Customer Reviews

The Old Wine Shades

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(28)
1 star:		(44)

 

 

Martha Grimes has been at the top of my list of favorite mystery writers for years. I love her Richard Jury novels and I even have many of them on tape, narrated by Tim Curry. But THE OLD WINE SHADES has me stymied. I have read her other novels and was so bored that I thought someone else must have written them, but to read a Richard Jury novel that has run amuck is unacceptable.

Is Grimes on medication, or is she just sick of writing about Richard Jury? This novel reads like the mental wanderings of someone going crazy. Her attempt at cleverness by writing from the POV of Mungo the dog was an abysmal failure. Why allow the reader to know the thoughts of Jury and a dog, but nobody else? What's the point? And that's the conclusion I reached about this novel--what was the point? The plot ran all over the place and accomplished exactly nothing.

I think I'll go read some other mystery writers for awhile and hope Grimes gets well soon.

This Grimes mystery was a big disappointment. I have read all of her books and did not expect this. Please don't read this as a first Grimes book. The discussions about superstring/quantum/mechanical/M theories were okay with me--I read that stuff anyway. The dog was okay--I have several and I know they think and that they have stories to tell. But please...they have not "called time" in the afternoon in English pubs for a number of years. Also, what was the point of the bloody slipper prints? Why has our friend Jury suddenly become so gullible that he doesn't check details? The use of outdated forensic technology, or rather the lack of up-to-date technology, is disappointing. Everyone is snippy and grouchy--they have all turned into boors. In addition, there are way too many spelling and grammatical errors. Please, Martha, you can do better than this!

Dear Martha,

Frankly I am very dissapointed. You are one of the very few folks I buy hardcover, but this one is a bust. Maybe it's me though so bear with my questions.

1. The dog. Did he really have to 'think' (muse, wonder, philosophize)? What was the point of dragging the kitten all over the room? How come if he was smart enough to get into the basement and chew the kids free, he was too dumb to go get Jury and alert him to the kids in the basement?

2. Intellectual pretentiousness. How much did we really need to know about Schroedinger? Heisenberg? String Theory? Parallel universes? Quantum theory? How did the continuous references enhance the plot or further the story? How much did we need to know about wine and Trevor's snobbishness? Was he even necessary? Were they paying you by the word??????

3. Jury. By the end I began to think HE had entered a parallel universe. How come he rushes off to find Timmy and, arriving 20 minutes late, suddenly decides the kids are in no great danger after all and spends the last 10 pages of the book bantering with Wiggins and his reporter pal? What caused the loss of urgency? Did Harry (who was a pathological liar, a murderer, a diabolical calculator), kidnap the kids for kicks? Perhaps he too had entered a parallel universe (one devoid of rationality)? What was he going to do with them? Keep them in his cellar for awhile unti they got 'good and scared'?

I love you Martha, I'll keep reading your books. But I hope you'll let Jury back into this universe where dogs don't muse, Melrose gets to really play a part, and the writing is relevant and to the point.

I have read the Melrose Plant/Richard Jury series since the first book "The Man with a Load of Mischief". I would eagerly await the next installment of these books and went from paperback copies to the hardcover in order to enjoy them faster. Midway through the series, something changed. The witty, supremely intelligent, Plant became a stuffy prig. The inhabitants of "Long Pid" had lost their bite and were just pathetic. Jury himself just seemed to be lost in melancholia. It was as though Ms. Grimes had started a new series using names from the old series. But, I shouldered on and was rewarded, sometimes, with the flash of laugh out loud humor that graced the earlier books.

After reading the reviews of this latest book, I wisely waited to purchase it as a Bargain Hardcover and wish I had waited for the Bargain Paperback to be available. What is Ms. Grimes thinking? Do we really want to hear the thoughts of a dog? And the ending! Did she forget the central 'bad guy' can still go after the younger characters because NO ONE HAS STOPPED HIM? Central throughout is the theme of what fate awaits Jury for his earlier transgression in the previous book. We still don't know - the book just ends - I actually turned the page and looked for something more.

Please Ms. Grimes, go back to the beginning when these characters could shine. Bring back the biting, humerous dialoque. Bring back the Jury who fell in love with Vivian. Bring back the intelligent Plant. If you can't perhaps it is time to just let them go.

Isn't this illegal or something? To write a mystery (or anything for that matter) that simply has no ending? I don't think I've ever encountered anything quite like this before! It's not that it's left up to the reader's imagination or anything like that. The book just ends! No resolution of any kind. Like there were pages torn out! Even if a story is to be continued in the next book of a series, fine but there has to be some explanation for the characters' actions and some kind of ending in order for the reader to be encouraged to come back for the rest of the story. I actually quite enjoyed the first 2/3 of the book and assumed, stupidly I guess, that the author would pretty much tie things up so it was such a disappointment and actually downright insulting to find that the author simply doesn't care in the least about her readers. At the very least, the author and the reader have a silent understanding that the reader will be willing to excuse some errors or idiosyncratic writing or loose ends so long as the author provides the reader with a work that is sincere, entertaining and professional. I did my part. I paid my 10 bucks for the book, I read it until the very end and then the author let me down. Not just because I didn't like the ending. But because the author showed such disrespect for me, the reader, that she didn't even bother with an ending! I will never read another of Ms. Grimes books ever again. What a cheat!

But 1 Star is the lowest one can choose. I have never read a book with so much promise the first half, and so little delivery the second half. It is hard to understand how a reader new to the Jury series could put up with the constant references to the plot of the previous Jury book. Having read the previous book (heads above this one), I knew what was being referenced, but didn't really care. Specific complaints: Cyril the cat in Racer's office is getting OLD OLD OLD. (Cyril disappeared "lickety-split" behind the desk--sounds like Dr. Seuss.) The intelligent, thinking, almost talking dog Mungo belongs in a Children's book, not in a mystery that started off so well. ... But finally, the worst part--the "plot", or lack of it. "The whole wild plot simply to get rid of a woman," Gault said (p. 275). Sounded preposterous to him, does to me, too. And the "plot", if there WAS one, is never explained, resolved, completed. The book simply ends...Ms. Grimes had to go to the grocery store or something, so just quit "composing", and sent it off to the publishers. I agree with other posters--no more actually buying any of her novels. I'll check the next one out at the library to see if she recovers or not, but no more Cash to Grimes.

I honestly thought that my copy of this book had pages missing. Wonderful build-up to absolutely nothing.Waste of time and money.

I was so delighted by the first half of this book: Interesting premise, challenging string theory -- I thought I was about to see the author make a full recovery from the errors of her last few books (ridiculously precocious children, browbeating the reader with her obvious animal worship -- it's great to support PETA, but that isn't why I read mysteries!).

Then came the second half of the book. I only finished the story because it was somewhat like staring at a car accident, it's tough to make yourself look away. I really do think the whole bit with the dog being anthropomorphed into Super Lassie was too much for me. The dog thinks, the dog rationalizes, the dog unties ropes and sets the children free. What planet was this happening on? I was so insulted. I cannot ever again pick up this author's work without wondering if I will be abandoning my self-respect. And if this is the author's idea of cleverly having things happen in those other dimensions proposed by string theory that would not happen in the ordinary 3 dimensions we're all familiar with, I can only say I think it was a crashing failure. I'll miss Melrose and Agatha and the characters that were the reason I read the Jury books in the first place, but not enough to make me sit through this kind of nonsense again. I'm scratching this author off my 'must read' list and adding to my 'never again' file.

This wasn't one of her best. I love the Richard Jury series and have been a loyal fan for many years. The characters are like old friends and while I loved being with them again, the story and the ending were not satisfying at all. There were a few laughs, I'll grant you that, but for the most part, I was puzzled throughout. Also, I am contemplating writing a letter to the publishers. I was incredibly distracted by the numerous editing, spelling and grammatical errors in the book, to the point that I was actually starting to circle them!

I've always loved Martha Grimes's work, and was eagerly looking forward to this one. Alas, this is clever, but not her best. Especially, as another reviewer mentioned, the business with the dog. Please, I'd thought we'd gotten past that sort of thing.

No need to mention the plot, no need for spoilers. Unsatisfying, indeed. Finally, and this may be from watching too many CSIs, but once you've read it, think about the ending -- and the dog's presence -- and testing for evidence. Couldn't that have been done? I can't say more because it will give the plot away. Hopefully some of you will understand what I'm trying to say LOL.

Suspending of disbelief is something readers usually have to do, but Ms. Grimes definitely has tried this fan's patience with this one.