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In the tenth murderous case for Richard Jury, the New Scotland Yard superintendent witnesses a killing in a West Yorkshire inn called the Old Silent, while his highborn, amateur colleague, Melrose Plant wishes to he could perform one as he drives his impossible Aunt Agatha to the Old Swan in Harrogate. Caught up in a triple murder, Jury would go to any lengths to help Nell Healey, the lovely widow of one of the victims. But Nell Healey remains silent as the Yorkshire moors, quiet as the show more grave, while the scope of the mystery widens. show lessTags
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A witnessed murder, eerie decor, passionate characters and mysterious secrets, this novel has all the ingredients for a top-notch thriller. This was my first from Grimes and I will definitely seek out more. I loved the atmosphere that she built and the narrative structure that easily jumps around, keeping the reader on her toes. There were references from past novels that made some ellipses or references more difficult to understand, but it did not impede the overall story. And although I had mostly unravelled the mystery, the plot was clever enough that I was engaged through out. Clever and well-written.
Depressed about his life or, more accurately, lack of one, Jury takes some time off and ends up in Bronte country. After more or less stalking an attractive woman through the Bronte Museum and the Children’s Toy Museum, ashamed of himself, Jury heads for his lodgings at The Old Silent Inn. There, he sees the woman once more, who is meeting a man she obviously knows. Before he realizes what is happening and certainly before he can prevent it, the woman shoots and kills the man; Jury is in the odd position of being a policeman who is a witness to a murder to which he is totally unconnected.
The crime occurs in Macalvie country. Macalvie fills Jury in on the background of the woman—Nell Citrine Healey—and of the bizarre kidnapping show more that occurred 14 years before in which Bill Healey, Nell’s stepson and his best friend Toby Holt disappeared almost underneath Nell’s eyes one afternoon. Billy was kidnapped; the kidnappers demand a ransom that Nell, listening to police advice, refused to pay. Nothing was ever heard from Billy or the kidnappers again. Toby is reported killed in London in an auto accident 5 weeks later. Her husband, Roger Healey, the boy’s father, is the man that Nell then kills 14 years later. Macalvie knows all this, since he was a Detective Sargeant on the original kidnapping case; Macalvie never forgets anything.
There is no doubt of Nell’s guilt in the murder of Roger Healey; the big question is why. Nell refuses to discuss anything. But Jury can not get Nell Healey out of his head, and starts investigating on his own; he brings in Melrose Plant to help out.
Because this is a Martha Grimes story, naturally there is a precocious child who plays a major role. In this book, it’s Abby Cable, niece of the owner of the bed and breakfast place at which Melrose stays. Abby is yet another child who has a remarkable rapport with animals, especially her sheep dog, Stranger, a border collie. When someone tries to kill Abby out on the moor, Abby deploys Stranger and another sheep dog, Tim to round up a flock of sheep scattered over a distant hill and drive them towards her, creating enough confusion that Abby escapes in the midst of the wooly confusion. The scene, told from the dogs’ point of view, is superbly written in a book filled with superbly written scenes.
Melrose, whose life requires melodrama, meets an eccentric American young woman, Ellen Gray, who just happens to be a “hot” best-selling author of avant-garde (meaning no one can understand them) books. Their relationship is both predictable and hilarious.
The climax is exciting, extremely well done. Plot is excellent, one of her better ones. The book is filled with the usual panoply of Grimes one-of-a-kind characters, and the Grimes humor never falters.
Highly recommended. show less
The crime occurs in Macalvie country. Macalvie fills Jury in on the background of the woman—Nell Citrine Healey—and of the bizarre kidnapping show more that occurred 14 years before in which Bill Healey, Nell’s stepson and his best friend Toby Holt disappeared almost underneath Nell’s eyes one afternoon. Billy was kidnapped; the kidnappers demand a ransom that Nell, listening to police advice, refused to pay. Nothing was ever heard from Billy or the kidnappers again. Toby is reported killed in London in an auto accident 5 weeks later. Her husband, Roger Healey, the boy’s father, is the man that Nell then kills 14 years later. Macalvie knows all this, since he was a Detective Sargeant on the original kidnapping case; Macalvie never forgets anything.
There is no doubt of Nell’s guilt in the murder of Roger Healey; the big question is why. Nell refuses to discuss anything. But Jury can not get Nell Healey out of his head, and starts investigating on his own; he brings in Melrose Plant to help out.
Because this is a Martha Grimes story, naturally there is a precocious child who plays a major role. In this book, it’s Abby Cable, niece of the owner of the bed and breakfast place at which Melrose stays. Abby is yet another child who has a remarkable rapport with animals, especially her sheep dog, Stranger, a border collie. When someone tries to kill Abby out on the moor, Abby deploys Stranger and another sheep dog, Tim to round up a flock of sheep scattered over a distant hill and drive them towards her, creating enough confusion that Abby escapes in the midst of the wooly confusion. The scene, told from the dogs’ point of view, is superbly written in a book filled with superbly written scenes.
Melrose, whose life requires melodrama, meets an eccentric American young woman, Ellen Gray, who just happens to be a “hot” best-selling author of avant-garde (meaning no one can understand them) books. Their relationship is both predictable and hilarious.
The climax is exciting, extremely well done. Plot is excellent, one of her better ones. The book is filled with the usual panoply of Grimes one-of-a-kind characters, and the Grimes humor never falters.
Highly recommended. show less
Als Richard Jury die schöne, schweigsame Frau zum ersten Mal sieht, erscheint sie ihm wie eine tragische Königinnen-Gestalt aus einem Shakespeare-Drama. Am selben Abend erschießt die Unbekannte in der Lounge eines vornehmen Country Hotels vor Jurys Augen ihren Mann. Der Fall scheint klar, jedenfalls für die örtliche Polizei. Doch Superintendent Jury macht sich auf die Suche nach dem Motiv und findet bald heraus, dass der Tote nicht der Ehrenmann war, den alle Welt in ihm sah.
The book has silently rested among other books waiting for me to read. I had forgotten the delectable characters of the Inspector Jury series, and the wonderful names of the English pubs. Inspector Jury witnesses a cold-blooded murder, but he cannot walk away from the crime without attempting to save the shooter from the gallows. The story jumps back and forth among the various scenes and characters. Martha Grimes brings a richness of language into the story as the reader journeys into the world of music and family jealousy. Of course, Sergeant Higgins and his multitude of ailments and cures brings comic relief whenever the grisliness of murder invades.
Richard Jury witnesses Nell Healey shoot down her husband in cold blood and refuse to defend herself. Why? And why does this incident increase Richard's melancholia so much that he goes out on sick leave to solve the case? Melrose Plant, Jury's close friend, and Brian Macalvie, the detective superintendent who is never wrong get pulled into figuring out what did happen to Billy Healey and Toby Holt, 2 boys who were kidnapped 8 years before. As always, Martha Grimes depictions of children, their personalities and intelligence are delightful, in this case 12 year old Abby Cable.
The master of British mystery is American. I do enjoy her characters: Jury, Melrose, Wiggins, even Agatha. I almost had the mystery solved, just the wrong accomplice, and wrong victim. But the right reason, money! I really enjoy how Grimes includes children and makes Jury and Melrose interact with them. The children are always critical to the solution of some part of the mystery. And she uses animals well, gives them real character.
1989: novel of murder on Moors in England - also old kidnapping intertwined - good
2004: Jury, Plant — on the Moors
Feeling burned out, Jury takes an unplanned stopover in Yorkshire and books a room at a cozy inn called the Old Silent. Violence finds him anyway when he becomes the only witness to a murder. Though Nell Healey shot her husband in cold blood, Jury will go to any lengths to help her, including taking sick leave from Scotland Yard to investigate. Calling on his old friend Melrose Plant for help, he must break through Nell’s reticence to untangle a web of twisted motives—and twisted lives....
2004: Jury, Plant — on the Moors
Feeling burned out, Jury takes an unplanned stopover in Yorkshire and books a room at a cozy inn called the Old Silent. Violence finds him anyway when he becomes the only witness to a murder. Though Nell Healey shot her husband in cold blood, Jury will go to any lengths to help her, including taking sick leave from Scotland Yard to investigate. Calling on his old friend Melrose Plant for help, he must break through Nell’s reticence to untangle a web of twisted motives—and twisted lives....
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ThingScore 50
Grimes pursues many seductive byways--Greek mythology; the world of jazz and rock; the skills of sheepherding dogs; designer clothes; the Orient Express. She writes, as always, with charm, authority and ironic wit, but the digressions slow and bloat a story that sags midway but recovers nicely. Overlong and self-indulgent but still a class act.
added by Roycrofter
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Author Information
59+ Works 29,643 Members
Martha Grimes was born on May 2, 1931 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She received a B.A. and an M.A. from the University of Maryland. The idea for Martha Grimes' first British detective novel, The Man with a Load of Mischief (1981), was inspired by the name of a British pub she noticed while leafing through a travel book. A longtime Anglophile, she show more has continued to use a British pub as both the title and part of the setting in each subsequent novel in the series which features Scotland Yard Detective Richard Jury, his assistant, Melrose Plant, and Plant's interfering Aunt Agatha. The Anodyne Necklace (1983) won her the Nero Wolfe Award. Her other works include The Stargazey, The Case Has Been Altered, The End of the Pier, Biting the Moon, and Dust. Her title, Vertigo 42, made The New York Times Best Seller List in 2014. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title
- The Old Silent
- Original title
- The Old Silent
- Original publication date
- 1989
- People/Characters
- Richard Jury; Melrose Plant; Brian Macalvie (Chief Superintendent); Alfred Wiggins (Detective Sergeant); Nell Healey; Charles Citrine (show all 23); Martin Smart; Morpeth Duckworth; Carole-anne Palutski; Mavis Clewes; Abby Cable; Irene Citrine; Ellen Taylor; Gilly Thwaite (Detective Sergeant); Dr. Dennis Dench; Princess Rosetta Viacini; Ann Denholme; Stan Keeler; George Poges (Major); Charlie Raine; Stranger; Tim; Mrs. Wasserman
- Important places
- Yorkshire, England, UK; Long Piddleton, England, UK; Jack and Hammer, Long Piddleton, England, UK; Weavers Hall, Yorkshire, England, UK
- Epigraph
- No orchard's the worse for the wintriest storm; But one thing about it, it mustn't get warm.
"How often already you've had to be told, Keep cold, young orchard. Good-bye and keep cold.
Dread fifty above more than fif... (show all)ty below." I have to be gone for a season or so. -Robert Frost
Once born you're addicted
And so you depict it
As good, but who kicked it? --Richard Hell - Dedication
- To Kathy Grimes, Roy Buchanan and my cats, Felix and Emily, who have all entered the old silence
- First words
- He had seen her earlier that day in the museum behind the parsonage.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)He might as well go home and put on a little Trane.
- Original language
- English
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- Reviews
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- Rating
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- 5 — English, French, German, Italian, Japanese
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- ISBNs
- 27
- ASINs
- 14