Rating: 
Summary: Continued brilliance
Review: Martha Grimes has produced another well written novel. I liked the fact that she she wrote a Richard Jury novel without her featured detective (for the most part). Melrose Plant is once again the star of her stories. My only deduction in rating is for the Bentchley children. Still, it was a great read.
Rating: 
Summary: Martha's latest is a wonderful "cozy" with which to cozy-up.
Review: Martha Grimes maintains near perfect pitch in THE LAMORNA WINK. She has awarded her readers with one of her most balanced narratives. The creative complements and artistics tensions found in Martha's unique blend of puzzle, humor, and atmosphere are evenly sustained throughout this offering. Read Martha's Richard Jury Series at the end of a day that has been too long, when you want to leave the familiar behind and seek quiet enjoyment among the leisured and charming eccentrics who populate these pages. THE LAMORNA WINK is the type of book you read propped-up in bed, wrapped-up in a comforter, with the autumn rain falling steadily atop the roof or the winter wind howling about the house. Let Martha Grimes' characters draw you out of your own world and invite you to join them around the table at the Jack & Hammer. THE LAMORNA WINK is a most satisfying "cozy."
Rating:
Summary: Melrose Plant shines!
Review: Melrose plays a huge part in this book, along with Brian Macalvie!!! Wiggins and Jury show up too...Great Book!!! Enjoyed it very much!
Rating: 
Summary: The Lamorna Wank
Review: The Lamorna Wink came to me highly recommended. Martha Grimes and Richard Jury mysteries were first rate, or so I was led to believe. After an infuriating 420 pages, 300 of which were spent detailing every colour, fabric and carpet type in every room every character entered, I finished The Lamorna Wink as an act of sheer sadism. Not only did Martha Grimes write a superflous 300 pages, but failed to complete the novel. The mystery remains unsolved, or at least, only partially solved. Grimes introduces a new character 400 pages into the novel who is video taped committing murder, but because it would be too painful to the family of the deceased, Detective Brian Macalvie decides not to pursue her. What? Four hundred pages of telling me how brilliant, dedicated and perfect the detective is and in the end, he lets one person get away with murder? I don't think so. Instead, Grimes rambles on for page after page about Vivian Rivington (a character with no affect on the outcome of the novel, or the plot) and her impending marriage. Grimes seems to fall victim the Stephen King-itis: selling a novel by the pound. Here's a novel idea (pardon the pun): just write a story that is truly a mystery, and in the end, makes sense. If you don't have the ability to write a mystery that is solved, then don't write a mystery at all. The characters in the novel were relatively engaging, so have them do something else instead of fail to complete their story. Superfluous characters, overly detailed and in the end incredibly unbelievable and unsatifying, The Lamorna Wink is hugely undeserving of the praise I have seen heaped upon it. Groucho Marx once said that bad drama bores people, bad comedy makes you angry. Groucho, and avid reader, could have added that bad mystery bores you, bad mystery that does not make sense makes you angry. Martha Grimes, pull up your socks, or more readers will skip out on you, and Richard Jury will be hung.
Rating:
Summary: a wonderful book not unlike Signals by Joel Rothschild
Review: the second best book I've ever read after Signals by Joel Rothschild, I reccomend this book most highly and you should check out Signals
Rating:
Summary: Disturbingly good....
Review: The subtitle of "The Lamorna Wink" says it's a 'Richard Jury Novel.' It isn't: Melrose Plant is the central character throughout most of the book. As usual, Melrose is likeable and charming, with friends who are delightful characters, absurd representations of 'high society'. In contrast to the froth is the underlying evil and perversion which is the impetus for the crimes and murders which take place. No, it's not pleasant subject material, but it is all too real--not even the gentle last scene can take away the bitter taste in our mouths. But this is a good book: well-written and moving, with a plot line that is suspenseful and finely drawn. And it makes its point: no matter how much money and glamour one has, or how desperately one would like to escape the ugly side of human behavior, evil is a reality for us all.
Rating: 
Summary: Are We Being Served?
Review: This book was better than the last few Grimes titles, but I have the same problems as several other reviewers.The child murders were indeed gratuitously nasty. Much worse were the episodes concerning Melrose Plant's neighbors in Long Piss. Could the publisher print these sections on colored paper or in italics so that those of us who detest them can skip them? They never have anything to do with the plot, and they're NOT FUNNY. Reading them is like having a half-hour of "Are You Being Served?" inserted into a dramatic program. I always regret having continued to read Martha Grimes.
Rating:
Summary: No thanks
Review: This is my first and last Martha Grimes. I read detective novels for entertainment. I find NOTHING entertaining about murdered children, especially the way she sets it. As an author figuring on best-selling lists, I think the author has a responsability towards readers to not make certain things acceptable, to not de-sensitize us by casually writing about certain unspeakable crimes. There is no retribution to the bad guys, nothing cheerful we can hold on to. There's a vague sense of humour but the last bit about her usual excentric characters is totally out of place and simply doesn't belong there. We simply couldn't care less. As a mother, there are certain things I don't want to think about out nor read about, certain notions I don't want spread nor tolerated. Martha Grimes, I am NOT impressed.
Rating: 
Summary: The Lamorna Wink
Review: This is one of the weaker Grimes novels. The emphasis on Melrose Plant was exelllent as was the fleshing out of most of the major characters but the plot was badly resolved and detailed. The usual Aunt Agatha and Long Pid characters were comic if getting a bit tiresome, but the tone was completely at odds with the main plot. Snuff movies, Count Drac and IRA snippets make for an unconvincing mix. She really shouldn't take such serious topics as pedophila and AIDS and bracket them will almost slapstick humor.
Rating:
Summary: A perfect blend of tense drama and humor....
Review: This was a wonderful mystery, tightly woven and never too revealing, keeps you searching the whole way through. When the story gets too tense there is enough wonderfully dry humor for comic relief!! The characters are interesting and the names of the pubs are great. The tale of the missing aunt and the crimes that come to light are harsh and errie. The story begins with a missing aunt, followed by a mysterious dead woman, the past death of a brother and sister, and that is just the start. Thank goodness for the Long Pid folk and their amusing ways!! This story is a perfect blend of tense drama and humor.
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