Pride v. Prejudice: A Claire Malloy Mystery

Prolific mystery writer Hess, who recently won the Malice Domestic Award for Lifetime Achievement, returns with her 20th book in the "Claire Malloy" series (following Murder as a Second Language). Claire, a bookseller, should be settling into blissful married life with DPC Peter Rosen, but she is too peeved by the prosecuting attorney's unnecessarily humiliating rejection of her during jury selection for Sarah Swift's murder trial. To spite the attorney, Claire promises Sarah, accused of shooting her husband, to help win her case. The problem is that the evidence points to Sarah's guilt, and Claire is in a race against time to solve the mystery before the dreaded arrival of her new mother-in-law. Laced with her trademark humor, Hess's latest novel proves once again that good cozy mysteries need not only take place in picturesque English villages—small college towns in Arkansas will do just fine. Claire's conversations with her teenage daughter, Caron, are especially amusing and so true to life. Series fans won't be disappointed.