Cold Flat Junction

Rating:
Summary: Not one flat note to be found
Review: I have a friend who refuses to read Martha Grimes. As an avid mystery lover, she finds the Richard Jury series too graphic in their discriptions...too violent and ugly. I, on the other hand, throughly enjoy these books for the very reasons she gives for disliking them...not because I enjoy violence or its aftermath, but because Grimes is able to capture the reality of a hideous crime without making it gratuitous. So, when I read Cold Flat Junction, I thought I was in for the same sort of story telling...a different location and new characters, but a story with basically the same gritty feeling. Boy, was I wrong! This book was a complete surprise in every way. This is such a departure for Grimes that it's almost as if someone else actually wrote it. This book is a pure delight in every respect. Yes, there is a murder...but, it's the "mystery" that is the driving power here. The characters that fill the pages are like none you have come across in a Grimes story either. The main character is a 12 year old girl named Emma Graham. Emma can be compared to Scout, the little girl in "To Kill A Mockingbird", as she has the same heart, determination, loyalty, sweetness and wisdom far beyond her years as this much beloved character. She refuses to let go of a 50 year old drowning, ruled accidental, but murder in the mind of Emma. She is determined to prove this...and in turn... prove the innocence of someone who has been charged in a current murder. Grimes captures the essence of childhood brillantly, while still telling a gripping story filled with suspense...and even a touch of romance. This isn't just a great mystery...it's great story telling...period. My friend that I mentioned at the beginning of this review, concurs. With much pleading on my part, I finally convinced her...although reluctanly...to give Marth Grimes another try. Well, she did and she can't stop raving about this book. It's a gem. Be prepared for something very different and quite wonderful. Read this book and enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Emma Rocks! The Mystery,well..
Review: I have a love/not quite hate-more like an ambivlent(sic) feeling about both this book and Hotel Paradise. First of all,I love the Emma character. What a great kid,she's smart,funny,and VERY imaginative. Like pretending she's on vacation in Florida along with her mom,the mom's business partner and annoying teen-age daughter. Great stuff and handled in a non-cutesy way. Also,how the sheriff & etc in town treat her wtih respect and don't talk down to her. Ms.Grimes ability to get into a 12 year old's mind is terrific. Ok,the bad part,the main mystery she's trying to solve just sits there like a lump of cold mashed potatos(yes,the food descriptions are yummmy as well)I'm referring to The Queen Family one. I wished she could've just focused on uncovering Mary-Evelyn's drowning instead. I got confused with the two overlapping mysteries. Ok,I'm not a big mystery reader so maybe it's just me. Read it for it's young heroine and the sharp writing if mysteries aren't your "thing" either.

Rating:
Summary: answers?
Review: I really enjoyed this book, but it helps if you read Hotel Paradise first. I am still waiting for answers and hope Martha has a sequel up her sleeve...there were just too many loose ends at the end! I just love the way Martha writes and its always such a pleasure to read her...but who was Rose and Mary-Evelyn's Mother?

Rating:
Summary: Emma's Oz
Review: I've read Grimes before and find her non-Jury books have many of the qualities of fantasy. It seems most evident in this one. First, we have a precocious & engaging twelve year old girl - Emma - with a very active imagination. She constantly builds a colorful & active daydream world - and she's well aware that these are day dreams - a world she constructs as she would have her real world if she had a choice. As the book progresses, it's as though the it IS her daydream. Consider - a twelve year old girl who is left alone, in charge of the day to day operation of a country hotel, who takes taxis & trains as most twelve year olds ride a bike, who 'interviews' adults in a most mature way and is awarded the attention and respect normally reserved by adults FOR adults.

There is an unreal, dreamy quality to the described background scenes though the characters peopling these scenes are well realized - it's almost as though they move against a surreal background. The climactic scenes read like a young girl's fantasy - triumphantly unbelievable. Trust me - I WAS Emma, with that same active imagination at that age and the ability to construct elaborate, ongoing adventures for myself while well aware that they were indeed my own construction.

I agree with [those] who comment that the story line is slight - it's the way it's told that holds your interest. It's an unusual book. I'd like to hear what the author has to say about it.

Rating:
Summary: Grimes triumphs in this non-Jury adventure!
Review: If you're looking for another Richard Jury mystery, this isn't it. Period. However, that said, this is Martha Grimes writing as Martha Grimes, and an excellent job she does, too. (There's no compelling reason all her books have to be about Jury & the Long Pid Gang--much as we wish they were!)

In "Cold Flat Junction," Grimes returns to the scene, as it were, from an earlier book (which did involve Jury) called "Hotel Paradise." In an interview in October, 1999, Grimes explained that she was returning to that scene, not that she was tired of Jury, but that she felt that this story needed to be told, as well. Here, we find young Emma Graham, 12 years old (and most curious!), and a sleuth in her own "write." The setting is small town America (Grimes is, surprisingly, American) and picks up some three weeks after "Hotel Paradise" ends. Emma, precocious that she is, sets out to investigate not one, but three family murders. Sound like too much? Surprisingly not. Grimes, truly, is in good from here (yes, yes, get on with it: it's NOT Richard Jury!) and with the precision of a talented, if not competent, surgeon, she makes "Cold Flat Junction" a worthy read.

Grimes' style is fresh, filled with good literary allusions and at times a sharp wit. While the book, granted, is not her masterpiece (maybe "Jerusalem Inn"? Yes--it's Jury!), Grimes holds her own--and she commands a large literary field--with this one. Read it with an open mind.

Besides, she also stated that Richard will be back! ([e-mail])

Rating:
Summary: The real Martha Grimes stands up
Review: Martha Grimes boggles my mind. She's written a lot of books I admired, a few that seemed lacking, and at least one that struck me as a total disaster (see "Bite the Moon"), but here she dispels all fears that her skills as a writer have atrophied.

There is scarcely a paragraph in this book that doesn't contain a gem of humor, poignancy, or simply character observation worth savoring. It's especially interesting that the theme is similar to the one in the much maligned effort mentioned above - a lonely and resourceful kid tackling some very adult problems. But here there's something very genuine about the emotions. The characters are wonderfully realized and their interaction is often hilarious. It's a coming-of-age story as well as a mystery, evocative and lyrical and clearly the work of a master.

Rating:
Summary: Twelve years old as I wished I remembered it
Review: Martha Grimes gets right there in this one with a twelve-year-old heroine Emma Graham who understands her life's limitations and expansions. The wry humor wipes out the pity you might feel for a fatherless girl, stuck waitressing at the family's seen-far-better-days hotel while her mother takes a vacation without including her or even explaining why she's left behind. The mystery left over from HOTEL PARADISE deepens and winds around here and there through some interesting characters, many of whom we'll grow to like because they're treating Emma with some respect and kindness. This is a great book.

Rating:
Summary: The Incomparable Ms. Grimes
Review: Martha Grimes is a master, and this second book in her Emma Graham story proves that. I really do enjoy her Richard Jury series, but these two books are wonderful in their own right. If you decide to embark on the journey, you should read Hotel Paradise first since a lot is not explained in this book. This is a wonderful coming of age tale starring a very curious and intelligent 12 year old girl. And before you think "Oh children's story", it's not anything at all like that. There is much to learn about human nature in these two books, and Emma's friends and acquaintenaces are absolutely wonderful. And Ms. Grimes' sense of place is so realistic that you are right there with Emma in this pokey little New England town. The Rainbow Diner, BrokeDown house, Slaw's Garage, and Windy Run Diner seem as real as any places that are in your own life. And to steal a sentence from Emma "My life had become crowded with people" - can be what you are thinking when you read this story. Lovely book.

Rating:
Summary: The Incomparable Ms. Grimes
Review: Martha Grimes is a master, and this second book in her Emma Graham story proves that. I really do enjoy her Richard Jury series, but these two books are wonderful in their own right. If you decide to embark on the journey, you should read Hotel Paradise first since a lot is not explained in this book. This is a wonderful coming of age tale starring a very curious and intelligent 12 year old girl. And before you think "Oh children's story", it's not anything at all like that. There is much to learn about human nature in these two books, and Emma's friends and acquaintenaces are absolutely wonderful. And Ms. Grimes' sense of place is so realistic that you are right there with Emma in this pokey little New England town. The Rainbow Diner, BrokeDown house, Slaw's Garage, and Windy Run Diner seem as real as any places that are in your own life. And to steal a sentence from Emma "My life had become crowded with people" - can be what you are thinking when you read this story. Lovely book.

Rating:
Summary: a thin story, could have been told in half the pages
Review: Martha Grimes returns to us her 12 year old narrator, Emma, and Emma's friend the Sheriff, along with a cast of characters at the old hotel where Emma's mother cooks. Over the nearly four hundred pages of the novel, Emma's company wears a little thin. She is a fully realized character, but with all the limitations of her age; her passionate likes and dislikes loom large in the story--and frankly, they are predictable to the point of being cliched. The mystery slowly, oh so slowly, unravels. This tale could have been told more cleanly and concisely in half the time. Martha Grimes is apparently very fond of her fictional creation, young Emma, but her adult readers may yearn for a return to a more mature narrator, or at least to a child who is more seasoned and prescient.