The Stargazey

theft, law-enforcement, art-fraud, art-theft, murder-investigation, friendship

Trimmed down, the mystery is good. However, there is so much extraneous rumination by both Plant and Jury as well as appearances by odd characters and more red herrings than a large tin of kippers that the reader wants to use a poker on them to get to the end. Which is outstanding, by the way.

An interesting twist on Jury's 'woman of the week, er, case', but the first few pages pretty much explain the entire mystery unfortunately.
There is a return to Catchcoach Street, and the cast of characters there, along with Plant, are really enjoyable. Jury's usual angst and soul wrenching lines of thought are as boring as ever and I find his impossibly beautiful upstairs neighbor truly irritating. Try as I might, I can't find a reason for him to allow her to continue interfering in his life and handing him impenetrable phone messages.
I did love these books (30 or so years ago), and I'm going to continue on to the end trying to recapture my first joy in them, but first I need a break - a palate cleanser if you will - with some of the show more masters of cozy mysteries. show less

Top of the line Richard Jury novel, especially because of the laugh out loud humor of Melrose Plant's encounter with The Crippes family. Once again, Richard is in the wrong place at the right time. By following a woman off the bus, who later turns up murdered - he declares himself a witness. Only problem - the dead woman turns out NOT to be the woman that he followed, albeit extremely similar in looks. Once again, kids like Nancy Pink play an integral role in the story and in moving things along. The usual gang of Aunt Agatha, Marshall Trueblood, Diane DeMorney all have things to do while Melrose is assisting Jury. Long Piddleton is never dull.

I listened to the audio of this book, forgetting that I had actually read it before. I didn't remember much about it though so I kept listening. I've read a lot of Martha Grimes in the past but I'd forgotten how wonderful her writing was. Her characters (Superintendent Richard Jury of Scotland Yard and his friend Melrose Plant, a peer who gave up all his titles) are believable and likeable. Grimes writes with skill, blending wit and humor with the drama of the mystery.

Can't go far wrong with Martha Grimes. Not one of her best, but the mystery was intriguing. But how about a book without a precocious child running around? I've got nothing against them, but they do tend to take over. Adult fiction

#15 Supt. Richard Jury police procedural. This is the first in this series that I've listened to rather than read, and I must say I quite enjoyed Donada Peters rendition as she got a large variety of different voices and accents spot on. Jury gets involved in a case in Fulham, when he follows a woman who's behaving oddly (getting on and off the bus, going into Fulham Palace late at night) and later discovers that she was murdered shortly after he stopped following her. Or was she?

He calls the local constabulary with his information and when viewing the body, realizes that the dead woman is NOT the woman he saw, but someone who looks remarkably like her. How can there be two rather distinct looking women in the same area, both wearing a show more long fur coat? Eventually Jury tracks the other woman down, and gets Melrose Plant involved to check up on the coat angle--the one the dead woman wore had been purchased by her at a consignment shop just that day, and had been set for consignment by a woman in a family who owns an art gallery. Melrose takes up his titles again, staying at his exclusive men's club in London and perusing the gallery in hopes of finding something hinky--and of course he does, more than one something, actually! Sometimes these stories get to be a little on the ludicrous side and you have to laugh at the amazing number of coincidences and plot twists. Some of them I picked up on quite early, some of them I didn't, but despite some of the far-fetched connections, I did enjoy this book quite a lot and plan on carrying on til the end. show less

I am reading this series in order, and Martha Grimes does not disappoint with this addition to the series. It is my favorite so far and has all the characters in it, my favorite Melrose Plant, Richard's neighbor Carole Anne, an appearance by irritating Aunt Agatha, art experts, a murderer, pubs and lots more excellent ingredients, and Richard Jury of Scotland Yard on the case.