Cold Flat Junction

Mystery? I suppose. I love the ruminations on Time - peeled back, stretched to the breaking - set in lush - or lonely - descriptions. Then there's silence, like this sentence set in the middle of a rich passage on pg. 82, talking of young girl's terror: "If a cone had dropped on velvet needles, if a star had laid a silver track across the sky, if the dead had turned in their graves - I swear, I would have heard it, that's how silent it all was."
And it's funny. The perfect book for a rainy day.

Cold Flat Junction is the conclusion of the mystery/coming-of-age tale begun in Martha Grimes' magnificent Hotel Paradise (Emma Graham Mysteries. (Be sure to read Hotel Paradise first!)

It's set in an indeterminate time (there's a mention of nouvelle cuisine and the United Nations on the one hand, yet the novel is riddled with train travel, small-town drugstores with soda fountains, a McCrory's, records and horsehair sofas) in an indeterminate place (somewhere on the Eastern Seaboard north of Maryland). You get the sense that both books are a fable of sorts.

Grimes' sequel (a continuation really) surpasses the first novel in recounting the cleverness and tenacity of its 12-year-old heroine. Every character is true-to-life from the show more sympathetic sheriff with the philandering wife to Maude, the good-hearted waitress at the Rainbow Cafe, to the speech-addled Wood brothers to the nasty and domineering 16-year-old Reejane, Emma's nemesis. The ending gives me hope that Ms. Grimes will continue the saga with yet another book about Emma Graham. show less

The prequel to this book, Hotel Paradise, is one of my favorite, read-over-and-over books. Unfortunately, it seems Grimes hadn't even read it recently before writing this. The first few chapters contradict previous events so many times I wanted to scream in frustration. It also seems to have lost the dreamlike, meandering quality I liked so much, as the 12-year-old narrator seems to have matured the 10 years or so that passed between the writing of the two novels, and is now looking back on the events that took place immediately following, while previously, she seemed to be telling about things as they happened. She explains things a lot more now. While some of this is exposition to remind us of what happened in the last book (with the show more aforementioned contradictions and just plain inaccuracies), it continues through new events, so that what seemed before to be a kid's eye view of things, is just plodding and mechanical. It was so disconcerting reading these virtually back-to-back; Emma didn't even seem like the same person. Sheriff Sam DeGehyn also seemed to have undergone an abrupt makeover. Emma's high praise of him being someone who didn't treat her like a kid and actually listened to her as though her thoughts were just as important as an adult's completely vanished, as he discounted her and her investigation of the murders, basically telling her to keep her little nose out of it. Especially if you consider Sam's actions in The End of the Pier where Sam is the only one who doesn't believe the convenient suspect is guilty, it's hard to see Sam here acting like he wants to pin everything on Ben, just because it's so coincidental and obvious. In fact, come to think of it, the two mysteries are quite similar in that there are several murders, an obvious suspect, and then a less obvious guilty party. Only Sam's attitude has done a complete 180 in terms of who he'd prefer to blame.

Two other small nit-picks with Emma's character are that she seems to spend a lot of time going off places with strange men she just met, one even an admitted poacher(!), and aside from said poacher mentioning this one time, no one seems to have any problem with it. Second, I really could have done without Emma's intermittent descriptions of her imaginary vacation to Florida. In an almost-400-page book, a little more editing is definitely necessary. Also, who goes on vacation and leaves their two kids, aged 12 and 14, with no supervision except their 90 year old great-aunt, who never leaves the 4th floor, and a "slow-witted" dishwasher? If this story took place anywhere near reality, this kid would have been tragically raped, murdered, kidnapped, or burnt down the hotel instead of running around solving mysteries.

I did like the way the story was wrapped up, and I do look forward to the third book, Belle Ruin, mostly because I haven't any idea what it could be about unless it's another mystery entirely. I didn't really think the first one needed such an extended wrap-up (the ambiguousness of Hotel Paradise's ending was part of its beauty), but it was interesting to find out more about the Deveraus and get some confirmation of certain theories. At this point, I'm not really sure whether to recommend this book or not. It's kind of a toss-up. show less

This one starts slowly, the first 50 pages or so sounded like Grimes was starting a new, "Emma Graham" series in the vein of her Richard Jury books, but stay with her, this novel becomes marvelous, ironic, witty, allusive. And one mystery is solved by its conclusion.

A bit more plot and less atmosphere than Hotel Paradise which I rate as an astonishingly good book, but still terrific. Really difficult to put down towards the end - leaving you with the dilemma of wanting to read on, yet not wanting to finish the book too quickly. Really looking forward to Belle Ruin which I have not read yet but and my copy has arrived just in time from America.

A bit more plot and less atmosphere than Hotel Paradise which I rate as an astonishingly good book, but still terrific. Really difficult to put down towards the end - leaving you with the dilemma of wanting to read on, yet not wanting to finish the book too quickly. Really looking forward to Belle Ruin which I have not read yet but and my copy has arrived just in time from America.

Emma, a 12 year old tries to solve a suspicious drowning from 40 years ago. Her questions are never direct, but are hints at what she needs to know. Her mother took off for Florida and left her in charge of the restaurant. She also mixed great sounding drinks for one hotel guest.