MORTAL REMAINS IN MAGGODY

Fans of the Hess stories set in Maggody, Arkansas (Strangled Prose, etc.), will readily conjure up the potential for havoc when a sleazy Hollywood crew arrives to film Wild Cherry Wine, another of their not-so-soft-porn productions. What Arly Hanks, the town's female police chief, doesn't bargain for is the string of murders that soon follows. First to go is 50-ish, one-time big-box-office Kitty Kaye, stabbed to death in the motel room that she shared with character actor-husband Buddy Meredith. He has disappeared. So has cameraman ``Fuzzy'' Indigo, his nickname indicating his perpetual alcoholic fog. Hal Desmond, the crew's decadent, boorish, coke- addicted, blackmailing director, is the next victim. Gwenneth D'Amourre, his sometime bedmate, has also joined the vanishing act. All this—plus a local arsonist, a sneaky moonshiner, and Arly's instant attraction to actor Anderson St. James (who has an unsolved murder in his past)—keep her and the town in turmoil until Arly's clever sleuthing gets to the bottom of it all. Some sly, funny barbs at Hollywood pretensions enliven the familiar foibles of Maggody's goofy citizens—and provide another cheerful chapter in this lighthearted series.