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The Train Now Departing
The author of the Richard Jury mysteries presents two novellas, including Hotel Paradise, an exploration of the emotional isolation and identity quest of adolescence, and The Train Now Departing, in which the female protagonist is embroiled in darkness by the man in her life. 50,000 first printing.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published May 8, 2000
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345 people want to read
About the author
Martha Grimes
114 books1,454 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 66 reviews
July 20, 2017
Well the 1st novella, which the book is titled after, was just kinda like, "Meh." In truth, it became tedious. After they discussed the planned river trip in the Amazon I had to skip to the end and see if what I expected to happen was indeed what happened, b/c I really could not get through reading anymore of that monotony. Well, what I expected did happen, so I scanned the final pages to see that I hadn't missed anything that would add to the tale. Nope, so I called it (thankfully) done and moved on.
The second novella, When the Mousetrap Closes, was better. I manage to finish it and found the characters more interesting, if still somewhat bland. The end left me kind of, "Meh," again, but it was still way better than the other novella.
Overall, I can't say I would recommend these tales to anyone. They might be better as verbal short stories when one is trying to kill time somewhere. That's how I think these tales would be best presented and received, anyway. To each their own.
December 28, 2021
This was really well written, achingly believable but depressing. I liked the spinster protagonist in the second story particularly but overall the idea that you can't connect with people that relationships are just impossible and people are irrational and unpredictable is a disturbing one and possibly not a useful one for the time we live in (the book was written a while back so probably more the fashion to explore the unknowability of the other then).
I didn't like to what extent both stories leaned toward on the (male) deuteragonist as the centre of the protagonists intention. But it was believable. The descriptions of food were beautiful and woven in well.
I didn't like to what extent both stories leaned toward on the (male) deuteragonist as the centre of the protagonists intention. But it was believable. The descriptions of food were beautiful and woven in well.
November 25, 2020
Two stories, each centering on a middle age single woman. Both ending very sadly.
July 17, 2022
Both stories grab right away even though they appear to be about very small things. The first story could be a case study of extremely subtle psychological abuse and how the protagonist fights to keep herself afloat. Also throughout the whole story, you keep wondering what is really going on. It is a lot of fun to guess how it will end.
The second shorter story also has very tiny stitches full of tension that keeps you guessing until the end.
Both are masterfully written and probably under-appreciated. Perhaps if they have been authored by a Lawrence or a Thomas or an Oswald Grimes they might be looked at with deeper interest.
The second shorter story also has very tiny stitches full of tension that keeps you guessing until the end.
Both are masterfully written and probably under-appreciated. Perhaps if they have been authored by a Lawrence or a Thomas or an Oswald Grimes they might be looked at with deeper interest.
January 14, 2021
Two interesting but rather depressing novellas. Both novellas have a woman of a certain age as the protagonist. They spend large amounts of time alone Each starts meeting a man for weekly meals (tea or lunch) but the meetings are unsatisfying to read about. Well written, full of atmospheric details, but not to everyone's taste.
May 14, 2017
Two odd self-reflective novellas. They start nowhere and go nowhere but inside the mind of the narrator exploring the deeply subjective and often deceptive nature of relationships. They are, oddly, both satisfying and not.
May 12, 2023
It helps, well, it helped me, to be genuinely struck by Grimes taking on the work of Barbara Pym.
A quote from a NY Times review:
Barbara Pym, the midcentury [1950s] English novelist, is forever being forgotten, and forever revived. Her novels sketch a circumscribed scene whose anchors were the church and the vicarage, and the busy, decent Englishmen and -women (more women) who shuffled between the two. To read her, one must have an appetite for endless jumble sales and whist drives, and the interfering wisdom of dowagers and distressed gentlewomen. Pym’s is an unsexy milieu, quaint even in her own time.
That should simplify what I'm talking about. The paperback edition has a Hopper print of a woman alone on a train, reading. Perfect. "She" is not married to the man she lunches with at least once a week. His rude silences and patronizing treatment of her is obviously that of a marriage gone cold and unburied. Except he's just a friend, sort of. He's a travel writer. Goes throughout the world and writes books about where he's been in romantic, colorful language.
She asks him about Sorrento. He says, "Cold. Cold as marble." That's it! Tells her she should get out more. Always asks her about her food, but pays no attention to the answer. So she gives up and says "Fine." Apparently good enough....
The second novella is a little warmer. London. "When The Mousetrap Closes" is a phrase enjoyed by the woman, Edith, and her mother as the identifier when either will make a difficult decision. Put off until "Mousetrap" closes. Edith meets a handsome actor in her teashop who plays a string of starring roles, including Mousetrap. They chat, then meet either at the teashop or her apartment every Wednesday. He only takes one bite of each pastry. He denies becoming personally involved in the characters he plays, says it is simply a matter of "going for the trick." After several months of seemingly increasing friendship...well, that would be spoilers, wouldn't it.
Martha Grimes is both herself and a wonderful reflection of the work of Ms Pym. Proving that Pym's work was worth framing as her own. She does it exceedingly well and expands her own craft in a surprising direction.
A quote from a NY Times review:
Barbara Pym, the midcentury [1950s] English novelist, is forever being forgotten, and forever revived. Her novels sketch a circumscribed scene whose anchors were the church and the vicarage, and the busy, decent Englishmen and -women (more women) who shuffled between the two. To read her, one must have an appetite for endless jumble sales and whist drives, and the interfering wisdom of dowagers and distressed gentlewomen. Pym’s is an unsexy milieu, quaint even in her own time.
That should simplify what I'm talking about. The paperback edition has a Hopper print of a woman alone on a train, reading. Perfect. "She" is not married to the man she lunches with at least once a week. His rude silences and patronizing treatment of her is obviously that of a marriage gone cold and unburied. Except he's just a friend, sort of. He's a travel writer. Goes throughout the world and writes books about where he's been in romantic, colorful language.
She asks him about Sorrento. He says, "Cold. Cold as marble." That's it! Tells her she should get out more. Always asks her about her food, but pays no attention to the answer. So she gives up and says "Fine." Apparently good enough....
The second novella is a little warmer. London. "When The Mousetrap Closes" is a phrase enjoyed by the woman, Edith, and her mother as the identifier when either will make a difficult decision. Put off until "Mousetrap" closes. Edith meets a handsome actor in her teashop who plays a string of starring roles, including Mousetrap. They chat, then meet either at the teashop or her apartment every Wednesday. He only takes one bite of each pastry. He denies becoming personally involved in the characters he plays, says it is simply a matter of "going for the trick." After several months of seemingly increasing friendship...well, that would be spoilers, wouldn't it.
Martha Grimes is both herself and a wonderful reflection of the work of Ms Pym. Proving that Pym's work was worth framing as her own. She does it exceedingly well and expands her own craft in a surprising direction.
November 26, 2019
Book review on “The Train Now Departing”
“The Train Now Departing”
By: Martha Grimes
Review by: Roha Zaheer
The Train Now Departing is one of the worst books I have ever read. It’s dull, lifeless and tiresome. The unnamed main character of the story is a bland woman who lives on inheritance in her house in a small town, she has given up her job as a teacher and spends her days in desperation. A chance meeting with a man who writes travel books leads to her with her very limited human contact. The two have late-afternoon lunches during which his attention to his food outweighs her need for conversation; when they do talk, they laugh. She only picks at the rich food, preferring cheese sandwiches at the railway cafe. Everything about the plot is bland and boring. There is nothing that strikes the reader, therefore, keeping the story at a slow pace. I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone I know. The fact that the main character doesn’t even have a name shows the reader that the writer has put little to no effort into the plot.
“The Train Now Departing”
By: Martha Grimes
Review by: Roha Zaheer
The Train Now Departing is one of the worst books I have ever read. It’s dull, lifeless and tiresome. The unnamed main character of the story is a bland woman who lives on inheritance in her house in a small town, she has given up her job as a teacher and spends her days in desperation. A chance meeting with a man who writes travel books leads to her with her very limited human contact. The two have late-afternoon lunches during which his attention to his food outweighs her need for conversation; when they do talk, they laugh. She only picks at the rich food, preferring cheese sandwiches at the railway cafe. Everything about the plot is bland and boring. There is nothing that strikes the reader, therefore, keeping the story at a slow pace. I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone I know. The fact that the main character doesn’t even have a name shows the reader that the writer has put little to no effort into the plot.
January 13, 2021
I devoured the first novella. It was so plain, so mundane, and yet it was perfectly fascinating and whimsical to me. There was nothing out of the ordinary about the events, and yet I enjoyed the ride and the main character realising certain aspects about her life. I didn't see the twist at the end coming, though I had expected something would happen because of how the story was progressing. The settings were fun to experience and I liked how there were no names, so the focus was solely on how ordinary and yet extraordinary the entire story was. There is a beauty in this simplicity.
I didn't really understand the second novella, to be honest, and it was not as captivating as the first in my opinion. However, I noticed a similar pattern with the story, and I also fell in love with the ending, how unsatisfying yet satisfying it had ended up being.
I didn't really understand the second novella, to be honest, and it was not as captivating as the first in my opinion. However, I noticed a similar pattern with the story, and I also fell in love with the ending, how unsatisfying yet satisfying it had ended up being.
July 30, 2018
Two novellas both featuring a middle-aged woman living alone after many years living with their mother who is now deceased. Both women have routines and spend lots of time alone reflectively. In both stories they meet a male stranger and continue meeting weekly one for lunch, one for tea. In the first novella the woman feels like a place-holder for a travel writer who likes someone across the table but seems only to criticize her thoughts and lifestyle. In the second the conversation is more lively and the woman thinks a friendship is growing while the man refers to himself as acting at life and calculating. Both relationships come to an end at the end of the story. I enjoyed the second one more than the first.
February 21, 2021
I kept putting this book down and had no desire to return to it except when it was the last thing on my nightstand. Slow-paced, interior, kind of sad. Both novellas felt like stories from another time. The first story was repetitive. The male character was over-bearing and unkind. I couldn't figure out why the woman would continue meeting him for a late lunch when she didn't seem to enjoy any aspect of their meetings. I had no emotional reaction to the ending.
The second story was a bit more interesting, but I can't make any sense of whatever the point of the ending was. So the third star of this rating is less because "I liked it" and more because Martha Grimes writes well and whether I "got it" or not is beside the point.
The second story was a bit more interesting, but I can't make any sense of whatever the point of the ending was. So the third star of this rating is less because "I liked it" and more because Martha Grimes writes well and whether I "got it" or not is beside the point.
January 9, 2019
Yes, this is introspective and self-reflective and all the like things—especially the first of the two novellas of which this book is composed—but, man!, these are quite the pair of one-note chants disguised as stories.
While I hated neither story fully, they both were tedious to the point of wanting to toss the book aside. The characters of the titular novella, The Train Now Departing, were fully fleshed out in some aspects but in others they felt oddly flat and disjointed. Yes, this truly explored many facets of human nature and was relatable in bits and pieces, stops and starts, but this was as disconnected from being immersive as a bucket of cold water being dumped on you. I wanted to like the narrator, a middle-aged woman who (for reasons never really explained or explored) continues to have meals with this male travel writer. The two are clearly incompatible, and perhaps I was supposed to feel that she had latched on to him for companionship, but she felt too strongly against him and made very little excuses for his disinterested behavior and disconnected manner. I never felt that she misunderstood her own feelings about him, that she was feeling a connection when there assuredly was none, and she even seemed to understand his personality, too. I could make neither heads nor tails of the pair of them, and my irritation grew to the point of resentment. This story barely goes anywhere, and when it does I had lost the interest level necessary to even care.
The second novella, When the Mousetrap Closes, shorter than the first, was somehow even more bland and lifeless despite sporting much more dialogue and would-be relatable scenes. This one tried a bit too hard and was a bit too similar to the first to stand on its own. Just like the first novella, I very much felt the desire to be insightful and honed, but there was no balance struck with either story and both left me feeling indifferent and slightly irritated.
While I hated neither story fully, they both were tedious to the point of wanting to toss the book aside. The characters of the titular novella, The Train Now Departing, were fully fleshed out in some aspects but in others they felt oddly flat and disjointed. Yes, this truly explored many facets of human nature and was relatable in bits and pieces, stops and starts, but this was as disconnected from being immersive as a bucket of cold water being dumped on you. I wanted to like the narrator, a middle-aged woman who (for reasons never really explained or explored) continues to have meals with this male travel writer. The two are clearly incompatible, and perhaps I was supposed to feel that she had latched on to him for companionship, but she felt too strongly against him and made very little excuses for his disinterested behavior and disconnected manner. I never felt that she misunderstood her own feelings about him, that she was feeling a connection when there assuredly was none, and she even seemed to understand his personality, too. I could make neither heads nor tails of the pair of them, and my irritation grew to the point of resentment. This story barely goes anywhere, and when it does I had lost the interest level necessary to even care.
The second novella, When the Mousetrap Closes, shorter than the first, was somehow even more bland and lifeless despite sporting much more dialogue and would-be relatable scenes. This one tried a bit too hard and was a bit too similar to the first to stand on its own. Just like the first novella, I very much felt the desire to be insightful and honed, but there was no balance struck with either story and both left me feeling indifferent and slightly irritated.
April 16, 2024
Both novellas in this book are about women of a certain age who meet men for lunch. In the first novella, the women meets with a man who is a travel writer and they have late lunches. I really struggled to get through the first novella and found it tedious and just blah. The second novella a lady of a certain age meets an actor in a cafe and they have tea every Wednesday and really do not have interesting conversations. The second novella was just as tedious as the first. I usually like this author's books and was really disappointed with this selection.
January 11, 2019
A *huge* disappointment. Through the years, I have very much enjoyed reading Grimes’ mystery series featuring Richard Jury, but her departure from the mystery genre into straight fiction falls flat, in my opinion. The two novellas which comprise this book are dark, depressing and dull. I actually didn’t finish the second one, because reading it felt like I was slogging through mud—not my idea of fun. I’ll stick to the Jury mysteries, thanks.
October 28, 2022
This very short book of two novellas is oddly entertaining to me. It isn't a mystery except in the way that all novels are mysteries, who knows what will happen and why. The story should be read aloud like poetry or a narration. It follows a woman's thought patterns in third person. I could imagine a womans's voice heard on a PBS program reading as a film runs through the days. Nothing really happens in either story, but both had twists. I had fun.
April 7, 2019
I liked this book (actually, 2 novellas) for it's melanch0ly mood. It is totally appropriate that the dust jacket bears a reproduction of a painting by Edward Hopper. Entering into the storiess of the two protagonists is like walking into Hopper's world.
March 5, 2020
For those of you who prefer a fast-moving plot with lots of action: let this train pass by. For those of you who prefer character development and good prose, all aboard. Two novellas that work well together. Themes of isolation and observation.
April 22, 2018
Love all her writing. Author has the knack of bringing out all the inner workings of her characters.
April 25, 2018
I found both stories to be rather monotonous, although I actually made it through the second one (unlike the first.)
March 6, 2019
Two novellas, each interesting in it's own way, each a story of human nature.
December 29, 2019
These are two novellas, both intriguing but not as fascinating as Grimes' usual long novels.
January 22, 2020
Uneven short stories.
May 11, 2020
Did not like the first story. Second story was very good.
dnf
May 21, 2020DNF - Bland, boring, and pointless.
April 9, 2022
The first novella was pointless, over detailed and went no where. The second novella seemed the right length but was a bit predictable and sad.
January 1, 2024
Well written short novels. Not much happens but the writing is great & holds my attention.
November 10, 2025
I love Martha Grimes' books but NOT these novellas. Boring! I kept reading to see if they'd improve - they didn't.
January 19, 2014
Introspective, insightful, painfully honest, these two novellas depict the story of two middle-aged women living a self-imposed, solitary life. Their emotional isolation is interrupted by an accidental meeting with a stranger, a chance meeting that evolves into regular meetings over a period of time, life-changing, and with a personal cost.
The first woman, identified only by “she,” meets for lengthy, late lunches with a travel writer. For pages, the reader observes the dance of their conversation with her pressing for meaning and substance, and him, avoiding. Food seemed to be a refuge of sorts to him, serving to excuse him from conversation. Conversations are filled with irony, “’Opaque,” he announced, ”I sometimes wonder if (Wallace) Stevens was really talking about anything at all.’” So lonely is she that the travel writer’s, avoidance of satisfying conversation, his ego, arrogance and sarcasm do not deter her from continuing their meetings. “He enjoyed mouthing absurdities at her.”…“Trouble with you is, you’re one of those people who think trips are parables. Metaphors of discovery. Well, they aren’t.”
Spending hours alone in a railroad station café, she contemplates their “conversations,” the cook, the waitress, the occasional customer, and her own life of low expectations. “She had thought her life accidental; now she saw it was arranged: the same things done at the same time with scarcely any room for accident.” She acknowledged others might think her life “mean, meager.” “Her uneventful life made her close her eyes tightly and flush, momentarily with a sense of shame.”
Yet, her interior life is rich with substance (and left me cheering her on from the other side of the page)…What makes a courageous act?...What distinguishes sanity from madness?...”Beauty is momentary in the mind.”
The end, with much irony and drama, is her tearful epiphany about “nuances, the complexity of feelings, the shadowy atmosphere of friendship.”… “I thought I was immune.”
“When the Mousetrap Closes,” the second novella, features Edith Parenger, a woman, paralyzed by the death of her mother, postponing important life decisions until “after ‘The Mousetrap’ closes.” Her accidental meeting at Mrs. Dawson’s Tearoom with a much younger actor, Archie Marchbank, evolves into Wednesday meetings while his play is (secretly) in rehearsal. Unlike the characters in the first novella, Edith and Archie respectfully challenge each other’s thinking, and their conversations seem more substantial. Yet, while Edith views their relationship as friendship, Grimes foreshadows what lies ahead through Archie: “Do we like that? Being tricked?”… “Nothing really exists outside its role.”… “(I am) calculating.”
“She felt somehow shamed that her life was so narrow that it covered such a small territory, that if she raised the spyglass she would see nothing but blank gray matter.” (Both novellas are filled with this exquisite language, these thoughtful, soul-baring moments of candor.) When Archie announces the play is ready to open and the Wednesday meetings will end, Edith realizes how “ephemeral” or “unrooted” their relationship really was. So caught up in the play, the end of their meetings does not bother the egocentric Archie at all. Then, second guessing their relationship, “what if she…,” Edith realizes their meetings simply allowed him to pass through tedious afternoons. Later, watching the play, Edith further realizes she had been some sort of experiment for Archie but still wondered “how it all might have turned out if she’d read her lines right, if she’d been a better actress.” Edith predicts correctly the play will eventually fold into itself under “the weight of ambiguity and its pretentious solipsism,” a metaphor perhaps for the relationships in both novellas.
The first woman, identified only by “she,” meets for lengthy, late lunches with a travel writer. For pages, the reader observes the dance of their conversation with her pressing for meaning and substance, and him, avoiding. Food seemed to be a refuge of sorts to him, serving to excuse him from conversation. Conversations are filled with irony, “’Opaque,” he announced, ”I sometimes wonder if (Wallace) Stevens was really talking about anything at all.’” So lonely is she that the travel writer’s, avoidance of satisfying conversation, his ego, arrogance and sarcasm do not deter her from continuing their meetings. “He enjoyed mouthing absurdities at her.”…“Trouble with you is, you’re one of those people who think trips are parables. Metaphors of discovery. Well, they aren’t.”
Spending hours alone in a railroad station café, she contemplates their “conversations,” the cook, the waitress, the occasional customer, and her own life of low expectations. “She had thought her life accidental; now she saw it was arranged: the same things done at the same time with scarcely any room for accident.” She acknowledged others might think her life “mean, meager.” “Her uneventful life made her close her eyes tightly and flush, momentarily with a sense of shame.”
Yet, her interior life is rich with substance (and left me cheering her on from the other side of the page)…What makes a courageous act?...What distinguishes sanity from madness?...”Beauty is momentary in the mind.”
The end, with much irony and drama, is her tearful epiphany about “nuances, the complexity of feelings, the shadowy atmosphere of friendship.”… “I thought I was immune.”
“When the Mousetrap Closes,” the second novella, features Edith Parenger, a woman, paralyzed by the death of her mother, postponing important life decisions until “after ‘The Mousetrap’ closes.” Her accidental meeting at Mrs. Dawson’s Tearoom with a much younger actor, Archie Marchbank, evolves into Wednesday meetings while his play is (secretly) in rehearsal. Unlike the characters in the first novella, Edith and Archie respectfully challenge each other’s thinking, and their conversations seem more substantial. Yet, while Edith views their relationship as friendship, Grimes foreshadows what lies ahead through Archie: “Do we like that? Being tricked?”… “Nothing really exists outside its role.”… “(I am) calculating.”
“She felt somehow shamed that her life was so narrow that it covered such a small territory, that if she raised the spyglass she would see nothing but blank gray matter.” (Both novellas are filled with this exquisite language, these thoughtful, soul-baring moments of candor.) When Archie announces the play is ready to open and the Wednesday meetings will end, Edith realizes how “ephemeral” or “unrooted” their relationship really was. So caught up in the play, the end of their meetings does not bother the egocentric Archie at all. Then, second guessing their relationship, “what if she…,” Edith realizes their meetings simply allowed him to pass through tedious afternoons. Later, watching the play, Edith further realizes she had been some sort of experiment for Archie but still wondered “how it all might have turned out if she’d read her lines right, if she’d been a better actress.” Edith predicts correctly the play will eventually fold into itself under “the weight of ambiguity and its pretentious solipsism,” a metaphor perhaps for the relationships in both novellas.
January 21, 2023
I had started this a few years earlier and given up because I'd found it rather tedious and depressing because it is such an evocative and poignant account of loneliness. Both novellas, "The train..." and "When the Mousetrap closes" deal with loneliness. It does remind me of Autumn Quartet by Barbara Pym.
Martha Grimes and Barbara Pym were much admired by D? the then UK poet laureate.
Her sense of place and her language is evocative. Here she describes often visited station cafe.
"Rain glazed the window. It was quite chilly on the platform, but the warmth in the cafe had steamed the window over, halfway up, where she could see the word Cafe in a half-moon of white letters. This setting reminded her again of Brief Encounter. It would never happen to her, such an encounter, she knew. 'Don't go about expecting too much, not if you're wise.' The abrasive inner voice was probably her mother's, sad-eyed and certain. Her mother had been downcast about life, one who viewed it as a long, downward slide. Still, her mother had only wanted to save her daughter from disappointment, not understanding that disappointed hopes would be a certainty if one expected such disappointments. It was not her mother's fault if her own life had been so utterly without incident."
Here is an example of her excellent language.
" He ordered the wine, a Burgundy. A village wine, he told her, shaking his head, as if some shame were on it.
That done, they sat in silence. Having made the effort, having navigated the difficult waters of the menu, steered through its rocky shallows, he'd come up on some escarpment and could rest. His arms were crossed on the table, his face turned down, and his thumbs pressing together. Then he turned side ways, as he often did, crossed his legs to the side of the table and looked through narrowed eyes into the room's smoky distance, as if calculating some danger in the doorway. He was looking in that determined way that made others look too, wondering what he could be staring at so intently. "
Similar comments can be made about the other novella When the Mousetrap closes which has a surprise ending.
Martha Grimes and Barbara Pym were much admired by D? the then UK poet laureate.
Her sense of place and her language is evocative. Here she describes often visited station cafe.
"Rain glazed the window. It was quite chilly on the platform, but the warmth in the cafe had steamed the window over, halfway up, where she could see the word Cafe in a half-moon of white letters. This setting reminded her again of Brief Encounter. It would never happen to her, such an encounter, she knew. 'Don't go about expecting too much, not if you're wise.' The abrasive inner voice was probably her mother's, sad-eyed and certain. Her mother had been downcast about life, one who viewed it as a long, downward slide. Still, her mother had only wanted to save her daughter from disappointment, not understanding that disappointed hopes would be a certainty if one expected such disappointments. It was not her mother's fault if her own life had been so utterly without incident."
Here is an example of her excellent language.
" He ordered the wine, a Burgundy. A village wine, he told her, shaking his head, as if some shame were on it.
That done, they sat in silence. Having made the effort, having navigated the difficult waters of the menu, steered through its rocky shallows, he'd come up on some escarpment and could rest. His arms were crossed on the table, his face turned down, and his thumbs pressing together. Then he turned side ways, as he often did, crossed his legs to the side of the table and looked through narrowed eyes into the room's smoky distance, as if calculating some danger in the doorway. He was looking in that determined way that made others look too, wondering what he could be staring at so intently. "
Similar comments can be made about the other novella When the Mousetrap closes which has a surprise ending.
July 18, 2013
Martha Grimes is at her best when working with strong characters, a definite sense of place, and a good supporting cast for the main character(s) to play off of. In both of these novellas, she has none of those things. There is no real suspense in either "The Train Now Departing" or "When the Mousetrap Closes," and a sense of apprehension does appear for a bit in the later story it is unfulfilled, like a long rambling joke told by a stranger on a journey but which never quite gets around to having a punchline.
In the first story, "The Train Now Departing," the main characters remain nameless ciphers, deconstructed at every turn by their own words and thoughts despite the best attempts by the author to delineate them. For all we are told about the people, they never become more than strangers observed at a distance.
In "When the Mousetrap Closes," a chance encounter between an introverted woman (who constantly asserts she has common sense, but does not) and an enigmatic actor seems to set up the trappings of menace, but none of the anxiety raised in the reader by the author ever come to fruition. Even the nuances or "clues" scattered by the author eventually just fall flat.
Any reader seeing the Martha Grimes name and the carefully culled reviews printed on and in the book would naturally expect a mystery, some suspense, if nothing else an engaging tale with a clever plot or character twist. That reader would be disappointed. A reader, male or female, suffering from self-doubt, dependence upon undependable people, or living through relationships of dubious value or enigmatic outcome might find these tales enthralling on a personal level, but readers seeking entrance into a world better than the one in which they dwell will be disappointed.
In the first story, "The Train Now Departing," the main characters remain nameless ciphers, deconstructed at every turn by their own words and thoughts despite the best attempts by the author to delineate them. For all we are told about the people, they never become more than strangers observed at a distance.
In "When the Mousetrap Closes," a chance encounter between an introverted woman (who constantly asserts she has common sense, but does not) and an enigmatic actor seems to set up the trappings of menace, but none of the anxiety raised in the reader by the author ever come to fruition. Even the nuances or "clues" scattered by the author eventually just fall flat.
Any reader seeing the Martha Grimes name and the carefully culled reviews printed on and in the book would naturally expect a mystery, some suspense, if nothing else an engaging tale with a clever plot or character twist. That reader would be disappointed. A reader, male or female, suffering from self-doubt, dependence upon undependable people, or living through relationships of dubious value or enigmatic outcome might find these tales enthralling on a personal level, but readers seeking entrance into a world better than the one in which they dwell will be disappointed.
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