"I don't think people read mysteries to pit their wit against the writer's," says the author of 19 mysteries, 16 starring Scotland Yard Inspector Richard Jury. "I think the appeal of mysteries - given that our lives are so uncertain - is that you know there will be an answer in the end. It's nice to read something so unlike what life is."

For Ms. Grimes, it all starts with the crime scene, much as it does for her chief inspector.

"I begin with a dead body," says Grimes, somewhat gruesomely. "I have no idea who the person is. I don't know who's been murdered, why, or who the murderer is."
-Ms. Grimes, in the parlor, with a pen (Yvonne Zipp, 01.13.00, CS Monitor)

My Mother-in-Law is a Martha Grimes devotee, so there are always Richard Jury mysteries lying around her house, but I'd never been able to get more than a few chapters into one. So, I don't know for sure whether this entry just happens to be superior, perhaps because it's a very early episode, or whether it caught me in a particular mood, but I did enjoy it very much and looking through reviews of the books it appears that critics do think it's an up and down series.

Ms Grimes is famously an American writing classic British mysteries. Richard Jury, her inspector, is a Dalglieshish figure, while his improbable sidekick, the reluctant aristocrat Melrose Plant, resembles Margery Allingham's Albert Campion. The circumstances under which the two are thrown together are only slightly strained here, but you can already see how dubious later machinations will have to become in order for a professional and an amateur to work together. Meanwhile, one suspects that the English village at the heart of the book is as much a creation of American imaginings as of British reality. add in two other elements for which Ms Grimes has developed a reputation--a precocious child and a suspiciously intelligent pet dog--and you've got a mix that makes for enjoyable, if not entirely credible, reading.

(Reviewed:27-Dec-05)

Grade: (B+) Orrin C. Judd

Tweet

Martha Grimes Links:

    -AUTHOR SITE: MarthaGrimes.com
    -Martha Grimes (Mystery Maven)
    -Martha Grimes (Bookreporter)
    -
    -
    -PROFILE: Verdict on Jury still thumbs-up for mystery writer (NICOLE LEWIS, Dec 19, 1999, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
    -INTERVIEW: Ms. Grimes, in the parlor, with a pen (Yvonne Zipp, 01.13.00, CS Monitor)
    -INTERVIEW: Martha Grimes Author Interview (Charles L.P. Silet, MysteryNet)
    -ESSAY: Profiles of Martha Grimes' Writings (Contemporary Authors Online)
    -ESSAY: Book Notes; Writer Uses Her Plot To Attack an Enemy (SARAH LYALL, July 14, 1993, NY Times Book Review)
    -ARCHIVES: "martha grimes" (Find Articles)
    -REVIEW: of
    -REVIEW: of
    -REVIEW: of
    -REVIEW: of The Jerusalem Inn by Martha Grimes (Newgate Callendar, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW: of Help the Poor Struggler by Martha Grimes (Newgate Callendar, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW: of The Dear Leap by Martha Grimes (Newgate Callendar, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW: of
    -REVIEW: of
    -REVIEW: of The Old Silent by Martha Grimes (MARILYN STASIO, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW: of The Old Contemptibles by Martha Grimes (MARILYN STASIO, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW: of The Horse You Came in On by Martha Grimes (MARILYN STASIO, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW: of The Horse You Came in On (JP, MysteryGuide)
    -REVIEW: of Rainbow's End by Martha Grimes (MARILYN STASIO, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW: of The Case Has Altered by Martha Grimes (MARILYN STASIO, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW: of The Case Has Altered (Ann Bruns, Bookreporter)
    -REVIEW: of The Stargazey by Martha Grimes (MARILYN STASIO, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW: of The Lamorna Wink by Martha Grimes (MARILYN STASIO, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW: of The Lamorna Wink (Sally Fellows, Bookreporter)
    -REVIEW: of The Lamorna Wink (Mystery Reader)
    -REVIEW: of The Lamorna Wink (Bernard Knight, Tangled Web)
    -REVIEW: of The Blue Last by Martha Grimes (MARILYN STASIO, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW: of The Blue Last (Ann Bruns, Bookreporter)
    -REVIEW: of The Grave Maurice by Martha Grimes (MARILYN STASIO, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW: of The Grave Maurice (Ann Bruns, Bookreporter)
    -REVIEW: of The Grave Maurice (Rebecca Barrett, Books on Review)
    -REVIEW: of The Winds of Change by Martha Grimes (MARILYN STASIO, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW: of The Winds of Change (Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum, Bookreporter)
    -REVIEW: of The Winds of Change (Daisy Maryles, Publishers Weekly)
    -REVIEW: of The Train Now Departing by Martha Grimes (Gill Kenington, TangledWeb)
    -REVIEW: of The Train Now Departing (Ann Bruns, Bookreporter)
    -REVIEW: of Send Bygraves by Martha Grimes (NY Times)
    -REVIEW: of The End of the Pier by Martha Grimes (MARILYN STASIO, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW: of The End of the Pier (Michiko Kakutani, NY Times)
    -REVIEW: of Biting the Moon by Martha Grimes (MARILYN STASIO, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW: of Cold Flat Junction by Martha Grimes (Ann Bruns, Bookreporter)
    -REVIEW: of Cold Flat Junction (MARILYN STASIO, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW: of Belle Ruin by Martha Grimes (MARILYN STASIO, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW: of Belle Ruin (Susan Kelly, USA TODAY)
    -REVIEW: of Foul Matter by Martha Grimes (Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum, Bookreporter)
    -REVIEW: of Foul Matter (MARILYN STASIO, NY Times Book Review)

Book-related and General Links:


RICHARD JURY MYSTERIES:

The Man with a Load of Mischief (1981)

The Old Fox Deceiv'd (1982)

The Anodyne Necklace (1983)

The Dirty Duck (1984)

Jerusalem Inn (1984)

Help the Poor Struggler (1985)

The Deer Leap (1985)

I Am the Only Running Footman (1986)

The Five Bells and Bladebone (1987)

The Old Silent (1989)

The Old Contemptibles (1991)

The Horse You Came in On (1993)

Rainbow's End (1995)

The Case Has Altered (1998)

The Stargazey (1999)

The Lamorna Wink (1999)

The Blue Last (2001)

The Grave Maurice (2002)

The Winds of Change (2004)