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Richard Jury #13
Rainbow's End
"Once again, Grimes hooks her readers with the engaging Jury and friends and with skillful tucking of hints into unexpected corners."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
When three women die of "natural causes" in London and the West Country, there appears to be no connection--or reason to suspect foul play. But Scotland Yard Superintendent Richard Jury has other ideas, and before long he's following his keen police instincts all the way to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
There, in the company of a brooding thirteen-year-old girl and her pet coyote, he mingles with an odd assortment of characters and tangles with a twisted plot that stretches from England to the American Southwest. And while his good friend Melrose Plant pursues inquiries in London, Jury delves deeper into the more baffling elements of the case, discovering firsthand what the guide books don't tell that the Land of Enchantment is also a landscape ripe with tragedy, treachery, and murder.
"RAINBOW'S END is itself a literary rainbow. It's the skillful blend of mystery and comedy and pathos, a Martha Grimes trademark, that makes this visit with Richard Jury and company so memorable and satisfying."
--Mostly Murder
From the Paperback edition.
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
When three women die of "natural causes" in London and the West Country, there appears to be no connection--or reason to suspect foul play. But Scotland Yard Superintendent Richard Jury has other ideas, and before long he's following his keen police instincts all the way to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
There, in the company of a brooding thirteen-year-old girl and her pet coyote, he mingles with an odd assortment of characters and tangles with a twisted plot that stretches from England to the American Southwest. And while his good friend Melrose Plant pursues inquiries in London, Jury delves deeper into the more baffling elements of the case, discovering firsthand what the guide books don't tell that the Land of Enchantment is also a landscape ripe with tragedy, treachery, and murder.
"RAINBOW'S END is itself a literary rainbow. It's the skillful blend of mystery and comedy and pathos, a Martha Grimes trademark, that makes this visit with Richard Jury and company so memorable and satisfying."
--Mostly Murder
From the Paperback edition.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1995
363 people are currently reading
851 people want to read
About the author
Martha Grimes
114 books1,456 followersMartha Grimes is an American author of detective fiction.
She was born May 2 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to D.W., a city solicitor, and to June, who owned the Mountain Lake Hotel in Western Maryland where Martha and her brother spent much of their childhood. Grimes earned her B.A. and M.A. at the University of Maryland. She has taught at the University of Iowa, Frostburg State University, and Montgomery College.
Grimes is best known for her series of novels featuring Richard Jury, an inspector with Scotland Yard, and his friend Melrose Plant, a British aristocrat who has given up his titles. Each of the Jury mysteries is named after a pub. Her page-turning, character-driven tales fall into the mystery subdivision of "cozies." In 1983, Grimes received the Nero Wolfe Award for best mystery of the year for The Anodyne Necklace.
The background to Hotel Paradise is drawn on the experiences she enjoyed spending summers at her mother's hotel in Mountain Lake Park, Maryland. One of the characters, Mr Britain, is drawn on Britten Leo Martin, Sr, who then ran Marti's Store which he owned with his father and brother. Martin's Store is accessible by a short walkway from Mountain Lake, the site of the former Hotel, which was torn down in 1967.
She splits her time between homes in Washington, D.C., and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
She was born May 2 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to D.W., a city solicitor, and to June, who owned the Mountain Lake Hotel in Western Maryland where Martha and her brother spent much of their childhood. Grimes earned her B.A. and M.A. at the University of Maryland. She has taught at the University of Iowa, Frostburg State University, and Montgomery College.
Grimes is best known for her series of novels featuring Richard Jury, an inspector with Scotland Yard, and his friend Melrose Plant, a British aristocrat who has given up his titles. Each of the Jury mysteries is named after a pub. Her page-turning, character-driven tales fall into the mystery subdivision of "cozies." In 1983, Grimes received the Nero Wolfe Award for best mystery of the year for The Anodyne Necklace.
The background to Hotel Paradise is drawn on the experiences she enjoyed spending summers at her mother's hotel in Mountain Lake Park, Maryland. One of the characters, Mr Britain, is drawn on Britten Leo Martin, Sr, who then ran Marti's Store which he owned with his father and brother. Martin's Store is accessible by a short walkway from Mountain Lake, the site of the former Hotel, which was torn down in 1967.
She splits her time between homes in Washington, D.C., and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 180 reviews
September 27, 2016
Now I remember why i stopped reading this series.
The murder mystery(ies) only seemed to tie the vignettes together loosely. I felt like I never quite had a grasp on what was going on, and that the main characters didn't either.
While the Crippses are interesting - in a sticky, loud, sure-am-glad-they-aren't-my-neighbors sort of way, the rest of the people, well, honestly, they haven't moved on much in the ten years that have passed. Plant is still wandering about, not settling down. His aunt is still mooching off him. Racer hasn't been bumped upstairs, and Jury seems to be in some fugue state. Honestly, was the story supposed to be about his efforts to stop smoking.
I can't believe Jury'd fly across the ocean to look into a death that may or may not be tied in to two other deaths that may or may not have been murder. Like the middle book in a trilogy, this one felt like it was very slowly advancing things that might eventually happen, but I'm not sure I'm willing to continue reading to find out.
The murder mystery(ies) only seemed to tie the vignettes together loosely. I felt like I never quite had a grasp on what was going on, and that the main characters didn't either.
While the Crippses are interesting - in a sticky, loud, sure-am-glad-they-aren't-my-neighbors sort of way, the rest of the people, well, honestly, they haven't moved on much in the ten years that have passed. Plant is still wandering about, not settling down. His aunt is still mooching off him. Racer hasn't been bumped upstairs, and Jury seems to be in some fugue state. Honestly, was the story supposed to be about his efforts to stop smoking.
I can't believe Jury'd fly across the ocean to look into a death that may or may not be tied in to two other deaths that may or may not have been murder. Like the middle book in a trilogy, this one felt like it was very slowly advancing things that might eventually happen, but I'm not sure I'm willing to continue reading to find out.
October 5, 2024
This a heavy, weighty, verbose, paragraphs-going-on-endlessly, with tons of detail and lots of conversations which kind of wrap themselves up in a loop Richard Jury book. One needs patience too get through it all and it DOES help if one is familiar with other books in the series. There's lots of name-dropping with little asides about who this one is, or that...
It starts with the deaths of three women - sort of older-middle-aged women - in three different locations, but all at about the same time and in a similiar way. The deaths look natural, or possibly even suicide. It doesn't give much away to say that one death takes place in an old cesspit at Sarum, an historical site. Another occurs in a church. A third happens in the Tate Museum. Detective Superintendent Richard Jury of Scotland is sort of dragged into the investigation via his old and irritating 'friend,' Brian Macalvie, Divisional Commander of Devon and Cornwall. Macalvie insists there is something more behind these deaths than just coincidence.
(And oh! There are many, many references to the Tate Museum! Mentions of this painting or that - and I looked them up! That added to the detail - the excruciating, exacting detail which Mrs. Grimes used in this book! Detail about food and dress, streets and alleys, churches - AND the American Southwest where much of this book takes place. Yes, Jury flies over; he has his reasons.)
What I do like about these books is the way I kind of sink down into the book - the two majors are so well known to me, it's hard to remember that they are fictional characters! The talk, the walk, the weather, the sky, the light - there's a lot about light in this book! On paintings, on faces, on a meadow, a desert, a distant red-and-gray streaked cliff! It's a comfortable read, in other words, that is, if you can get through the portions which are very word-heavy.
Does Jury piece the deaths together - along with his good friend, Melrose Plant, the titled 'lord' who gave up his titles? And does Jury find a 'lost woman,' a subplot, but a good one. And what about Wiggins, Jury's sometime-sidekick who's sick in hospital reading 'The Daughter of Time' by Josephine Tey. There is so much here!
Four stars - just one off for Too Many Words! (Even for a Richard Jury book.)
I will continue with the series.
It starts with the deaths of three women - sort of older-middle-aged women - in three different locations, but all at about the same time and in a similiar way. The deaths look natural, or possibly even suicide. It doesn't give much away to say that one death takes place in an old cesspit at Sarum, an historical site. Another occurs in a church. A third happens in the Tate Museum. Detective Superintendent Richard Jury of Scotland is sort of dragged into the investigation via his old and irritating 'friend,' Brian Macalvie, Divisional Commander of Devon and Cornwall. Macalvie insists there is something more behind these deaths than just coincidence.
(And oh! There are many, many references to the Tate Museum! Mentions of this painting or that - and I looked them up! That added to the detail - the excruciating, exacting detail which Mrs. Grimes used in this book! Detail about food and dress, streets and alleys, churches - AND the American Southwest where much of this book takes place. Yes, Jury flies over; he has his reasons.)
What I do like about these books is the way I kind of sink down into the book - the two majors are so well known to me, it's hard to remember that they are fictional characters! The talk, the walk, the weather, the sky, the light - there's a lot about light in this book! On paintings, on faces, on a meadow, a desert, a distant red-and-gray streaked cliff! It's a comfortable read, in other words, that is, if you can get through the portions which are very word-heavy.
Does Jury piece the deaths together - along with his good friend, Melrose Plant, the titled 'lord' who gave up his titles? And does Jury find a 'lost woman,' a subplot, but a good one. And what about Wiggins, Jury's sometime-sidekick who's sick in hospital reading 'The Daughter of Time' by Josephine Tey. There is so much here!
Four stars - just one off for Too Many Words! (Even for a Richard Jury book.)
I will continue with the series.
January 4, 2010
Holy Mother of God-this was disastrous! It crawled at a snail's pace and didn't go anywhere. I couldn't wait to finish it-hoping against hope that something interesting would occur in the end-nope! I suppose all authors have one or two clunkers in their series and this would be Ms. Grimes' clunker!
April 28, 2009
It is difficult to keep reading Grimes’ book with detective Jury and rich dilettante Plant, hanging out with his martini friends, talking drivel and pretension. But for some reason they are captivating, and you slog through their meaningless trips and conversations. It is amazing that these two grown men who are extremely attractive are attracted to women for years, and they never get it on. But Plant’s aunt is funny as well as Lady Kennington, and the commentary on social manners is witty, and there are a few plot twists. I enjoyed the New Mexican setting, and after I realized that Grimes lived there, I enjoyed the authenticity of the Southwest. I am not sure the plot held together, i.e. the three murder victims all smoked, but it wasn’t too bad.
August 11, 2018
I've been a fan of Martha Grimes for a long time. When she wrote her book "The Horse You Rode In On," I went to that bar for a book signing since it is in Baltimore. That book was in both Baltimore and England. This book, one that I missed since it was published in 1995, is set in Santa Fe and England. When three women are murdered at different times, Inspector Macalvie sees a connection. Inspector Richard Jury is not convinced at first but agrees to go to Santa Fe where one of the women, an American named Angela Hope who was an accomplished jeweler working in silver and turquoise, has her shop and a home about 15 miles away. Jury meets several of her friends and acquaintances including her cousin, a pharmacist, who freely admits to disliking her as well as her mysterious sister, Mary Dark Hope who is 13 going on 25. Jury also asks his friend, Melrose Plant, to look for Jenny, the woman he is yearning after who is also a missing witness. He also asks Melrose to find a young woman who was there when one of the women died in the Tate Gallery. That she is currently seeing Gabe, a wannabe artist (she is actually much better than he is), and friend of the famous Cripps family, allows Melrose to have several conversations with White Ellie Cripps (if you can call them conversations.) This is one strange family that includes a man who routinely exposes himself as well as a family that reminds you of Dickens. There is also a brief interlude as Melrose finds himself attracted to Miss Fludd, but nothing comes of that in this book. This is typical Martha Grimes. If you are looking for a straight forward mystery, this isn't it. If you delight in quirky people and an author who isn't afraid to show her education, this is perfect. However, I suggest you start at the very beginning and read them in order, starting with the Man With A Load Of Mischief." Hint: all of her Inspector Jury books have an inn or pub as the subject.
April 2, 2015
Grimes is such a wordsmith. I love her descriptions, which stick in your mind without feeling she has stretched to be colorful. And the way she weaves the intertwined strands of her plot, often with sly amusement.
Here my enjoyment was heightened by several references to Tey's "The Daughter of Time," which I recently read and reviewed here. In it, Our Hero solves the long-ago "crime" of Richard III of England, inspiring Grimes' Wiggins to try to solve a mystery from his hospital bed. The mystery of why he is IN hospital slowly becomes more clear as other plot pieces are slowly unraveled.
The recent rl re-interment of Richard III added yet more richness to my appreciation of both books.
Here my enjoyment was heightened by several references to Tey's "The Daughter of Time," which I recently read and reviewed here. In it, Our Hero solves the long-ago "crime" of Richard III of England, inspiring Grimes' Wiggins to try to solve a mystery from his hospital bed. The mystery of why he is IN hospital slowly becomes more clear as other plot pieces are slowly unraveled.
The recent rl re-interment of Richard III added yet more richness to my appreciation of both books.
May 23, 2018
This is not the best Jury. The main characters streak around the globe and have little to do with one another until all of a sudden, the mystery is resolved. There's really no chance the reader could figure this one out since the way these murders are related is only dropped in at the end.
In addition, there's way too much snark about Santa Fe, and the movie-industry dialogue goes on for way too long.
Still, Grimes writes really interesting children who are prematurely adult.
In addition, there's way too much snark about Santa Fe, and the movie-industry dialogue goes on for way too long.
Still, Grimes writes really interesting children who are prematurely adult.
August 31, 2019
After the body of a young American girl is found in the ruins of Old Sarum, Chief Superintendent Richard Jury finds himself drawn into an investigation which leads him to Santa Fe. The author gives us great descriptions of both the British and American locales as well as compelling and engagingly drawn characters. The plot is a bit thin/contrived and the subtle, implicit romantic triangles between Jury and his buddy Melrose Plant seem gratuitous and certainly irrelevant.
February 28, 2019
The mystery seems more about what is Jury’s issues? I’m glad he’s quitting smoking. He seems despondent, along with Plant. Jury flies to Arizona to piece together 3 murders that may or may not be connected. I still like Plant the best. And what is it with Lady Jennie?
February 23, 2015
Disappointed. Although it has been many years since I last read a Richard Jury mystery, I figured that I would get right back into the "swing" of the stories. I found that it was very difficult to recall events and people from the really early novels...so that was annoying.
And, what's up with the Jenny story? What happened in this book? Also, how did the three murdered victims really tie in with one another?
I guess this entire book went right by me. I will read the next one quickly to see if I can pick up the thread of the storylines, as I used to love Martha Grimes.
And, what's up with the Jenny story? What happened in this book? Also, how did the three murdered victims really tie in with one another?
I guess this entire book went right by me. I will read the next one quickly to see if I can pick up the thread of the storylines, as I used to love Martha Grimes.
August 21, 2020
It's a series I have read from book #1 but was put off a little by the reviews I read. Note to self: Don't read reviews first. I loved the characters, as usual, and thought the plot was great. I think I "got" it more than some of the earlier books in the series. The endings in some of those seemed a little sketchy in my mind. I found myself chuckling especially at the encounters between Sgt. Wiggins and Melrose Plant. Could be I'm just easy to please.
September 14, 2008
This book took me a month to read since I couldn't motivate myself to pick it up and finish it. Maybe because it is a British author, but I really just didn't get it. Too many characters and too many random side stories.
October 24, 2023
I loved the characters, as usual (especially the comic relief of Sergeant Wiggins, suffering from hypochondria but completely in his element with a hospitalization), but the crime and the links between the three victims seemed like an afterthought. This is not the deft plotting that I remember from Martha Grimes, and it seems to justify the fact that I abandoned the series a while ago. I went backwards in time and read The Old Contemptibles a few months ago, having gotten them out of order and read The Horse You Came In On as my last book in 2016. That may have been part of the problem, as the characters frequently referenced the events of that book and I couldn't remember the details. Grimes seems to do well with Jury in his native England; when she moves him around to far-flung locales like Baltimore and New Mexico, I tend to lose the thread. I'll probably read the next, The Case Has Altered, eventually, but if the series doesn't strengthen again there are a lot of better-plotted British crime novels out there.
May 21, 2014
Too long; too much time spent with characters going off and "ruminating" and not advancing the plot. Glad when it suddenly came to an end (this was the audio version).
May 6, 2016
Elmore Leonard said he left out all the things everyone skips. Martha Grimes seems to leave in those parts to the detriment of the story. Not to my taste.
February 23, 2020
I set a goal to read or re-read all of Grimes' Richard Jury series. When they first started, my mother and I used to read them as soon as they came out, but sometime after about the 11th or 12th one, I got caught up in having a family, and they went by the wayside.
Suffice to say, they don't age very well. At least they age, though, haha... Jury was a child during the Blitz, so by the time this entry in the series was published, he ought to be thinking about retirement, which makes his musings about the womanliness of a 13 year old character even more awfully creepy. He and his civilian sidekick Melrose Plant seem to swan around with women going gaga over them, when in real life they'd be the odd, middle aged, never married uncles, at any gathering. Add to that the fact that they have both been smoking for decades, and they probably also smell gross.
The first few books in this series had some interesting if cliched backdrops... tweedy countryside murders should continue to be tweedy and in the country. Grimes' choice to move the mysteries to encompass travel to the States ( Baltimore and various places in New Mexico) is just sad.
As I have set the goal of seeing the series through, I will continue. Maybe Grimes gets back on track?
Suffice to say, they don't age very well. At least they age, though, haha... Jury was a child during the Blitz, so by the time this entry in the series was published, he ought to be thinking about retirement, which makes his musings about the womanliness of a 13 year old character even more awfully creepy. He and his civilian sidekick Melrose Plant seem to swan around with women going gaga over them, when in real life they'd be the odd, middle aged, never married uncles, at any gathering. Add to that the fact that they have both been smoking for decades, and they probably also smell gross.
The first few books in this series had some interesting if cliched backdrops... tweedy countryside murders should continue to be tweedy and in the country. Grimes' choice to move the mysteries to encompass travel to the States ( Baltimore and various places in New Mexico) is just sad.
As I have set the goal of seeing the series through, I will continue. Maybe Grimes gets back on track?
March 8, 2023
Martha Grimes’ın Richard Jury serisi benim için tam bir “comfort read”. Biraz kafa dağıtmak istediğimde, hem polisiye olsun hem biraz tanıdık karakterler olsun istediğimde hemen bir Jury romanı okuyorum. Ne yazık ki serinin Türkçe çevirisi yok. O nedenle Kindle’dan ya da sahaflardan bulduklarımdan okuyabiliyorum kitapları.
Rainbow’s End’in başında tarihi bir kalede Amerikalı bir kadın ölü bulunuyor. Göründüğü kadarıyla ayağı kaymış ve düşmüş. Ancak Jury’nin bir arkadaşı bu ölümün başka iki ölümle bağlantılı olduğunu düşünüyor. Jury de muammayı çözmek için Amerika’ya Santa Fe’ye uçuyor.
Polisiye açıdan çok muhteşem bir kitap olmasa da Santa Fe tasvirleri. Jury, Melrose ve çevresinin hikayeleri beni eğlendiriyor. İkisinin de çocuklarla iletişimine bayılıyorum. Açıkçası bu kitaplardan çok da fazla bir şey beklemiyorum. Hele depremden sonra kalbimiz, ruhumuz böylesine paramparçayken biraz kafa dağıtabilmek amacıyla okuduğum Rainbow’s End benim bütün beklentilerimi karşıladı. Polisiye olarak belki 2/5 verilebilir ama genel olarak bende kredisi hep yüksek Jury kitaplarının.
Rainbow’s End’in başında tarihi bir kalede Amerikalı bir kadın ölü bulunuyor. Göründüğü kadarıyla ayağı kaymış ve düşmüş. Ancak Jury’nin bir arkadaşı bu ölümün başka iki ölümle bağlantılı olduğunu düşünüyor. Jury de muammayı çözmek için Amerika’ya Santa Fe’ye uçuyor.
Polisiye açıdan çok muhteşem bir kitap olmasa da Santa Fe tasvirleri. Jury, Melrose ve çevresinin hikayeleri beni eğlendiriyor. İkisinin de çocuklarla iletişimine bayılıyorum. Açıkçası bu kitaplardan çok da fazla bir şey beklemiyorum. Hele depremden sonra kalbimiz, ruhumuz böylesine paramparçayken biraz kafa dağıtabilmek amacıyla okuduğum Rainbow’s End benim bütün beklentilerimi karşıladı. Polisiye olarak belki 2/5 verilebilir ama genel olarak bende kredisi hep yüksek Jury kitaplarının.
April 1, 2024
Overall this series has been a nice listen, light and entertaining. I liked this story a tad better than the few previous because of Jury's visit to Santa Fe (great descriptions), the Wiggins side-story in the hospital (hilarious), and the solution of the crime was explained and satisfying (previous stories felt abrupt and unconvincing).
Steve West does a great job with the narration, as usual.
Steve West does a great job with the narration, as usual.
June 27, 2019
Hier hätte man mindestens 100 Seiten streichen können. Dieses Buch zieht sich ewig hin, ohne dass etwas Nennenswertes passiert. Endlose Dialoge, diesseits und jenseits des Atlantiks. Für mich der mit Abstand schwächste Band der Jury-Reihe. Dabei gefiel mir die Ausgangslage mit den drei Leichen an historischen Orten ausgesprochen gut.
June 30, 2020
A pretty decent mystery set in Old Sarum and London in England and Santa Fe, New Mexico. The most interesting character is Mary Dark Hope, a 13-year-old girl with a pet coyote.
September 20, 2021
Ehhhh . . . not great, and unmotivated to write more.
July 30, 2015
I've recently been somewhat disappointed by the books that I've read in this series - a series that I have, on the whole, found very enjoyable. So, it makes me happy to report that I found Rainbow's End to be quite entertaining. Perhaps the summer heat has addled my brain, but I liked it very much.
This book is the thirteenth in the long (and continuing) Inspector Jury series. As in the last book, The Horse You Came In On, we find Jury being persuaded to take a trip to the United States to follow up on potential clues regarding the death of an American who died at Old Sarum in England. The woman was a silversmith from Santa Fe, who created amazing works in silver and turquoise. Her death at first seems to have been from natural causes or an accident, but District Commander Brian Macalvie doesn't think so.
From our previous acquaintance with Macalvie, we KNOW that he's never wrong. His instincts regarding murder are unassailable, and so when he suspects that the supposed natural deaths of three women in three different locations in England are somehow related, Superintendent Jury knows better than to dismiss his theories out of hand.
The investigation reveals that the two other women who died had visited Santa Fe in recent months before their deaths and they could have met the Santa Fe silversmith who died. On this somewhat tenuous lead, Jury finds himself winging his way to New Mexico to follow up on Macalvie's instinctive suspicions.
Meanwhile, back in England, Sgt. Wiggins is in hospital with a mysterious malady related to an electrical experiment and Melrose Plant is assigned to look in on him and to undertake certain inquiries related to the case, as well as a personal inquiry on behalf of his friend, Jury.
While he's laid up, Wiggins is brought books to read, among them Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time in which her detective solves a historical crime while flat on his back in a hospital bed. Inspired, Wiggins decides to try his hand at researching issues related to the three women's deaths in hopes of helping to solve the mystery.
In Santa Fe, Jury seeks out people who knew the dead woman, including the cousin who had gone to England to identify the body. As he talks to these people, he builds an image of a woman who was impractical and rather other-worldly, maybe a bit lazy - totally unlike the 13-year-old sister she left behind.
The sister, Mary Dark Hope, is one of Martha Grimes' typical precocious and quirky children characters. She is completely down-to-earth, practical, and self-sufficient, and, of course, she has a pet. In her case, the pet is a coyote that she raised from a pup. She tells everybody he is part German Shepherd, but nobody is fooled.
The investigation proceeds apace, involving many of our favorite characters from previous books. and slowly all the threads begin to connect, leading to a pretty exciting conclusion.
I was quite taken with Grimes's descriptions of Santa Fe and its crowded restaurants and craft shops along Canyon Road, as well as its people who devote themselves to serving the tourists who flock there. It all sounded spot on to me, an accurate depiction of the Santa Fe and the New Mexico that I remember from visits. She was particularly good at describing the desert and the quality of light that draws so many artists and would-be artists to the area.
All in all, this was a satisfying read. I'm glad to find Grimes on track once more.
This book is the thirteenth in the long (and continuing) Inspector Jury series. As in the last book, The Horse You Came In On, we find Jury being persuaded to take a trip to the United States to follow up on potential clues regarding the death of an American who died at Old Sarum in England. The woman was a silversmith from Santa Fe, who created amazing works in silver and turquoise. Her death at first seems to have been from natural causes or an accident, but District Commander Brian Macalvie doesn't think so.
From our previous acquaintance with Macalvie, we KNOW that he's never wrong. His instincts regarding murder are unassailable, and so when he suspects that the supposed natural deaths of three women in three different locations in England are somehow related, Superintendent Jury knows better than to dismiss his theories out of hand.
The investigation reveals that the two other women who died had visited Santa Fe in recent months before their deaths and they could have met the Santa Fe silversmith who died. On this somewhat tenuous lead, Jury finds himself winging his way to New Mexico to follow up on Macalvie's instinctive suspicions.
Meanwhile, back in England, Sgt. Wiggins is in hospital with a mysterious malady related to an electrical experiment and Melrose Plant is assigned to look in on him and to undertake certain inquiries related to the case, as well as a personal inquiry on behalf of his friend, Jury.
While he's laid up, Wiggins is brought books to read, among them Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time in which her detective solves a historical crime while flat on his back in a hospital bed. Inspired, Wiggins decides to try his hand at researching issues related to the three women's deaths in hopes of helping to solve the mystery.
In Santa Fe, Jury seeks out people who knew the dead woman, including the cousin who had gone to England to identify the body. As he talks to these people, he builds an image of a woman who was impractical and rather other-worldly, maybe a bit lazy - totally unlike the 13-year-old sister she left behind.
The sister, Mary Dark Hope, is one of Martha Grimes' typical precocious and quirky children characters. She is completely down-to-earth, practical, and self-sufficient, and, of course, she has a pet. In her case, the pet is a coyote that she raised from a pup. She tells everybody he is part German Shepherd, but nobody is fooled.
The investigation proceeds apace, involving many of our favorite characters from previous books. and slowly all the threads begin to connect, leading to a pretty exciting conclusion.
I was quite taken with Grimes's descriptions of Santa Fe and its crowded restaurants and craft shops along Canyon Road, as well as its people who devote themselves to serving the tourists who flock there. It all sounded spot on to me, an accurate depiction of the Santa Fe and the New Mexico that I remember from visits. She was particularly good at describing the desert and the quality of light that draws so many artists and would-be artists to the area.
All in all, this was a satisfying read. I'm glad to find Grimes on track once more.
August 2, 2020
I am getting used to the formula that Ms. Grimes is using with this series. There is an on-going story about the personal life of Melrose Plant and another one about Richard Jury and another one about Wiggins...and several other characters. There is also a character introduced that I think is a vehicle that Ms. Grimes uses as a catharsis for her own personal problems/hang-ups. Then, we have the mystery thrown in and its solution which normally involves all of the characters from the past and some new ones. There is always a precocious child that all treat as if he/she has the maturity and perspective of an adult. Each book is getting longer and longer and the mystery more obtuse. I'll keep recommending because I love anything English. And, this series gives me a glimpse into the life of the idle rich.
October 14, 2019
A sequel of sorts to The Horse You Came In On, but Grimes novels really need to be read in order because the cast of side characters (survivors, suspects, love interests from previous books) keeps growing.
I enjoyed this book better than Horse, but I still find some over-writing of Jury's and Melrose's inner monologues, and under-writing of moving the plot along. And the plot was fantastic. If Agatha Christie wrote this, she'd make the ending much more surprising and satisfying than Grimes does here.
Having said all that, I keep coming back because she is a very good writer and I do enjoy and like the characters.
I enjoyed this book better than Horse, but I still find some over-writing of Jury's and Melrose's inner monologues, and under-writing of moving the plot along. And the plot was fantastic. If Agatha Christie wrote this, she'd make the ending much more surprising and satisfying than Grimes does here.
Having said all that, I keep coming back because she is a very good writer and I do enjoy and like the characters.
August 6, 2019
Rainbow’s End. Martha Grimes. 1995
“But the way you describe Fanny Hamilton, she strikes me as flighty. A bit like meringue. Tasty but lightweight. You didn’t take her very seriously.”
Lady Cray looked sad. “If that’s the way I talked of her, I’m sorry. One has a way of speaking slightingly, sometimes, of a thing or a person who means more than one cares to admit. And, yes, Fanny was, as you put it — “ Lady Cray smiled — “a meringue. But believe me, at my age, I take everyone seriously, that is, everyone I have any liking for. When you’re young, you can afford to discard or ignore or even abuse your friends and your family. We’re very careless when we’re young. It’s not that we become kinder when we grow old, we simply become more careful. Fanny is the sort of person I would probably have bene careless of when I was young. At nearly eighty, I place more importance on holding on to people. I miss her, honestly.” (p. 54)
He smiled at the expression, fleeting, on her face before she’d dropped it; at the look of bewilderment, apparently that something so tiny might just cancel out the persona she had gone to such trouble to create, like tossing a pebble in a pool and watching the surface break, the circles of water ruffling. What she had so painstakingly assembled now had to be as painstakingly reassembled: it was rather like that montage of pictures she had earlier held out. The sable, the hairdo, the horse, the title — all the bits of her life scissored up and waiting to be pinned and pasted in place. . . . And Jury wondered if he didn’t now se something of what Andrew might see: a guilelessness that over the years had been just about trained out of her, but that yet could be resurrected; a painful insecurity, rather than a brittle self-interest, that generated all sorts of effort on her part to get the paper doll properly dressed and spotless. There was, beneath the long fur coats and designer clothes, something uniquely charming about Adrienne Armitage. (p. 80-81)
Melrose felt abashed, embarrassed by what he now realized had been a rather patronizing attitude towards the sergeant. . . . It was just that Wiggins, for all of his virtues, had never displayed much deductive prowess. Wiggins’s value lay in his loyalty, his methodical note taking and attention to detail, and especially in his being able to mirror the fallibilities of witnesses. They were able to identify with Wiggins. No one in the sergeant’s presence felt the need to be infallible — to be brave or strong or healthy. Kleenexes could be brought out, snifflings and snufflings begin, heads and joints ache, tears fall like rain. Jury (Melrose thought) was good at this sort of thing himself. But Wiggins was better; Wiggins was Everyman. Those were his virtues, not deductive brilliance. (p. 142)
Melrose drew the dark gray material through his fingers. It did not feel like silk; it felt like air. “Mr. Beaton, this is ethereal. How can wool be so light?”
The question was rhetorical; the tailor smiled and shrugged — an infinitesimal movement of movement of the upper body. All of Mr. Beaton’s movements were like that, graceful but parsimonious, as if, being so small, he were intent upon husbanding his energy for the task at hand.
For Mr. Beaton, it was not enough simply to be exquisitely dressed. It was also de rigueur that no one should know you were doing it — a man wore his clothes as he wore his sainthood: without advertisement.
. . . . Mr. Beaton always stood. He seemed to think sitting down was necessary only to see how cloth strained over the knee or rode up the calf. And when one stood, well, one stood. He always instructed his gentlemen to assume the same posture they would normally do — not to stand stiff as starch, not as they had been forced to stand in dancing class with books on their heads. Clothes were meant to fit facts, not fantasies. (p. 146-147)
“Honest. He was honest. I was struck by that. . . . You know, if you’re like that, you mightn’t have many friends. People find you disturbing, and you find other people, well, shallow. Because people who are not honest will talk about anything in the world except what they truly think and feel. We don’t do enough of that, I think. Most of us waste most of ourselves most of the time.” (p. 153)
She was fighting hard to project an image; she wasn’t winning. She was not attractive — raw-boned, thin, possibly in her late fifties, but still wearing blue barrettes to clasp and hold back her shoulder-length hair. It was mouse-brown and blunt-cut. But the color had been highlighted so that wispy little strands gave the impression of silver dust. Too many visits to the local hairdresser had resulted in hair the texture of straw.
Sukie Bartholomew was waging a war with herself over her looks. No lipstick, but there was that glimmery brown eye shadow; an uncompromising haircut, but carefully highlighted; an outfit that fairly screamed “I won’t bow to fashion,” but one that belonged on a girl of fifteen, not a woman of fifty-plus. Jury noted these contradictions because he inferred they spelled trouble. A difficult woman, uneasy with herself, dissatisfied, and therefore dissatisfied with the rest of the world. It was as if she eschewed the trap of femininity, the little embellishments that made women attractive to men. Jury had not really thought of it before, but the women he admired were not ones to do pitched battle with themselves over a bit of nail varnish or a dab of lipstick. (p. 198)
“But the way you describe Fanny Hamilton, she strikes me as flighty. A bit like meringue. Tasty but lightweight. You didn’t take her very seriously.”
Lady Cray looked sad. “If that’s the way I talked of her, I’m sorry. One has a way of speaking slightingly, sometimes, of a thing or a person who means more than one cares to admit. And, yes, Fanny was, as you put it — “ Lady Cray smiled — “a meringue. But believe me, at my age, I take everyone seriously, that is, everyone I have any liking for. When you’re young, you can afford to discard or ignore or even abuse your friends and your family. We’re very careless when we’re young. It’s not that we become kinder when we grow old, we simply become more careful. Fanny is the sort of person I would probably have bene careless of when I was young. At nearly eighty, I place more importance on holding on to people. I miss her, honestly.” (p. 54)
He smiled at the expression, fleeting, on her face before she’d dropped it; at the look of bewilderment, apparently that something so tiny might just cancel out the persona she had gone to such trouble to create, like tossing a pebble in a pool and watching the surface break, the circles of water ruffling. What she had so painstakingly assembled now had to be as painstakingly reassembled: it was rather like that montage of pictures she had earlier held out. The sable, the hairdo, the horse, the title — all the bits of her life scissored up and waiting to be pinned and pasted in place. . . . And Jury wondered if he didn’t now se something of what Andrew might see: a guilelessness that over the years had been just about trained out of her, but that yet could be resurrected; a painful insecurity, rather than a brittle self-interest, that generated all sorts of effort on her part to get the paper doll properly dressed and spotless. There was, beneath the long fur coats and designer clothes, something uniquely charming about Adrienne Armitage. (p. 80-81)
Melrose felt abashed, embarrassed by what he now realized had been a rather patronizing attitude towards the sergeant. . . . It was just that Wiggins, for all of his virtues, had never displayed much deductive prowess. Wiggins’s value lay in his loyalty, his methodical note taking and attention to detail, and especially in his being able to mirror the fallibilities of witnesses. They were able to identify with Wiggins. No one in the sergeant’s presence felt the need to be infallible — to be brave or strong or healthy. Kleenexes could be brought out, snifflings and snufflings begin, heads and joints ache, tears fall like rain. Jury (Melrose thought) was good at this sort of thing himself. But Wiggins was better; Wiggins was Everyman. Those were his virtues, not deductive brilliance. (p. 142)
Melrose drew the dark gray material through his fingers. It did not feel like silk; it felt like air. “Mr. Beaton, this is ethereal. How can wool be so light?”
The question was rhetorical; the tailor smiled and shrugged — an infinitesimal movement of movement of the upper body. All of Mr. Beaton’s movements were like that, graceful but parsimonious, as if, being so small, he were intent upon husbanding his energy for the task at hand.
For Mr. Beaton, it was not enough simply to be exquisitely dressed. It was also de rigueur that no one should know you were doing it — a man wore his clothes as he wore his sainthood: without advertisement.
. . . . Mr. Beaton always stood. He seemed to think sitting down was necessary only to see how cloth strained over the knee or rode up the calf. And when one stood, well, one stood. He always instructed his gentlemen to assume the same posture they would normally do — not to stand stiff as starch, not as they had been forced to stand in dancing class with books on their heads. Clothes were meant to fit facts, not fantasies. (p. 146-147)
“Honest. He was honest. I was struck by that. . . . You know, if you’re like that, you mightn’t have many friends. People find you disturbing, and you find other people, well, shallow. Because people who are not honest will talk about anything in the world except what they truly think and feel. We don’t do enough of that, I think. Most of us waste most of ourselves most of the time.” (p. 153)
She was fighting hard to project an image; she wasn’t winning. She was not attractive — raw-boned, thin, possibly in her late fifties, but still wearing blue barrettes to clasp and hold back her shoulder-length hair. It was mouse-brown and blunt-cut. But the color had been highlighted so that wispy little strands gave the impression of silver dust. Too many visits to the local hairdresser had resulted in hair the texture of straw.
Sukie Bartholomew was waging a war with herself over her looks. No lipstick, but there was that glimmery brown eye shadow; an uncompromising haircut, but carefully highlighted; an outfit that fairly screamed “I won’t bow to fashion,” but one that belonged on a girl of fifteen, not a woman of fifty-plus. Jury noted these contradictions because he inferred they spelled trouble. A difficult woman, uneasy with herself, dissatisfied, and therefore dissatisfied with the rest of the world. It was as if she eschewed the trap of femininity, the little embellishments that made women attractive to men. Jury had not really thought of it before, but the women he admired were not ones to do pitched battle with themselves over a bit of nail varnish or a dab of lipstick. (p. 198)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 27, 2018
A very intriguing mystery. Three women die in England within a few days of each other. The deaths don't appear to be related, but one investigator has a hunch that the women knew each other. That makes Richard Jury travel to New Mexico, his second trip to America within a few months. Meanwhile, Melrose Plant, his best friend, is asked to find Jury's newest lady love. Melrose finds her, but sparks fly. A good read!
March 31, 2019
I appreciated delving deeper into aspects of Melrose's backstory and character in this book in the series.
A few great lines:
"It was as easy to hand in your English paper on time as it was to hand it in late. You had to hand it in sometime, didn't you?" P. 372
"If Beatrix Potter had been interested in people as she had been in animals, she would have drawn Mr. Beston." P. 162
"It was the ultimate in lily gilding, like dipping stars in sequins." P. 65
A few great lines:
"It was as easy to hand in your English paper on time as it was to hand it in late. You had to hand it in sometime, didn't you?" P. 372
"If Beatrix Potter had been interested in people as she had been in animals, she would have drawn Mr. Beston." P. 162
"It was the ultimate in lily gilding, like dipping stars in sequins." P. 65
March 13, 2020
I consider Richard Jury books to be “beach reading” and usually they are good for a read over lunch breaks kind of mystery, but this one was simply not good. The plot, instead of leaning towards clever, can only be described as tortured. I guess there is a story there, somewhere, lost in the weeds or wandering in the desert, but really it could be left to wander for all I cared about it. I’m hoping this was an outlier of the series and not indicative of an overall steady decline.
January 7, 2019
This book is about twice as long as it should be. The initial character who found a dead woman at the bottom of an ancient 'guardrope' or latrine, Trevor Hastings, a part-time ticket seller at Old Sarum, could be the main character in his own book. Chief Superintendant Richard Jury of Scotland Yard, his aide, Sgt. Wiggins, and the amateur sleuth, Melrose Plant are rather dull and colorless.
October 1, 2012
This may be one of the worst books I've ever read. Really, really sloooooooow. Mostly about the investigators and their introspection about their lives. The mystery was almost an afterthought. I can't believe I wasted so much time reading this, but I kept thinking it would improve. I was wrong.
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