The Lamorna Wink [Mass Market Paperback]

Martha Grimes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 5, 2000

Detective Richard Jury is back in the 16th novel in Martha Grimes' extraordinary New York Times bestselling series-now enmeshed in a series of strange crimes and disappearances, and an age-old tragedy that consumes his sidekick Melrose Plant....

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Fans of Martha Grimes will know that the Lamorna Wink must be a British pub, and one to which Superintendent Richard Jury or his aristocratic sidekick Melrose Plant can be counted on to repair in the process of solving a mystery or two. This time, with Jury off in Ireland, Plant takes the starring role. His vacation in picturesque Bletchley on the Cornwall coast is very nearly ruined by the coincidental appearance of his dreaded Aunt Agatha. Ironically, however, he is drawn to the plight of a young man, Johnny Wells, whose favorite aunt has disappeared suddenly without trace. In spite of Agatha, Plant decides to lease a house owned by an American millionaire whose two grandchildren died tragically on the beach a few years before. Within a day or so, a new dead body is found in neighboring Lamorna: that of Sada Colthorp, a young woman who had lived in the area but left to dabble in porn movies. Plant and divisional police commander Brian Macalvie (Help the Poor Struggler) believes there's a link between Colthorp and the missing Chris Wells. When the pieces start to come together (and a fast string of violence ensues), Jury makes a token appearance to tie up the remaining loose ends. But the day really belongs to Plant, who is becoming much more than an accidental detective, and to Macalvie, a character with an appeal that may eclipse even Jury's.

As always, Grimes provides comic relief at the expense of a tight plot by checking in with the myriad other characters who populate Plant's Long Piddleton and Jury's London. The impatient reader may wonder when, if ever, Plant and friends will cease their juvenile heckling of Vivian Rivington's Italian count. The final explanation of the children's deaths, however, will leave the most stoic mystery fan feeling distinctly queasy. That Grimes can so effectively amuse, shock, intrigue, and even irritate after 16 books bodes well for the continuing life of the series. --Barrie Trinkle --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In her 16th Richard Jury mystery, Grimes delays the great man's appearance until late in the game, but the novel is nonetheless as consuming as its 15 predecessors (most recently, The Stargazey, 1998). Here, Jury's pal Melrose Plant leases Seabourne, a lovely oceanside house in Cornwall, where four years earlier two children died from an inexplicable fall down a flight of stone steps. Their parents fled to London; their grandfather, who owns Seabourne, refitted a local stately home into a hospice/nursing home, where he now lives. Melrose befriends Johnny Wells, a vivacious teenager with ambitions to become a magician, who lives with his Aunt Chris. When Chris vanishes and another woman, whom Chris detested, is found dead in neighboring Lamorna, Melrose calls Div. Comdr. Brian Macalvie of the Devon and Cornwall Police Department, whom Plant and Jury first met as a hot-tempered constable in Help the Poor Struggler. As two more murders follow, Melrose and Macalvie realize they are investigating two different cases, with vengeance the motive for one, the other connected to a child pornography ring. At last, Jury arrives fresh from a case in Northern Ireland and helps solve the crimes, past and present, although it is the hypochondriac Sergeant Wiggins (now hooked on the Bromo Seltzer he discovered in Baltimore in The Horse You Came In On, 1993), whose voluminous note taking leads to the linchpin clue. In addition to richly portrayed characters and stunningly described settings, the tangled plot is strewn with a host of genuine clues, as well as red herrings that beguile as effectively as they mislead. Grimes fans will be particularly intrigued as Melrose contemplates his childhood, revealing more about his complex personality than ever before. Mystery Guild main selection; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club alternates; 12-city author tour. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Onyx (September 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451409361
• ISBN-13: 978-0451409362
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #565,377 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #21 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Authors, A-Z > ( G ) > Grimes, Martha

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

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent new entry in Jury/Plant series, October 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Lamorna Wink (A Richard Jury Mystery) (Hardcover)

I finished this book in two days. I love Martha Grimes and look forward each year to a new entry in this great series. Once again she offers a interesting mystery, great characters and amusing dialogue. Frankly I was pleased that this book concentrated on Melrose Plant and Brian Macalvie. All the brooding introspection of Richard Jury was getting a little tiresome. It was nice to get some background on these intriquing characters. One quibble: enough already with the romance between Vivian and "Count Dracula." It was amusing in the first few books, but by the 16th it is boring, boring, boring. Ms. Grimes holds out hope though that we may have seen the last of this subplot.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Sad Commentary, January 22, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Lamorna Wink (A Richard Jury Mystery) (Hardcover)

I was pleasantly surprised to see Melrose Plant take the lead in this one. Ms. Grimes unveils a passionate and impulsive nature to go along with Melrose's ready supply of charm, and helps us to understand his aversion to his foresaken title. She places at the center of the tale a charismatic and sympathetic young man in trouble, and brings back familiar favorites for cameo appearances. All the elements of a superior Martha Grimes mystery are there, but my enjoyment of this book was spoiled almost to the point of negation by the grisly and perverse child murders that drive the plot. Detailed scenes describing the central tragedy are unsettlingly juxtaposed with jokey scenes featuring the lovable pub-hoppers we've come to know from the Richard Jury series. To me, the depressing nature of this read outweighed its entertainment value.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Martha's latest is a wonderful "cozy" with which to cozy-up., October 9, 1999

By 

Mark S. Summers "mark0758" (Ohio, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Lamorna Wink (A Richard Jury Mystery) (Hardcover)

Martha Grimes maintains near perfect pitch in THE LAMORNA WINK. She has awarded her readers with one of her most balanced narratives. The creative complements and artistics tensions found in Martha's unique blend of puzzle, humor, and atmosphere are evenly sustained throughout this offering.

Read Martha's Richard Jury Series at the end of a day that has been too long, when you want to leave the familiar behind and seek quiet enjoyment among the leisured and charming eccentrics who populate these pages. THE LAMORNA WINK is the type of book you read propped-up in bed, wrapped-up in a comforter, with the autumn rain falling steadily atop the roof or the winter wind howling about the house. Let Martha Grimes' characters draw you out of your own world and invite you to join them around the table at the Jack & Hammer.

THE LAMORNA WINK is a most satisfying "cozy."