Rating: 
Summary: an absorbing read
Review: To my great surprise, I rather enjoyed reading "The Last Blue." I had stopped reading the Richard Jury/Melrose Plant murder mysteries somewhere around "The Old Silent." The thing is, Martha Grimes's style of writing is both lyrical and incredibly sedate; sometimes, this style pays off in spades, and sometimes it doesn't. Added to that was my increasing frustration with the cast of supporting characters (Marshall Trueblood, Aunt Agatha, Vivianne Rivington, Carole-anne Palutski, et al) who frequently came in for more than their fair share of the novel at hand than was necessary, and who sometimes came rather close to kidnapping the novel completely! (I'll leave off completely my impatience over the manner in which both Jury and Plant conduct their romantic lives, nonexistence or otherwise.)"The Blue Last" has a lot going for it. An old friend of Jury's (also a fellow police officer) asks for Jury's help in investigating an event that took place during the early days of W.W.II. Alexandra Tynedale Herrick, the daughter of beer tycoon, Oliver Tynedale, was killed when the Blue Last was hit during an air raid. Also killed in the blast was her nanny's child, Erin. Miraculously, the nanny, Kitty Riordin had taken Alexandra's daughter, Maisie, with her for a walk, and so was spared. Now, the skeletons of a young woman and baby have been found in the remains of the Blue Last, and Jury's friend, DCI Mickey Haggerty, is sure that the remains are those of Alexandra and Maisie, and that more than 50 years ago, Kitty Riordin used the tragic deaths of Alexander and Maisie to put her own daughter, Erin, in Maisie's place. Haggerty is dying of cancer, and this need to prove that the current 'Maisie' is a fraud, is all consuming, and he turns to Jury for help. Saddened by the fact that Haggerty is dying, Jury agrees to help. The murder of Simon Croft, a prosperous broker, and the son of Oliver Tyndale's partner, gives the policemen a 'in' into the Tynedale household. What Jury finds is a strange setup in which the Crofts and the Tynedales seemed to have become one large extended family, and where the enigmatical nanny, Kitty Riordin, is still very much in evidence, though not much liked, and a 9 year old girl, Gemma, whom Oliver Tynedale suddenly brought home one day, and who bears an uncanny resemblance to the dead Alexandra. Why was Oliver Croft murdered? Did Kitty Rioridin replace the dead baby with her own, or is the current Maisie Tynedale the real Tynedale heiress? And who exactly is Gemma? These are the threads that weave this mystery novel together. And what a particularly absorbing mystery novel this was! Grimes did a wonderful job of sustaining the reader's interest as she delved deeper and deeper into the mystery at hand. And I particularly liked the manner in which she depicted the children in the novel. That I think is a real talent: to portray children so realistically. However, a couple of things prevented me from giving it a 5 star rating: the whole Plant-Trueblood Tuscany subplot -- lyrical and diverting though it was, this book would have seemed a lot tighter without that entire interlude; and the use of American colloquialism was a bit odd. And why, oh why do the same characters keep popping up when they have little or nothing to contribute to the mystery at hand (Trueblood, Rivington, Palutski...)? And most important of all: why didn't Jury really look into why Haggerty was so obsessed about discovering if Maisie was Maisie or Erin? On several occasion throughout the novel, he begins to wonder at Haggerty's obsession, but never runs with it. I found this attitude very undetective like, and perplexing. However, slow and sedate though the novel is, "The Blue Last" is a truly riveting and absorbing read. Before you even realize it, Grimes has drawn you into this strange world that the Crofts and the Tynedales inhabit, and into the events that took place more than 50 years ago. "The Blue Last" is a truly excellent read.
Rating: 
Summary: Unsatisfying ending diminishes enjoyment
Review: I always eagerly await one of Ms. Grimes' Richard Jury books and was so excited when "The Blue Last" was released. The characters are like old friends, which is one of the reasons I like series so much. You don't have to read 100 pages to "get into" the book. Richard and company were as amusing as always. This book, however, like the most recent Elizabeth George book, was disappointing because of the bizarre ending. I, for one, do not like cliff hanger endings when one has to wait a year or two to find out what happens next. My recommendation would be to hold off reading this book until the next Richard Jury book is out.
Rating: 
Summary: So you didn't like the ending... so what?
Review: If you've read this far, you've seen the other readers' reviews. and they are disappointed. That's only because Martha Grimes has opted to have an unconventional, suprising ending.... ohhh : something like ... uhmmmm ....LIFE, maybe? I thought it was an excellent book, filled with my favorite characters, and not too much, thank God, of Aunt Agatha. I just want to strangle that woman, don't you! Great plot, old memories, switched identities.... or was it????? Hmmmm, no-one is giving ANYthing away here. For those readers / reviewers who were disappointed, I can only say : you have probably spent too many 28-minute-sitcom-happy-ever-after-tah-dahhhh moments in front of the television. I say firmly, Martha Grimes at her usual best... Great dialog, great rendering of her well-defined, people-I-want-to-be-friends-with characters; delving into one's uncomfortable past, or one's quite short bleak future may cause some readers to slap the book shut. I found it highly readable and toward the end, sitting on the edge of my chair with what I thought was the end... Read the final 3 paragraphs and shouted ..." Ohhhhh...!" I can't WAIT for the next book... please...?
Rating:
Summary: Cruel Way to Treat a Reader
Review: I found the early chapters good but not compelling but soon got hooked, as usual. I do indeed find Richard Jury ever so melancholy and desperatly want to shake him. His relationships with his neighbors are a wonderful example of his unwilligness to enter into a relationship which would challange him. He sticks to 'birds with broken wings' which would ,indeed, include Melrose Plant. BUT THE ENDING !!! A VERY CRUEL WAY TO LEAVE YOUR READER, MARTHA! I kept looking for more pages ,hoping that mine was bound incorrectly
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: The usual cast of a Richard Jury tale are here... and they are delightful. Plant is dragged to Italy to authenticate a painting Marshall Trueblood has purchased. Unfortunately, this never really connects back to the main plot in any satisfying way. The characters of the children, Gemma and Benny, are well done, as one expects from this author. But again, there is no satisfying conclusion. The ending comes abruptly, almost as though the author simply got tired of the story and wanted to bring it to an end. This was 4 stars, up until the last couple of chapters. I hope we have not seen the end of Long Pidd....
Rating:
Summary: The Blue Last
Review: The book instead of being a mystery is very lyrical and rather putting you to sleep instead of making you want to finish it so you can see the end. The end doesn't mean much because you cannot get into the characters. It's a shame because most of her books are so very well written. I think she has written too much poetry lately.
Rating:
Summary: The Blue Last - deja vu all over again
Review: The Jury/Plant series is becoming increasingly repetitious. Melrose under cover, the boy living alone with a dog, a precocious girl, Jury agonizing over the war - I have read it all before. The minor characters from previous books are inserted, seemingly at random, here - for no apparent reason. The plot is thin; I knew the identity of the killer and the motive by page 80. I have read all of the books in this series, and probably will continue to do so. I hope that the author puts more thought into the details of future plots and less into repetitious situations. If this book disappoints, I suggest reading Elizabeth George's Lynley books; they are consistently well-written and entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: Leaves the reader hanging
Review: I have read every one of Martha Grimes books and I think that she was sleepwalking through part of the Blue Last. Her characters in this book aren't as developed as previous books and some story lines go nowhere or in an unbelieveable direction.
Melrose Plant's trip to Florence seems that it should be a part of another book since there is no cohesion between the main tale and this sidetrip.
Rating:
Summary: outstanding story
Review: I couldn't wait to read this. I've loved the Jury books for years. This was no disappointment. However, I also didn't like the ending. It was just plain disturbing. The right things were here, the humor, sadness, plot, characters. I didn't see the ending coming. A very moving book, but I'd reccomend reading the other books in the series before this one.
Rating:
Summary: THE NEXT JURY IS IN
Review: As a mystery writer with my debut novel in current release, I genuinely enjoy Martha Grimes's Richard Jury series. THE BLUE LAST is Ms. Grimes's current work, and it has a fascinating premise. Over fifty years ago, was an identity switch perpetrated during the chaos of World War II? Jury investigates. The usual characters are on the scene. There are some clever sub-plots. The main story takes several unexpected twists and turns. THE BLUE LAST is a winner. I recommend it wholeheartedly.
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