A Conventional Corpse

Claire Malloy #13

by Joan Hess

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.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Cozy, Mystery Thriller, Crime, Humor

308 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Joan 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

Reviews

[Ruth Turner · Rating 1 out of 5]

Had run out of books to read on vacation so picked this up at the little lending library while taking a walk around the lake. Not my kind of book...silly, absurd (who would ever act like those characters, especially the police?) but stuck it out. But, nice that there are books out there for everyone's taste!

[Vicki Gooding · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. Showed some of the backbiting, self inclined temperaments of some writers. The main character was not overly syrupy nor bitter rude, but is logical and humorous. Refuses to listen to excuses and walks in a type of integrity that makes her perfect for the book. As this is only the first I've read out of many, I'm looking forward to reading the others.

[Alice Benson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I used to read this series

[Joyce Hertzoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed reading the Claire Malloy mysteries. Somehow I’d missed this one in the past. Claire, a bookstore owner, is roped into hosting a mystery writer’s convention in Farberville at the local college and a quaint old house turned hotel. The chaos that ensues is unavoidable, given that the four female and one male writers are frenemies, and that few of them get along with an editor who crashes the party. Taking a back-seat to all this is Claire’s relationship with police detective Peter Rosen. Toss in a cat, Claire’s daughter and her friend, a vegan hotel owner, and a few others, making this a fun story from start to finish. I understand the Kindle version of the book has many spelling errors, but I didn’t notice any in the print version.

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first Joan Hess, Claire Malloy mystery. I found it on a list of humorous mysteries and picked it up because it was available at my local paperback exchange. I was disappointed. The premise was fun, a murder at a convention of murder mystery writers. But the characters and the humor did not seem generally successful. Maybe a bit too much stereotypical characters. I had a little trouble keeping track of the characters. The book was enjoyable at times, but I would not particularly recommend it. I probably won’t try another.

[Leigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was okay, but not great. What I will say, it was much better than the couple of books in the Maggody series which I have read.

The plot involves a local bookstore owner, a murder mystery authors convention, and, not surprisingly, a murder. The characters were not very likable, which made it hard to really get into the book. The ending lacked closure. But, it was a quick read and light, which is what I needed at the time.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I haven't read any other books by Joan Hess, I found it a nice fun read. This is part of a series and I will have to look for the other books in the series to learn more about the characters.

This book is set in Farberville Arkansas during a mysery writer convention. The authors in this book were funny and the interaction between them had me rolling my eyes and chuckling. Claire Malloy is a bookseller and the main character that helps to solve the mystery

[Mary Newcomb]

Somehow Claire Malloy became a part of the committee planning a mystery convention. Despite rarely attending a meeting, she ended up running the convention due to a medical emergency. There was a murder, and some other mysteries. I found the resolution to be a bit confusing but generally enjoyed this book.

[Joyce Vasikonis · Rating 4 out of 5]

In keeping with her other books

Incredible number of misspelled words and grammar errors. An amazing number. Made reading very difficult and slowed as trying to figure out what words were meant.

[Jasmine Giacomo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Claire Malloy, owner of the Book Depot bookstore, finds herself suddenly in charge of a weekend murder mystery convention when the organizer is hospitalized. Five mystery authors, strong personalities intact, swoop into town, clashing with each other, their B&B owner, and a surprise guest who crashes the convention: their agent. A local girl crashes her car on the way home from the first night of the convention, but it's more than just a simple accident. And then the theories get really creepy, as the authors begin to speculate on death and murder as only they can.

While I generally enjoyed this book for the mystery convention concept, I wonder whether Ms. Hess wrote it on a dare, or possibly as a cry for help, or even as a satire on the ins and outs of her own genre. I'm probably kidding about the cry for help, but this one line from page 227 makes me wonder: "Authors are powerless in the overall scheme of the publishing industry." She's right, you know. It's one of the reasons successfully published authors are going indie in this new era.

The characters in this book were well done: the authors, naturally, overpowered everyone else except Claire, who, while she confessed to feeling lost and/or ignorant occasionally, held her own in the "sit down and STFU" line delivery category. The insulting in this book was delicious. And I enjoyed the little inside issues the authors had to deal with, such as being ignored by their editor, or having books trapped in a backlist, inaccessible to readers. Motives for murder abounded.

The only character who felt flat was Peter Rosen. There tried to be a whole subplot between him and Claire, but with the vivid author characters dominating the book, it came across as reduced to a series of similar "I'm not talking to you" conversations and forced insertions of baby/babymaking references.

The plot itself, as I said, was fun. But it felt pretty unrealistic, even more than the usual serial cozy plot. A handful of bestselling mystery authors popping into a tiny town? Hmm. The subplot with Peter wasn't terribly gripping, but the one involving Arnie was surprisingly endearing, and had a tie-in with the Peter-Claire subplot.

The end was disappointing, however, and in a way I've found disturbingly often in the cozies I've been reading recently. The killer is urbane, collected, makes no attempt to flee or fight, is in fact an adorable old woman. In addition, other characters come up and thank her for this or that, or try to persuade her not to confess, while she's actively confessing. She seemed to indicate she'd lie about what happened, and she may or may not have been poisoning herself with the tea she was drinking the whole time. And that's where they left it. That's too cozy for me, really. Consequences, people!

One thing that came across as a little jarring was the tendency for the authors' thought processes to leave so much assumed between the lines, in contrast to the rest of the plot. Whenever they'd talk amongst themselves, you'd have to fill in a few blanks around their dialogue in order to keep up. Which was cool and made sense; their job is to think on that level. But the rest of the book was more simply written, and as a result, the "regular" characters seemed a bit slow.

And do not let me forget to mention the gaping plot hole that pretty much destroyed the credibility of the first killer's motive! In sum, the first killer taught the first victim in college years ago, and apparently saw one short story of hers in particular. Fast forward several years, to where the killer, now an editor, has apparently used some details gleaned from that short story to pump up a new mystery author's debut novel. When she meets up with her old student unexpectedly, she realizes she needs to kill her before she gets her hands on that debut novel, on sale the next day, because it'll somehow expose the killer/editor as an idea thief. I'm sorry, but that's just nonsense. The novel clearly stated that the first victim learned all sorts of interesting stuff like forensics and police procedures AFTER the killer had moved away from town. Also, she's had ten years to work on that short story and expand it to a novel. Surely the mystery genre suffers from the occasional trope just like every other genre. I completely fail to see what fully formed plot idea could have been stolen from a short story ten years previously, and which would still be immediately recognizable to the original writer and drive her to sue, let alone win. I actually re-read parts of the book, trying to figure out if I'd missed something, or if I'd misunderstood the motive/timeline. Nope.

The writing was so tight that it seemed to tear in a few places, leaving a gap just a bit wider than I enjoy crossing to continue the story. I also counted several typos of the sort that are also words (a for at, Rose for Rosen, etc), and a couple of completely omitted words, which for me really detract from the enjoyment of a book.

Overall, a fun read with the mystery convention in town, but the authors' vivid and weighty presence seemed to unbalance the plot and the writing both.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was just okay. Maybe it was me, but I have enjoyed her other books much more than this one.

[Clyde · Rating 3 out of 5]

cute..would like more in series

[Carolyn Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, light read with plenty of sarcastic and over-the-top manic characters

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light read for camp with lots of amusing dialogue..

[Elizabeth]

Quit the series here. Not because didn’t like. Just started other series.

[Stefanie Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

""

[The Badger · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Claire Malloy series is a step above a Cozy, mainly because you actually LIKE the characters. Claire is the single mother of Caron, a teenaged daughter who's at the age of speaking in ALL CAPS. Claire is also the proprietor of a bookstore (which she doesn't seem to spend much time in, on account of solving murders and trying to calm Caron down to at least italics). Peter is Claire's detective boyfriend whom she's lucky to have, otherwise she'd spend the majority of her time in a holding cell for interfering with crime scenes.

If you're looking for a mystery series where you actually LIKE the characters (I love Christie, but spent much of my extracurricular time plotting the death of the sanctimonious bitch Ms. Marple), start on the Claire Malloy series. Likewise, if you're wondering whether to have children, pay close attention to Caron. I work with kids and can assure you that all teen girls go through the "I HATE YOU--I NEED A RIDE TO THE MALL" phase. Unless you're saving for boarding school, pay attention.

[Dale Safford · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love the interesting cover, and the plot of murder at a mystery writers convention showed great promise, but I had to force myself to read this book. The characters are cardboard, main character Claire Malloy is just THERE and seems totally unable to pull things together or solve anything, and the dialogue has a very stilted, formal style ("why did you respond so virulently?"-what does that mean?). I went from this slow-moving story to an action-packed, page-turner mystery by Harlan Coben and was thrilled to read it!

In Farberville, Arkansas a mystery writers convention is taking place at the local college with 5 successful authors being featured (and pampered). Bookseller Claire Malloy unexpectedly must coordinate everything. One author's cat disappears, their feared and disliked editor disappears, and a college attendee dies in a suspicious car accident. How can Claire make a success out of all this?

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

#13 in the small bookstore owner Claire Mallory set in the small college town of Farberville, Arkansas. The town is playing host to its first ever mystery convention which is held at Farber College, Murder Comes to Campus is playing host to five major mystery writers representing all areas of the field. When the original organizer is hospitalized, Claire Malloy finds herself in charge of the two day convention. Soon, everything that can go wrong, does with Claire in the middle of trying to keep the demanding authors happy and the convention to run. Then there is a murder.

The overall tone is light mainly because of the cast of characters topped off by Claire's snarky caustic wit and Caron, her 16 year old daughter, who is the drama queen of all drama queens.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Holding a murder mysstery writers convention in faberville, Arkansas, Claire Malloy is left running the mess rather than just selling books to the attendees. On the side, she has to solve the murder of conference attendee as well as the nasty agent to four of the authors. Better than the earlier ones.

[Lesley Looper · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the fact that this was about a mystery writers' convention in the college town of Farberville, as well as the development of the relationship between bookseller Claire Malloy, the protagonist, and Detective Peter Rosen. The ending caught me a little off guard, but it was a good read!

[Jenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mystery convention with 5 major mystery writers was coming to Farberville, Arkansas. They all stayed at an inn and the editor was found murdered in a cistern. Everyone had their own spin on who dunnit. I just wanted to find out the ending.

[Gina Estrada · Rating 2 out of 5]

so much with the plot... mystery writers could be a possible suspect, you'll just never know because the way they think.

[Jewett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy her books and think this ids one of the best Claire Malloy mysteries. Decent plot of lots of laughs along the way.

[Miriam · Rating 1 out of 5]

i had hoped for a good snow-day read. i had to talk myself into finishing it.

[Angela Barbee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ive had enough from these annoying characters! And the biggest twist is that a cat goes missing? Naw...

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 - Very Good

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love ANY mystery by Joan Hess, and this one was great! (A Summer 08 book)

[Helen Fleischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Claire gets through, pushed around by circumstances. Thin resolution but fun.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Arly Hanks