The Lamorna Wink

I think some of these critical reviews focused the Aids issue and are perhaps to young to understand that there was a time when people thought touching an Aids victim meant you could catch the disease. So that may be why they were upset she included this in the book. We are now more educated about it now.

Another quick note about the book was Melrose and Bee. But a careful reading shows he was in a period of his life where he was searching for answers and going through a mid-life crisis. Of course they came from different social backgrounds. But he was attracted to her and he had to experience for himself if he could love her and marry her. The answer came at the end of the brief chapter when she annoyingly kept cracking her gum.

The other down side of the book was about the children. That was very disturbing and I read in another book what "snuff" films were and did find it more then offensive to visually describe it so vividly in the book. Juxtaposing it against the shenanigans about Vivian and the crowd was in poor taste.

Aunt Agatha hanging out with her new friend and doing real estate seemed odd and just went no where.

Melrose trying to find himself though was interesting. Finally knowing something about his family did give some background about him and filled in some interesting thoughts. Let's hope Agatha never finds out!

One last thing Jury showing up at the last minute and putting all the loose ends together was a bit too much to believe. Macalvie was the Jewell in this story and I admired him so much more.

I guess one could say she's "evolving".
Her most recent works do not fall under the classification -"cozy". Which is fine. An author should have the freedom to change and shift gears if she/he pleases. But there's a difference between serious and morose to maudlin and cloying.
And this latest attempt at the former is so overwhelmingly bad, that I have to wonder what is going on with her. The humor falls flat (I am so entirely sick of Vivian. I hate to say it, but I wish she was involved in a snuff film!). And juxtposed as it is with gratutious descriptions of human cruelty (why go into such graphic detail regarding how the children died) it's made even worse.
Don't get me wrong. I can take realism. The world is not a nice, cozy, sunny place all the time and I have no problems with authors examining the more darker aspects of life. But Martha Grimes portrayal of it is done with such coldness, distance and lack of heart, that instead of giving the reader pause to ponder & reflect, it just leaves one unaffected and unmoved.
In addition, this book has too much of everything! And suceeds at nothing. The funny moments aren't funny. The darker moments leave one cold. At times it was so overwhelmingly boring and overly drawn out that I never knew one could be so tortured merely by reading. But you know what's the worst part? I bet when her next book comes out, I'll buy it and read it! After all, she used to be one of my favorite authors.

Every mystery writer has an unspoken obligation to his or her readers: to entertain, or even frighten, but in a way that is ultimately enjoyable, like a really good roller coaster. Even if the ending is sad--as some of Grimes' have been, over the years--the ending should be fair to the audience. A good three hanky ending is acceptable; a slap in the face, like the one this novel provides, is not. Grimes jollies the reader along with the usual cute antics of her investigators and their companions, only to hit us with a punch line that is far from funny and far from fair. Those kiddies whose demise we've been investigating? They were the product of snuff films. They were filmed as they slowly drowned, sobbing for a place in a boat left deliberately out of reach; the films would be sold for the sexual gratification of others.
I have been reading Grimes' work since her career began. This book ended my readership. Never again.

I received "The Case Has Altered" for Christmas and enjoyed it immensely, so I immediately went out and purchased "The Lamorna Wink." Big mistake. Obviously this is usually an enjoyable and entertaining series. But not this time. The focus on child snuff films constitutes an ugly error in judgement. What did Grimes think she was doing? She provides her readers with not one, not two, but three graphic descriptions of young children being tortured and murdered. We get the usual whimsical Plant/Jury shenanigans, but mated to material that is distressing in the extreme. Where is the fun in that? If a writer has to stoop this low for a plot, or is unable to judge just how inappropriate the plot is in relation to her own characters, perhaps it is time for her to move on to another line of work.

Her device of always incorporating an endangered and/or dead kid - typically one pitiful to begin with, otherwise entirely trusting and innocent little tykes - in her novels hits its lowest point here. After this book it's clear to me Mrs. Grimes is profoundly mentally disturbed or deranged as she contrives to create a great market for, interest in, and accessibility to a form of despicable snuff film *she's* far too interested in telling us about. It's unbelievable and repulsive and I'm hesitant to continue the rest of the Jury series, which I've read from the beginning. To do so would at best make me an enabler, at worst mentally deranged myself if I ever got desensitized to her conspiracy against children and childhood in general. She's a seriously sick puppy.

I am confounded by 2 things - how this book was ever published, and why I read it to the end! Most contrived, convoluted, drivel I've ever read. I enjoy mysteries and I guess I kept thinking this would come together, but it never, ever happened. Although I may have read one other Martha Grimes, this one put the nail in the coffin. I truly cannot imagine a more poorly conceived book, at least as far as innocuous books - designed for entertainment - go. Combining the murder of 2 small children and 3 adults, with the banal "comedy" of aristocrats conspiring to prevent a potentially bad marriage for a member of their inner circle --- what was Martha Grimes thinking? What were the publishers and editors thinking? I am so embarrassed that I finished it. I'll take that secret to my grave!

~-~
I'm writing this review as a slightly disappointed, fanatic fan of the Superintendent Jury and Melrose Plant mystery series.
~One of my favorite features of Martha Grimes stories, has been the way in which her protagonists react to the people around them. The eccentric and mysterious women who fall in and out of Jury's life; as well as the colorful Long Piddleton cast of characters. ~~Maybe most of all I've enjoyed the way they interact with the children who appear in many stories as central characters, either with essential information, or in danger and need of protection, unwanted as it may be. Jury's skillful, and Plant's reluctant interviewing techniques are often highlights of the story.
~I have always relied on Grimes to preserve these kids and other "likeable" characters from harm, and she has done so.
In this book, I feel she doesn't quite keep to that unwritten promise. Don't worry I'm not giving anything away: right from the start the history of a tragedy appears. One of the central mysteries of this story is the tragic drowning death of two children from the cliffs outside their home.
~When the spotlight of the story sticks to the "current" mysteries in this seaside town, (the murder of a former servant, the inexplicable disappearance of a reliable local businesswoman), this is an entertaining and interesting Grimes story.
~Jury fans may be disappointed, but this story really belongs to Melrose and to Brian Macalvie, the local CID chief who is willing to drive himself into the ground in pursuit of justice.
~The resolution of all the mysteries seems a little far-fetched, but I would have been willing to suspend disbelief. The one part that disturbed me greatly was the dark and horrible solution to the death of the children.
~~~~ A good read for fans of Melrose and Jury, but those who love children may want to skip the last scene entirely- I believe it adds unnecessarily gruesome detail to an already dark and disturbing plot twist.

This is my first and last Martha Grimes. I read detective novels for entertainment. I find NOTHING entertaining about murdered children, especially the way she sets it. As an author figuring on best-selling lists, I think the author has a responsability towards readers to not make certain things acceptable, to not de-sensitize us by casually writing about certain unspeakable crimes. There is no retribution to the bad guys, nothing cheerful we can hold on to. There's a vague sense of humour but the last bit about her usual excentric characters is totally out of place and simply doesn't belong there. We simply couldn't care less. As a mother, there are certain things I don't want to think about out nor read about, certain notions I don't want spread nor tolerated. Martha Grimes, I am NOT impressed.

This book should come with a warning sticker for the repugnant subject matter. This book is oddly trying to tackle a dark subject interspersed with comedic episodes. It doesn't work at all. Further more, many things just don't add up, mainly (spoiler alert) - the detective decides not to pursue the case at the end, even though he knows who to go after. Really? That's a bit difficult to believe, especially considering the type of crime. There are also several pages told by a cat. I like cats, but it's just weird and doesn't contribute to the story in any way.

I had read several of the Richard Jury books and enjoyed them very much. This one, however, is my last. There were a couple of jarring elements, perhaps because I haven't read the books in order. For example, Melrose Plant's love interlude seemed totally out of character. What makes this the last one I read is the treatment of the two children's deaths. The author should have put a warning on the front cover.