The Man With a Load of Mischief: Amazon.ca: Martha Grimes: Books

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Old Fox Deceivd

by Martha Grimes

5.0 out of 5 stars (1) CDN$ 8.99

Help The Poor Struggler

by Martha Grimes

3.5 out of 5 stars (6) CDN$ 9.89

Dirty Duck

by Martha Grimes

3.8 out of 5 stars (4) CDN$ 8.99

Jerusalem Inn

by Martha Grimes

4.5 out of 5 stars (2) CDN$ 9.89

Anodyne Necklace

by Martha Grimes

5.0 out of 5 stars (4) CDN$ 8.99

› Explore similar items

Product Description

Ingram

Inspector Richard Jury and Melrose Plant uncover dark secrets from the past when they investigate a series of murders in the quaint village of Long Piddleton. Read by Tim Curry. Book available. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.

First Sentence
Outside the Jack and Hammer, a dog growled. Read the first page

Explore More
Concordance

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover

Tag this product

(What's this?)

Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.

Customer Reviews

10 Reviews

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.3 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most helpful customer reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not my taste, Jun 22 2009

By	Samantha "Critical Reader" (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Man with a Load of Mischief (Paperback)

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.

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

5.0 out of 5 stars the very first Melrose and Plant mystery, Jul 27 2004

By	Deborah MacGillivray "Author," (US & UK) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Man With A Load Of Mischief (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.

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

4.0 out of 5 stars The First Richard Jury Novel!, Jul 16 2004

By	C. T. Mikesell (near Eugene, Oregon) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Man With A Load Of Mischief (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.

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 10 customer reviews...

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