Customer Reviews

The Black Cat: A Richard Jury Mystery (Richard Jury Mysteries)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Jury is less than pleased to be assigned a case outside his district - a case that's already making the tabloid headlines. A beautiful young woman working as an escort is found murdered outside a pub called The Black Cat. Two more `escort' murders, this time in London, follow and Jury struggles to make a connection between the crimes.

I liked the premise and the set-up of the story. Unfortunately, after that it was pretty much downhill for me.

Early on in the book I was dismayed to find myself back at `The Old Wine Shades'. Yep, Harry Johnson figures prominently in this book. Back again to those boring, circuitous conversations between Jury and Harry. Countless references to the murder that Jury is convinced Harry committed. I disliked `The Old Wine Shades' so much that I've blessedly forgotten the storyline and the author's efforts to remind me in this book weren't very successful. I don't share the author's affection for Harry's character but it seems she's determined to make him a recurring character in this series.

Nothing about the story flowed gracefully. There's a scene with Melrose and Jury in Long Piddleton that seemed like an afterthought; an awkward effort to acknowledge the series `regulars'. A couple chapters dedicated to an animal rescue. A silly and distracting chapter detailing the telepathic communication between Harry's dog, Mungo, and a kidnapped cat. Overall it felt choppy and disjointed.

On the plus side, this entry brings back Jury as we've come to know him over the years - melancholy, introspective and intelligent. Melrose makes only a minor appearance, but a scene that takes place at his club, Boring's, is very entertaining.

What can I say? If you've read the whole series (and I have), you'll probably read this one too. If you liked the last two entries in the series you'll probably enjoy this more than I did. If you are new to the series then please don't judge it by this lackluster entry. Start at the beginning - Ms Grimes has written some great books, this just isn't one of them

I stopped buying Martha Grimes Jury series a few books ago and I'm very glad I got this one at the library.
What happened to these books? I've read the series from the beginning and used to look forward to each new book, but no more.
The story line could have been improved and the whole "wall of shoes" seemed forced and silly, as if the author has watched too many episodes of SATC.
I agree with other reviewers that the Harry Johnson character should be put to rest. His conversations with Jury are boring and pointless and I don't understand the author's insistence in keeping the character around, especially when the cast of regular characters, especially Melrose Plant, are so much more entertaining.
One thing I noticed in this book was the lack of police procedure, which seems almost laughable. Since the murder victims depended on their mobiles for contact with their respecitive services, why was no mobile ever found or even looked for? I would think that would be the first thing the police would look for in order to find the phone numbers of their contacts and therefore point them in the right direction. Apparently, Ms. Grimes is too caught up in the boring us with Harry to actually put some thought into the storyline.
Unfortunately, I doubt that there will ever be a return to the quality of the first books.

I would follow Richard Jury and Melrose Plant anywhere they want to go, so I approach a new book in this series with delighted anticipation. I've never been disappointed and The Black Cat is no exception. Long time Jury readers will not be confused by the shorthand banter and whimsical asides we've come to appreciate. Jury's poetic melancholy is still in place; you can feel how profoundly weary he is, and no wonder. Obsession can knock the stuffing out of a person, and his love affair and subsequent tragedy with Lu has worn Jury down to an exposed nerve. Obsession runs through this mystery like the Thames through London, whether it involves sex, shoes, mothers, rescuing victims, or a festering grudge against an old nemesis with telepathic pets. The whodunit part is tricky enough to satisfy, and although we don't spend much time with our friends in Long Piddleton, it's reassuring to know Melrose Plant is still living with one foot in a Great Britain that no longer exists (if it ever did). Long time fans will find much to love in this latest Jury, and hopefully new readers will want to go back through 22 books to see where it all began. Note: I was disappointed not to have a Kindle version as well, but am pretty sure Martha Grimes has no control over what her publisher chooses to do. If books don't sell because of bad Amazon reviews given in protest it's ultimately the author who is hurt most.

If I hadn't read other books by Martha Grimes I might have rated this three stars. But I know how good she can be and this one just doesn't meet her usual standard. Most of the regular characters are there--Richard Jury, Melrose Plant, Carol-anne and the gang in Long Piddleton -- but it doesn't jell. I found I didn't care about the murder victims and had trouble telling them apart. The requisite cute girl wasn't very cute, the usual dogs and cats talked (yes, really) and, most important, the mystery wasn't interesting. I don't usually identify the villain in mysteries, but this one stood out from the very beginning so I found myself irritated that Jury couldn't see whodunit.

In short, a really disappointing outing for Martha Grimes and Richard Jury.

I used to eagerly await every Martha Grimes novel featuring Richard Jury. No more. Apparently recognizing that her last book's Harry Johnson shaggy dog story was a disaster, she spends most of her most recent book trying to "fix" the shaggy dog story. She does so by having Jury and Johnson drink gallons of wine, while recapping the shaggy dog story, essentially replaying the incredibly boring stuff from her last novel. Even worse, she then morphs the shaggy dog story into a shaggy cat story. The dog and 3 cats talk to one another. Yes, chapter after chapter of pet conversations, as if this murder investigation was intended for 6 year olds! Finally, this book is not a whodunnit. The reader will spot the killer in the first 20 minutes. That is a blessing, since it gives the reader a chance to quit reading before reaching several chapters of pet chatter.

I DID enjoy this book in spite of the annoyances in it, but I cannot recommend it. I found so many obvious errors that it is hard to believe the editors let it through.For example,the first murder victim, a single woman, had the same last name as her maternal aunt. This COULD happen, but it would be so unusual as to require some kind of comment. Later Melrose Plant uses an assumed name to engage an escort service and then gives his own credit card number.This would have immediately uncivered his ruse, since the names would not match when the service went to check the credit card. There is a cute little subplot involving two black cats who get confused for one another, but one of them is a nursing mother who would immediately be identifiable. There are more....

The solution to the murders then finally depends on a coincidence so unlikely that it just is not believable SPOILER AHEAD: A woman who is extremely angry that her husband is having an affair happens to meet a stranger in a pub who is also angry at losing a lover, and they arrange to commit murder for each other. Not only is it unbelievable that two strangers would confide such desires to each othe, but it has been done before in print and on screen. As a matter of fact, I recognized so many things in this book that were recongizable as having been done before that I now wonder if she intended a spoof? If so, the tone should have been lighter.

I like Grimes, but if she can't do better next time out, she'll be off my TO Read list.

This latest addition to the Richard Jury series falls way short of the quality of the earlier books. The last one was weird and confusing, this one is too-- plus simply bad. I have every Grimes written on my shelves but this will be the last. I dont know what has happened and maybe by the itme the next one appears, I will forget how much this one ticked me off but I cannot think of anything posiitve to say except that they once were great.

The shoes, the animals' dialogue, the plot, the tired banter of the tired characters in a tired effort. Dull as dirt and out of step. I used to love Jury novels. Alas. Did I change or has Martha got tired of the lot of them?

Recently I have stopped buying and reading some of the so-called "masters" of detectives novels, because, frankly and in my personal opinion, their writing has turned boring, repetitive and silly. This is the case with this great writer named Martha Grimes. I have read every book written by this lady, but The Black Cat will be my last. As with children flying like angels, cats and dogs talking in a detective novel, is just too much to stand. The book goes downhill almost from the beginning. Rest in peace, Richard Jury.

As has happened with several of her recent Jury novels, I find myself as I am reading trying to figure out not "who-done-it" but rather "who-wrote-it"? Characters whose identities are well-established after decades on the literary scene are all of a sudden saying & thinking things antithetical to their identities -- not through what seems to be a careful evolution of personality, but through what seems like a shoddy fan-fiction writing exercise. It feels like Grimes came up with a plot and maybe wrote a few scenes, and then used them as a prompt for farming out chapters to other writers; upon receiving them, it seems, she strung them together and sent them in to the publisher without editing. (Melrose referring to an "army of elves" taking over Ardry End? Wiggins telling Jury "Don't be daft." Jury saying to Wiggins one chapter later, "Don't be daft, Wiggins!" Constant use of the phrase "there's no joy." Who imported these overtly-heavy-handed Britishisms and non-characteristic cutesy statements into Grimes' style? And why is Danny Wu's restaurant all of a sudden called Ruiya instead of Ruiyi, as it has been in the past 20 or 21 books?)

I'm only half-way through "The Black Cat", and I will finish it. I'll probably read future Jury ones. But, more and more, I'm coming to approach them with trepidation, wondering if I'll find them a reliable, good read and expecting to be disappointed, rather than eagerly anticipating their appearance.