villain of all: her ex-husband.
Joan Hess is better than anyone when it comes to writing small-town murder mysteries, and Maggody in Manhattan shows she knows her way around big cities too. When the wacky residents of Maggody are loosed on the Big Apple, New York City will get turned upside down.
Maggody in Manhattan is the 6th book in the Arly Hanks Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
540 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 7, 2016
About the author
Joan Hess
106 books342 followersJoan Hess was the author of both the Claire Malloy and the Maggody mystery series. Hess was a winner of the American Mystery Award, a member of Sisters in Crime, and a former president of the American Crime Writers League. She lived in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Joan Hess also wrote a mystery series under the pseudonym of Joan Hadley.
Series contributed to:
. Crosswinds
. The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories
. Malice Domestic
. Deadly Allies
. Sisters in Crime
Joan Hess also wrote a mystery series under the pseudonym of Joan Hadley.
Series contributed to:
. Crosswinds
. The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories
. Malice Domestic
. Deadly Allies
. Sisters in Crime
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
September 19, 2018
The more I think about this one the more of a head scratcher it is. I still don't understand the point of all the Maggody storylines; there was no wrap up to the Kevin/Dahlia honeymoon bit or the Mrs. Jim Bob/Brother Verber stuff. The book just ended. Am I supposed to read the next one to find out what happens? Is that why? I couldn't get into this book. Maybe if I'd started at the beginning of the series the characters wouldn't feel so hollow.
May 25, 2017
I guess I missed Maggody in Manhattan earlier because: a) the book designs look similar, b) the covers have no numbers on them, c) Arly talks about her time in New York (prior to the series) and Ruby denigrates New Yahrk so much that I thought I’d already read this, or d) some combination of all of those. Regardless, Maggody in Manhattan features comedic gangsters which are the logical extensions of Runyon’s “citizens,” a P.R. woman who is of the nightmare prototype (I’ve known a lot of PR people in my career and only one like that (and she didn’t last long).), a scion of the founder of a large corporation who serves as a poster child for why corporations with family names in Japan often “adopt” executives into the family to become the next CEOs, and, of course, a new love interest for Arly—although he is something more than he seems (wouldn’t you know it?).
Ruby Bee, Arly’s mother, becomes the same kind of busy-body in NYC that she is in Maggody, but the law enforcement authorities aren’t quite as generous with her as her daughter the sheriff would be. Don’t want to lose the “homey-ness” of Maggody? There are sub-plots where Kevin and Dahlia’s honeymoon is hijacked and Brother Verber finds he has more in common with Truman Capote than he might realize (you’ll understand when you get to it). Mrs. Jim Bohannon ensures that her husband pays for his sins, but finds out that her own indiscretions could be found out. The Verber side-story is funnier and faster-paced than the Kevin and Dahlia story that, in my opinion, drags on too long—even though it is worth a few chuckles.
As for the main mystery, it isn’t nearly as good as the typical Joan Hess mystery, whether Arly or Claire Malloy is the protagonist. Everything is pretty obvious from the beginning, but the comedic chaos and constantly shifting disasters play out like some of the stranger Marx Brothers scenes aboard ships and in small hotel rooms. So, even though I didn’t feel like Maggody in Manhattan was up to Hess’ usual standards, I still love the whole series. I get a laugh and, usually, a puzzle (though the Claire Malloy novels usually have less comedy and more satisfying mysteries).
Ruby Bee, Arly’s mother, becomes the same kind of busy-body in NYC that she is in Maggody, but the law enforcement authorities aren’t quite as generous with her as her daughter the sheriff would be. Don’t want to lose the “homey-ness” of Maggody? There are sub-plots where Kevin and Dahlia’s honeymoon is hijacked and Brother Verber finds he has more in common with Truman Capote than he might realize (you’ll understand when you get to it). Mrs. Jim Bohannon ensures that her husband pays for his sins, but finds out that her own indiscretions could be found out. The Verber side-story is funnier and faster-paced than the Kevin and Dahlia story that, in my opinion, drags on too long—even though it is worth a few chuckles.
As for the main mystery, it isn’t nearly as good as the typical Joan Hess mystery, whether Arly or Claire Malloy is the protagonist. Everything is pretty obvious from the beginning, but the comedic chaos and constantly shifting disasters play out like some of the stranger Marx Brothers scenes aboard ships and in small hotel rooms. So, even though I didn’t feel like Maggody in Manhattan was up to Hess’ usual standards, I still love the whole series. I get a laugh and, usually, a puzzle (though the Claire Malloy novels usually have less comedy and more satisfying mysteries).
July 9, 2018
This was my least favorite book in the series so far. Multiple light scenarios were drawn and developed, but didn't seem to come together and didn't hold my interest very well. I thought the murder resolution at the end was disjointed and forced. Still, this author has a great comedic style of writing and she does not disappoint in this book. There was a scene in a cave that I found particularly funny. It will be worth returning to the series when I am ready for more of her humor.
June 21, 2017
Sheriff Arly Hanks, her mother and other quirky characters were amusing as they traveled to New York City for a baking contest, and encountered gangsters and dead bodies. Enjoyed the outstanding audiobook narrator and comic plot (and subplots.) Listened to book through Hoopla Digital, and will probably read more from this series.
November 4, 2019
If you follow Arly Hanks you will understand the madness in this book. From Ruby Bee (Arly's mother) winning a cooking contest and going to a cook off what could go wrong? Then there are Kevin and Dahlia going off on their honeymoon and getting lost (who would expect that). Chaos rules in this one.
May 23, 2020
Another fun Arly Hanks/Maggody book, with a nice twist: a new locale (Manhattan). It was humorous seeing the contrast between "country folk" from Maggody and "city folk" in NTC. It was also humorous comparing the two locations.
December 8, 2017
Did't like this installment as much as I did the others that I have read. Too many branches to the story. Stay in Maggody!!
November 29, 2018
Fun series
I like to read these for something light. They are always fun, lighthearted, with a good mystery. Each can be read alone. Have fun!
I like to read these for something light. They are always fun, lighthearted, with a good mystery. Each can be read alone. Have fun!
April 30, 2022
Not the best, not the worst installment
September 22, 2022
Hilarious as always but a little convoluted solution....except for Marvel, of course. He was very clever and entertaining!
November 26, 2022
If you like funny and quirky this one is for you, this was such a crazy read.
March 24, 2023
It'd had been awhile since I'd read any Joan Hess novels. It felt like old home week to return to the real mysteries and clownish characters that inhabit Maggody. Great book.
March 2, 2025
Not at all well written. Blah
August 28, 2025
This book left a couple of story lines up in the air. I hope they will be further explored in the next book.
October 2, 2026
I love how Hess interwove three storylines throughout the book. I love how two of them ended, but not so much the Manhattan ending. It was a nice change, though, to get out of Maggody for a bit
October 16, 2026
The unapologetic, anti-establishment tone in "Maggody in Manhattan (Arly Hanks, #6)" is what gives it real weight. "Joan Hess" delivers a masterclass in fearless commentary that sharpens the reader's mind.
September 16, 2012
I rounded up, because I read this book during a stressful weekend, and I'm not sure I caught all the nuances. It kept me smiling.
8/24/21 Reread it, and it was still kinda confusing because there's three separate story lines going on - Ruby and Estelle are in Manhattan taking part in a baking contest that gets more dubious by the hour. A man is found wounded and naked in Ruby's bed, a gun is fired, but she didn't shoot him, and while Estelle calls Arly to come get her mother out of jail, the older pair promptly berate and then ignore Arly nearly as soon as she arrives. Yes, it's as bewildering as that sentence.
Meanwhile, Dahlia and Kevin have gotten married, gotten lost trying to get to Niagara Falls, and are held hostage in a diner somewhere in Kentucky. Kevin's mother keeps calling Arly with updates because Kevin's father is tired of listening to her.
Mrs. Jim Bob tries to save the youth of Maggody from demon liquor, winds up discovering more than she wants to and ends up with Brother Verber looking for Raz's still in a rainstorm with a lot of highly compromising boxes.
Maggody is weird, aggravating, amusing in a so-glad-I-don't-live-there way.
8/24/21 Reread it, and it was still kinda confusing because there's three separate story lines going on - Ruby and Estelle are in Manhattan taking part in a baking contest that gets more dubious by the hour. A man is found wounded and naked in Ruby's bed, a gun is fired, but she didn't shoot him, and while Estelle calls Arly to come get her mother out of jail, the older pair promptly berate and then ignore Arly nearly as soon as she arrives. Yes, it's as bewildering as that sentence.
Meanwhile, Dahlia and Kevin have gotten married, gotten lost trying to get to Niagara Falls, and are held hostage in a diner somewhere in Kentucky. Kevin's mother keeps calling Arly with updates because Kevin's father is tired of listening to her.
Mrs. Jim Bob tries to save the youth of Maggody from demon liquor, winds up discovering more than she wants to and ends up with Brother Verber looking for Raz's still in a rainstorm with a lot of highly compromising boxes.
Maggody is weird, aggravating, amusing in a so-glad-I-don't-live-there way.
February 7, 2013
Always a pleasure to visit Maggody. Although this time several of the denizens were heading to Manhattan to create their own particular brand of trouble.
The mysteries are secondary to the silliness here. Who won't laugh at what Mrs. Jim Bob and Brother Verber get themselves into when they try to wipe out the evils of alcohol and lust? Kevin and Dahlia head off on their honeymoon only to become the prisoners of a criminal (Marvel). Arly goes to Manhattan to rescue her mom after she's been arrested for shooting at the police. Stir the pot and mayhem ensues.
The mysteries are secondary to the silliness here. Who won't laugh at what Mrs. Jim Bob and Brother Verber get themselves into when they try to wipe out the evils of alcohol and lust? Kevin and Dahlia head off on their honeymoon only to become the prisoners of a criminal (Marvel). Arly goes to Manhattan to rescue her mom after she's been arrested for shooting at the police. Stir the pot and mayhem ensues.
April 23, 2009
This was a re-read. Don't know if I don't remember it as good, or because I've been re-reading so many of the Maggody mysteries lately. But, this one doesn't seem to live up to the others. Yes, Ms Hess took the characters out of Maggody, but she didn't take the Maggody out of the characters, which is a good thing, but the plot didn't keep me interested.
July 22, 2009
In the sixth entry in the series, Arly must travel to NYC to try to get her friend Ruby Bee off the hook when implicated in a crime that occurs at a cooking contest. (Gotta love those names!)
January 13, 2010
See book #1.
December 22, 2010
Just when I think I have the plot all figured out, the author throws in an interesting twist. A fun read.
Read
May 16, 2011Arly Hanks
September 3, 2011
Typically funny but only so-so mystery.
January 19, 2012
So many continuing storylines. I sure hope they are all going somewhere.
May 24, 2012
In NYC Ruby is a finalist in the Koko-Nuts baking contest.
October 14, 2012
Book #58 read in 2012
This was not the best of the series. It kind of dragged on. And I am finding myself sick of some of the Maggody crew. Will see about continuing the series.
This was not the best of the series. It kind of dragged on. And I am finding myself sick of some of the Maggody crew. Will see about continuing the series.
November 17, 2012
I am not a Arley Hank's fan.
This is the second book I have read in this series and it will be my last.
This is the second book I have read in this series and it will be my last.
January 9, 2013
Laugh-out-loud funny in places, especially at first. However, the plot deteriorated from satirical to ridiculous and not even very funny in the conclusion.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews