Chief Inspector Michael Haggerty asks Richard Jury to prove brewing magnate Oliver Tynedale's granddaughter is an impostor. Excavation of Tynedale's bombed London pub, the Blue Last, has turned up two skeletons - was the child found his real granddaughter? Meanwhile Melrose Plant reluctantly poses as an under gardener to investigate the nanny who purportedly saved the baby's life.
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Scotland Yard Superintendent Richard Jury returns in a compelling novel, the 17th in Grimes's long-running series. Mickey Haggerty, Jury's old friend and colleague, is dying of cancer. So Jury can hardly refuse his request to look into what Mickey suspects is a 50-year-old case of switched identities. It surfaces when the last World War II bomb site in London is excavated for a new development, exposing the skeletal remains of a woman and infant. Mickey thinks the dead infant wasn't the baby of Kitty Riordan, Maisie Tynedale's nanny, as Kitty claimed, but was Maisie herself, the heiress to a brewery fortune. Did Kitty engineer the masquerade? And did Simon Croft, who was writing a book about London in the war years, discover it? When Croft is killed and his computer stolen, Jury sends his pal Melrose Plant to snoop around Tynedale Lodge disguised as a gardener. There he encounters a charming trio of amateurs: a homeless urchin and his extremely clever dog Sparky, and Gemma, a Tynedale ward whose mysterious background may hold the clue to Simon's murder as well as the still unsolved attempt on her young life.
As usual, Plant's world of eccentric friends and relatives is nicely evoked in a subplot that leads him on a surprising holiday in Florence, during which he acquires just enough knowledge of Italian Renaissance painting to pull off another disguise on Jury's behalf. Grimes weaves the threads of this rich tapestry together in a surprise ending that not even Grimes aficionados will sense coming. But it's an appropriate conclusion, given the book's brooding tone, established in the opening pages by a dying friend's obsession and sustained as the investigation forces Jury to confront his own haunted memories of the war. This is a solid page turner, marked by Grimes's unerring sense of pacing, respectful but provocative poking around in Jury's soul, and topnotch storytelling ability. --Jane Adams
From Publishers Weekly
Reading Grimes's 16th Richard Jury novel (The Case Has Altered, etc.) is like watching a good movie on TV constantly interrupted by commercials. The author used to produce well-crafted, atmospheric works with delightful characters, but in recent years they've become unnecessarily long, overpopulated with minor characters (including Melrose), who take up a lot of time while contributing little to the crime at hand. The premise here is promising enough: the bodies of a woman and an infant turn up in the last unredeveloped bomb site in London (a pub called the Blue Last), victims of the final heavy German bombing of WWII. The woman, identified as Alexandra Tyndale, was the daughter of a wealthy brewing magnate; the infant was the daughter of Alexandra's nanny. Or was the infant, in fact, Alexandra's daughter, whom the nanny swapped with her own child to make her heir to the Tyndale fortune? It's all quite Victorian. Called in by his friend DCI Mickey Haggerty to help on the case, Richard Jury soon finds himself involved with a murder that could be related. Two children, Grimes's usual pathologically precocious tots, enter the action, as does Melrose with a whole subplot of his own. Because of this excess baggage, the reader must wait impatiently for the mystery to resume. A far-fetched solution will satisfy only the author's staunchest fans. 8-city author tour. (Sept. 10)Forecast: Despite the weakness of this title, Grimes is impervious to negative criticism; like others in the series, this one should hit bestseller charts.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By Ellen Thorp
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I loved every minute reading this book. Her humor is, as always, brilliant! British humor sparkles once again! The ending might not be popular, but then again, sometimes life's like that too. Her twists and turns are classic mystery. For those who felt they were left dangling, you must read "The Grave Maurice". The story goes on.... I personally, have never been disappointed with her work.
By T. George
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I will admit up front that I am not a hard-core mystery reader. I read them in between other projects for a bit of respite. My first choice for mysteries is Grimes because from her very first book, her clues were buried below the surface of rich characterization and commentary on life. I absolutely adore her and her characters. Well, I will say that she forces her metaphors a bit and she definitely dwells in a land of depression, precocious children and adults who aren't tied to desk jobs...but, who's perfect?
Lately, however, I sense that Grimes has been getting restless. I'm sure she loves Jury and Plant and all, but she definitely hasn't been willing on cookie-cutter formulas for her success. In this one, she opens up with the SAME chapter that I just read in 'The Man With a Load of Mischief' (her first novel). Later on she quips (though Polly Praed I believe) that you can turn in the same old stuff to publishers and they'll never notice. Her sharp, even cynical characters already show her tendency to see through the superfluous. However, here you can just see her restlessness with her own success.
Lately, however, I sense that Grimes has been getting restless. I'm sure she loves Jury and Plant and all, but she definitely hasn't been willing on cookie-cutter formulas for her success. In this one, she opens up with the SAME chapter that I just read in 'The Man With a Load of Mischief' (her first novel). Later on she quips (though Polly Praed I believe) that you can turn in the same old stuff to publishers and they'll never notice. Her sharp, even cynical characters already show her tendency to see through the superfluous. However, here you can just see her restlessness with her own success.
For those who don't know, this particular story is involved with solving 3 mysteries to start with:
- Is the woman calling herself Maisie Tyndale the true heir to the Tyndale fortune, or was the true Maisie killed along with her mother back in a backing in WWII? If it isn't Maisie, did the nanny slip her own infant daughter into Maisie's place?
- Who killed Simon Croft? Was it someone in the closer-than-kin Tyndale family who is threatened by his research of WWII for his book?
- Is Trueblood's panel a Massachio? (No, honestly, this takes quite a bit of time.)
As usual, Grimes raises alot of red herrings and other mysteries before winding down to a close. But in her surprise ending she asks of the audience the same questions that she's been asking of her characters throughout the book. It's enough to drive a mystery fan nuts but also to leave you awed by Grimes' nerve. While everyone who loves her would love for her to keep cranking out the Jury-and-Plant song-and-dance routine, Grimes does no such thing...
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
I have never personally read a Martha Grimes novel before reading The Blue Last. It was an interesting mystery filled with details. For some that may be excellent but for me I did not enjoy this novel as much as I had hoped to. I felt that the author cluttered the point up with unrelated issues. On the other hand the author did well with keeping you guessing up to the end. I also enjoyed how Martha in this story takes us back to the past and the bombing of WWII. That was a terrible time in history and is filled with memories that the main character Jury wishes to forget. It is a great theme in the novel that you can not escape the past and that it often holds glues to the present.
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2.8 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Screen memory
The Blue Last is the name of a pub subject to bombing during World War II. The mother of a young baby died. Read more
Published on Jan 3 2004 by Mary E. Sibley
3.0 out of 5 stars
Middle of the Richard Jury Pack In Quality
I've read about a dozen of the Richard Jury series by Martha Grimes. I'd place this about the middle of the pack. Read more
Published on Dec 26 2003 by J H Murphy
4.0 out of 5 stars
entices you to read her next book
I think the ending in this book is where most of the lower reviews come in to play. We have one mystery answered but there are too many other unanswered questions that just beg us... Read more
Published on Oct 25 2003 by "truthandjustice"
1.0 out of 5 stars
The Blues Last
There are too many "out of character" characters and situations in this book. The most implausible in my mind is Miss Heron, a woman who had headed up an unwed mothers'... Read more
Published on Oct 5 2003
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointed
I am a big fan of the Richard Jury mysteries, but this one left me disappointed. There were numerous mistakes that did not make sense, and there were parts (such as the Florence... Read more
Published on Aug 14 2003 by Mystery Lover
3.0 out of 5 stars
I think that it's time for a new series.
I find myself tending to agree with the reviewers who had the feeling that _The Blue Last_ was two books melded together. Read more
Published on Feb 20 2003 by frumiousb
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Blue Last
Martha Grimes is one of the best writers ever. I got hooked on my first book The Stargazey and I have since read eight other of her Richard Jury Mysteries. Read more
Published on Jan 30 2003 by Keith Adams
3.0 out of 5 stars
Psychopharmocology...the wave of the future (Bad Medicine)
Surely it is time for Richard Jury to obtain professional help.
Just how old is he, anyway? By my reckoning, if he was a child in the early 1940's and old enough for some fairly... Read more
Published on Jan 10 2003
1.0 out of 5 stars
A Major Disappointment
I have read all of Martha Grimes books, and will not be buying the next one. The plot wanders, the characters are one dimensional, the humour is missing, and I felt extremely... Read more
Published on Dec 13 2002
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not One Of Martha's Best
I have to agree with the majority opinion that "The Blue Last" is not one of Martha Grimes' best Richard Jury novels. Read more
Published on Nov 26 2002 by Richard M. Affleck
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