Murder as a Second Language (Claire Malloy Mysteries) - Softcover

"Snappy, sassy." --Publishers Weekly on Deader Homes and Gardens on JOAN HESS AND THE CLAIRE MALLOY SERIES

"Another fun romp." --Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Deader Homes and Gardens on JOAN HESS AND THE CLAIRE MALLOY SERIES

"Well-paced suspense spiced with wry wit." --Boston Sunday Herald on Closely Akin to Murder on JOAN HESS AND THE CLAIRE MALLOY SERIES

"Clever...irreverent murder and mayhem." --Baton Rouge Sunday Advocate on Closely Akin to Murder on JOAN HESS AND THE CLAIRE MALLOY SERIES

"Wickedly amusing." --Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine on Busy Bodies on JOAN HESS AND THE CLAIRE MALLOY SERIES

"Intriguing...an amusing look at the universal human comedy." --Fort Smith Times Record on JOAN HESS AND THE CLAIRE MALLOY SERIES

"If you've never spent time with Claire and her crew, I feel sorry for you. Stop reading this nonsense and hop to it. You'll see wit and humanity all wrapped up in a nifty murder mystery." --Harlan Coben on JOAN HESS AND THE CLAIRE MALLOY SERIES

"Delightful...worthy of Hercule Poirot in the classic Death on the Nile." --Publishers Weekly on Mummy Dearest on JOAN HESS AND THE CLAIRE MALLOY SERIES

"A good substitute for a trip to Egypt." --Deadly Pleasures on Mummy Dearest on JOAN HESS AND THE CLAIRE MALLOY SERIES

"Hess fans will find much to entertain them..." --Publishers Weekly on Damsels in Distress on JOAN HESS AND THE CLAIRE MALLOY SERIES

"Lively, sharp, irreverent." --The New York Times Book Review on Poisoned Pins on JOAN HESS AND THE CLAIRE MALLOY SERIES

"Larcenous shenanigans...breezy throughout." --Chicago Tribune on Poisoned Pins on JOAN HESS AND THE CLAIRE MALLOY SERIES

"With her wry asides, Claire makes a most engaging narrator. The author deftly juggles the various plot strands...the surprising denouement comes off with éclat." --Publishers Weekly on Out on a Limb on JOAN HESS AND THE CLAIRE MALLOY SERIES

"A winning blend of soft-core feminism, trendy subplots, and a completely irreverent style that characterizes both the series and the sleuth." --Houston Chronicle on JOAN HESS AND THE CLAIRE MALLOY SERIES

"A wildly entertaining series." --Mystery Scene on JOAN HESS AND THE CLAIRE MALLOY SERIES

"Joan Hess is one of the best mystery writers in the world. She makes it look so easy that few readers and fewer critics realize what a rare talent hers is." --Elizabeth Peters, author of Tomb of the Golden Bird on JOAN HESS AND THE CLAIRE MALLOY SERIES

"Joan Hess is seriously funny. Moreover, she is seriously kind as well as clever when depicting the follies, foibles, and fantasies of our lives. Viva Joan!" --Carolyn Hart, author of Dead Days of Summer on JOAN HESS AND THE CLAIRE MALLOY SERIES

"Fresh and funny...her trademark humor is stamped on every page." --Publishers Weekly, on The Goodbye Body on JOAN HESS AND THE CLAIRE MALLOY SERIES

"Hess is one very funny woman." --Susan Dunlap, former president of Sisters in Crime on JOAN HESS AND THE CLAIRE MALLOY SERIES

"Amiable entertainment with an edge." --Kirkus Reviews on JOAN HESS AND THE CLAIRE MALLOY SERIES

"A wildly entertaining series."-Mystery Scene

In Murder as a Second Language by award-winning mystery author Joan Hess, longtime bookseller and single mother Claire Malloy has recently married Deputy Chief Peter Rosen, moved out of her old home, and is preparing to send her daughter, Caron, off to college. All of which is about to leave Claire with something she hasn't had in quite a while: spare time. Which of course means she'll manage to find her way into some sort of trouble...

"Claire sparkles [in] murder as a second language."-Kirkus Reviews

Her foray into French cooking was one type of disaster. But when Claire attempts to give back to her community by volunteering as an ESL tutor with the Farberville Literacy Council, she finds herself railroaded onto the Board of Directors...and confronted with an epic to-do list including but not limited to responding to acts of vandalism, fighting charges of embezzlement, and the murder of a female Russian student. Now it's up to Claire, with the help of her new husband, to solve the brutal crime-one as difficult to translate as the Cyrillic alphabet itself.

"Claire Malloy is one of the most engaging narrators in mystery."-Deadly Pleasures