Rating: 
Summary: The First Richard Jury Novel!
Review: Lately it seems when I've started reading a mystery series I've started in the middle or at the end of things. I was quite pleased when I came across this book, helpfully labelled "The First Richard Jury Novel!", and decided to turn over two new leaves: starting a new series and beginning at the beginning for a change.I found the first couple chapters a bit of tough sledding. Grimes, an American author intent on establishing the setting and tone of an "English Mystery" lays on the Anglicized idioms a bit thick. By about a third of the way through, though, either she laid off or I started to roll with it because I was fully into the story at that point. If you've read her later books, you can probably eliminate quite a few of the suspects on the grounds that they show up later with no mention of being homicidal maniacs. As a first-time-reader I spent a lot of time guessing whodunit (or, rather, hoping someone hadn't done it - "Oh, don't let it be him" and "Oh, don't let it be her"). The ending relies on the knowledge of a bit of English geographic trivia (well, I suppose it's not trivial to the people who live there), but there are a few other clues that savvy sleuths can use to get the job done just as well. While Richard Jury isn't a Poirot, Wimsey, or Dalgliesh (at least not in his first outing), he still is a first-rate literary creation. If you're looking to start a new series of detective fiction, this is a good place to begin. After the first book, I know I'm hooked.
Rating:
Summary: The First Richard Jury Novel!
Review: Lately it seems when I've started reading a mystery series I've started in the middle or at the end of things. I was quite pleased when I came across this book, helpfully labelled "The First Richard Jury Novel!", and decided to turn over two new leaves: starting a new series and beginning at the beginning for a change. I found the first couple chapters a bit of tough sledding. Grimes, an American author intent on establishing the setting and tone of an "English Mystery" lays on the Anglicized idioms a bit thick. By about a third of the way through, though, either she laid off or I started to roll with it because I was fully into the story at that point. If you've read her later books, you can probably eliminate quite a few of the suspects on the grounds that they show up later with no mention of being homicidal maniacs. As a first-time-reader I spent a lot of time guessing whodunit (or, rather, hoping someone hadn't done it - "Oh, don't let it be him" and "Oh, don't let it be her"). The ending relies on the knowledge of a bit of English geographic trivia (well, I suppose it's not trivial to the people who live there), but there are a few other clues that savvy sleuths can use to get the job done just as well. While Richard Jury isn't a Poirot, Wimsey, or Dalgliesh (at least not in his first outing), he still is a first-rate literary creation. If you're looking to start a new series of detective fiction, this is a good place to begin. After the first book, I know I'm hooked.
Rating:
Summary: A delightful book
Review: Talk about a full cast of characters, that word being truly appropriate, including two small children, the annoying Aunt Agatha, the brilliant Melrose Plant and his butler Ruthven, pronounced Rivv'n. The season and locale also play an important role; I loved Jury's delight in an unbroken field of snow. This was a delightful book with wonderful humor. I enjoyed it very much.
Rating: 
Summary: the very first Melrose and Plant mystery
Review: The first Inspector Richard Jury and Melrose Plant mystery deals with dark secrets that haunt the village of Long Piddleton, where a series of murders have taken
place. More over, this is where you get to meet all the lovable characters of Grimes
delightful British Mystery series, all named after Brit pubs. Jury is super investigator, but he must deal with the political side of his job, which he doesn't handle in the same deft fashion as he does solving cases. You also meet Melrose Plant, a mutli-titled Peer of the Realm, who has recently given up his titles, a spot on detective himself, though amateur. His dotty, social-climbing American Aunt Agatha Ardry, determined to be British by osmosis - leaching off her dear, long suffering nephew while eating all the faerycakes. Ruthven, the ever-efficient butler (who never did it!). Grimes loads the tale with a stable of supporting characters, and enough red herrings to make a lunch! Curry is the perfect narrator to bring Grimes prose alive. All her books can be stand alone, but you enjoy them so much more if you start with this one and work your way through.
Rating:
Summary: Fun Book !!
Review: The Man With a Load of Mischief is a fun book. I quickly connected with the main characters. The action was fast and the plot kept me entertained throughout.
Rating:
Summary: Fun Book !!
Review: The Man With a Load of Mischief is a fun book. I quickly connected with the main characters. The action was fast and the plot kept me entertained throughout.
Rating:
Summary: Reprint of a 1981 novel
Review: The title of this novel is the name of a pub/inn which figures into the plot. The novel introduces Detective Chief Inspector Richard Jury who has been sent to investigate murders in the village of Long Piddleton on the River Piddle (the British do have quaint place names). A string of murders during the Christmas season seem unrelated until the investigation draws them together. A number of people in the village have events in their pasts that bring them under suspicion. Unlike most English mysteries, this one has a villain with a gun. The investigation reveals a few surprises as it draws to a conclusion. The novel has implied sexual content and some amount of violence. It is at about the PG-13 level.
Rating:
Summary: Reprint of a 1981 novel
Review: The title of this novel is the name of a pub/inn which figures into the plot. The novel introduces Detective Chief Inspector Richard Jury who has been sent to investigate murders in the village of Long Piddleton on the River Piddle (the British do have quaint place names). A string of murders during the Christmas season seem unrelated until the investigation draws them together. A number of people in the village have events in their pasts that bring them under suspicion. Unlike most English mysteries, this one has a villain with a gun. The investigation reveals a few surprises as it draws to a conclusion. The novel has implied sexual content and some amount of violence. It is at about the PG-13 level.
Rating:
Summary: A Really Good Start To An Excellent Series
Review: This is a very engaging book. It was lots of fun to be introduced to Long Piddleton and to its assortment of eccentric characters. The plot itself is fairly complex, although not completely difficult to figure out, and it ends with what appears to be an action sequence in the life of the Richard Jury books--in a church, no less! It is interesting to be introduced to Vivian, the femme fatale of Richard Jury, Melrose Plant, etc., in this book. I am not sure that I ocmpletely see the attraction, but that seems to be one of the interesting truths about relationships that comes out in Martha Grimes' books--relationships and attractions have a strength and life of their own.
Rating:
Summary: ...
Review: This is the second book by Martha Grimes that I've read. The first was the delightful "The Old Silent", which I think is better than "Man With A Load of Mischief", but not by much.
"MWALOM" introduces us to the main characters in the series, Melrose Plant and Richard Jury. They drive the books with appearances by other reoccuring characters.
The plot was very good, however, the best part of this novel was Jury's interaction with The James'. That scene of him showing the kids how to track footprints in the snow is priceless.
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