Order of Claire Malloy Books
Claire Malloy serves as the central character in Joan Hess's beloved cozy mystery series. As the owner of a quaint bookstore situated directly across from Farberville College in the charming fictional Arkansas town of Farberville, Claire finds herself regularly entangled in puzzling mysteries.
Joan Hess launched the Claire Malloy mystery series in 1986 with Strangled Prose, and the series continues to captivate readers today. The following list presents Joan Hess's Claire Malloy novels in their original publication sequence, which corresponds with their chronological timeline:
Claire Malloy Mystery Series Overview: Strangled Prose marks both Joan Hess's literary debut and Claire Malloy's first appearance. When romance novelist Azalea Twilight meets an untimely end—certainly not the typical fate for writing love stories—Claire discovers that the victim's fictional works contained surprisingly realistic elements. These revelations may provide Claire with the crucial clues needed to solve the murder mystery.
| # | Title | Year | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Strangled Prose | 1985 | |
| 2 |  The Murder at the Murder at the Mimosa Inn | 1986 | |
| 3 |  Dear Miss Demeanor | 1987 | |
| 4 |  A Really Cute Corpse | 1988 | |
| 5 |  A Diet to Die For | 1989 | |
| 6 |  Roll Over and Play Dead | 1991 | |
| 7 |  Death by the Light of the Moon | 1992 | |
| 8 |  Poisoned Pins | 1993 | |
| 9 |  To Kill a Husband | 1994 | |
| 10 |  Tickled to Death | 1994 | |
| 11 |  Busy Bodies | 1995 | |
| 12 |  Closely Akin to Murder | 1996 | |
| 13 |  A Holly, Jolly Murder | 1997 | |
| 14 |  A Conventional Corpse | 2000 | |
| 15 |  Out on a Limb | 2002 | |
| 16 |  The Goodbye Body | 2005 | |
| 17 |  Damsels in Distress | 2007 | |
| 18 |  Mummy Dearest | 2008 | |
| 19 |  Deader Homes and Gardens | 2012 | |
| 20 |  Murder as a Second Language | 2013 | |
| 21 |  Pride v. Prejudice | 2015 |