Rainbow's End (Richard Jury Series #13)

by Martha Grimes

Overview

"Once again, Grimes hooks her readers with the engaging Jury and friends and with skillful tucking of hints into unexpected corners."
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
When three women die of "natural causes" in London and the West Country, there appears to be no connection—or reason to suspect foul play. But Scotland Yard Superintendent Richard Jury has other ideas, and before long he's following his keen police instincts all the way to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
There, in the company of a brooding thirteen-year-old girl and her pet coyote, he mingles with an odd assortment of characters and tangles with a twisted plot that stretches from England to the American Southwest. And while his good friend Melrose Plant pursues inquiries in London, Jury delves deeper into the more baffling elements of the case, discovering firsthand what the guide books don't tell you: that the Land of Enchantment is also a landscape ripe with tragedy, treachery, and murder.
"RAINBOW'S END is itself a literary rainbow. It's the skillful blend of mystery and comedy and pathos, a Martha Grimes trademark, that makes this visit with Richard Jury and company so memorable and satisfying."
—Mostly Murder

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780345394262
Publisher:	Random House Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/01/1996
Series:	Richard Jury Series , #13
Pages:	448
Product dimensions:	4.18(w) x 6.76(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Martha Grimes is one of the few authors left carrying on the British detective mystery tradition, and doing it well. Scotland Yard Superintendent Richard Jury and sidekick Melrose Plant continue to enthrall readers with their clever, darkly humorous crime-solving careers.

Hometown:

Washington, DC and Santa Fe, NM

Date of Birth:

May 2, 1931

Place of Birth:

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Education:

B.A., M.A., University of Maryland

Website:

http://www.marthagrimes.com

Editorial Reviews

Set only a few weeks after the end of The Horse You Came In On, the newest case for Scotland Yard Chief Superintendent Richard Jury wings him back to the U.S. Jury is initially inclined to dismiss the similarities among three sudden deaths: those of two British women, one in Exeter Cathedral and the other in the Tate Gallery, and that of Angela Hope, a Santa Fe silversmith visiting Salisbury's Old Sarum. But he revises his opinion when he learns that all three women had recently been in New Mexico at the same time. Abandoning the hypochondriacal Sgt. Wiggins to the delicious pleasures of a hospital stay, Jury heads to the States, delegating to his civilian sleuthing partner, Melrose Plant, the task of tracking down Lady Jenny Kennington-who has vanished just when the local Stratford-on-Avon police have reasons to find her. In Santa Fe, clues are thin, although Mary Dark Hope, the American victim's 13-year-old sister-whose best friend is a nearly tame coyote-is convinced that her sister was murdered. Shrewdness (and a smidgen of serendipity) finally nudge Jury toward real insight-and the realization that another life is in danger. Once again, Grimes hooks her readers with the engaging Jury and friends, and with skillful tucking of hints into unexpected corners. 75,000 first printing; Mystery Guild selection; Literary Guild alternate. (June)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

t's hard to say what makes Grimes' mysteries such a delight. Maybe it's her hilariously eccentric characters or her imaginative and cleverly convoluted plots. Maybe it's her wry humor or her imaginative turns of phrase, or perhaps it's the intelligence and humanity of her stories. Whatever the answer, Grimes is one of the outstanding mystery writers working today. Her latest book reconfirms her rightful place among the superstars. A young American woman is found dead on the grounds of England's historic Old Serum, obviously the victim of foul play. Enter Scotland Yard Superintendent Richard Jury and his colleague Brian Macalvie, who soon convinces a skeptical Jury that the young woman's death is connected to two other recent deaths, one in London's Tate Gallery, one in a remote parish church. The tenuous connection among the three, Macalvie concludes, is America, where one of the victims lived and the other two had recently visited. Of course, once Jury's interest is piqued, he's relentless, and nothing will suffice but a trip to the U.S. to see what's what--as if Jury doesn't have enough on his hands already, what with searching for his missing friend Jenny Kennington, finding he has a dog--albeit a well-mannered one--occupying the apartment above his, and trying desperately to give up smoking. Vintage Grimes, which means top-notch reading.

Emily Melton