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The Man with a Load of Mischief Martha Grimes Books

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The Man with a Load of Mischief Martha Grimes Books

I've read the first 10 books in the series and thought it was time for to come back and leave a review. What I like and dislike has remained very consistent for all of the books. I'm still reading, so clearly the likes outweigh the dislikes!

What is great: the main characters. Jury and Plant are very well developed, believable, and likable characters. Their interactions are always fun and believable. Wiggins could have been nothing more than a caricature with his extreme hypochondria, but he has enough useful insights to contribute to all the cases that it balances out the constant medicating. Agatha is the relative everyone loves to hate. The author is wise enough to keep doses of Agatha to a minimum, which let's you enjoy her without getting sick of her. I like that the interactions among the characters always seem genuine. I like that, at least so far, these books have not turned into romances. There are occasional love affairs, but nothing that has distracted from the main focus of the stories.

What I dislike: as with Wiggins, the author tends to make secondary characters so over the top that it can be a little grating. Another example, without too much of a spoiler, involves Plant and Trueblood meddling in Vivian's life to the point where it passes funny and goes into the realm of just wanting everyone to move on already. The author also tends to spend a lot of time describing in pages worth of detail the thoughts of characters that are extremely minor. For example, you might be treated to ten pages of the ruminations of a cab driver who is driving Plant to a location. You might listen to a suspect talk forever about some particular interest of theirs, and all the ramblings have nothing to do with moving the story forward. When it's a main character, I can see it as development, but in these cases it feels like the author is padding the book to try to meet some kind of minimum page requirement.

The cases themselves vary. Some have been great, but some have been uneven in believability. Fortunately, so far only one has been so unbelievable as to be ridiculous, and that one at least was good up until the big reveal. I've found them all to progress well- the ones that do go south at least keep you following until the end.

I hope as I continue through the books, the author will spend more time on the main characters, Plant and Jury (and Wiggins), and a bit less on so many side characters and all their ruminations on things neither relevant or interesting.


Tags : Amazon.com: The Man with a Load of Mischief (9780451410818): Martha Grimes: Books,Martha Grimes,The Man with a Load of Mischief,Berkley,0451410815,Mystery & Detective - General,Thrillers - Suspense,Jury, Richard (Fictitious character),Mystery fiction,Police - England,Crime & mystery,FICTION Mystery & Detective General,FICTION Mystery & Detective Police Procedural,FICTION Small Town & Rural,FICTION Thrillers Suspense,Fiction,Fiction - Mystery Detective,Fiction-Mystery & Detective,General Adult,MASS MARKET,MysterySuspense

The Man with a Load of Mischief Martha Grimes Books Reviews

I began reading these mystery novels centered around English pubs in the early 1980s. This is the first Richard Jury, published in 1981, so I decided to spend some time reading this one again to see how it stands up for me after such a long time. I'm glad to say it was every bit as satisfying today as it was then. Martha Grimes gave me so much information regarding the historical meanings of pub signs. I love learning the origins of things such as the pub signs and seeing how they have been changed through history so that their original meaning is almost gone. Richard Jury is the Scotland Yard man who comes to Long Piddleton to investigate the murders of two men who were strangers in the village but who died in very unusual circumstances at two local pubs.

Once more I connected with Jury and Melrose Plant - who acts as Jury's Watson - as well as Plant's Aunt Agatha, American and obnoxious to boot. Jury's interactions with the Doubles children puts him firmly in the category of approachable policeman and gives the reader lighter moments to enjoy while not completely abandoning the hunt for the killer. This is one of those *timing* mysteries so the only niggle I had was that the intricate timing wasn't fully revealed in the solution. Not to worry though, I'm still looking forward to reading the second in the series. Included with the digital copy of this book is an excerpt from Vertigo 42, another Richard Jury novel which was released in 2014.
If you love Agatha Cristie and are not acquainted with Martha Grimes, you are missing out. He books are not only mysteries, but she writes with a wit and humor that makes you fall in love with her characters. My favorites of her books are the ones with Richard Jury. (I have read a couple that did not have him in them and was less impressed). Try it out - each one of the Jury mysteries has a pub at the center. These are quick to read and wonderful to pack if you don't want to lug along your or Tablet.
I've read the first 10 books in the series and thought it was time for to come back and leave a review. What I like and dislike has remained very consistent for all of the books. I'm still reading, so clearly the likes outweigh the dislikes!

What is great the main characters. Jury and Plant are very well developed, believable, and likable characters. Their interactions are always fun and believable. Wiggins could have been nothing more than a caricature with his extreme hypochondria, but he has enough useful insights to contribute to all the cases that it balances out the constant medicating. Agatha is the relative everyone loves to hate. The author is wise enough to keep doses of Agatha to a minimum, which let's you enjoy her without getting sick of her. I like that the interactions among the characters always seem genuine. I like that, at least so far, these books have not turned into romances. There are occasional love affairs, but nothing that has distracted from the main focus of the stories.

What I dislike as with Wiggins, the author tends to make secondary characters so over the top that it can be a little grating. Another example, without too much of a spoiler, involves Plant and Trueblood meddling in Vivian's life to the point where it passes funny and goes into the realm of just wanting everyone to move on already. The author also tends to spend a lot of time describing in pages worth of detail the thoughts of characters that are extremely minor. For example, you might be treated to ten pages of the ruminations of a cab driver who is driving Plant to a location. You might listen to a suspect talk forever about some particular interest of theirs, and all the ramblings have nothing to do with moving the story forward. When it's a main character, I can see it as development, but in these cases it feels like the author is padding the book to try to meet some kind of minimum page requirement.

The cases themselves vary. Some have been great, but some have been uneven in believability. Fortunately, so far only one has been so unbelievable as to be ridiculous, and that one at least was good up until the big reveal. I've found them all to progress well- the ones that do go south at least keep you following until the end.

I hope as I continue through the books, the author will spend more time on the main characters, Plant and Jury (and Wiggins), and a bit less on so many side characters and all their ruminations on things neither relevant or interesting.