Customer Reviews

I Am the Only Running Footman

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a reprint of a novel copyrighted in 1986. As in other novels by this author, the title is the name of a pub. Inspector Jury is joined again by Melrose Plant who has an estate near Long Piddleton on the River Piddle. In this novel, Jury is assigned to a case where a young woman has been strangled with her own scarf. The investigation reopens an older, unsolved case where another young woman was also strangled with her own scarf. Inquiries into the pasts of the two women turn up love affairs that may be related - both women were sleeping around to some degree.

The questions are whether these are serial killings or well-planned murders, and what would be the motive. Various odd characters are introduced including the odd family that owns and operates the Mortal Man. While the plot is interesting, digressions into discussions of the various characters (many not involved in the main plot) tends to detract from the main story line. At times, the story seems to wander.

When events are finally drawn together, it seems a bit abrupt. The story comes to a climax as the solution to the mystery is revealed, but it seems to leave some loose ends. A short added chapter might have closed things out better. One is left to wonder what finally happened to some of the characters.

I Am the Only Running Footman, by Martha Grimes, is the 8th book in this excellent series. This entry features the mystery surrounding the murder of a blonde shopgirl in Mayfair. The murder, a strangling with a scarf, is eerily similar to a previous murder in devon; investigated by Brian Macalvie (introduced in Help the Poor Struggler). This is a decent entry in the series. Melrose and Macalvie are in fine form, as is Jury. nother very strong entry in this compelling series. A solid 3 star novel.

For those of you new to the series, I would recommend reading them in order for the best reading experience; however, they are also fun as stand alone novels.

Here is the series in order:

The Man with a Load of Mischief
The Old Fox Deceived
The Anodyne Necklace
The Dirty Duck
Jerusalem Inn
Help the Poor Struggler
The Deer Leap
I am the only Running Footman
The Five Bells and Bladebone
The Old Silent
The Old Contemptibles
The Horse You Came In on
Rainbow's End
The Case has Altered
The Stargazey
The Lamorna Wink
The Blue Last
The Grave Maurice
The Winds of Change
The Old Wine Shades
Dust

Eye-catching title -- though, like most in the Superintendent Richard Jury mystery series, it has sod-all to do with the story. This time, a young female hitchhiker is strangled with her own scarf in a layby in Devon; ten months later, another young woman is strangled in a similar manner near the titular pub in Mayfair. Devon is the fearsome DCS Macalvie's turf, and he (who was first seen in Help the Poor Struggler) is here again, but in a relatively minor role. The action takes Jury -- and his wealthy, ex-titled friend, Melrose Plant -- to the country homes of two families, one struck by tragedy a couple years before, the other simply pathetic. I had to reread the denouement chapter, trying to figure out just why the guilty party was guilty; I'm still not sure. This isn't really one of Grimes's better efforts.

I find myself a little addicted to the recurring characters in this series and enjoy following their lives. I can't help thinking I missed something when I found Richard Jury in a relationship with someone I know nearly nothing about.
I like the writing and images created of people, homes, buildings, art and all around. I also felt at the end that I might again have missed something. All the loose ends were not quite tied up as they usually are. I had more questions than answers. What really happened to Rose and did she leave or was she the first? Hopefully in the next book I will find some of the answers. I recommend this series and author. I found the series much later than they were actually published and had to purchase all in the series before I could begin reading the first one. I have not been disappointed.

I Am The Only Running Footman, by Martha Grimes, is book eight in a series that I eagerly read. The first seven books, beginning with The Man With a Load of Mischief, all rate five stars from me, so I am sad to report that this book is very flawed.
It is short, and since it has larger print than usual (no flaw), the 314 pages are substantially less than her usual stellar novels run. That is fine if the story sings, but it is oddly lurchy; did she really write this? What was her editor thinking? The ending is particularly perturbing, ill written and abrupt. Ms. Grimes adds in some of her traditional levity, but it doesn't save this novel.

My beloved Melrose Plant and Richard Jury seem sadly underdeveloped, but I am confident that the next in the series will return to its high standards, with wonderful main characters that we know and love. If you haven't read her books, don't be put off by this review; run and buy the first book, since I guarantee that the first seven are heaven.
Terra Hangen, author of Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts.
A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts: Stories to warm your heart and tips to simplify your holidays

This is a good book, but the series is light on developments between the main characters. It's like they are frozen in time, and mysteries periodically need to be solved in their midst.

After reading "I am the Only Running Footman" I am again satisfied with yet another great Martha Grimes novel. Her stories contain a great collection of mystery crimes with the lead detective being Richard Jury. In this book, Richard has to team up with an old rival in order to solve one of this centuries greatest cases, the scarves murder. But there seem to be no leads. So will Jury and arch rival Macalvie be able to put their past behind them and solve this crime, or will there be yet another victim of the fatal scarves.

After reading "I am the Only Running Footman" I am again satisfied with yet another great Martha Grimes novel. Her stories contain a great collection of mystery crimes with the lead detective being Richard Jury. In this book, Richard has to team up with an old rival in order to solve one of this centuries greatest cases, the scarves murder. But there seem to be no leads. So will Jury and arch rival Macalvie be able to put their past behind them and solve this crime, or will there be yet another victim of the fatal scarves.

The deceased, Sheila Broome, lived in Exeter. Racer disturbed Richard Jury to call him to the crime scene. It is another death, that of Ivy Childess, that causes Wiggins to make the conection between Ivy Childess and Sheila Broome because of the manner of death.

As connections are teased out laboriously by everyone including Melrose Plant and Marshall Trueblood, it is determined that the members of the Winslow family were bonded to each other. The two murders had to do with the accidental death of a child, Phoebe Winslow.

As in every other instance that I know of, this Martha Grimes novel contains excellent writing coupled with interesting and compelling material. She is a first rate practitioner of the craft of crime fiction.