The Old Contemptibles
(Libby/OverDrive eAudiobook)

Richard Jury, London police superintendent, is a suspect himself in Grimes's 11th mystery named after English pubs--this one in the Lake District of poets Wordsworth and Coleridge. Jury is considering marriage to recently met widow Jane Holdsworth at the moment her teenaged son Alex finds her dead, apparently a suicide. Alex runs away, and Jury, required, as a suspect, to remain in London, sends old friend Melrose Plant up to the Lakes to learn what he can about the wealthy Holdsworth family, among whom Jane's death is the fourth suspicious one. Eccentric, appealing characters hold this scattershot plot together. Best are vulnerable, brave and preternaturally bright youngsters Alex, who cheats at poker and the horses brilliantly, and 11-year-old orphan Millie Thale, who cooks at Holdsworth manse and broods over her own mother's unexpected death five years before. Equally vivid are two residents at a nearby rest home for the wealthy elderly: sly Adam Holdsworth, who holds the pursestrings that tie the tale together, and his elegant foxy friend, the perceptive and kleptomaniacal Lady Cray. While the villain's exposure and motivation are inadequately developed, the tale's dramatic conclusion, the lowering setting and its entertaining denizens provide full compensation. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

YA-- Superintendent Richard Jury, of Scotland Yard fame, is back, but this time he is the suspect as well as the investigator of a murder. To the amazement of his lifelong friends, Jury falls rapidly in love with a widow, Jane Holdsworth, and plans a proposal of marriage. Her shocking death from a barbiturate overdose is ruled a suicide by the police, but neither Jury nor Jane's son Alex believes it. The superintendent's friend Melrose Plant infiltrates the Holdsworth household under the guise of a cataloging librarian in order to investigate the all-too-frequent ``accidents'' that plague them. The family members are introduced with humor and mystery as readers try to unravel the truth of the Holdsworths' fortune and Jane's death. A treat for all of Grimes's fans.-- Katherine Fitch, Jefferson Sci-Tech, Alexandria, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Ever-eclectic in her borrowings of style and substance from the best English mysteries, Grimes (The Dirty Duck, Jerusalem Inn, etc.) makes her latest a real jumble: part psychosexual gothic (à la P.D. James), part sentimental tragicomedy, part eccentric farce--with far more satisfaction in the separate parts than in the unconvincing whole. The story begins very Inspector Morse-ishly--as somber Supt. Jury fails in love with lovely widow Jane Holdsworth, only to lose her almost immediately: Jane commits suicide by overdose--or is it murder? To find out which, Jury sends his amateur sidekick Melrose Plant up to the Lake District, where the wealthy Holdsworth clan resides--headed by irascible Adam, 89, whose beloved poet-grandson (also a suicide) was Jane's husband. Is someone perhaps killing off all of Adam's favorite relatives for inheritance purposes? If so, then Jane's 16-year-old son Alex--a grieving would-be sleuth--may be in danger. Alex's moody encounters with teen-aged cook Millie (child of another suspicious suicide) are gently affecting; old Adam's capers at a local retirement-home are giddily amusing; there's a whole gallery of fetching characters. But the pieces never come together effectively. Nor does the plot--which involves too many family secrets and oblique motives. Still: superior page-by-page entertainment from a skillful imitator. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Richard Jury, London police superintendent, is a suspect himself in Grimes's 11th mystery named after English pubs--this one in the Lake District of poets Wordsworth and Coleridge. Jury is considering marriage to recently met widow Jane Holdsworth at the moment her teenaged son Alex finds her dead, apparently a suicide. Alex runs away, and Jury, required, as a suspect, to remain in London, sends old friend Melrose Plant up to the Lakes to learn what he can about the wealthy Holdsworth family, among whom Jane's death is the fourth suspicious one. Eccentric, appealing characters hold this scattershot plot together. Best are vulnerable, brave and preternaturally bright youngsters Alex, who cheats at poker and the horses brilliantly, and 11-year-old orphan Millie Thale, who cooks at Holdsworth manse and broods over her own mother's unexpected death five years before. Equally vivid are two residents at a nearby rest home for the wealthy elderly: sly Adam Holdsworth, who holds the pursestrings that tie the tale together, and his elegant foxy friend, the perceptive and kleptomaniacal Lady Cray. While the villain's exposure and motivation are inadequately developed, the tale's dramatic conclusion, the lowering setting and its entertaining denizens provide full compensation. (Jan.) Copyright 1990 Cahners Business Information.

YA-- Superintendent Richard Jury, of Scotland Yard fame, is back, but this time he is the suspect as well as the investigator of a murder. To the amazement of his lifelong friends, Jury falls rapidly in love with a widow, Jane Holdsworth, and plans a proposal of marriage. Her shocking death from a barbiturate overdose is ruled a suicide by the police, but neither Jury nor Jane's son Alex believes it. The superintendent's friend Melrose Plant infiltrates the Holdsworth household under the guise of a cataloging librarian in order to investigate the all-too-frequent ``accidents'' that plague them. The family members are introduced with humor and mystery as readers try to unravel the truth of the Holdsworths' fortune and Jane's death. A treat for all of Grimes's fans.-- Katherine Fitch, Jefferson Sci-Tech, Alexandria, VA Copyright 1991 Cahners Business Information.