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The Blue Last (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "'Poet,' it says, 'died from stab of rose.'..." (more)
Key Phrases: glove shop, Simon Croft, Kitty Riordin, Miss Penforwarden (more...)
2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (102 customer reviews)
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  Kindle Edition, November 1, 2005 $6.39 -- --
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The Blue Last + The Grave Maurice + The Stargazey (Richard Jury Mysteries)
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  • This item: The Blue Last by Martha Grimes

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Scotland Yard Superintendent Richard Jury returns in a compelling novel, the 17th in Grimes's long-running series. Mickey Haggerty, Jury's old friend and colleague, is dying of cancer. So Jury can hardly refuse his request to look into what Mickey suspects is a 50-year-old case of switched identities. It surfaces when the last World War II bomb site in London is excavated for a new development, exposing the skeletal remains of a woman and infant. Mickey thinks the dead infant wasn't the baby of Kitty Riordan, Maisie Tynedale's nanny, as Kitty claimed, but was Maisie herself, the heiress to a brewery fortune. Did Kitty engineer the masquerade? And did Simon Croft, who was writing a book about London in the war years, discover it? When Croft is killed and his computer stolen, Jury sends his pal Melrose Plant to snoop around Tynedale Lodge disguised as a gardener. There he encounters a charming trio of amateurs: a homeless urchin and his extremely clever dog Sparky, and Gemma, a Tynedale ward whose mysterious background may hold the clue to Simon's murder as well as the still unsolved attempt on her young life.

As usual, Plant's world of eccentric friends and relatives is nicely evoked in a subplot that leads him on a surprising holiday in Florence, during which he acquires just enough knowledge of Italian Renaissance painting to pull off another disguise on Jury's behalf. Grimes weaves the threads of this rich tapestry together in a surprise ending that not even Grimes aficionados will sense coming. But it's an appropriate conclusion, given the book's brooding tone, established in the opening pages by a dying friend's obsession and sustained as the investigation forces Jury to confront his own haunted memories of the war. This is a solid page turner, marked by Grimes's unerring sense of pacing, respectful but provocative poking around in Jury's soul, and topnotch storytelling ability. --Jane Adams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.



From Publishers Weekly

Reading Grimes's 16th Richard Jury novel (The Case Has Altered, etc.) is like watching a good movie on TV constantly interrupted by commercials. The author used to produce well-crafted, atmospheric works with delightful characters, but in recent years they've become unnecessarily long, overpopulated with minor characters (including Melrose), who take up a lot of time while contributing little to the crime at hand. The premise here is promising enough: the bodies of a woman and an infant turn up in the last unredeveloped bomb site in London (a pub called the Blue Last), victims of the final heavy German bombing of WWII. The woman, identified as Alexandra Tyndale, was the daughter of a wealthy brewing magnate; the infant was the daughter of Alexandra's nanny. Or was the infant, in fact, Alexandra's daughter, whom the nanny swapped with her own child to make her heir to the Tyndale fortune? It's all quite Victorian. Called in by his friend DCI Mickey Haggerty to help on the case, Richard Jury soon finds himself involved with a murder that could be related. Two children, Grimes's usual pathologically precocious tots, enter the action, as does Melrose with a whole subplot of his own. Because of this excess baggage, the reader must wait impatiently for the mystery to resume. A far-fetched solution will satisfy only the author's staunchest fans. 8-city author tour. (Sept. 10)Forecast: Despite the weakness of this title, Grimes is impervious to negative criticism; like others in the series, this one should hit bestseller charts.

Copyright 2001 Cahners 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: 464 pages
  • Publisher: Onyx; 1st THUS edition (September 3, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0451410556
  • ISBN-13: 978-0451410559
  • Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.3 x 1.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (102 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #218,576 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Martha Grimes
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Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
'Poet,' it says, 'died from stab of rose.' Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
glove shop
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Simon Croft, Kitty Riordin, Miss Penforwarden, Blue Last, Francis Croft, Young Higgins, Waterloo Bridge, Scotland Yard, Ralph Herrick, Colonel Neame, Angus Murphy, Gemma Trimm, Melrose Plant, Italian Renaissance, Richard Jury, Ardry End, Emily Croft, Erin Riordin, Vivien Leigh, Bletchley Park, Brancacci Chapel, Jenny Gessup, Katherine Riordin, Maisie Tynedale, Mickey Haggerty
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This book cites 23 books:
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Customer Reviews

102 Reviews
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 (17)
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Average Customer Review
2.8 out of 5 stars (102 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars what a waste of time, January 26, 2002
This review is from: The Blue Last: A Richard Jury Mystery (Hardcover)
Boy, was I disappointed by this book. I can't recall ever reading another mystery where the author has shown such disdain for her readers. I would complain about all the loose ends but since Ms. Grimes didn't really bother to tie anything together it seems superfluous. I definitely agree with those that said she seemed to have reached her page limit and just ended the story abruptly. That alone would be frustrating but the rest of the book makes little sense either. I actually went back and reread large portions of the book to see if I had skipped something because the characters seem to leap to conclusions with little or no foundation -- no such luck, the book really doesn't make much sense. The usual contract between a mystery writer and her readers is that the clues are embedded within the story if only the reader is clever enough to discern them. In this case that contract is broken. The murderer's motive is highly implausible, major characters are suddenly dropped(what did happen to Benny and Gemma?), and Melrose suddenly has a burst of inspiration that comes from nowhere. The sad thing is that this book had a promising premise -- it explores memories of England in WWII -- and the series is one I have enjoyed in the past. Admittedly, it was already starting to seem a bit shopworn(does every mystery have to involve precocious children) but if the author is tired of writing the series (as her alter ego within the book hints) the honorable solution is to stop writing more Richard Jury books. Instead, Ms. Grimes has chosen to foist a half baked mess on an unwitting public -- I suppose she made more money this way but at the expense of any authorial pride.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Too many unanswered questions..., April 16, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: The Blue Last: A Richard Jury Mystery (Center Point Platinum Fiction (Large Print)) (Hardcover)
I am a great fan of the Richard Jury series but this one was very disappointing. There were too many unanswered questions, characters thrown in that were never explained, main characters suddenly acting out of character and an ambiguous ending (which I won't go into in case you want to read this) that was annoying. One last complaint - if this book is taking place in the present day, then Richard Jury and the other children born during WWII would be in their 60's. Is Richard Jury - the heart throb detective - sopposed to be 65? Is the middle-aged woman who is the baby in question 62. How old is her mother? Eighty? If you are a Richard Jury fan you will probably want to read this book but be prepared to be disappointed. Too much atmosphere - not enough plot.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Why, Martha, why?, October 25, 2001
This review is from: The Blue Last: A Richard Jury Mystery (Hardcover)
The anger I felt after reading Martha Grimes' The Blue Last is probably my own fault...I should have known better. Afterall, this is the author who actually let a child die, so heartbreakingly, in one of the Richard Jury mysteries.
So why do I continue to read the series? Because I must have the word sucker written across my forehead? No, because I care about her characters, I enjoy the humor and the pathos, and I usually appreciate the melancholy air that surrounds her two heroes.
There is no question that Ms. Grimes is brilliant in getting one to care about her characters. That raises the issue; does she have an obligation to her readers or to thine ownself be true?
The Blue Last has all of the series' hallmarks: the dog, the cat, the children, the miserable suspects, you get the picture. But, the foreshadowing is pervasive from the title to the enigmatic dedication.
The book is well written and sad and funny. But, it is a major disappointment.
Martha Grimes is too good a writer to feel she had to do what she did at the end. She did her readers a diservice. Does she hate us?
I'm think Ms. Grimes underestimates her considerable talent and her readership. You could argue, she's the author, she can do what she wants. But, readers, you don't have to read it.
If you are looking for answers in The Blue Last, you don't find many. Just like Richard Jury's quest to trace his past, sadly, there are only more questions.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars A waste of time.
Very poorly written. Loose ends abound. Boring travel to Florence. Side
plots not relevant; just filling up pages. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Jeannette F. Self

2.0 out of 5 stars Too bad
My third and probably last Richard Jury book. I have to say I like the characters and feel comfortable with them but as usual the plot starts out so interesting and ends so... Read more
Published 10 months ago by mary

5.0 out of 5 stars The Blue Last: A Richard Jury Mystery
I owned every book in the "Richard Jury" series except this one. Received quickly and in better condition than advertised. Thanks!
Published 21 months ago by J. R. Warner

4.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Work of Fiction, if not a Stellar Mystery
I have been reading the Richard Jury Mystery series in order over the last two years or so, and I am impressed by their increasing sophistication. Read more
Published on June 12, 2007 by jrichter

2.0 out of 5 stars The series quality is seriously deteriorating
I've been reading (and until recently enjoying) Martha Grimes' Richard Jury series since shortly after "The Man with a Load of Mischief" came out. Read more
Published on June 4, 2007 by Word Sorceress

2.0 out of 5 stars The Blue Last
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. I'm thinking that Ms. Grimes has become maniacally bored with her stock characters, as this one reads as though written under the influence of a... Read more
Published on January 21, 2007 by DogPerson

1.0 out of 5 stars Too long with totally unbelievable ending.
I must try to remember NOT to buy Martha Grimes - Richard Jury novels.

The novels get longer and longer -- filled with unnecessary and boring characters -- especially... Read more
Published on September 8, 2006 by Margaret Agresti

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, Different but Good
My advice to those who aren't sure and are worried about Martha Grimes 'tiring' of the Richard Jury series...well first, who could blame her? Read more
Published on January 23, 2005 by CrazedReader9

4.0 out of 5 stars Thrilling
Richard Jury does it again, in his 17th adventure. It's a case of switched identities, as Jury goes back to a 50-year old mystery in which Kitty Riordan's child and Maisie... Read more
Published on July 29, 2004 by K. Huff

5.0 out of 5 stars I'll Take The Unpopular Road
I loved every minute reading this book. Her humor is, as always, brilliant! British humor sparkles once again! Read more
Published on April 24, 2004 by Ellen Thorp

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