Belle Ruin [Paperback]

Martha Grimes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 5, 2006

A waitress at her mother's decaying resort hotel, twelve-year-old Emma now has a second job as the youngest cub reporter in the history of La Porte's Conservative newspaper. But when she discovers the crumbling shell of a fabulous hotel- the once-sumptuous Belle Rouen-in the woods near her small town of Spirit Lake, Emma never imagines that the mysteries it holds will bring her one step closer to solving a forty-year-old crime-and force a new transgression to light.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Grimes, well known for her extensive Richard Jury mystery series, has struck gold with precocious 12-year-old Emma Graham, who was featured in two of Grimes' previous novels. Basking in the glow of new-found fame after narrowly escaping a murder attempt, Emma has her hands full reporting for the local newspaper, waitressing in her mom's seedy hotel restaurant and performing in her brother's low-budget production of "Medea: The Musical." She also creates havoc for the hotel's guests, hobnobs with the local sheriff and trades barbs with her archenemy, Ree-Jane Davidow. Nonetheless, Emma's never ending quest to discover the identity of a mysterious girl only she can see, as well as her passion for solving the 20-year-old mystery surrounding a baby kidnapped from the once famous Belle Rouen hotel are always her top priorities. Grimes' pungent prose and catchy dialog breathe life into her charming young narrator and the novels' idiosyncratic cast of characters. While the fact that Grimes picks up threads from two previous books may disorient newcomers, Emma's endearing ways and sparkling observations-"It isn't frogs you get in your throat, it's memories"-will leave readers eager for the next installment.
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

Grimes, best known for her 18 police procedurals starring Richard Jury, launched a new series a few years ago in which a preteen girl in Spirit Lake, an American small town, serves as an unlikely sleuth. There is nothing unsettling about a preteen detective--witness a spate of juvenile and young-adult mysteries (even Harry Potter can be considered a detective at times). What is unsettling and clunky about this new series (previous books are Hotel Paradise, 1996, and Cold Flat Junction, 2000) is the distressingly uneven voice of the narrator, 12-year-old Emma Graham, who helps out at her mother's falling-apart resort hotel. Emma narrates her own adventures mostly in the voice of a very educated woman, except that every and now then, Grimes, seemingly remembering that her heroine is a kid, has Emma explain how she came to know a particular quote or happened to have such a grown-up insight. At the other moments, Grimes just yanks poor Emma back to a version of kidspeak. The latest adventure centers on a burned-down hotel, Belle Rouen, which, of course, holds a buried past that only Emma can unearth. While the debut novel, Hotel Paradise, held promise as a character-driven literary thriller, the last two have been disappointing. Grimes fans will still want to read this one, but it's definitely a misstep. 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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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: NAL Trade (September 5, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451219449
• ISBN-13: 978-0451219442
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #286,585 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Martha Grimes is the bestselling author of twenty-one Richard Jury novels, as well as the novels Dakota and Foul Matter, among others. Her previous two Jury books, The Old Wine Shades and Dust, both appeared on the New York Times bestseller list.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Two stars for half of a four-star novel., July 12, 2006

By 

Charles Warman (Wichita Falls, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Belle Ruin: A Novel (Emma Graham Mysteries) (Hardcover)

For twenty years or longer, Martha Grimes has been one of my favorite mystery writers. Furthermore, in recent years, particularly in her Emma Graham series, she has emerged as an eloquent and graceful wordsmith. Her ability to create a mood, from sleepy and laid-back to threatening to comical, with a few well-placed impressionistic brush strokes sets her apart from other writers of the genre. Unfortunately, her emergence as a word stylist has been more than offset by her decline as a constructor of plots.

There is almost enough of a story line here for an economical, 200-page novel. Almost. Unfortunately, what we get is nearly 400 pages with no plot resolution; the story merely proceeds to a point and stops. I assume that Part 2 will be forthcoming -- for another 20 bucks, of course. Instead of a completed narrative, we're treated to half a story and a whole boatload of filler. She gives us one too many performances of "Medea: The Musical." It only works once per book, Ms. Grimes! Ditto the upstairs visits to alcoholic Aunt Aurora; the cab rides with the moronic Delbert; the trips to the diner in Cold Flat Junction, the musings on what lies beyond the line of trees at the horizon; the put-downs of Ree-Jane; the sabotaging of Miss Bertha's meals; and on and on and on. I often found myself thinking, "Not another one!"

Since Ms. Grimes' latest Richard Jury novel, The Old Wine Shades, suffers from the same defects as Belle Ruin -- no plot resolution and reams of marginally relevant filler -- I conclude that she has made some sort of deal with the devil to serialize her novels. Furthermore, the multiple editing errors that other reviewers have noted indicate the same thing - that Ms. Grimes is now cranking out her books assembly-line style, a la Tom Clancy. What a shame. What a loss.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another beautifully written and crafted book by Martha Grimes, June 19, 2006

By 

J. West "browniz" (Katy, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Belle Ruin: A Novel (Emma Graham Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Yes, Belle Ruin is a sequel. That means you have to read the books that came before it or it can be rather confusing. And, like most books, you can't skim through it and expect to get the point. Besides, Martha Grimes' prose is worth reading every word. The characters are multi-dimensional--you'll find things to like, love, and dislike in all of them. And the story is like real life; sometimes there's no neat, tidy ending. I loved the bravery of the open-ended ending in Hotel Paradise and that theme continues in Belle Ruin. If you're looking for a tidy, happily-ever-after ending, read a fairy tale. If you're looking for a beautifully written, quirky, slice-of-life mystery, read anything by Martha Grimes.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A slice-of-life coming of age tale, September 27, 2005

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Belle Ruin: A Novel (Emma Graham Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Emma Graham, a precocious 12-year-old girl growing up in mid-twentieth century, small-town America has been heartily adopted by Martha Grimes fans old and new. Emma waits tables and serves the quirky and crotchety elderly inhabitants of the crumbling but sedate residence hotel owned by her mother. Emma's curiosity, unmatched by any cat or fictional adolescent sleuth, has already uncovered two separate murders in the first two books, HOTEL PARADISE and COLD FLAT JUNCTION.

The notoriety from those adventures has turned Emma into a local celebrity and landed her a job as a cub reporter at the local newspaper, The Conservative. BELLE RUIN finds Emma with writer's block while she tries to write a final chapter to the series. She starts looking into past events that took place at Belle Ruin, or more properly, Belle Rouen, an exclusive lakeside resort hotel that burned to the ground during that mystery-laden period 40 years in the past. Emma's browsing through the newspaper morgue in search of story ideas discloses a mysteriously abandoned case of an unresolved infant kidnapping. Naturally, Emma, with her indefatigable nose for news, begins to dig and uncovers more buried secrets of the small town's past.

Martha Grimes has populated the plot with a colorful cast of characters that includes a garage mechanic, a taxi driver, her alcoholically experimental Aunt Aurora, the blue-eyed sheriff on whom Emma has a huge crush, the hated Ree-Jane, and the mysterious disappearing girl from the previous novels. Emma's offbeat brother Will and his talented pal Mill create a locally written and produced version of "Medea," in which Emma is cast as Deux ex Machina in perhaps the most abridged version ever brought to the stage. Complete with a derivative musical score, the performances become a standing-room only hit, adding comedic relief to this slice of life coming-of-age tale.

Emma's wry and often mature-for-her-age observations on human nature belie her young years, but make for joyful reading. Grimes's well-established reputation for depth and breadth of characters and plot is evident in BELLE RUIN. Whether or not we can believe that there is a 12-year-old girl, even in the halcyon years of the mid-twentieth century, who is as bright, precocious and observant as Emma is rather beside the point. The story is as full of life and spice as Emma and should be welcomed by Grimes's legion of readers.

--- Reviewed by Roz Shea