Misery Loves Maggody — Joan Hess

When beleaguered chief of police Arly Hanks hears that her mother, Ruby Bee, and best friend, Estelle Oppers. are headed to Memphis on an Elvis pilgrimage, she thinks she may be getting a long-overdue break. But before she can say "Thank you, thank you very much," the trip is completely stalled by a variety of deadly doings.

Estelle calls home to report that Ruby Bee has collapsed and is in the hospital. And even before Arly's seen the delta dawn, one of the other clients on the tour takes a fatal plunge from the hotel balcony--which adjoins the room of a prominent Maggody citizen, who's now doing the Jailhouse Rock in the local pen. What's more, Estelle's all shook up that the tour van is being followed by ominous thugs. For Arly, it's now or never, because if her suspicious mind doesn't figure out what to do quickly, residents of Maggody may be returned to sender--in a hearse.