Colorado Parks & Wildlife Research Library

Fans of the Maggody (Arkansas) series (Malice in Maggody), and there are many, will revel in this entry, which boasts the usual cast of rednecks, salacious preachers and inbred miscreants who keep Ariel "Arly" Hanks, the town's female chief of police, ever alert. Arly's mother, Ruby Bee, is taking a four-day Elvis Presley Pilgrimage with her best friend, Estelle Oppers. Their five fellow travelers prove to be a smarmy and acrimonious group, and it...

"Chief of Police Arly (Ariel) Hanks is still hiding out in her hometown of Maggody, Arkansas (pop. 755), the land of moonshine and Ruby Bee's Bar & Grill, country roads and Nashville on the radio, cheatin' hearts and, well, maybe murder." "It all starts when Matt Montana, country music's number one superstar of the year, decides it's a great PR move to come home to Maggody for the holidays. For a town in the grip of a recession, the news means Christmas...

Maggody, Arkansas (pop. 755) is perceived of as a two-bit hick town, filled with one-bit hicks. But Mrs. Jim Bob Buchanan seeks to change that perception with her latest schemeá charity golf tournament. This presents a bit of a challenge, since no one in Maggody plays golf and there is no course. But when the prize for the first hole-in-one is announcedá top of the line bass boatńearly everyone in town develops a new-found interest in the sport....

As police chief of Maggody, a sleepy Arkansas town, Arly Hanks lives a pretty quiet life. Her tranquility is shattered, however, when a movie crew moves in to film a Civil War documentary. Soon, Arly is dealing with rumors of lost Confederate gold, rabid Civil War reenactors, and some very suspicious deaths.

Rumors fly that the new Stonebridge Foundation, a posh rehabilitation center surrounded by a brick wall and protected by a Spanish-speaking guard and a mean dog, is a lunatic asylum. When a young woman is found drowned in a pond on the grounds, police chief Arly Hanks investigates with her customary aplomb and humor, aided by a less than supportive cast of helpers.

When a local retirement home is transformed into an exclusive rehabilitation facility, the small town of Maggody is torn by rumors about displaced mental patients, a situation that forces police chief Arly Hanks to separate truth from gossip.