Jerusalem Inn

Richard Jury #5

by Martha Grimes

A white Christmas couldn't make Newcastle any less dreary for Scotland Yard's Superintendent Richard Jury--until he met a beautiful woman in a snow-covered graveyard. Sensual, warm, and a bit mysterious, she could have put some life into his sagging holiday spirit. But the next time Jury saw her, she was cold--and dead. Melrose Plant. Jury's aristocratic sidekick wasn't faring much better. Snow bound at a stately mansion with a group of artists, critics, and idle-but-titled rich, he, too, encountered a lovely lady . . . or rather, stumbled over her corpse. What linked these two yuletide murders was a remote country pub where snooker, a Nativity scene, and an old secret would uncover a killer . . . or yet another death.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Christmas, Audiobook, British Literature, Mystery Thriller

295 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Martha 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.

Reviews

[C. (Comment, never msg). · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have collected Martha Grimes books for years and when I finally began digging in, I was pleased to love them. She has better ones than “Jerusalem Inn”, 1984. This mystery was disjointed. The two most interesting characters, with evocative suspense, were dropped. A houseful of unlikeable personages replaced the sympathy and ambiance with which we started. Perhaps the second batch were planned anyhow, or Martha sought another pretext for bringing the delightful Melrose Plant into compassionate Richard Jury’s proximity. I honestly don’t care if she stretches coincidences to enjoin them, as long as the mysteries and the mood of the stories are excellent.

Richard is on Christmas vacation with his cousin and meets a woman who mutually only has one cousin for a relative, herself. They hit it off but she won’t tell him what she researched at this town’s cemetery. Her untimely decease urges Richard to aid the police, knowing they would be unaware of some incongruities without him. He consults a librarian and boarding school mistress; anyone who can give any impression of her and her personal project. This had the makings of clues from the vicar and headstones.... Alas, we switch to a conceited manor house nearby; made palatable solely because Melrose is a guest.

The culture of the Jerusalem Inn comes across vividly. As usual, children bring humour to the investigating chores of Melrose and Richard. I smiled at a borrowed doll standing in for baby Jesus in the pub’s manger. Art, music, and professional pool-playing also add interest. Abusing the finances of elders who make homes at a hotel is a subject that I admire Martha for exposing. We cheer when cheapskate owners are reminded from whom their bread is buttered! I am glad I have the whole Richard and Melrose series to savour.

[Amanda Winkworth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this a little confusing at times, I was having trouble keeping track of all the characters. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't a gripping must read.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jerusalem Inn

Richard Jury's meeting Helen Minton in a graveyard is the starting of this complex mystery that began in the past.
Who would want to kill Helen Minton? What danger did she present to someone.
I loved the plot behind this mystery and the fears that caused Helen's death.
Thankfully Melrose Plant is there to assist or to just be a sounding board. Truthfully I love Plant's character and it would not be a Jury book without Plant and of course the comic Lady Ardy.
I believer Martha Grimes is an amazing writer who I can't stop reading.
I was just a little disappointed at the ending because Jury seemed to no longer desire the justice for Helen that was present throughout the book.

[Henry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Excellent beginning, complicated middle and a totally confusing ending. Not sure what happened, why, or if I even care anymore.

[Suzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another enjoyable stop in the Richard Jury pub-hopping series. Jury just happens to be in the north of England to spend a dreaded Christmas with his cousin. He meets Helen Minton in a cemetery five days before Christmas, falls for her, but drat! she is found dead shortly thereafter. He tells Scotland Yard that he needs to be on the case. The story surrounding Helen's murder alternates with another in which his trusty aristocratic side-kick, Melrose Plant, his Aunt Agatha, "his man" Riven and a former love interest, Vivian, are invited to spend Christmas at Spinny Abbey where they are snowbound with quite a group of fellow aristocrats, writers and artists.

True confession, I had a hard time following the action between Helen Minton's murder and the action at the Abbey. I kept wishing I had a hard copy so I could refer back to who was who (too many similar names), how they were related, etc, etc. The Abbey scenario seemed out of context and superfluous. One just had to have faith that the two were related and would converge, but their relationship seemed artificial, only serving to bring in the interesting cast of characters we rely on and give us another murder to be solved.

On the other hand, there were so many times I laughed out loud, loving the interactions - amongst the aristocrats, between the aristocrats and the poor folk at Jerusalem Inn and between Jury and Plant. They are a classic pair, a mystery-solving machine!

Oh, and did I mention the role of baby Jesus and the wise men? The ongoing development of the manger scene in "the local", as Jerusalem Inn is referred to by the natives, is hilarious.

Oh, and did I mention the snooker theme? One of the young characters at the Abbey is a snooker fanatic. The very last episode of this book is a snooker game of which I understood not a thing, but was just what was needed to bring this book to a close.

A fun read as part of my 2015 holiday reading marathon!

[Kyrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this book, I felt like an outsider at a party. I almost, but not quite, grasped the nuances. I was a half second behind on getting the jokes.

I'm still not certain why so many people had to die or quite how it was done. I guess that's the essence of a homicidal madness? (I really should drink more coffee and ponder before writing reviews.)

Anyhow, when I'm reading this review in the future, so I know which book in the series it is, it's the one about the pool player and the kid whose baby doll had to play Jesus in the pub creche.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's Christmas, and Jury has 2 murders to solve with the help of Melrose Plant. Jury's love life takes a turn for the worse. A very enjoyable read.

[Laurie Mucha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I generally have liked the books in this series, but this time it seemed muddled and at times confusing. The choices made at the end made no sense. I didn't really connect with the major characters though I genuinely enjoyed the two children.

[Andria Potter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starts off strong, but I'm with most of the others: it's confusing and slightly boring, and I was unsure what to think at the end. I still like Jury and Melrose, and I did like the atmosphere, but the whole mystery itself seemed a bit far fetched. And the way that it was solved was a bit of a desperate means to wrap up the book. Even so, I did enjoy large parts of it, even if I was utterly baffled by most of it. 3.5 ⭐.

[Bev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jerusalem Inn is one of Martha Grimes' earlier Richard Jury mysteries that I somehow missed when I was on my Grimes reading jag back in the 80s. The earlier mysteries are much more my style--more typical, straight-forward detective story than some of her later work. This one involves Richard Jury and his sidekick Melrose Plant in a couple of Christmas-time murders. A chance encounter in a graveyard finds Jury meeting Helen Minton--a beautiful woman who Jury immediately takes a liking to. He is on his way to his cousin's for the Christmas holidays (not a visit he's particularly looking forward to) and arranges to stop by one day and have dinner when Helen. However, the next time he sees her, she's in no condition to appreciate a meal. She's dead. Her death might have been taken for natural causes if not for two things--her body was found in the Old Hall where she had been showing visitors around and Jury arriving on the spot. An autopsy reveals poison.

Meanwhile, Melrose Plant and his entourage of Ruthven, his butler, his Aunt Agatha, and Vivian Rivington have been invited to a house party in the area. While there, Melrose and a young Marquess stumble over the body of another woman. This time there is no doubt as to the cause of death...a bullet hole through the ermine coat she was wearing bears witness. Jury soon becomes involved in both murders as he finds that there are those in the house party who knew both women. But is there a single motive for the removal of the two? Jury and Plant each talk with the suspects and soon Jury is given the answer....in the form of a doll who has requisitioned to play the part of baby Jesus in the local pub's nativity scene.

What I like most about the Richard Jury stories is the characters. Jury and Plant and all the recurring characters are great fun and I have enjoyed getting to know them through the series. This one is particularly good in the scenes where Jury is interacting with children. He treats them just right. Where I find Grimes lacking is in her wrap-up. Even though you know who and why at the end...there is still a feeling that you've been left dangling. That's why I'm giving this one three and a half stars instead of four.

[ShanDizzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great mystery. Steve West was the narrator and his voice is resonant, velvety smooth and beautiful. He is excellent! We return to our full cast of the familiar characters and their quirks. Ms. Grimes certainly knows how to paint vivid word pictures to immerse one into the scene. Her evocative language makes you know what the character is feeling (you could feel Jury's grief over the loss of what might have been.) Though, some moments in the book were laugh-out-loud hilarious!

For instance, Susan Assington - what a name!! Cracks me up! But it fits this woman after you read how she is described. I am happy that the language was not as coarse as book #5 in the series.

"You, Agatha? I've never seen you do embroidery." "Certainly I do. But then you have never asked, have you." she said with typical Agatha-logic, accompanied by a typical Agatha-sigh. "I'm doing you a Christmas present, if you must know." That was more astonishing. His aunt had not, in living memory, ever given him a gift. She had, instead given him excuses. He came to look over her shoulder. There had been little stitching done, and that was crude at best. "It looks like a mouse." Stabbing her needle through the cream background, she said, "Don't be silly. It's a unicorn. "It looks like the ear of a mouse to me." "It's a unicorn's horn."

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe three and a half, but an improvement over the last Grimes book I read - I think I really do have to read them in order. This was very nicely done - great writing, great descriptions, just the right amount of stage time for “old favorites” and very compelling new characters. I think generally these books are better when Jury and Plant are away from the original village; otherwise I spend the book feeling like I’m supposed to remember all sorts of minor characters. I’m not sure the mystery was entirely “fair” in this one, and the drama of the final scene was completely lost on me because I don’t play snooker and couldn’t even begin to picture what they were talking about. But for characters and atmosphere, this was a satisfying read.

[Midwest Geek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Much of what I said about the preceding entry in this series, The Dirty Duck, applies to this one as well. One might call this a police procedural but essentially no progress is made in the investigation until near the end, and, although the perpetrator(s) of the murder could be anticipated, there was little corroboration until near the end. The author clearly has a following and, although there are another 19 books in the series, I think I'm done.

[Rick Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

Major characters:

Helen Minton, a building tour guide
Robin "Robbie" Lyte
Frederick Parmenger, a painter
Grace Seaingham
Elizabeth, Lady St. Leger
Beatrice Slight, a writer
William MacQuade, a writer
Tommy Whittaker, a snooker/oboe/piano player
Richard Jury
Melrose Plant
Aunt Agatha, Melrose's aunt
Vivian Rivington

Synopsis: Richard Jury is en route to his cousin's for the Christmas holidays, more out of a feeling of obligation than desire. He stops in the village of Washington and while wandering around encounters a young woman, Helen Minton, in the churchyard cemetery. She is studying some gravestones and making notes. She feels faint upon standing, and Jury is concerned and offers to escort her home. They have a visit and drinks; and set up a dinner date upon his return.

Jury continues to his cousin's place, and stops in Washington again on the return. He finds the authorities present at Old Hall, a historic site in which Helen was a tour guide. She had been found dead in the upstairs bedroom, a vial of pills at hand.

Melrose Plant winds up snowed in at Spinney Abbey mansion with a lot of writers, artists, critics, titled persons, and of course, his Aunt Agatha (Lady Ardry). One of the writers, Beatrice Slight, is found dead outside while wearing Grace Seaingham's stole. Was Beatrice the intended victim, or was it mistaken identity? Melrose finds an interesting young companion, Tommy Whittaker, who likes to sneak out to the local pub, The Jerusalem Inn, to play snooker.

Richard Jury arrives, looking for Frederick Parmenger, who was a cousin to Helen Minton. Parmenger is at the mansion to paint a portrait of Grace Seaingham. He is found to be the only person present who knew both victims, and Jury looks for a connection and motive.

Review: This is the fourth Jury I have read, I found it rather ho-hum overall. It started out well with the hopeful budding relationship between Jury and Helen Minton, and I was sorry to find her become a victim. The long discussions of the privileged class at Spinney Abbey was wearing. Getting Melrose Plant and Jury to find each other by accident was a bit of a stretch; as well as the eventual connection between the two victims. The explanation was a bit too long and involved and I did check out without trying to understand the various relationships involved. In short, way too many characters. I stopped noting them down at 17.

Vivian Rivington, Jury's unrequited love, appears as well. Her engagement to the Italian count appears to be on the rocks (Jury hopes), but nothing more progresses - being saved for future books no doubt.

Tommy Whittaker is a great character, and I enjoyed reading about him. I did skim the play-by-play descriptions of his snooker games, not being familiar with it.

I enjoyed the conversations between Plant and his butler Ruthven, especially as Plant tries to get Ruthven to loosen up and be a friend.

Aunt Agatha was in good form, and the descriptions of her skillful cheating at bridge while trying to impress her other players was quite funny.

[Julie Durnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this fifth book of the Jury/Plant series, not only because it is set at Christmas and we just celebrated that holiday, but the whole plot weaves together intricately and somewhat seamlessly for a fitting closure. The setting in an abbey during a heavy snowstorm with houseguests closeted together has become a mystery story cliché but I found this book fresh and the regular cast of characters - Supt. Jury, his assistant detective Wiggins, Melrose Plant, his Aunt Agatha, butler Ruthven, and ladyfriend Vivian were well fleshed out. The way Grimes brings in children and their interaction with Richard Jury and Melrose Plant and others is brilliant!

[Marti · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jury and Plant go to the boonies, to Jerusalem Inn about several bodies. It is the Christmas holiday and there are some interesting and eccentric people here to question. In the first part, Jury had met an interesting woman named Helen Minton, so of course she is one of the corpses. Too bad--he might have had a romantic idyll with her. This didn't seem to be up to the usual caliber of stories.

[Barb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the characters, setting and quality of writing. On the negative side, the plot was confusing; wish I'd kept running notes. I didn't follow the Snooker rules either. Nevertheless, I liked it enough to try another Martha Grimes book.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite, difficult to follow as an audiobook.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspektor Jury ist ein Ermittler durch und durch. Selbst im Urlaub, gönnt er sich keine Pause und unterstützt die lokale Polizei in ihren Ermittlungen.
Und das mit Erfolg, wer hätte es auch anders erwartet.
Über den Superintendent Richard Jury erfährt man zwischen Vernehmungen, Besuchen und Untersuchungen auch einiges, was seinen Charakter sehr sympathisch und angenehm macht. Er scheint ein tiefgründigerer Mensch zu sein, als anfangs angenommen.
Auch sein Kollege Sergeant Wiggins mit seinem Talent zum sammeln allerlei Informationen (wichtig und weniger wichtig) macht einen netten Eindruck.
Wie schon bei Agatha Christie's Büchern fand ich es auch in diesem Buch unmöglich Voraussagen darüber zu treffen, wer die Morde begangen hatte, wobei - anders als Poirot, der immer die kleinsten Details im Nachhinein enthüllt - Jury auf eine Art und Weise ermittelt, die vielleicht zugelassen hätte durch geschicktes Nachdenken auf des Rätsels Lösung zu kommen... Wenn auch das Motiv noch nicht eindeutig gewesen wäre.

Im großen und ganzen liest es sich relativ gut und es ist ein charmantes Büchlein für zwischendurch.
Es macht auch nichts, dass dies nicht der erste Teil der Reihe ist. Die Fälle sind nicht wirklich verbunden und man bekommt genügend Informationen über die Beteiligten oder evtl. bereits bekannten Gestalten aus früheren Bänden, selbst wenn diese vielleicht nicht so ausführlich beschrieben werden, wie es wohl in vergangenen Teilen war. :)

3/5✨

[Pamela Mclaren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its getting close to Christmas and Richard Jury, Scotland Yard Superintendent, is about to take a holiday, although he is not looking forward to it. But then he meets a beautiful woman in a graveyard and for a moment she lifts his holiday spirit.

But it is short lived. The next time he meets her, she is dead. And it forces his detective instincts to look beyond the fact that its not his case and sets him on the path to find out just who she was and why was she killed.

His friend, the aristocratic Melrose Plant, finds himself in almost the same fix. A mutual friend of Jury and Plant's has been invited to a mansion for Christmas along with other artists and Plant, along with his butler and his aunt, come along for the ride. And soon there is a death there as well.

Can the two men come up with not only the who but the why? They come up with much more in this Yuletide mystery.

Another interesting and complex mystery from Martha Grimes. While I might have guessed the who, I was pleasantly surprised with the why and how the end comes all together.

[Katzenkindliest · Rating 3 out of 5]

Manchmal etwas wirr und langatmig, aber nicht schlecht!

[Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my goodness. I am getting weary and yet I want more and more books. I should have waited for a winter vacation where the garden did not need attention.

[Dyana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the fifth in the series about Superintendent Richard Jury of Scotland Yard. It's another formulaic murder mystery with quirky characters and, of course, a precocious child (Chrissie) involved. It's Christmas time, and Jury is on his way to Newcastle to visit a cousin when he stops and ends up in a graveyard. There he meets a woman, Helen Minton, he is quite attracted to, and which he plans to meet later for dinner; but when he shows up she is dead. His aristocratic sidekick in these books is Melrose Plant and he and Vivian Rivington (a poet) have been invited to Spinney Abbey for an artsy weekend and get snowbound with the assembled eccentric guests. He is persuaded one night to put on snow skis and make a secret trip to a pub called the Jerusalem Inn. There he encounters Jury whose investigation has lead him there also. When they arrive back at Spinney Abbey where Jury would like to talk to the guests, they discover another woman has been murdered.

Lots of characters in this book. There's Lady Assington and her doctor husband; Beatrice Sleight who writes books; Edward Parmenger who is a painter; Charles and Grace Seaingham, the host (an art critic) and hostess (she's perfect and sickly); Tommy Whittaker, a skilled snooker player, and his aunt Elizabeth St. Leger; William MacQuade, another author; and, of course, Melrose's obnoxious Aunt Agatha who has wormed her way into the party. And many more... Jury also enlists the aid of hypochondriac Detective Alfred Wiggins to help him solve the case.

For me, the ending was unsatisfactory and abrupt. I needed some of the loose ends tied up more neatly. The mystery is convoluted tho, and I never guessed who the murderer was. There's also the clever repartee between Melrose and everybody else! Just an OK read.

[Penelope · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jerusalem Inn was a reread for me having first read it soon after it was published. I was happy to find that I still enjoyed it as much as I remembered. It reads quickly, and I recommend it for readers who enjoy classic mysteries, particularly English ones. (I am rereading the Scotland Yard Superintendent Jury series in order and rated the prior book, Dirty Duck, less favorably due to the befuddled romantic relationships among the main characters. As these uninspired relationships were less present in Jerusalem Inn, I am happy to give it a better rating).

I was able to solve the case of Jerusalem Inn before I reached the conclusion, but not in it’s entirety. The way it was written had me re-examining the information available and turning it around until I had it fitting a new pattern. The story held my interest and moved along.

Jerusalem Inn can be read as a stand-alone title but I believe the appearance of secondary characters such as Superintendent Jury’s personal friends Vivian Rivington and Melrose Plant, as well as Jury’s non-accommodating superior, Chief Superintendent Racer, and a Scotland Yard CID “office” cat, Cyrus, are more fully enjoyed when their backstories are known.

Although there are no sexual relationships and swearing is very minimal if present at all, due to the subject matter I believe this book is meant for an adult audience.

[Jaksen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Martha Grimes' Richard Jury series overall, and this one has my favorite beginning, which I will not reveal. I love it because it illumes Jury's character and inner personality, which we often do not see.

There are the usual cast of characters, the wonderful Melrose Plant; the finicky, fussy and frustrating Aunt Agatha; the wholly confusing Vivian, and an entire host of village people, including (of course), at least one child who's as smart or smarter than most of the adults in her circle.

However, I did get lost once or twice as there are so many characters, and often pivotal events happen sort of in the blink of an eye. Doze off or skip a sentence, which I sometimes do as I grow older, and you can miss so much! Twenty sentences describing Cyril the Cat, but one where the 'ahah' moment is. That's how Grimes writes. Clever of her, I suppose.

I now go on to the next in this series.

[Maureen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I give this book two stars because Martha Grimes could have done better. As another reviewer said, the investigation seems to go nowhere until Jury's odd epiphany in the pub and the helpful confession at the end. The book had too many characters, as usual, and there were few clues to allow you to see the tie between two people that led to the initial event of the mystery. And why people had to start getting killed off when the secret did not appear to be surfacing.

The characters of Richard Jury and Melrose Plant are always enjoyable, but Plant's role seems to be getting smaller rather than larger as the series goes along, and Jury keeps his cards too close to his chest when Plant is the very person to help him play things out in the end. The hypochondriac Wiggins, thankfully, makes fewer appearances, as does Jury's boss, Racer.

Grimes would have done well to trim down the cast and strengthen the plot and the characters that are left.

[Duncan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one didn't really work for me--too many characters with too little development. The initial setup (Jury meets a strange woman with hinted-at secrets) was good, but when the setting shifted to a snowbound house party, things seemed to stall.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I literally looked to see if there were Spark notes on this to try to help me understand what exactly happened and why. I don’t generally have reading comprehension problems. I did enjoy some of the characters.

[Carol Pouliot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific! I often reread it at Christmas time. I love this series.

[Sheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one was a bit sad, but I love that it was set during Christmas.