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Richard Jury #11
The Old Contemptibles
Did Jane Galloway commit suicide or was she murdered? Melrose Plant attempts to determine the identity of Jane's mysterious visitor on the night of her death. Was it Alex's sultry grandmother, Genevieve? Jane's sister, Madeline? Francis Fellows? Or the doctor, Maurice Kingsley?
299 pages, Hardcover
First published December 12, 1991
276 people are currently reading
891 people want to read
About the author
Martha Grimes
116 books1,459 followersMartha Grimes is an American author of detective fiction.
She was born May 2 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to D.W., a city solicitor, and to June, who owned the Mountain Lake Hotel in Western Maryland where Martha and her brother spent much of their childhood. Grimes earned her B.A. and M.A. at the University of Maryland. She has taught at the University of Iowa, Frostburg State University, and Montgomery College.
Grimes is best known for her series of novels featuring Richard Jury, an inspector with Scotland Yard, and his friend Melrose Plant, a British aristocrat who has given up his titles. Each of the Jury mysteries is named after a pub. Her page-turning, character-driven tales fall into the mystery subdivision of "cozies." In 1983, Grimes received the Nero Wolfe Award for best mystery of the year for The Anodyne Necklace.
The background to Hotel Paradise is drawn on the experiences she enjoyed spending summers at her mother's hotel in Mountain Lake Park, Maryland. One of the characters, Mr Britain, is drawn on Britten Leo Martin, Sr, who then ran Marti's Store which he owned with his father and brother. Martin's Store is accessible by a short walkway from Mountain Lake, the site of the former Hotel, which was torn down in 1967.
She splits her time between homes in Washington, D.C., and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
She was born May 2 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to D.W., a city solicitor, and to June, who owned the Mountain Lake Hotel in Western Maryland where Martha and her brother spent much of their childhood. Grimes earned her B.A. and M.A. at the University of Maryland. She has taught at the University of Iowa, Frostburg State University, and Montgomery College.
Grimes is best known for her series of novels featuring Richard Jury, an inspector with Scotland Yard, and his friend Melrose Plant, a British aristocrat who has given up his titles. Each of the Jury mysteries is named after a pub. Her page-turning, character-driven tales fall into the mystery subdivision of "cozies." In 1983, Grimes received the Nero Wolfe Award for best mystery of the year for The Anodyne Necklace.
The background to Hotel Paradise is drawn on the experiences she enjoyed spending summers at her mother's hotel in Mountain Lake Park, Maryland. One of the characters, Mr Britain, is drawn on Britten Leo Martin, Sr, who then ran Marti's Store which he owned with his father and brother. Martin's Store is accessible by a short walkway from Mountain Lake, the site of the former Hotel, which was torn down in 1967.
She splits her time between homes in Washington, D.C., and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 199 reviews
May 31, 2014
How does Martha Grimes manage to publish so many books that rely on the same "set-piece" scenes and obsessions. . . who cares whether Vivian gets married, how many fairy cakes Agatha eats or drinks are consumed at the local pub, what sign Carol-Anne is, whether the old woman downstairs answers the door. . . I feel like she must re-open the same file each time she starts a book to change the color of the weird omniscient cat and the name of the peculiar orphan girl. . . really, it's remarkable. Even more remarkable is the fact that I still pick up these books from time to time. But I also eat certain junk foods, unable to resist, knowing that there will be only the most transient satisfaction involved.
May 1, 2015
When the woman with whom Richard Jury is engaged in a passionate affair is found dead of a barbiturate overdose in her flat, it seems that Jury's famously bad luck with women has reached its nadir. Since the death is considered "suspicious," Scotland Yard investigates, and since, because of his relationship with her, Jury is considered a possible suspect, he is suspended from the force. Unable to participate himself, he deploys his friend Melrose Plant to go to the woman's family home in the Lake District and go undercover to find out what he can about their relationships.
The fabulously wealthy Plant impersonates a down-at-heels librarian who hires himself out to the family in order to catalog and organize their library. He is soon discovering all kinds of interesting things about the family.
For one thing, this family seems extraordinarily unlucky. They have suffered four suspicious deaths in a period of five or six years. One was definitely a suicide and the latest one, who is the widow of the suicide, may be also. But the other two deaths were put down as accidents. Melrose suspects something more sinister.
We have most of the usual characters that we've come to care about, but also there are a dismaying number of characters either in or somehow connected to the family and it is hard to keep them all straight. Too, it is hard to get much more than a very passing sense of who they are and what their motives might be.
As usual, we can depend on Grimes giving us charming children characters who are usually much smarter and more accomplished than the adults in their lives. In this instance, we have the teenage son of Jury's dead paramour and an eleven-year-old girl named Millie who has a black cat named Sorcerer. (Yes, we can depend on having a perspicacious animal involved as well.) Grimes clearly has a soft spot for such characters and they are always lovingly drawn.
She also gives us the curmudgeonly patriarch of the family - the one with all the money - who chooses to live in a retirement home rather than with his family, most members of whom he doesn't like much. He does like and value Alex, the paramour's son, and Millie. He has some interesting friends that we get to know at the retirement home, especially one named Lady Cray who plays an important role in the ending, where rough justice is efficiently dispensed.
I do enjoy Grimes' writing. In general, it is very crisp. Her plots flow (seemingly) effortlessly and, based on her output, she seems to have an inexhaustible supply of them.
That being said, I thought this book was just a bit weak. Part of the problem, I think, was the plethora of characters and being unable to really home in on the most important ones. I can usually figure out whodunit from the clues scattered throughout, but I didn't get this one, and even after the denouement, I found it a bit confusing.
But I did like Millie and Sorcerer.
The fabulously wealthy Plant impersonates a down-at-heels librarian who hires himself out to the family in order to catalog and organize their library. He is soon discovering all kinds of interesting things about the family.
For one thing, this family seems extraordinarily unlucky. They have suffered four suspicious deaths in a period of five or six years. One was definitely a suicide and the latest one, who is the widow of the suicide, may be also. But the other two deaths were put down as accidents. Melrose suspects something more sinister.
We have most of the usual characters that we've come to care about, but also there are a dismaying number of characters either in or somehow connected to the family and it is hard to keep them all straight. Too, it is hard to get much more than a very passing sense of who they are and what their motives might be.
As usual, we can depend on Grimes giving us charming children characters who are usually much smarter and more accomplished than the adults in their lives. In this instance, we have the teenage son of Jury's dead paramour and an eleven-year-old girl named Millie who has a black cat named Sorcerer. (Yes, we can depend on having a perspicacious animal involved as well.) Grimes clearly has a soft spot for such characters and they are always lovingly drawn.
She also gives us the curmudgeonly patriarch of the family - the one with all the money - who chooses to live in a retirement home rather than with his family, most members of whom he doesn't like much. He does like and value Alex, the paramour's son, and Millie. He has some interesting friends that we get to know at the retirement home, especially one named Lady Cray who plays an important role in the ending, where rough justice is efficiently dispensed.
I do enjoy Grimes' writing. In general, it is very crisp. Her plots flow (seemingly) effortlessly and, based on her output, she seems to have an inexhaustible supply of them.
That being said, I thought this book was just a bit weak. Part of the problem, I think, was the plethora of characters and being unable to really home in on the most important ones. I can usually figure out whodunit from the clues scattered throughout, but I didn't get this one, and even after the denouement, I found it a bit confusing.
But I did like Millie and Sorcerer.
May 4, 2023
* I would appreciate knowing how you enjoy my reviews with a comment, not an empty ‘like button’ click.
I did not detect a difference but have been interested in what Martha Grimes’ next books are like. I learned that she and her Son, Ken, stopped drinking in 1990. She is “dry” from solo abstinence and Ken is “recovered” through a program. We are grateful a dear family member pursued professional, successful recovery. The books are named after English pubs, names that are always entertaining and original. I would rather read of folks eating than drinking booze anymore but will see if it tones down.
A complaint I can lodge by now is that introductions are tedious, spent on nosy neighbour, Carole-Ann, instead of on setting a mysterious mood. And for fuck’s sakes, call protagonists by their first names, like Richard! Including in journalism, I hate last names baldly blurted out without a salutation prefix. Given names are simple and not confusing, if family names comprise opposite genders.
I love cats but skip the Cyril versus Chief Racer shtick. The ass sent Cyril to the pound and Martha mentioned death row animals! Don’t invent misery, without a scene of characters saving the rest! The rigmarole of Melrose wanting to stop Vivian’s wedding, is only less lame than Richard having a crush on every new woman. In fact, this novel’s victim is someone Richard nearly proposed to soon after meeting. It was 1991, not 1951!
What keeps me intrigued, besides loving Melrose & Richard, are impressively unique mysteries. “The Old Contemptibles” came out to three stars. Martha drags through the narratives of unknown characters but plops down unfinished endings. They uncover the criminal but the motive is a stretch and for some reason, they do not go to prison; that sort of unsatisfying drama. This novel’s clue trails were all too outrageous for anyone to have possibly noticed or confirmed.
I did not detect a difference but have been interested in what Martha Grimes’ next books are like. I learned that she and her Son, Ken, stopped drinking in 1990. She is “dry” from solo abstinence and Ken is “recovered” through a program. We are grateful a dear family member pursued professional, successful recovery. The books are named after English pubs, names that are always entertaining and original. I would rather read of folks eating than drinking booze anymore but will see if it tones down.
A complaint I can lodge by now is that introductions are tedious, spent on nosy neighbour, Carole-Ann, instead of on setting a mysterious mood. And for fuck’s sakes, call protagonists by their first names, like Richard! Including in journalism, I hate last names baldly blurted out without a salutation prefix. Given names are simple and not confusing, if family names comprise opposite genders.
I love cats but skip the Cyril versus Chief Racer shtick. The ass sent Cyril to the pound and Martha mentioned death row animals! Don’t invent misery, without a scene of characters saving the rest! The rigmarole of Melrose wanting to stop Vivian’s wedding, is only less lame than Richard having a crush on every new woman. In fact, this novel’s victim is someone Richard nearly proposed to soon after meeting. It was 1991, not 1951!
What keeps me intrigued, besides loving Melrose & Richard, are impressively unique mysteries. “The Old Contemptibles” came out to three stars. Martha drags through the narratives of unknown characters but plops down unfinished endings. They uncover the criminal but the motive is a stretch and for some reason, they do not go to prison; that sort of unsatisfying drama. This novel’s clue trails were all too outrageous for anyone to have possibly noticed or confirmed.
July 4, 2020
Well, I admit it once and for all: I love these series, not so much for the mysteries, the crimes that need solving, but for the main characters. They're like a bunch of wild kids playing at being grown ups. Sometimes, they simply are playing.
It's really a shame about the mysteries as they often have an intriguing start, then they seem to dwindle off, disappear in a wisp of smoke or fog (take your pick) and then reappear as an after thought.
It's all very silly with witty dialogues, with a sprinkle of pathos here and there but on the whole, an entertaining, cozy series, perfect for reading under a warm blanket by the fireplace with a glass of single malt and simply ignore the chaotic world we currently live in.
It's really a shame about the mysteries as they often have an intriguing start, then they seem to dwindle off, disappear in a wisp of smoke or fog (take your pick) and then reappear as an after thought.
It's all very silly with witty dialogues, with a sprinkle of pathos here and there but on the whole, an entertaining, cozy series, perfect for reading under a warm blanket by the fireplace with a glass of single malt and simply ignore the chaotic world we currently live in.
June 8, 2017
I always seem to pick the wrong book to try out a series. the writing style was good (and the reading style, since this was an audio book), but I kept getting characters confused. Possibly this story just didn't lend itself to audio book presentation, because it's third person with various changing points of view, but I think I'd have had problems reading this story in print as well.
The plot seemed very contrived. Even though I'd never read the book before, I got the impression that the main series sleuth was at times out of character. It felt like the author was trying to make a statement about a current issue, though not because she felt like the issue needed to be discussed (it wasn't really). Possibly she thought that by including the issue, it would help make the book popular. Maybe it did when the book was published, but now it just makes the story outdated. The solution, too, seemed contrived. Very unsatisfying.
I think, in print, I'd have given up on the novel in the first quarter of the book. I didn't mainly because I enjoyed the reader, and several of the characters, in particular Lady Cray and Melrose Plant.
The plot seemed very contrived. Even though I'd never read the book before, I got the impression that the main series sleuth was at times out of character. It felt like the author was trying to make a statement about a current issue, though not because she felt like the issue needed to be discussed (it wasn't really). Possibly she thought that by including the issue, it would help make the book popular. Maybe it did when the book was published, but now it just makes the story outdated. The solution, too, seemed contrived. Very unsatisfying.
I think, in print, I'd have given up on the novel in the first quarter of the book. I didn't mainly because I enjoyed the reader, and several of the characters, in particular Lady Cray and Melrose Plant.
September 6, 2024
The true mystery of this book is twofold...
(1) How it ever got published at all. It’s a story that could be told in maybe 50 pages, but she padded it out to 330. I know this is the 11th book in the series, but there is far too much rubbish in this book about, what I assume are, reoccurring characters. It rambles. Some of the writing is not good. I had to read many sentences multiple times to figure out what was meant. In my opinion, her publisher really turned a blind eye to a lot of sloppy work in this book. Should have either been rejected completely, or required a complete re-write to tighten it up!
(2) How I managed to keep reading to the end. I guess I am a glutton for punishment. 🙄
In the end, I gave it 2 stars instead of 1 just because the ending was kinda good. But I might rescind even that in a few days with further reflection.
To wrap up... unless you pick this up for FREE like I did, I do not recommend.
(1) How it ever got published at all. It’s a story that could be told in maybe 50 pages, but she padded it out to 330. I know this is the 11th book in the series, but there is far too much rubbish in this book about, what I assume are, reoccurring characters. It rambles. Some of the writing is not good. I had to read many sentences multiple times to figure out what was meant. In my opinion, her publisher really turned a blind eye to a lot of sloppy work in this book. Should have either been rejected completely, or required a complete re-write to tighten it up!
(2) How I managed to keep reading to the end. I guess I am a glutton for punishment. 🙄
In the end, I gave it 2 stars instead of 1 just because the ending was kinda good. But I might rescind even that in a few days with further reflection.
To wrap up... unless you pick this up for FREE like I did, I do not recommend.
June 17, 2016
ok anyone reading my reviews know that I like this character (Richard Jury) but this one is pretty bad and it hurts to write this. First of all there is only a bit of Jury in the beginning and at the end - we need Plant and Jury TOGETHER. The opening is funny with Trueblood and Plant trying to delay Viv's wedding to the Count but then it goes downhill from there.
The mystery itself makes no sense. Jury wants to buy a ring for someone he's been seeing for just a few weeks - completely out of character. This women commits suicide and in doing so sets Jury up as a patsy to investigate other family deaths???HUH? Did she plan on suicide first and then go looking for a cop or did she meet a cop then plan the suicide and why suicide? why not just tell Jury about her family and let him look into stuff. How is the shrink responsible for the suicides (current and past) I just thought this was a bit boring and made no lick of sense at all. If this was the first one I read in the series I wouldn't read another but it isn't so I am on to the next one.
The mystery itself makes no sense. Jury wants to buy a ring for someone he's been seeing for just a few weeks - completely out of character. This women commits suicide and in doing so sets Jury up as a patsy to investigate other family deaths???HUH? Did she plan on suicide first and then go looking for a cop or did she meet a cop then plan the suicide and why suicide? why not just tell Jury about her family and let him look into stuff. How is the shrink responsible for the suicides (current and past) I just thought this was a bit boring and made no lick of sense at all. If this was the first one I read in the series I wouldn't read another but it isn't so I am on to the next one.
February 23, 2020
Martha Grimes continues to do all the things needed for 5 Stars from this reader: Wonderful characters, creative plot, and the entertaining dialogue I have come to absolutely love. This novel comes with an unnerving twist, the absence of the main character for a full 1/3 of the book. Also featured, a whopper of an ending. Almost Agatha Christie-like. I’d give six stars if I could. The Old Contemptibles is a clear favorite.
May 15, 2019
**MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD *** Was pleased and relieved that this little gem had a more satisfying ending than some of the others in the Jury series - looking at you, The Grave Maurice and The Lamorna Wink (both of which kept me riveted but had rather nauseating "bummer" endings that were not particularly plausible or satisfying - Lamorna was shudder-worthy and, well, just revolting). This one, while keeping some of the standard Grimes elements - precocious kids, clever animals - doesn't go all grim at the end. The ending's enjoyably over-dramatic, definitely satisfying, and appropriate to all that has gone before.
Did guess the killer but it took a while, and the twists and turns were great. In all, love the Jury books but after reading the two aforementioned, have become a bit leery of a fun read turning into a major bummer. Not so here - this is a most entertaining entry. Not too much of the yada-yada about Jury's childhood, just enough that first-time readers get a clue as to where he's coming from.
Lots and lots of Melrose Plant, which is always an excellent sign. Another reviewer stated Plant does nothing in the story, but of course that isn't true. His main role throughout the middle of the book is to provide Jury with information from the Lakes District- logical, because with Jury as a murder suspect, he cannot leave London. Plant also later zeroes in on the glass used in a particular painting technique and the fine details of a painting that present an alternate theory for Virginia's death.
Some charming, fun, well-rounded side characters - I'd love to see Lady Cray and Adam again (or someone like them if they don't appear in books I haven't got to yet ), Alex and Millie are a delight, especially Alex, and I would have liked to see more of the painter cousin Francis.
A few little nit-picky things - misspelling Yngwie Malmsteen (editor's fault); the twin appearances (mercifully brief) of boring Vivian and annoying bimbo Carole-Anne; a ladder being free from rot in one scene, yet rotting in a scene set only days later; and a bit of a stretch on the actual villain (the motive and likelihood of the plans' successes were shaky but just buy-able) - yet overall Grimes is a writer of high caliber. Her style and characters are better than her plotting in some of the books in this series, but this is one I can recommend without reservation. A fun, entertaining puzzle with some wonderful characters and a wow finish.
Did guess the killer but it took a while, and the twists and turns were great. In all, love the Jury books but after reading the two aforementioned, have become a bit leery of a fun read turning into a major bummer. Not so here - this is a most entertaining entry. Not too much of the yada-yada about Jury's childhood, just enough that first-time readers get a clue as to where he's coming from.
Lots and lots of Melrose Plant, which is always an excellent sign. Another reviewer stated Plant does nothing in the story, but of course that isn't true. His main role throughout the middle of the book is to provide Jury with information from the Lakes District- logical, because with Jury as a murder suspect, he cannot leave London. Plant also later zeroes in on the glass used in a particular painting technique and the fine details of a painting that present an alternate theory for Virginia's death.
Some charming, fun, well-rounded side characters - I'd love to see Lady Cray and Adam again (or someone like them if they don't appear in books I haven't got to yet ), Alex and Millie are a delight, especially Alex, and I would have liked to see more of the painter cousin Francis.
A few little nit-picky things - misspelling Yngwie Malmsteen (editor's fault); the twin appearances (mercifully brief) of boring Vivian and annoying bimbo Carole-Anne; a ladder being free from rot in one scene, yet rotting in a scene set only days later; and a bit of a stretch on the actual villain (the motive and likelihood of the plans' successes were shaky but just buy-able) - yet overall Grimes is a writer of high caliber. Her style and characters are better than her plotting in some of the books in this series, but this is one I can recommend without reservation. A fun, entertaining puzzle with some wonderful characters and a wow finish.
May 21, 2018
Part of the Richard Jury series. Scotland Yard detective, Jury falls head over heels for a woman he meets at a neighborhood, antique/jumble sale and is on the list of suspects when she is possibly murdered...or is it suicide? His friend, Melrose Plant tries to get to the bottom of a very tangled mystery. As with other Martha Grimes books, the plot is littered with unforgettable characters. In this case: the woman's son Alex, a horserace hustler; his 11 year old friend, Millie, an extraordinary cook; Adam Holdsworth, wealthy, excentric and wheelchair bound, and Lady Cray, an aged but adorable kleptomaniac. Unfortunately, the plot is a tad plodding and not clearly resolved at the very abrupt, explosive ending. Not my favorite of the series but I won't give them up yet.
September 16, 2023
Mel rose Plant got more page time in this one. Was noticing this book that Grimes seems to use a formula in each book, there’s always a parent less child, an old man, and a rich snarky old lady. Wondered why do I keep reading these? And then this ending exploded across the page and that’s why I keep reading them!
December 20, 2023
Grimes is a very good writer. Now you do have to understand, her 'procedurals' are hallucinatory ideas of a perfect London existing somewhere outside the space time continuum. But then so was Sherlock Holmes.
She can sketch a character with their dialogue. Her plotting is a bit, well exotic, and some of the characters stretch believe but once you've bought in you'll have a fine ride.
She can sketch a character with their dialogue. Her plotting is a bit, well exotic, and some of the characters stretch believe but once you've bought in you'll have a fine ride.
December 3, 2014
I read this book before, twenty-some years ago when it first came out, but I didn't remember any of the plot. In the end, I really liked this book. But at the start, I was a little put off by it. It seemed like a recycled storyline; Richard Jury meets a girl, develops an emotional attachment to her and shortly thereafter she ends up dead. The first third of the book I found wanting. The story seemed to develop a little slowly and the plot seemed to similar to Jerusalem Inn and while I liked the new characters of Alex and Adam, the development just seemed too slow.
The last two thirds I thought was much better paced. There was A LOT of Melrose, which I thoroughly enjoyed since he is my favorite character. The interaction between Adam and Lady Cray was wonderful as well. I really enjoyed those characters. Once again though, there are a couple of pages near the end told from the point of view of an animal. In this case Sorcerer the cat. Until near the end I was unsure of who the responsible party was, so the intrigue was nice.
The hardcover was formatted well with no obvious grammatical or spelling errors.
The last two thirds I thought was much better paced. There was A LOT of Melrose, which I thoroughly enjoyed since he is my favorite character. The interaction between Adam and Lady Cray was wonderful as well. I really enjoyed those characters. Once again though, there are a couple of pages near the end told from the point of view of an animal. In this case Sorcerer the cat. Until near the end I was unsure of who the responsible party was, so the intrigue was nice.
The hardcover was formatted well with no obvious grammatical or spelling errors.
July 22, 2020
Martha Grimes draws a reader into her story in the first chapter. Richard Jury meets a new woman and hopelessly falls in love with Jane Holdsworth and plans to ask Jane to marry him. Tragedy befalls and Jane dies from a drug overdose. Is this suicide or murder? Martha Grimes entertains with the wonderful settings and well-developed characters. The book titles always feature a name of a local pub, and what a treat. Grimes presents the cast of supporting people: Carol-Anne Palutski, Melrose Plant, Vivian Rivington, Sergeant Wiggins, Aunt Agatha, and Marshall Trueblood. What a delight these people give the reader. Not only must Richard Jury discover the truth concerning Jane Holdsworth, he must uncover the truth about four other deaths relating to the Holdsworth family. In sinister fashion the killer faces a judgement that Agatha Christie employed in The Orient Express. This reader will not spill the beans, you must learn on your own. As a true lover of literature, Martha Grimes mentions several books such as Death in Venice and The Ambassadors giving the reader insight into the characters and setting.
January 12, 2013
I love the Richard Jury books and have read the entire series. This particular one is a favorite simply because I love the characters Ms. Grimes has drawn. Melrose Plant is priceless ~ I enjoy his dry wit and his eschewing the trappings of title and wealth. He is in the enviable position of being able to do whatever he wants with his life and chooses to help Richard Jury on his cases. Richard Jury is a melancholy person and a good contrast for Plant. He's smart, but human, and despite his faults is loved by many. The old man at the center of this particular book is a hilarious curmudgeon with an wily sense of humor. His joy in his wheelchair escapades is memorable! Later books in the series have got away from Jury's cast of friends and cohorts, and I hope that Ms. Grimes will return to them in the future. One imagines that if you were to step into the pub, you would find them all sitting in their accustomed places. The author's strength is in developing endearing characters that you feel are old friends.
June 23, 2021
A sad but funny Richard Jury story. Of course featuring the denizens of his village, still trying to prevent their friend and neighbour from marrying an Italian count. How many times can they get this wedding postponed? Seems, many! Melrose Plant, helps Jury while he is unable to travel; you'll have to read to find out exactly why Richard Jury can't travel; and seems to do a good job in spite of not having a clue about how to be a librarian or an archivist the job he is sent to do to snoop for Jury. I always enjoy these Martha Grimes, but I realize I'm much more invested in his friends and neighbours lives than the actual crime part of the book.
October 20, 2020
Superintendent Jury falls for a beautiful woman he meets in a London market, but the happy is destroyed when the woman suddenly dies in her apartment, an apparent suicide. When the
Olive begin to suspect foul play, Jury finds himself chief suspect. In an effort to get to the root of the woman’s situation, Jury’s friend, Melrose Plant, travels to the rural seat of the Holdsworth family, where he discovers a family with a surprising number of suicides and “accidental” deaths. In true Martha Grimes fashion, the characters are intriguing, the writing superb and the potential suspects are many.
Olive begin to suspect foul play, Jury finds himself chief suspect. In an effort to get to the root of the woman’s situation, Jury’s friend, Melrose Plant, travels to the rural seat of the Holdsworth family, where he discovers a family with a surprising number of suicides and “accidental” deaths. In true Martha Grimes fashion, the characters are intriguing, the writing superb and the potential suspects are many.
August 18, 2021
The formula has been set. All characters are in place, including 'two' precocious children. Agatha was otherwise engaged so we didn't see her. Melrose is sent off to be a mole. Richard is in London hanging loose until the end. I did a little skipping through the lessons on the 'Lake District' and its poets/authors, as well as the lesson on watercolor techniques. However, the mystery and the characters are good. Kept me fully engaged in this series. Recommending.
January 28, 2009
I liked it but I thought the woman they killed off was kind of a dopey character. Fortunately, she has a really interesting son who carries the day in this novel.
January 30, 2019
Jury has a girlfriend. Guess what? She dies. Suicide or murder? Plant is sent to be a librarian for the wealthy family of the dead woman. We meet Millie and Adam along with Lady Cray who is a real hoot. The conclusion of the murder/suicide was rather lame. I love junk food and this series is my junk food reading.
August 20, 2025
The beginning and end were pure Martha Grimes glory. The middle plodded a long…tooooo long for my liking. But I’m glad I stuck with it for the ending. 😉
October 20, 2018
Another thoroughly enjoyable Jury mystery, sadder than most somehow but a very satisfying ending.
October 18, 2019
I loved all of the unforgettable characters and that 'the old regulars' were back together again. The psychology of the crimes was intriguing. Here's the dilemma in this story as expressed in Melrose's thoughts - 'And he thought, most of all, of his friend Jury. How had he stood it? To be on the point of actually marrying and to have the woman either kill herself or be murdered? To come under suspicion oneself as the killer?'
Laugh out loud hysterical! - 'Melrose needed a drink, and here finally was Boone, and here was a small pub whose overhanging sign he might kill the owner for so that he could nail it outside of Agatha’s cottage: the Old Contemptibles. It was a sign in every sense of the word. It whistled to him, called to him, crooked its wooden finger at him, drew him like a magnet.
Hatching plots to delay the wedding of Vivian Rivington to Count Dracula. Since Vivian herself had managed to drag out her engagement to Franco Giappino for—how many years? three? four?—Plant and Trueblood had been sure a little help from Northants would not come amiss. Vivian was a sentimental woman. She would not go through her wedding ceremony without her old friends from Long Piddleton gathered about her. The alleged lorry accident to Marshall Trueblood had delayed the wedding for a good five weeks. Marshall had been in traction for four of them and was still hobbling about on a cane.
The complete physical examination Melrose had decided to have (after ten or more years of avoiding his doctor) turned up one shadowy lung (that was Melrose’s rather poetic description of it) that the Harley Street doctor was not awfully worried about just so long as Lord Ardry had complete bedrest for several weeks. Which had taken care of the month of February. No, no, no, no, Vivian! It’s not necessary for you to come back to England. Honestly . . . God help them if she had. The third debacle that Plant and Trueblood had discussed was an accident to Lady Agatha Ardry. If necessary, she could break her jaw in one of the auto accidents she was always having. And had to have it wired shut, Melrose had added. The two of them had discarded that because it might speed up, rather than delay, the marriage. Vivian was not a stupid woman; indeed Melrose wondered if she hadn’t been suspecting something even at the beginning with the lorry accident. Trueblood, unfortunately, embroidered his tales as he did his clothes and a few unlikely threads had been woven in. Thus, a little help from Scotland Yard (they decided) would not come amiss either. But they weren’t getting it from Richard Jury. No, he would not make up some bloody cock-and-bull story about an ax-murderer slipping through a police cordon at Heathrow and hopping a plane to Venice. . . .“Why would I need to? You two just made it up yourselves,” Jury had yelled at them over the phone.
Melrose's antics against Agatha are hilarious! For example, 'He stopped in the perfumery and sent toilet water to Agatha and Ada Crisp. He made sure Ada’s was slightly larger than Agatha’s, in case they met.'
Laugh out loud hysterical! - 'Melrose needed a drink, and here finally was Boone, and here was a small pub whose overhanging sign he might kill the owner for so that he could nail it outside of Agatha’s cottage: the Old Contemptibles. It was a sign in every sense of the word. It whistled to him, called to him, crooked its wooden finger at him, drew him like a magnet.
Hatching plots to delay the wedding of Vivian Rivington to Count Dracula. Since Vivian herself had managed to drag out her engagement to Franco Giappino for—how many years? three? four?—Plant and Trueblood had been sure a little help from Northants would not come amiss. Vivian was a sentimental woman. She would not go through her wedding ceremony without her old friends from Long Piddleton gathered about her. The alleged lorry accident to Marshall Trueblood had delayed the wedding for a good five weeks. Marshall had been in traction for four of them and was still hobbling about on a cane.
The complete physical examination Melrose had decided to have (after ten or more years of avoiding his doctor) turned up one shadowy lung (that was Melrose’s rather poetic description of it) that the Harley Street doctor was not awfully worried about just so long as Lord Ardry had complete bedrest for several weeks. Which had taken care of the month of February. No, no, no, no, Vivian! It’s not necessary for you to come back to England. Honestly . . . God help them if she had. The third debacle that Plant and Trueblood had discussed was an accident to Lady Agatha Ardry. If necessary, she could break her jaw in one of the auto accidents she was always having. And had to have it wired shut, Melrose had added. The two of them had discarded that because it might speed up, rather than delay, the marriage. Vivian was not a stupid woman; indeed Melrose wondered if she hadn’t been suspecting something even at the beginning with the lorry accident. Trueblood, unfortunately, embroidered his tales as he did his clothes and a few unlikely threads had been woven in. Thus, a little help from Scotland Yard (they decided) would not come amiss either. But they weren’t getting it from Richard Jury. No, he would not make up some bloody cock-and-bull story about an ax-murderer slipping through a police cordon at Heathrow and hopping a plane to Venice. . . .“Why would I need to? You two just made it up yourselves,” Jury had yelled at them over the phone.
Melrose's antics against Agatha are hilarious! For example, 'He stopped in the perfumery and sent toilet water to Agatha and Ada Crisp. He made sure Ada’s was slightly larger than Agatha’s, in case they met.'
April 26, 2013
Okay, I think it's time for a break from this series. I was totally into the books, but the last two have been too much to take. First of all, how many precocious 11-12 year old girls are there in these remote villages? Seems like we are meeting more or less the same characters in the last few books. Each of these girls has a cat and/or special connection with the animals etc etc and it's just become too much to take. Jury was hardly featured in this one and I still can't figure out a) why he was a suspect and suspended from work b) why he was in such a hurry to marry this woman and c) why she committed suicide. Like it couldn't have waited or she couldn't have confided in him? I don't believe a mother would leave her son for those reasons. Pretty lame this time. Melrose Plant continues to be one of the more interesting characters, but in the previous books he comes across as cool and self assured. This time he was making some mistakes that didn't seem to fit in with his character (not knowing how to dress "undercover" enough, using his silver cigarette case etc). Seems to me in past situations, he's been excellent at blending in. Why the self-doubt this time? I'm also sick of Jury's flat mates- Catherine and Mrs Wasserman. They really aren't adding anything to the story. Was hoping this book would be much improved after the previous one in the series, but it didn't do enough for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 2, 2024
The Old Contemptible opens with a prologue: Superintendent Richard Jury thrift stall shopping with Carole-anne, a gorgeous neighbor who is all the things Richard Jury is not - young, petulant, new-agey and easy-come, easy-go with her many lovers. I personally could do without Carole-ann, but she's a recurring character, so there's no way out.
Being a Richard Jury mystery, it’s inevitable that just across the line of stalls another woman catches his eye as he lasciviously imagines her in the dress she’s admiring. She asks him to a pub and nearly as soon as they sit down, she stands up to leave, which seems a ploy to get him back to his apartment quicker. Jury (as usual) has stumbled, half-knowingly, into a relationship with someone who will likely break his heart, even though we (as usual) don’t see exactly what it is that attracts him to her, other than the non-stop sex.
To read the Jury mysteries you have to get over the fact that this reasonably intelligent and socially functioning detective is incapable of being happy on his own. He's constantly trying to fix the problem with the help of the multitude of good looking women he comes across. Sadly, as one of the characters says, he has a "hero complex". In other words, if you can’t be saved or don’t need help, he isn’t interested.
On top of his women issues, Jury can’t seem to solve a mystery without his friend Melrose Plant, an ex-Earl who lives on a country estate where he strategizes against his aunt and immerses himself in local dramas. Plant is like having a Watson or a Hastings who - when sent by the great detective to “observe” a drama - decides to just save time and solve the mystery while he’s there.
In fact, none of Martha Grimes’ bit players like to stay in the background, often hogging entire sections of the book with comedic, low-level plottings. Therefore, right after the prologue we visit Melrose Plant and his friend Marshall Trueblood, a flamboyant Antiques dealer, who have traveled to Italy to extricate their female friend from her upcoming marriage to her four year fiancee “Count Dracula”, and just after, we are involved in a minor incident involving Jury’s office cat, Cyril.
Grimes is masterful at creating well-defined characters quickly, mainly through dialogue and action, not personal description. Inspector Kamir, who is newly introduced in this book, has a soft-spoken, diffident voice. His eyes are brown and melting, and “might spill over at any moment with the tears… (that the victim’s child) didn’t shed.” The dialogue is what brings him to life: the tentative clarifications as though he will damage someone with an inaccurate word.
Few writers can maintain as many unique characters in a novel and keep them as sharply defined. The result is that her style can be frenetic and the dialogue itself dense and half-intelligible as though you’ve just sat down at a noisy pub with a bunch of people already halfway through a conversation.
An example (from a noisy pub): “...Mrs. Withersby, whose glass was as empty as the plate she passed at Sunday service (there’s some ain’t any more Chris’en than… she’d tell the vicar), came down the bar to utter her dark prognosis, which would become darker the longer she had to wait for a refill. ’Fam’bly allus ‘as been a bit, you-know -’ Here she made small circles round her temple with her finger and circles with her glass on the bar.” Discussions of cigarette butts ensue, and if you can follow it all, you know Mrs. Withersby’s waiting hopefully for a free drink and smoke, although she probably has some coins left that she stole from the church offerings, while commenting on Plant’s family’s mental stability, and cracking a gay joke at Trueblood.
Pubs, villages and countryside all figure strongly in her books (hence the pub name for each title), as well as children (usually independent and slightly loose from their foundations), the elderly, and often animals. There’s a mystical element to her world as well; cats and dogs show up just when needed, and complex and unseen ties trail from one life to another.
The protagonist in The Old Contemptibles is a schoolboy, sent down from the private school that is really out of his family’s reach financially, who lays by money earned through card game and horse race cons to plot an escape from England. Martha Grimes admires youth, intuition and self-reliance, and her stories weave a pattern of white roots through pain, muck and ashes to spring up as shoots of green. She can dip into the mawkish (elderly gumption and youthful pluck), but overall the narrative is probably livelier because she doesn’t overthink. (And more books for us to read.)
Frenetic, dense, funny and mystical, the books make up for some of their weaknesses by their energy and complexity. The plots often intertwine and you can’t ever fault Grimes for making her murderer too obvious, but if you want to be able to follow a trail of clues to the murderer, good luck with that. The end of the Old Contemptibles is completely implausible. Without giving anything away, there’s only one good clue as to the murderer, and the supposed motive seems completely untenable. The final scene involves cats, elderly and children conspiring, along with a final death, all right out of the author’s playbook.
Whether you enjoy the Old Contemptibles (or any of Martha Grimes books) will depend on how willing you are to completely suspend disbelief, turn off your analytical mind, and enjoy the ride. She is excellent at crafting a complex world - in this case of bottomless waters, precipitous cliffs, spirit-cats and lake poets - and creating characters that seem to live on their own.
Her plots are untidy, her dialogue rushed, but the writing and characterization are good - they are just books best read quickly. The inner critic has to be silenced, and afterwards you will have to avoid thinking too hard about the mystery itself (particularly in the case of this particular book.) If you are a slow, deliberate reader who expects your writers to work in the same way, then you might not enjoy these as much as I do.
Being a Richard Jury mystery, it’s inevitable that just across the line of stalls another woman catches his eye as he lasciviously imagines her in the dress she’s admiring. She asks him to a pub and nearly as soon as they sit down, she stands up to leave, which seems a ploy to get him back to his apartment quicker. Jury (as usual) has stumbled, half-knowingly, into a relationship with someone who will likely break his heart, even though we (as usual) don’t see exactly what it is that attracts him to her, other than the non-stop sex.
To read the Jury mysteries you have to get over the fact that this reasonably intelligent and socially functioning detective is incapable of being happy on his own. He's constantly trying to fix the problem with the help of the multitude of good looking women he comes across. Sadly, as one of the characters says, he has a "hero complex". In other words, if you can’t be saved or don’t need help, he isn’t interested.
On top of his women issues, Jury can’t seem to solve a mystery without his friend Melrose Plant, an ex-Earl who lives on a country estate where he strategizes against his aunt and immerses himself in local dramas. Plant is like having a Watson or a Hastings who - when sent by the great detective to “observe” a drama - decides to just save time and solve the mystery while he’s there.
In fact, none of Martha Grimes’ bit players like to stay in the background, often hogging entire sections of the book with comedic, low-level plottings. Therefore, right after the prologue we visit Melrose Plant and his friend Marshall Trueblood, a flamboyant Antiques dealer, who have traveled to Italy to extricate their female friend from her upcoming marriage to her four year fiancee “Count Dracula”, and just after, we are involved in a minor incident involving Jury’s office cat, Cyril.
Grimes is masterful at creating well-defined characters quickly, mainly through dialogue and action, not personal description. Inspector Kamir, who is newly introduced in this book, has a soft-spoken, diffident voice. His eyes are brown and melting, and “might spill over at any moment with the tears… (that the victim’s child) didn’t shed.” The dialogue is what brings him to life: the tentative clarifications as though he will damage someone with an inaccurate word.
Few writers can maintain as many unique characters in a novel and keep them as sharply defined. The result is that her style can be frenetic and the dialogue itself dense and half-intelligible as though you’ve just sat down at a noisy pub with a bunch of people already halfway through a conversation.
An example (from a noisy pub): “...Mrs. Withersby, whose glass was as empty as the plate she passed at Sunday service (there’s some ain’t any more Chris’en than… she’d tell the vicar), came down the bar to utter her dark prognosis, which would become darker the longer she had to wait for a refill. ’Fam’bly allus ‘as been a bit, you-know -’ Here she made small circles round her temple with her finger and circles with her glass on the bar.” Discussions of cigarette butts ensue, and if you can follow it all, you know Mrs. Withersby’s waiting hopefully for a free drink and smoke, although she probably has some coins left that she stole from the church offerings, while commenting on Plant’s family’s mental stability, and cracking a gay joke at Trueblood.
Pubs, villages and countryside all figure strongly in her books (hence the pub name for each title), as well as children (usually independent and slightly loose from their foundations), the elderly, and often animals. There’s a mystical element to her world as well; cats and dogs show up just when needed, and complex and unseen ties trail from one life to another.
The protagonist in The Old Contemptibles is a schoolboy, sent down from the private school that is really out of his family’s reach financially, who lays by money earned through card game and horse race cons to plot an escape from England. Martha Grimes admires youth, intuition and self-reliance, and her stories weave a pattern of white roots through pain, muck and ashes to spring up as shoots of green. She can dip into the mawkish (elderly gumption and youthful pluck), but overall the narrative is probably livelier because she doesn’t overthink. (And more books for us to read.)
Frenetic, dense, funny and mystical, the books make up for some of their weaknesses by their energy and complexity. The plots often intertwine and you can’t ever fault Grimes for making her murderer too obvious, but if you want to be able to follow a trail of clues to the murderer, good luck with that. The end of the Old Contemptibles is completely implausible. Without giving anything away, there’s only one good clue as to the murderer, and the supposed motive seems completely untenable. The final scene involves cats, elderly and children conspiring, along with a final death, all right out of the author’s playbook.
Whether you enjoy the Old Contemptibles (or any of Martha Grimes books) will depend on how willing you are to completely suspend disbelief, turn off your analytical mind, and enjoy the ride. She is excellent at crafting a complex world - in this case of bottomless waters, precipitous cliffs, spirit-cats and lake poets - and creating characters that seem to live on their own.
Her plots are untidy, her dialogue rushed, but the writing and characterization are good - they are just books best read quickly. The inner critic has to be silenced, and afterwards you will have to avoid thinking too hard about the mystery itself (particularly in the case of this particular book.) If you are a slow, deliberate reader who expects your writers to work in the same way, then you might not enjoy these as much as I do.
July 28, 2022
I absolutely loved this series and read them one after the other.
Marth Grimes is a master of words, weaving intricate story lines with unusual characters and a sense of humor that I found uproariously funny at times. Some of the humor was so subtle that it is possible people without the ability to pick up on subtle humor might not catch on.
Occasionally throughout the books, the repetitive personal love interests got tiresome from the lack of growth of the characters. But the strength of the rest of the story(s) made the tiresome aspects irrelevant.
These books are definitely worth the time and cost to read. Thoroughly enjoyable and I am HOPING that there are more in the series to come.
Marth Grimes is a master of words, weaving intricate story lines with unusual characters and a sense of humor that I found uproariously funny at times. Some of the humor was so subtle that it is possible people without the ability to pick up on subtle humor might not catch on.
Occasionally throughout the books, the repetitive personal love interests got tiresome from the lack of growth of the characters. But the strength of the rest of the story(s) made the tiresome aspects irrelevant.
These books are definitely worth the time and cost to read. Thoroughly enjoyable and I am HOPING that there are more in the series to come.
October 2, 2015
It was a really good mystery, and took me quite a while to untangle it.
When it started in Venice with Melrose and Marshall, I worried it was going to be a lot more silliness with them trying to stop Vivian from getting married.
Instead, it turned into a really good story with Jury being suspected of possibly killing his girlfriend, a houseful of rich people with lots of motives to kill several people, and a delightfully insane group of wealthy aged people fencing and flinging pies at each other.
And the ending was very satisfying.
When it started in Venice with Melrose and Marshall, I worried it was going to be a lot more silliness with them trying to stop Vivian from getting married.
Instead, it turned into a really good story with Jury being suspected of possibly killing his girlfriend, a houseful of rich people with lots of motives to kill several people, and a delightfully insane group of wealthy aged people fencing and flinging pies at each other.
And the ending was very satisfying.
April 7, 2010
This is where Martha Grimes starts getting odd, I think. I gave up years ago on the next one, The Horse You Came in On, and it's next...This is disjointed. Don't really understand all that is going on with the characters.
May 22, 2010
I don't know if the fault is with the book or with me jumping into the middle of a series, but I couldn't bring myself to care about these characters At All. and thus I have tossed it aside without getting past page 50.
October 5, 2011
confused.com, i got so totally confused with the storyline and didn't relate to the characters, another one bites the dust:)
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