Customer Reviews

the deer leap

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am very much a fan of Martha Grimes; but in this offering, she loses the battle when trying to balance her sparkling, dry humor and an almost depressing sullenness. I don't want to ruin the book for anyone, but the ending leaves us completely drained emotionally. I am a big fan of Ms. Grimes and have read most of the Jury novels. I am not one to always expect a "storybook" ending; but the resolution of this one is decidedly dark (even Melrose Plant does something totally out of character). I would rate this the weakest entry of the 10 or so that I have read so far, although it is still superior to most current books of the same genre.
My advice is not to read this one if you are feeling blue and want a pick me up!

This is one of Martha Grimes' early Richard Jury novels, where some of the characters are almost stereotypical and not quite real--sometimes these early novels seem to me to be played out against cardboard sets in my mind. Despite this, this is a poignant, rather unfinished story about a child who seems to belong to no one and have no past and has given herself to protecting animals. Not even Richard Jury is able to protect Carrie Flood, and this is parinfully sad.

One of the fun things about this novel is the introduction of Carole-ann, definitely a mutilayered character, and to see the development of Mrs. Wasserman.

I am a great fan of Ms. Grimes' Richard Jury series, but I must say this is my least favorite of the bunch. I guess my only real reservation is the graphic descriptions of how animals are abused and killed by the most sadistic of predators: Man.

Plot-wise, "The Deer Leap" is a worthy as any book in the series.

This seventh outing for Detective Superintendent Richard Jury of Scotland Yard CID and his recently un-titled friend, Melrose Plant, seems a little confused in its plot and in the back-story of the characters. An adolescent girl with amnesia and a predilection for needy animals has been taken in by a widowed baroness in a small town who has a fondness for gin. Polly Praed, semi-successful mystery novelist and longtime friend of Plant, has a dead body fall on her out of a call box in the village during a rain storm. And there's been a rash of pet deaths, plus a couple of humans. All this somehow brings Jury down from London (not very realistic, that) and the plot, as they say, thickens. The conversations are witty, the characterizations deft, but Grimes has always been good at those; it's the storyline itself that needs work. And I was frustrated by the equivocal events on the very last page; what finally happened to the girl, for pete's sake? Well, at least Plant finally has a reason for carrying a sword cane.

One of the main problems I have with Martha Grimes is that she uses references to things peculiar to England without really explaining them. In this novel she has a side plot about fox hunting with references to details that the readers have to figure out for themselves. Perhaps readers in the UK are more familiar with the issues. This is compounded by the repetition of some plot material from one novel to another.

There are young children running about who do not seem to be in school, some of them exploited by their parents (a cook in an inn, a dog watcher in London). One has to wonder, expecially when an Inspector from Scotland Yard is on the scene. Does the country have no child welfare?

The novel does have its moments. Inspector Jury meets his new upstairs neighbor, Carole-ann Palutski, who figures into following plots. Carole-ann is a 19 year old bombshell who can look 30 if the occasion calls for it. Fool that he is, Jury fends off Carole-ann's advances because he considers her too young. Instead he becomes involved with an older woman which almost leads to his death.

The novel has a dark ending which was not really necessary to the plot. I guess the author has a fixation on tragedies (kill the good people along with the bad. Let God sort them out).

The Deer Leap was the first Martha Grimes mystery I have read. I was drawn to it because of the animals. I loved the animal characters but the human characters didn't disappoint me. The plot moves along with surprise after surprise. I was thouroughly entertained by The Deer Path. A great part of the story's charm is the English countryside.

The Deer Leap

Martha Grimes, Author of the Deer Leap
arrived quickly and on time. The book
was presented as collectable, it certainly
is. The condition is exemplary and was sent
in a sturdy package that did not allow for
damage. I really do recommend this seller
as five stars.

This author names most of her books after pubs in England. She has wonderful characters that are familiar in this series. Inspector Jury always solves the murders and in this case the murders of animals as well as people. This is a quick read and delightful.

Audrey Barth

I am addicted to the Richard Jury mysteries by Martha Grimes, and the Deer Leap is another great one, although it is a sad one, too. I think Grimes is a bit like JK ROWLING--she's not afraid of having real life and real tragedy come to her characters, even the ones you love. I'm a mystery writer, and it's really hard to not want to protect your characters from the dangers of life. So, I really admire Grimes' ability to expose her characters to real danger and real heartbreak.

The Deer Leap opens when a dead woman falls out of a phone booth, and mystery writer Polly Praed calls Jury and his ex-peer friend Melrose Plant to come Ashdown Dean to solve the mystery. They come and soon discover another mystery, a young brave girl name Carrie Fleet--an apparent orphan with no family and no fears. She carries a shotgun and protects injured animals. But who will protect Carrie Fleet when a murderer approaches???

Don't miss the Deer Leap!

And buy a box of tissues for the end. You'll need it....

One sign of a well-crafted character is that the reader comes to care about that character with more than the detachment typical of fiction. Martha Grimes is one of a few talented authors who can create such characters seemingly at will, not only the repeating theme characters such as Richard Jury and Melrose Plant, but those whose appearance is abbreviated to the confines of a single volume.

This Grimes does in the person of a young lady named Carrie Fleet. She, and the events surrounding her mysterious origin, constitute the central structure of the Deer Leap. Among other things, Carrie loves animals, and detests a local laboratory that engages in animal testing of consumer products. It is the graphic nature of Grimes' description of this that has put some readers off; however, it should be emphasized that Grimes has not jumped onto a PETA soapbox here. These scenes are tightly and economically written, and are necessary to the plot and especially to its harrowing denouement. Without giving too much away, it is in the resolution of these circumstances that we discover to our surprise that we care about certain characters perhaps more than we thought we did, and it is this resolution that makes The Deer Leap perhaps the most poignant of the Richard Jury series. The reader may curse Grimes for having gotten to him or to her, and that is one sign of a superb performance in authorship.

This is a necessary continuation of the Jury series in other ways as well, for example, along the way we get to discover why Melrose Plant now carries a cosh instead of the more stylish sword-cane he used to carry. And that is really all this reviewer can squeeze in without giving away the surprises. Once a reader has finished The Deer Leap he or she will not be able to read any of the Richard Jury series quite the same way again.