Murder As a Second Language

"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

JOAN HESS is the author of both the Claire Malloy and the Maggody mystery series. She is a winner of the American Mystery Award, a member of Sisters in Crime, and a former president of the American Crime Writers League. She lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas.