Joan Hess: The Goodbye Body

The Goodbye Body

Joan Hess

St. Martin's, Apr 2005, $24.95, 291 pp.

ISBN: 0312313047

In Farberville, Arkansas, Claire Malloy lectures her landlord Mr. Kalker about rats in the kitchen, mice everywhere else, and ants running amuck ever since he rented the downstairs to summer tenants who believe trash is next to godliness. Mr. Kalker agrees to have exterminators clean out the building, but Claire and her sixteen year old daughter Caron will need temporary quarters for the next two weeks. In her bookstore, The Book Depot, Claire vents to customer Dolly Goforth, who offers her lavish home as a place to stay while she is on the road.

After Claire, Caron and friend Inez Thornton move into the Goforth house, the two teens find a corpse near the gazebo. By the time the police and Claire arrive, the body is missing. The cops assume the "victim" is alive while Claire figures her daughter is a drama queen who needs to go to school in Canada or Finland. Soon afterward an assortment of travelling kooks show up asking for Dolly and claiming open ended invitations to stay. When the original body turns up but vanishes again and Dolly is no where to be found, Claire, who prefers not to get involved, reluctantly begins to investigate the case of THE GOODBYE BODY.

Joan Hess is at her amusing best with this complex enjoyable amateur sleuth tale. The story line contains Claire's cynical humour whether the victim is her landlord, her daughter, rodents, her lover, or a vanishing corpse. Fans of the series will appreciate this jocular yet deep tale while newcomers will think of Hitchcock's The Trouble with Harry. A relationship decision with the man of her dreams (and several nightmares) adds a surprise twist to a fine regional tale.

Harriet Klausner