The Lamorna Wink

Rating:
Summary: Grimes is in top form with 'Lamorna Wink'
Review: "'Just bring me a pot of poison,' said the elegant man, replacing the Woodbine Tearoom menu carefully between the salt cellar and the sugar bowl."

And with a Martha Grimes novel, who can doubt that it is Melrose Plant, her gentrified man about, who is usually on hand to assist his good friend Superintendent Richard Jury in solving the next Grimes murder mystery!

In "The Lamorna Wink," Grimes re-introduces us to the gaggle of characters who have appeared in and out of some fifteen Richard Jury mysteries, characters to those readers who have followed this series through the years and the episodes who are like family members: Aunt Agatha, Sergeant Wiggins, Marshall Trueblood, Diane Demorney, Vivian Rivington, Carole-anne Palutski, Superintendent Racer, Cyril the cat, et al.

This time, Jury has been sent to investigate a situation in Northern Ireland and Grimes lets Melrose Plant have the spotlight. For his legal assistance, he calls in Brian Macalvie, whom we'd met before, and the two of them proceed with the case at hand. A local woman has gone missing, a body is found, and other questions are raised as the author takes her setting out of London to the Devon and Cornwall areas. Of course, by the time all is settled, Jury has returned to tie everything up quite nicely, thank you.

Grimes' Jury novels are all named for actual pubs and this is no exception. It is an adventure in itself tracking them down, incidentally. And in "The Lamorna Wink" she is back to doing what she does best, permitting her unforgettable characters make the world a better place for all of us!

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Rating:
Summary: The Uninvited
Review: A Martha Grimes mystery is a pleasure to read for reason of her character Richard Jury. One casts one's mind over other with whom a female author identifies such as Lord Peter Wimsey and Adam Dalgliesh, but then of course writing is a rather masculine pursuit, particularly for those older than the much talked about baby boomers. I think the men may represent freedom and logical thinking, necessry qualities to detect the circumstances and the perpetrators of crime.

Consider some more the selection of hero. In most cases cited above he is well-born, accomplished, even, possibly, a writer. And so the hero is a sort of dream figure, impossibly better situated and more accomplished than the rest of us.

Also think of this peculiarity--that Martha Grimes, as is the case of Elizabeth George, is an American who habitually situates her mysteries in England complete with English characters. Well, this turn of events is all in all quite interesting, perhaps a means for the writer to hide sufficiently and to get the job done. At any rate, the result in both instances is good. In truth, Richard Jury has a reduced presence in this adventure.

Here we open in the Woodbine Tearoom with Melrose Plant and Marshall Trueblood in discussion about Richard Jury. A feature of the stories is to write about pubs. In the work we have the Drowned Man, wonderful name. It seems the other pub at Bletchley is called the Die is Cast.

Johnny Wells, waiter at the Drowned Man and taxi cab driver, discovers his Aunt Chris is missing. Johnny had lived with his Aunt Chris for most of his life. Richard Jury is in North Ireland but Scotland Yard has never put Melrose Plant on a need to know basis.

The descriptions of architecture in the vicinity of Cornwall, Devon, and Penzance are pretty glorious. Esme and Noah Bleckley died in the sea by the house Melrose decides to rent for a quarter. There is an unanswerable question remaining about the situation of the children. Why did they walk down the stairs in their night clothes.

One of the characters is a chicken king, a wildly successful enterpreneur. He has vacated his own house to live in a nursing home he has financed. Richard Jury shows up. Since the investigators are now looking at six deaths, old and new, and one disappearance, help is needed. The story is convoluted, clever, masterful.

Rating:
Summary: The story continues...
Review: I love Martha Grimes' Richard Jury novels, not so much for the murder mystery in each one, but for the update on the lives of her familiar characters. I wish I could have a group of friends like Melrose Plant, Marshall Trueblood, Richard Jury, Diane Demornay, and all the others who sit around (daily, and all-day, it seems) at the Jack and Hammer in Long Piddleton. This book continues their story. Vivian, at last, is to be married, her fiance comes to Long Pid and meets the crowd. Melrose is almost on his own to solve the mystery, but he has help from other favorite characters, Sergeant Wiggins and Commander Brian MacAlvie. I enjoyed this book very much, and only regret that I will have so long to wait until Martha Grimes writes the next installment in the series.

Rating:
Summary: A strong Jury novel, albeit with "little" Jury
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed the latest of the Martha Grimes "Richard Jury" series, in spite of Jury's near absence in the book. Melrose plant figures strongly and there is just the right mix of the usual Long Pidd characters. Strange (nearly gratuitous) plot twist at the end in the continuing saga of VivViv and the Count.... I suppose it's the "cliff hanger" type of thing that makes you wonder what is coming in the next book. Anyway, enjoyable reading in spite of the rather "dark" solution to the disappearance of the two children. Overall, it's one of the better of this series.

Rating:
Summary: She's baaaaaacckk!
Review: Martha Grimes has come back to full form with the latest 'Jury' novel, "The Lamorna Wink". After, what I considered the disasterous, "The Horse you came in on", I trembled with every new book, afraid she would never regain her full charm. Well, she has.

The book focuses in on Melrose Plant to solve the crime and, though I'm a bigger Jury fan, I had no problems with this. (Richard didn't, why should I?) The mystery is great, though that is not the reason why I read her books. Nor, I suspect, do most of her loyal fans . . ., it's for the characters. And they are priceless in this one.

I don't want to spoil any of the fun, but when Jury and Plant get together, in the vacant house, at night, the interplay which takes place is one of my most treasured between them.

If you have never read one of her 'Jury' books, and are a Mr. Darcy fan, (and who isn't), try Richard Jury on for size. You'll find he fits exceedingly well . . ..

Rating:
Summary: Plant me at his side any day!!
Review: Whenever I travel to the English countryside I, ridiculously enough, look at some of the people and wonder how much they are likened to the characters in a Richard Jury novel. How I would love to go to "Long Pid" and have a G&T with Viv-Viv, Marshall, Melrose and, of course, Richard Jury. They have become some of my most favored characters as Martha Grimes has a gift for making them seem so real. This time the former Lord Ardry gets to shine in the absence of his Scotland Yard friend, and he does it brilliantly. A Lord taking the time to chum with Johnny Wells is a bit hard to believe unless we know of Plant's true background. This case has more twists than Chubby Checker, but Melrose is determined to stick in there, much to the chagrin of his obnoxious aunt. The sub-plots can take us down roads we weren't expecting, forgetting the most immediate crime(s). But Plant gets the job done swimmingly, and Jury's appearance is almost a formality at the end. Is this a hint that there might be a series of Melrose Plant novels coming up? All the characters interact so well I don't believe that Jury would be offended, more likely helpful in a governmental aspect in contrast to Plant's help in an aristocratic way. Don't miss this one...I can't wait to get to Cornwall and have tea and pastries soon!