Amazon.com (ISBN 0671016857, Mass Market Paperback)

Arly Hanks, Maggody's mother-ridden police chief, is a technophobe who cringes at the sight of a mouse, especially when it's connected to a computer. But when Maggody goes online, the Net brings murder, pornography, and maybe Satan to town. Or so the God-fearing folks who live, pray, and mind everyone else's business in Maggody believe.

Gwynnie Packwood, a 17-year-old unwed mother, sees the new computer lab at the elementary school as her ticket out of town, and so does Justin Bailey, the instructor who assures the townspeople he can bring the wired world to Maggody without letting the devil in. Justin and Chapel, his dissatisfied wife, aren't the only newcomers in Maggody; there are also Lazarus and Seth, whose connection with Gwynnie just might have led to her murder. But even without the strangers, Maggody has more than its share of home-grown oddballs, especially the Buchanons, who count among their numbers the mayor of Maggody, his long-suffering wife, pigs of the two- and four-footed variety, and assorted moonshiners and feral boys. The Buchanons drive Arly nearly as crazy as Ruby Bee, proprietor of the Flamingo Motel and the Ruby Bee Bar and Grill (and Arly's mother). And while she may have infinite resources, home-spun wisdom, and irrepressible curiosity and she may see whatever Arly misses and rarely misses a chance to point it out to her aggravated daughter, she's also too much of a lady to tell the police chief when pornographic pictures of Maggody's leading citizens flit across her computer monitor. By the time Arly finds out, they're under suspicion for Gwynnie's murder too, and Satan's stalking the trailer park. Hess's cozies are full of local color and colorful locals; the mystery is merely the container for this Southern-fried ramble through lovingly described and defiantly redneck country. --Jane Adams