The Depths of Grimes and Her Jury
The Black Cat is Martha Grimes’ most recent Richard Jury mystery, the twenty-second in a marvelous run of cases involving the handsome and intelligent Richard Jury. Present, as always, are his hypochondriac (but increasingly less so — people in Grimes’ world do evolve) colleague, Alfred Wiggins; his boss Racer; long-standing murder suspect and nemesis Harry Johnson with his crime-solving dog Mungo; Jury’s friends from Long Piddleton, including Melrose Plant and Vivian Rivington; and his neighbors, Carol-Anne Palutski, and Mrs. Wasserman. And of course, the book provides a slew of beautiful and enigmatic women, lost children, smart pets, misdirected lives, and pubs.
In this case, a beautiful young woman dressed in exquisite and expensive clothing is found shot to death outside The Black Cat pub in the village of Chesham. Jury is called in to handle the case, even though Chesham is outside of his jurisdiction, for reasons of discretion (never fully explained). When another and then another, beautiful and beautifully-dressed young woman is found shot to death in London, Jury must find the connection between the murders and nab the killer before more well-shod lasses are laid to rest before their time.
With tons of information on designer shoes, the requisite scenes of hilarity provided by Melrose Plant, and heart-strings tugging moments of Jury’s lover deep in a coma while he waits numb and dumb by her side, The Black Cat delivers much of what I have come to expect from Grimes. But not quite enough: Grimes skates a bit this time out, relying on her readers’ past experiences with Jury to fill in the blanks she leaves in her text and to provide the subtext to the stories of misunderstood children and Jury-loved women. Too many scenes seemed to have been sketched-out but never completed, and too much of the motivations and justifications on the part of the stock characters, Jury included, are left implied but not buttressed. Is Grimes getting tired of her characters? I love them all, still and always will, but even I, dedicated reader, needed some reminding as to who’s who and what’s what; new readers may find themselves completely lost in the maze of people, places, and pets.
The Black Cat is a must-read for Jury fans but cannot serve as an adequate or satisfying introduction to those just joining in the Grimes parade. For newcomers, go back to The Deer Leap or even better The Anodyne Necklace, The Dirty Duck, Jerusalem Inn, or Help the Poor Struggler. Help the poor struggler, indeed.
