At the Man with a Load of Mischief, they found the dead body stuck in a keg of beer. At the Jack and Hammer, another body was stuck out on the beam of the pub’s sign, replacing the mechanical man who kept the time. Two pubs. Two murders. One Scotland Yard inspector called in to help. Detective Chief Inspector Richard Jury arrives in Long Piddleton and finds everyone in the postcard village looking outside of town for the killer. Except for one Melrose Plant. A keen observer of human nature, he points Jury in the right direction: into the darkest parts of his neighbors’ hearts…
The Man with a Load of Mischief
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“For readers who value wit, atmosphere and charm.”—The Washington Post Book World
“Grimes captures the flavor of British village life…Long may she write Richard Jury mysteries.”—Chicago Tribune
“[Grimes’s novel] is cast in the mold of the great British mysteries and comes complete with all the classic elements.”—The San Diego Union
“Grimes captures the flavor of British village life…Long may she write Richard Jury mysteries.”—Chicago Tribune
“[Grimes’s novel] is cast in the mold of the great British mysteries and comes complete with all the classic elements.”—The San Diego Union
About the Author
Martha Grimes is the bestselling author of eighteen Richard Jury mysteries and also the acclaimed fiction Foul Matter, Cold Flat Junction, Hotel Paradise, The End of the Pier, and The Train Now Departing.
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Outside the Jack and Hammer, a dog growled. Read the first page
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Outside the Jack and Hammer, a dog growled. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Samantha
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I think this would be described as a cozy mystery, not my taste at all. The forced "Britishness" got on my nerves, considering the author is American. There were too many characters and pubs with quaint names, some hard to keep track of. Too many murders in a wee hamlet. I suspect the author is an Agatha Christie fan, as am I, but she just couldn't carry it off. It was brilliant bedtime reading though--not taxing for certain, lulled me off to sleep in minutes.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Deborah MacGillivray
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Mass Market Paperback
The first Inspector Richard Jury and Melrose Plant mystery deals with dark secrets that haunt the village of Long Piddleton, where a series of murders have taken
place. More over, this is where you get to meet all the lovable characters of Grimes
delightful British Mystery series, all named after Brit pubs. Jury is super investigator, but he must deal with the political side of his job, which he doesn't handle in the same deft fashion as he does solving cases. You also meet Melrose Plant, a mutli-titled Peer of the Realm, who has recently given up his titles, a spot on detective himself, though amateur. His dotty, social-climbing American Aunt Agatha Ardry, determined to be British by osmosis - leaching off her dear, long suffering nephew while eating all the faerycakes. Ruthven, the ever-efficient butler (who never did it!). Grimes loads the tale with a stable of supporting characters, and enough red herrings to make a lunch! Curry is the perfect narrator to bring Grimes prose alive. All her books can be stand alone, but you enjoy them so much more if you start with this one and work your way through.
place. More over, this is where you get to meet all the lovable characters of Grimes
delightful British Mystery series, all named after Brit pubs. Jury is super investigator, but he must deal with the political side of his job, which he doesn't handle in the same deft fashion as he does solving cases. You also meet Melrose Plant, a mutli-titled Peer of the Realm, who has recently given up his titles, a spot on detective himself, though amateur. His dotty, social-climbing American Aunt Agatha Ardry, determined to be British by osmosis - leaching off her dear, long suffering nephew while eating all the faerycakes. Ruthven, the ever-efficient butler (who never did it!). Grimes loads the tale with a stable of supporting characters, and enough red herrings to make a lunch! Curry is the perfect narrator to bring Grimes prose alive. All her books can be stand alone, but you enjoy them so much more if you start with this one and work your way through.
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Lately it seems when I've started reading a mystery series I've started in the middle or at the end of things. I was quite pleased when I came across this book, helpfully labelled "The First Richard Jury Novel!", and decided to turn over two new leaves: starting a new series and beginning at the beginning for a change.
I found the first couple chapters a bit of tough sledding. Grimes, an American author intent on establishing the setting and tone of an "English Mystery" lays on the Anglicized idioms a bit thick. By about a third of the way through, though, either she laid off or I started to roll with it because I was fully into the story at that point.
If you've read her later books, you can probably eliminate quite a few of the suspects on the grounds that they show up later with no mention of being homicidal maniacs. As a first-time-reader I spent a lot of time guessing whodunit (or, rather, hoping someone hadn't done it - "Oh, don't let it be him" and "Oh, don't let it be her"). The ending relies on the knowledge of a bit of English geographic trivia (well, I suppose it's not trivial to the people who live there), but there are a few other clues that savvy sleuths can use to get the job done just as well.
While Richard Jury isn't a Poirot, Wimsey, or Dalgliesh (at least not in his first outing), he still is a first-rate literary creation. If you're looking to start a new series of detective fiction, this is a good place to begin. After the first book, I know I'm hooked.
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4.3 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Must For The Grimes Collector
I must have read 5 or 6 Richard Jury Mysteries before I came into a copy of ...Load Of Mischief. This, being her first, is a must for fans of Martha Grimes. Read more
Published on April 24 2004 by Ellen Thorp
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun Book !!
The Man With a Load of Mischief is a fun book. I quickly connected with the main characters. The action was fast and the plot kept me entertained throughout.
Published on April 7 2004 by lizbeth star
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Beginning of a Beautiful Thing...
I have read maybe 10 or 12 of Grime's Jury/Plant mysteries in no particular order, and I loved every single one of them. Read more
Published on Feb 29 2004 by T. George
5.0 out of 5 stars
MYSTERY WITH A SENSE OF HUMOR
In her Richard Jury/Melrose Plant series of mysteries, Martha Grimes has developed an ensemble cast who play the same role, but with different levels of involvement from book to... Read more
Published on April 1 2003 by Loren D. Morrison
4.0 out of 5 stars
Reprint of a 1981 novel
The title of this novel is the name of a pub/inn which figures into the plot. The novel introduces Detective Chief Inspector Richard Jury who has been sent to investigate murders... Read more
Published on Feb 17 2003 by Fred Camfield
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Really Good Start To An Excellent Series
This is a very engaging book. It was lots of fun to be introduced to Long Piddleton and to its assortment of eccentric characters. Read more
Published on Feb 24 2002 by Martha E. Nelson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great way to meet the characters in the Richard Jury series
For those of you who, like me, discovered Martha Grimes when she was well into her series of books featuring Richard Jury, I highly recommend this first in the series. Read more
Published on Oct 14 1996
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