Series
Publication
Simon & Schuster Audio (2013)
Original publication date
1989
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Description
In the tenth murderous case for Richard Jury, the New Scotland Yard superintendent witnesses a killing in a West Yorkshire inn called the Old Silent, while his highborn, amateur colleague, Melrose Plant wishes to he could perform one as he drives his impossible Aunt Agatha to the Old Swan in Harrogate. Caught up in a triple murder, Jury would go to any lengths to help Nell Healey, the lovely widow of one of the victims. But Nell Healey remains silent as the Yorkshire moors, quiet as the grave, while the scope of the mystery widens.
User reviews
LibraryThing member Joycepa
Depressed about his life or, more accurately, lack of one, Jury takes some time off and ends up in Bronte country. After more or less stalking an attractive woman through the Bronte Museum and the Children’s Toy Museum, ashamed of himself, Jury heads for his lodgings at The Old Silent Inn. There,
The crime occurs in Macalvie country. Macalvie fills Jury in on the background of the woman—Nell Citrine Healey—and of the bizarre kidnapping that occurred 14 years before in which Bill Healey, Nell’s stepson and his best friend Toby Holt disappeared almost underneath Nell’s eyes one afternoon. Billy was kidnapped; the kidnappers demand a ransom that Nell, listening to police advice, refused to pay. Nothing was ever heard from Billy or the kidnappers again. Toby is reported killed in London in an auto accident 5 weeks later. Her husband, Roger Healey, the boy’s father, is the man that Nell then kills 14 years later. Macalvie knows all this, since he was a Detective Sargeant on the original kidnapping case; Macalvie never forgets anything.
There is no doubt of Nell’s guilt in the murder of Roger Healey; the big question is why. Nell refuses to discuss anything. But Jury can not get Nell Healey out of his head, and starts investigating on his own; he brings in Melrose Plant to help out.
Because this is a Martha Grimes story, naturally there is a precocious child who plays a major role. In this book, it’s Abby Cable, niece of the owner of the bed and breakfast place at which Melrose stays. Abby is yet another child who has a remarkable rapport with animals, especially her sheep dog, Stranger, a border collie. When someone tries to kill Abby out on the moor, Abby deploys Stranger and another sheep dog, Tim to round up a flock of sheep scattered over a distant hill and drive them towards her, creating enough confusion that Abby escapes in the midst of the wooly confusion. The scene, told from the dogs’ point of view, is superbly written in a book filled with superbly written scenes.
Melrose, whose life requires melodrama, meets an eccentric American young woman, Ellen Gray, who just happens to be a “hot” best-selling author of avant-garde (meaning no one can understand them) books. Their relationship is both predictable and hilarious.
The climax is exciting, extremely well done. Plot is excellent, one of her better ones. The book is filled with the usual panoply of Grimes one-of-a-kind characters, and the Grimes humor never falters.
Highly recommended.
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he sees the woman once more, who is meeting a man she obviously knows. Before he realizes what is happening and certainly before he can prevent it, the woman shoots and kills the man; Jury is in the odd position of being a policeman who is a witness to a murder to which he is totally unconnected.The crime occurs in Macalvie country. Macalvie fills Jury in on the background of the woman—Nell Citrine Healey—and of the bizarre kidnapping that occurred 14 years before in which Bill Healey, Nell’s stepson and his best friend Toby Holt disappeared almost underneath Nell’s eyes one afternoon. Billy was kidnapped; the kidnappers demand a ransom that Nell, listening to police advice, refused to pay. Nothing was ever heard from Billy or the kidnappers again. Toby is reported killed in London in an auto accident 5 weeks later. Her husband, Roger Healey, the boy’s father, is the man that Nell then kills 14 years later. Macalvie knows all this, since he was a Detective Sargeant on the original kidnapping case; Macalvie never forgets anything.
There is no doubt of Nell’s guilt in the murder of Roger Healey; the big question is why. Nell refuses to discuss anything. But Jury can not get Nell Healey out of his head, and starts investigating on his own; he brings in Melrose Plant to help out.
Because this is a Martha Grimes story, naturally there is a precocious child who plays a major role. In this book, it’s Abby Cable, niece of the owner of the bed and breakfast place at which Melrose stays. Abby is yet another child who has a remarkable rapport with animals, especially her sheep dog, Stranger, a border collie. When someone tries to kill Abby out on the moor, Abby deploys Stranger and another sheep dog, Tim to round up a flock of sheep scattered over a distant hill and drive them towards her, creating enough confusion that Abby escapes in the midst of the wooly confusion. The scene, told from the dogs’ point of view, is superbly written in a book filled with superbly written scenes.
Melrose, whose life requires melodrama, meets an eccentric American young woman, Ellen Gray, who just happens to be a “hot” best-selling author of avant-garde (meaning no one can understand them) books. Their relationship is both predictable and hilarious.
The climax is exciting, extremely well done. Plot is excellent, one of her better ones. The book is filled with the usual panoply of Grimes one-of-a-kind characters, and the Grimes humor never falters.
Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member caltheat
The master of British mystery is American. I do enjoy her characters: Jury, Melrose, Wiggins, even Agatha. I almost had the mystery solved, just the wrong accomplice, and wrong victim. But the right reason, money! I really enjoy how Grimes includes children and makes Jury and Melrose interact with
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them. The children are always critical to the solution of some part of the mystery. And she uses animals well, gives them real character. Show Less
LibraryThing member Jaie22
Meh. I wish these Martha Grimes books came with a cast list at the beginning of the novel. By the end, I get so confused about who is who and who is related to whom, etc. Maybe I should take notes, but I refuse to do that for leisure reading.
LibraryThing member delphimo
The book has silently rested among other books waiting for me to read. I had forgotten the delectable characters of the Inspector Jury series, and the wonderful names of the English pubs. Inspector Jury witnesses a cold-blooded murder, but he cannot walk away from the crime without attempting to
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save the shooter from the gallows. The story jumps back and forth among the various scenes and characters. Martha Grimes brings a richness of language into the story as the reader journeys into the world of music and family jealousy. Of course, Sergeant Higgins and his multitude of ailments and cures brings comic relief whenever the grisliness of murder invades. Show Less
LibraryThing member phoenixcomet
Richard Jury witnesses Nell Healey shoot down her husband in cold blood and refuse to defend herself. Why? And why does this incident increase Richard's melancholia so much that he goes out on sick leave to solve the case? Melrose Plant, Jury's close friend, and Brian Macalvie, the detective
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superintendent who is never wrong get pulled into figuring out what did happen to Billy Healey and Toby Holt, 2 boys who were kidnapped 8 years before. As always, Martha Grimes depictions of children, their personalities and intelligence are delightful, in this case 12 year old Abby Cable. Show Less
LibraryThing member jetangen4571
british-detective, law-enforcement, music, muted-humor
While wrapped in depression, Jury witnesses a woman at the end of her own tether deliberately shoot her husband in a quiet pub. He becomes engaged in an unsolved mystery involving the woman, her husband, now dead, and Macalvie while deciding
While wrapped in depression, Jury witnesses a woman at the end of her own tether deliberately shoot her husband in a quiet pub. He becomes engaged in an unsolved mystery involving the woman, her husband, now dead, and Macalvie while deciding
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what to do with his life. Plant and Wiggins assist in working on her motivation, the unsolved mystery, and learning about the music scene, Vivian's ongoing Italian situation, and Plant discovers an American. Good show! Show Less
Media reviews
Kirkus Reivews
Grimes pursues many seductive byways--Greek mythology; the world of jazz and rock; the skills of sheepherding dogs; designer clothes; the Orient Express. She writes, as always, with charm, authority and ironic wit, but the digressions slow and bloat a story that sags midway but recovers nicely.
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Overlong and self-indulgent but still a class act.
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Language
Original language
English
Other editions
The Old Silent by Martha Grimes (Paperback)