Rating: 
Summary: Confusing and fragmented
Review: I've put this book down so many times in the last week in frustration. A book of this length usually only takes me a day or two to read, but this one makes so little sense that it's taken forever. The author jumps from thing to thing and place to place with little regard for her reader, who ends up lost and confused. I still have no idea who half the people in this book are or why they were in it, or how they relate to anyone else. The book is horribly hard to follow and therefore lost my interest far too often. I've not read anything else by this author, and using this book as a guide, I doubt I will in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Confusing and fragmented
Review: I've put this book down so many times in the last week in frustration. A book of this length usually only takes me a day or two to read, but this one makes so little sense that it's taken forever. The author jumps from thing to thing and place to place with little regard for her reader, who ends up lost and confused. I still have no idea who half the people in this book are or why they were in it, or how they relate to anyone else. The book is horribly hard to follow and therefore lost my interest far too often. I've not read anything else by this author, and using this book as a guide, I doubt I will in the future.
Rating: 
Summary: Character Counts
Review: I've read most of her books, but this one in a word is 'crap.' On the back cover of my paperback, the Chicago Sun-Times calls this book 'a juicy stew of a plot.' The New York Times is even worse, calling it 'clever.' Excuse me? Who's paying these guys to say this? You would think after 100 or so years of reviewing, they could at least be honest. I stopped at about page 169 after a complete mish-mash of bad character development: Plant engaging in fairy tales with pre-teen booksellers, some other forgettable character droning on about someone called 'Sweetie,' and the thing with Poe (??) - forget this one, it's even worse than 'Rainbow's End,' which was pretty sad in its own right (at least the Jury/Sante Fe side of the book) and move on to 'The Lamorna Wink' - now that's 'entrancing' (The Orlando Sentinel).
Rating:
Summary: Absolute Rubbish
Review: I've read most of her books, but this one in a word is 'crap.' On the back cover of my paperback, the Chicago Sun-Times calls this book 'a juicy stew of a plot.' The New York Times is even worse, calling it 'clever.' Excuse me? Who's paying these guys to say this? You would think after 100 or so years of reviewing, they could at least be honest. I stopped at about page 169 after a complete mish-mash of bad character development: Plant engaging in fairy tales with pre-teen booksellers, some other forgettable character droning on about someone called 'Sweetie,' and the thing with Poe (??) - forget this one, it's even worse than 'Rainbow's End,' which was pretty sad in its own right (at least the Jury/Sante Fe side of the book) and move on to 'The Lamorna Wink' - now that's 'entrancing' (The Orlando Sentinel).
Rating:
Summary: One of the worst books I ever read
Review: Like other reviewers, I read the reviews on the back of the book that said that this was a great book. They were so wrong. I made myself finish the book - assuming that there had to be some clever tie-up of all these stories. But there isn't one. The murders and the solution are merely minor storylines in this book. And all the rest is annoying characters and talk, talk, talk. There are about 3 chapters AFTER you find out who the murderer is (an obvious murderer) and they serve no purpose except for more talk, talk, talk. This was the first book I read by this author and I won't be rushing to read others.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Disappointment
Review: Martha Grimes usually writes complex, thoughtful mysteries notable for their memorable characters and atmosphere; consequently, THE HORSE YOU CAME IN ON--which finds Jury and his friend Melrose Plant visiting Baltimore, Maryland to investigate a double homocide--will be a great disappointment her many fans. The story is at once very slight and very, very convoluted, involving both an "art" novelist who is struggling to finish her latest work and a student who may or may not have forged a manuscript attributed to Edgar Allen Poe. After a certain point, Grimes also relies upon genealogy for a plot twist--and while I grant that she certainly knows a great deal about writing novels and is at least credible on the subject of Poe, her commentary on genealogy will not pass muster with even the mildest amateur genealogist. In the process we are also treated to chunks of the book the novelist is writing and chunks of the Poe story that may or may not be an elaborate hoax, and by the time the novel winds to its rather tedious conclusion we feel we have read everything except a novel by Martha Grimes. Which is a great pity indeed.
Rating:
Summary: Character Counts
Review: Once again, Martha Grimes demonstrates the richness and diversity available only in character-driven novels such as this one. In fact, such is probably her major contribution to the modern murder mystery, a genre that has been excessively dominated by plot-driven tales. As is often the case in her novels, and is especially true of all involving Richard Drury and the other regulars (e.g., Wiggins and Plant), the plot resolution (who-dunnit and why) is the least significant and satisfying aspect of The Horse You Came in On. Rather, it is the unfolding and subtle interplay of characters that engages and enriches the reader. That being said, this novel will probably not be the correct cup of tea for those who seek only the puzzle and the solving of the crime.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyed the prose
Review: This one is her 12th book about Richard Jury, an English police superintendent. That's why I picked it up -- love an English mystery. However, it is so much more than that. There are murders, detecting, excellent characterization, humor and great dialogue but even better are all the stories within this story. There is a novel being painfully torn from one characters' soul and we get to read not only parts of her novel, but also parts of someone else's who has tweeked it a bit but obviously plagerizing her prior novel. Someone discovers a long lost manuscript of E.A. Poe's (or is it?) And we get to read that too. There are verbal stories told, and dreams. I've never read such an abundace and variety of prose wrapped up in one little mystery!
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