Richard Jury (Sleuth)

  

Martha Grimes 22nd Richard Jury Mystery THE BLACK CAT hit bookstores today. Like all previous Richard Jury Mysteries, THE BLACK CAT is the name of an actual pub in the UK.

In THE BLACK CAT, Detective Superintendent Jury of Scotland Yard intrudes on the turf of the Thames Valley police to investigate the death of an escort at the Black Cat pub. Along for the ride is Jury's aristocratic friend Melrose Plant and a menagerie of talking cats and dogs that have overpopulated Martha's books lately.

I have enjoyed this series from the beginning. But lately I've been less than thrilled with the novels. They are beginning to feel like they are trapped in an earlier time before modern forensic science and when amateur/civilian friends would help Scotland Yard solve a case. To borrow a British phrase, the books are becoming rather twee.

 

Richard Jury Mysteries

1. The Man with a Load of Mischief (1981)
2. The Old Fox Deceiv'd (1982)
3. The Anodyne Necklace (1983)
4. The Dirty Duck (1984)
5. The Jerusalem Inn (1984)
6. Help the Poor Struggler (1985)
7. Deer Leap (1985)
8. I am the Only Running Footman (1986)
9. The Five Bells and Bladebone (1987)
10. The Old Silent (1989)
11. The Old Contemptibles (1991)
12. The Horse You Came In On (1993)
13. Rainbow's End (1995)
14. The Case Has Altered (1997)
15. The Stargazey (1998)
16. The Lamorna Wink (1999)
17. The Blue Last (2001)
18. The Grave Maurice (2002)
19. The Winds of Change (2004)
20. The Old Wine Shades (2006)
21. Dust (2007)
22. The Black Cat (2010)

Publishers:

• Little, Brown, Boston. (1981-1991)
• Alfred A. Knopf, New York. (1993-1997)
• Viking Penguin, New York. (1998-Present)