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The Old Wine Shades: A Richard Jury Mystery

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The Old Wine Shades: A Richard Jury Mystery [Large Print] (Paperback)

by Martha Grimes (Author)

2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Product Details

Paperback: 536 pages
Publisher: THOMSON GALE GROUP; Lrg edition (March 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1594131902
ISBN-13: 978-1594131905
Product Dimensions: 21.3 x 14 x 2.5 cm
Shipping Weight: 681 g

Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

Amazon.ca Sales Rank: #718,463 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in this category:
#44 in Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Authors, A-Z > ( G ) > Grimes, Martha

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This is item 20 in The Richard Jury Series.

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Man walked into a pub." This line, delivered with a droll inflection by reader John Lee, is the perfect opening for Martha Grimes's latest entry in her Inspector Jury series. Harry Johnson enters the Old Wine Shades pub and recounts to Jury the strange tale of a mother and son who disappeared nine months ago, along with their dog, Mungo. At first Jury finds the story more amusing than ominous, but as more details are revealed his curiosity is piqued, and he feels compelled to investigate the disappearances. What he discovers is that nothing, including the agreeable Johnson, is what it seems. Grimes builds a captivating mystery with plenty of twists and quirky characters to keep the listener engaged, and Lee's controlled performance fits nicely with her eclectic, character-driven storytelling. Lee's characterizations are presented with a dignified, no frills aplomb, which isn't easy given that they include the inner thoughts of an autistic child and the dog, Mungo. In fact, the scenes featuring Mungo supply some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments, as well as some of the novel's most intense suspense. Jury fans will not be disappointed.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The Richard Jury series (this is the twentieth installment) is known for having an English pub in some sort of starring or supporting role, reflected in the title. In the latest, the pub of the title is the setting for a very long pub tale that sounds for all the world like a shaggy dog story. A man in the pub, with a shaggy dog at his feet, tells Jury (for unknown reasons, except sociability) about a friend of his whose wife, son, and dog all disappeared nine months previously. The clincher to the story is that the dog came back. New Scotland Yard Detective Superintendent Jury lets the man (a physicist whose disappeared friend is also a physicist) talk for three nights about the disappearance. Jury gets drawn into investigating the case, which he mostly doubts, until a body turns up. Very improbable and creaky but still certain to be of interest to loyal Jury fans. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews

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1.0 out of 5 stars Simply....Dreadful., Oct 18 2007

By	Celtictide (Alberta, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Old Wine Shades (Paperback)

Originally I was an avid Martha Grimes fan, waiting breathlessly for the next Richard Jury novel to come out and usually devouring it in a day or two. Then, several years and several tomes ago, I conceded that the mysteries had become formulaic, the characters dull, and I bored. I stopped reading them until recently when I picked up Old Wine Shades on a whim, with a hope that it would renew interest in a once favourite author. Unfortunately it has only reaffirmed my view.

Aside from a tale that drags out longer than a soap opera story line, one of the biggest problems is the complete absence of progress in character development. From The Man With a Load of Mischief to this, apparently the twenty first Jury mystery, Jury, Plant, Carole-anne, Wiggins, Trueblood, Rivington et al, haven't changed a bit, and that isn't intended as a compliment. The characters are one dimensional, still arguing about the same things, still behaving the same way as they have in previous stories. One could almost take the Long Piddleton pub scenes and reinsert them into any previous (or, God-forbid) future Jury tales without having to make many changes. The characters and their lives haven't moved on, developed, or progressed. What was once slightly humorous has become boring, farcical and more than a bit annoying. Part of the sell in writing about a particular set of characters is that the reader has to identify or at least like them. Simply put - I don't.

At one time Martha Grimes showed the considerable potential of being one of the finest mystery writers of her generation, however her lackluster stories and inability to develop characters has blighted that promise. Old Wine Shades has been returned to the local library unfinished, the last straw being the first person dog narrative. If more books are intended, might I suggest that Ms. Grimes consider giving Elizabeth George a call to get a few pointers on how it is done?

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1.0 out of 5 stars Hopefully the Last Jury Novel, Nov 20 2006

By	P.C. Charlie Constable (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Old Wine Shades (Hardcover)

Martha Grimes' Jury series was once quite readable and the early installments were good mystery yarns. However the franchise has fallen on hard times. Each of the more recent efforts has been formulaic and bordered on the absurd. The characters are shallow caricatures of the English and would be more suitable to a "Carry On" movie. Ms Grimes always inflicts upon us some poor orphaned waif in distress who sports a preternaturally intelligent pet as a sidekick. Jury, the main character, is one dimensional and boring.

Never mind the condescending, pretentitious review on the US site espousing this as a "tour de force". It isn't. Save your hard earned money.

December 18, 2006- As an addendum, I have just finished rereading the novel and, sadly, my opinion is unchanged. The "shaggy dog" story is interesting and well done but I can't get past the annoying characters and the predictable plot elements. I believe Martha Grimes has the ability to write a gripping yarn but the series has become terribly stale.

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4.0 out of 5 stars A diverting yarn becomes a homicide investigation, Feb 24 2006

By A Customer

This review is from: Old Wine Shades (Hardcover)

At a London pub called the Old Wine Shades, Richard Jury hears a slightly convoluted story about a wife, a son, and a dog who disappear one day on a visit to Surrey. For nine months, they have been gone; except for the dog, who inexplicably returns. Skeptical yet curious, Jury probes deeper. Before long, what begins as a diverting yarn becomes a homicide investigation of the most perplexing sort. A finely turned British mystery.

Supt. Richard Jury's 20th case begins as the shaggiest of shaggy-dog stories, moves through a critique of quantum mechanics and ends in a truly mystical realm. In a London pub, a stranger named Harry Johnson tells Jury a story that isn't really a story. Nine months ago, physics professor Hugh Gault lost his whole family when all three of its members-his wife Glynnis, their autistic son Robbie and their dog Mungo-vanished during the middle of a house-hunting trip to Surrey. Though Hugh hired detectives, there was no sign of any of them-until recently, when Mungo suddenly popped up. The story, as Harry points out, isn't complete because the riddle lacks an ending or an explanation, and Jury, his curiosity piqued to the point of obsession by the clues Harry teasingly doles out, can't supply them. Neither can his aristocratic friend Melrose Plant or the rest of his whimsical hangers-on, though they duly ponder the puzzle-Melrose even goes as far as taking a trip to Tuscany to meet the owner of one of the houses Glynnis was to visit-and ask questions. The answers, when they finally come, have less to do with the wheels of justice than with superstrings, Godel's incompleteness theory and Schrodinger's cat. Even fans who can't appreciate the passing strangeness of this truly special adventure will be won over by a precocious little girl and a dog of rare intelligence. I also recommend-The Quest-by Giorgio Kostantinos.
Thanks-Harriet

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