About this item
Highlights
- In The Old Success, the twenty-fifth mystery in the bestselling Richard Jury series by MWA Grand Master Martha Grimes, an unlikely trio of detectives teams up to solve three puzzling murders that span three counties across England.
- About the Author: Martha Grimes is the bestselling author of more than thirty books, twenty-five of them featuring Richard Jury.
- Fiction + Literature Genres, Thrillers
- Series Name: Richard Jury Mysteries
Description
About the Book
When the body of a French woman washes up on a wild inlet off the Cornish coast, Brian Macalvie, divisional commander with the Devon-Cornwall police is called in. Who could have killed this beautiful tourist, the only visible footprints nearby belonging to the two little girls who found her?Book Synopsis
In The Old Success, the twenty-fifth mystery in the bestselling Richard Jury series by MWA Grand Master Martha Grimes, an unlikely trio of detectives teams up to solve three puzzling murders that span three counties across England.When the body of a French woman washes up on a wild inlet off the Cornish coast, Brian Macalvie, divisional commander with the Devon-Cornwall police is called in. Who could have killed this beautiful tourist, the only visible footprints nearby belonging to the two little girls who found her?
While Macalvie stands in the Scilly Islands, inspector Richard Jury-twenty miles away on Land's End--is at The Old Success pub, sharing a drink with the legendary former CID detective Tom Brownell, a man renowned for solving every case he undertook. Except one.
In the days following the mysterious slaying of the Parisian tourist, two other murders take place: first, a man is shot on a Northhamptonshire estate, then a holy duster turns up murdered at Exeter Cathedral in Devon. Macalvie, Jury and Bronwell set out to discover whether these three killings, though very different in execution, are connected. Written with Grimes's signature wit, sly plotting, and gloriously offbeat characters, The Old Success is prime fare from "one of the most fascinating mystery writers today" (Houston Chronicle).
Review Quotes
Praise for The Old Success:
"Martha Grimes's novels are a hybrid of mystery forms, all of them hugely entertaining. The Old Success is a perfect example."--Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review
"Entertaining . . . witty dialogue keeps the action moving to the satisfying conclusion. Series fans and newcomers alike will have fun."--Publishers Weekly
"In terms of verbiage, slang and speech pattern, [Grimes] channels the British vernacular flawlessly. Some interesting subplots (one with a race horse, one with a race car and one with an updated take on the Baker Street Irregulars) help to tie up some loose ends and keep the reader guessing as they wait for the surprising big reveal."--BookPage
"The solution to [three] apparently separate mysteries proves much simpler than might be imagined--and who better to pave the way to that elusive truth than Ms. Grimes and Richard Jury, her brilliant creation?"--Wall Street Journal
"The twenty-fifth Richard Jury mystery continues the Grimes tradition of mixing solid procedural details with deft characterization and offbeat wit."--Booklist (starred review)
Praise for Martha Grimes and the Richard Jury mystery series:
"Delightful, surprising, even magical. They begin as police procedurals--someone is murdered, Jury investigates--but Grimes's love of the offbeat, the whimsical and the absurd makes them utterly unlike anyone else's detective novels . . . Although Grimes is American she has a wicked eye for English eccentricity . . . Original, civilized and witty novels that . . . truly are novel and, once come upon, they can become necessary."--Washington Post, on Dust
"Delicious . . . A prime example of Grimes' skill at balancing the serious with the lighthearted . . . Jury and his posse are terrific companions . . . Delightful."--Seattle Times, on Vertigo 42
"Intricate and entertaining . . . A delicious puzzle."--Boston Globe, on The Horse You Came In On
"Wondrously eccentric characters . . . The details are divine."--New York Times Book Review, on The Stargazey
"Swift and satisfying . . . grafts the old-fashioned 'Golden Age' amateur-detective story to the contemporary police procedural . . . real charm."--Wall Street Journal, on The Lamorna Wink
"The literary equivalent of a box of Godiva truffles . . . Wonderful."--Los Angeles Times, on The Stargazey
"Witty, atmospheric mysteries . . . Simply heaven."--Denver Post, on The Stargazey
"Read any one [of her novels] and you'll want to read them all."--Chicago Tribune
"Grimes is not the next Dorothy Sayers, not the next Agatha Christie. She is better than both."--Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"Grimes is superlative at describing the physical world . . . And, when Grimes takes us into interiors, whether it's a posh country home or a down-at-the-heels flat, she is like Dickens in linking human character to habitat . . . A stellar series."--Kirkus Reviews, on Vertigo 42
About the Author
Martha Grimes is the bestselling author of more than thirty books, twenty-five of them featuring Richard Jury. The recipient of the 2012 Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master Award, Grimes lives in Bethesda, Maryland.