The Old Silent

No doubt in my mind--to date, this is the best of the series. (Of course, "Hotel Paradise" is her best work, but that falls outside the Richard Jury series.)
Martha Grimes has a rare grasp of characters. They all shine, they all breathe, they all walk into the room and sit down a while to share their portion of the story. They become so real that you miss them once the book is closed, the door of fiction has been firmly latched, and we are left wondering what has become of those friends we were with just moments before.
Melancholy to the core, Richard Jury falls for yet another woman with a problem. She's being accused of murder, and good as he is, Chief Superitendent Jury is going to have a bit of a problem clearing her of the charge. He witnessed the shooting himself. But for some reason, he can't let it go. This woman would not have taken life had it not been for an overwhelmingly good reason. Jury digs through the deceptions and discovers a startling truth.
Melrose Plant and Sergeant Wiggins are there to lighten the mood. I must admit, I've quite a crush on Melrose, and he is given quite some space to shine in this novel. He even aquires a romantic assertiveness which surprises even him!
If you've read any of the series, this is one you cannot miss.

This book displays all of Martha Grimes' strengths and weaknesses.

At the top of her list of strengths is the ability to plot. This is, after all, a mystery. Plots and sub-plots intertwine well. In a cozy country inn, Superintendent Jury witnesses a wife's murder of her husband. The apparently pointless crime intrigues Jury (and us), and we impatiently wait for him to unravel the family's history. There's an old kidnapping, the death of a runaway child, and infidelity. Most of all, there's a generous helping of secrets and lies.

The author also has an ability to portray three-dimensional characters that we come to care about. Even the relatively minor characters (including lots of animals like Cyril, the office cat) are well drawn.

On the weakness side of the ledger, an obscurity often creeps into the action, causing the reader to pause in order to wonder who is talking to whom and what the heck is happening. This is due, in large part, to the liberal use of British language and esoterica.

This book builds on the running set of characters of Jury, Wiggins, and Plant and their friends, enemies, and associates. If you like well-plotted mysteries, don't pass this one up.

One of the reviewers mentioned that this might not be the best place to start in the Jury series. This is probably true. I had read 5, 6, maybe 7 of her books before I got to this one. And that windup was great as I became absorbed into her characters, her tone, her plots, the atmosphere she creates.
For those who don't know Grimes, I think she is one of the true literary geniuses of our day. Her books really aren't about the murder mystery itself. Yes, that is the plotline that moves the story along, but neither I or she is overly worried with simply lining up the clues to solve the mystery.
Rather, in each of her works, she displays before your eyes an English scene complete with its own set of quirkey characters - some old ones & always some news ones. And through the circumstances she sets up in each novel, she makes a commentary on life & people as they respond to the various situations into which they are thrown.
In this way, Grimes reminds me of Agatha Christie...one of the great murder mystery writers. I think Christie was more concerned with observing human nature & working it out on script than she was with the actual murder. And the dry, ironic humor Grimes employs is similar to that of Christie itself. If you are interested in such stories, Grimes is a fabulous writer to get hooked on.
If you have read several of Grimes' works & you have enjoyed them, then I think you are in for a treat with this one. I don't think that her wit has ever been better. Her comedic timing and various storylines - all with a somber plotline of murders setting the tone - kept me very entertained:
- Plant is at his all-time best as he deal with children, animals, a tough NY woman, and his old aunt Agatha.
- Jury retains his smooth charm & competency all while hob-nobbing with an eclectic group that includes a hot band, band reviewers, the genteel class and eccentric old folks.
- Malcavie is all that you hope of him as he pulls over speeders on his way to crime scenes and continues to listen to Wiggens (of all people!)
- The little girl in the book, Abby, is one of the coolest kids ever to appear in a murder mystery.
I will admit that I was thrown off a bit by the dogs' monologues. It took me awhile to figure out what was going on there. But I was glad Grimes was still trying new things.
So, there it is. Another great work from Grimes!

This is a complex and challenging novel. Richard Jury, depressed at the start of the novel, finds himself engrossed in the diffiult circumstances of Nell Healy, who murders her husband in a pub lounge, while Jury watches. As Jury attempts to discover why Nell would have done this, and how it ties in to the tragic kidnapping of her step-son ten years before, he is drawn into different eccentric groups of people--an ill-assorted group living in a b& b near Haworth, home of the Brontes and the dark world of alternative rock and roll performers. This musical mileiu is definitely new to Jury--although it turns out to be familiar territory for Seargent Wiggins!
The different worlds of this book do not completely fit together. There is sometimes an odd disjunction between the parts of this novel,and I agree somewhat with one reviewer who says that she doesn't understand the role that Melrose Plant plays here, other than to add his usual gentle comic charm, and to interact with many of the eccentric.
Despite some of this, this is also a moving and emotionally successful novel. The literary and musical allusions have deep meaning and are releent not just to the progression of the plot but also to the ongoing growth of the characters in this series.
I credit Martha Grimes with taking chances with this novel.

"The Old Silent" was my first introduction to Martha Grimes. My boss at work knew I enjoyed Agatha Christie and (after using a derrogatory comment) suggested I try something better. After getting over the sleight of Christie, I agreed to try one of Grimes' books.

So my boss brought "The Old Silent" in for me to read.

I realized that I was begining in the middle of a series, so I wasn't too put off by not knowing certain things that weren't explained (like the relationships between many of the characters in the begining).

However, even not having any Grimes experience before this book, I got a fairly quick grasp of the main characters, Jury and Plant, and enjoyed them a lot. The plot was practically non-existant through the majority of the novel, but Grimes skill in painting characters that I cared about still forced me to turn the page even when I didn't give two craps about the plot.

After reading the book, I went out to Goodwill and picked up every book I could find by Grimes and have started "Man With A Load of Mischief," to start at the begining.

The actual plot of "The Old Silent" would take 15 pages of a Christie novel (Whom I still love... despite my boss implying that reading Grimes would show me the tom-foolery of Christie). But the characters drive the book home far more that most other mystery books.

Highly reccomended for everyone.

Geeze! I hate to disagree with all these stellar reviews, but I have to say "The Old Silent" was a little bit of a let down. Maybe I picked the wrong place in the Richard Jury series to start - but I found it hard to care about a lot of the characters, many of whom just seemed to be "checking in" from a prior novel. In fact, this may sound like sacrilege to a lot of Grimes' fans, but I didn't even see any real need for Melrose Plant's presence. (And I'm still trying to figure out what he and his buddy we're cutting up at the table that upset Vivian so much). There was also one too many tea parties with the little girls. One too many interviews with the band Sirocco -- who don't even sound good on paper. And one too many jumps between characters (At one point we even get the perspective of the little girl's dog). Yes, Grimes has a wonderful way with words, but she also has a way of stringing things out and underexplaining Jury's actions in a misguided attempt to keep the reader guessing. Compare for example, the first chapter of "The Old Silent" with the first chapter of Anne Perry's incredible "The Face Of A Stranger" and you may understand what I mean. But as I said before, I could have started in the wrong place, so I am going to pick up Grimes' first novel, "The Man with a Load of Mischief" with the ardent hope that I'll wind up eating my words.

Jury had been seconded to the West Yorkshire Constabulary in Leeds for a week. He decided to break his return journey in Haworth. There he observed yet another mysterious woman - shades of Helen Minton - and watches her in various places. Later, after dinner in the pub The Old Silent Jury witnesses the murder of Roger Healey by his wife, the mysterious woman, Nell. Eight years previously, their son, Billy, and another boy, Toby, had been kidnapped and held to ransom. The family refused to pay and neither boy was seen again. The kidnapping happened in Cornwall and Macalvie was a detective sergeant then but involved in the case. Plant has delivered Agatha to Harrogate and he decides to stay in Haworth, just in case. The murder is an open and shut case but Jury, suffering from accidie, decides to take sick leave in order to dig deeper into the lives of the Citrine-Healey families, the kidnapping and the killing of Roger Healey. The action, or lack of more accurately, takes place in Haworth, Cornwall and London. In Cornwall there are the usual scenes with Macalvie and Gilly Thwaite as well as an extended scene with a forensic anthropologist; in London the usual Racer/Jury/Cyril episode as well as the Starrburst crowd, Carole ann and Mrs W; more interminable scenes with Plant/Agatha and the Long Pidd crowd discussing Vivian's imminent departure to Venice. We expect all this in a Grimes novel but not at such length and not when they contribute nothing at all to the supposedly main story. In Haworth we meet the usual wild child, in this case 11 year old Abby, aka The Fury, very similar to Louise Perks. She has a friend, Ethel, in 1989!!!, who is heartbroken at the recent death of Ricky Nelson???. There are many others including an American writer - of course - Ellen Taylor who attracts the attention of Plant. In London we meet the colleagues of the victim who was a music critic and also many of the targets of his reviews. The case is solved by Jury's incredible insight based on a painting by Magritte, a heavily annotated anthology of American poetry and the lyrics of a pop band! At 448 pages it would appear that there was a shortage of editors or else the publishers gave Grimes enough rope to hang herself, which she did. She was dropped after the next book. There is a good story here but this is the worst self-indulgence I have come across in a long time. The boring references to musicians, guitar playing, not to mention the tea parties in Abby's barn. By the way, it is true that England has an education system and Abby and Ethel should have attended school. The climax at the Hammersmith Odeón was silly, neither Jury nor Macalvie would have guns, even on duty, but Grimes is too lazy to think of any alternative. Here also, we encounter for the first time the thinking animals! Other reviewers consider this her best book to date, others dislike the writer of "cozy" novels targetting children - perhaps Grimes thinks "cozy" is a perjorative word and writes in a way to deny it being so-called. The finale of the book at Victoria Station is pitiful. Maybe Grimes was trying to please everyone or else she was seeing how far the formula would stretch but this book reads like a sign of things to come.

This is the best of the Grimes Jury/Plant novels. The charm of Plant (who plays a large role in this complex novel) is brought to its best in his friendship with the inimically drawn fiery child shepherdess he befriends at a country inn. This child may be the best of Grimes' transient characters. Her indomitable character and imagination, her fierce independence, and her scorn for most adults (which she lowers just barely for Plant, and later for Jury ) make us really care when circumstances place her in danger (from which, as usual, she ingeniously extricates herself long before the adults arrive). Yet Plant's charm is also brought into relief when a bratty boom-box listening child at the same inn is used as a foil to Plant's gentility-and as a severe (and losing) trial to Plant's patience. The little revenges Plant take against this brat and his obnoxious mother are quite fun. Further, the surprises inherent in Plant's character are brought out in his love affair with a leather and chain wearing motor cyclist.

The eccentricities of the delightfully vehement Macalvie are never better drawn, and never funnier. We gain a new sense of the hypochondriac Wiggins' true strengths and usefulness as Jury's sidekick. And the contest between Racer and the cat Cyril is at its best.

More than in most of the Jury novels, we care about the suspects and the victims. Yet, perhaps more importantly, this novel lifts Jury out of a timeless quaint England, and throws him thick into the English rock-and-roll scene-where most of the musicians are presented both as likeable and staggeringly talented.

I guessed most of the mystery by a about three-quarters of the way through the book, but it's final unfolding presented human details of past that were as riveting as the rest of the book.

By the way, if you don't read this novel, you won't know who the scorching rock guitarist Stan Keeler is in the next Grime's novel. I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

So far this is the best in the series. Richard Jury and Melrose Plant just get better. The mystery, and rightly so, is secondary to the rich characters. It's like catching up on old friends. Martha Grimes' characters are again alive and full of life. I enjoy Jury's neighbors, the cat in his office, all the recurring people and also the new ones we must leave behind. (There's always a chance to meet them again). I especially like the children in this series. It's a nice touch and joy to read how a child can add to a story, plot or enrich a life, completeing a well-rounded picture. Grimes is also creating pictures as is Jury's past playing into his present. No loose ends in this book but freedom to see some of the resolutions on our own. Even if you begin the series with this book you will be inspired go back to the beginning and enjoy the characters as they unfold book to book.

Martha Grimes remains one of the leading mystery writers today! Don't miss this one!