Don’t you love it when you find a new author that you like…and, they have written a lot of books?
I just discovered mystery writer Martha Grimes and she has oodles of books for me to look forward to.

I’ve been a fan of mysteries for a long time….and, I’m not easily impressed. Many mystery books on the market right now are enjoyable enough, but lightweight. I can usually figure out “Who Dun It” in no time at all. Unless, the author has thrown in a “Red Herring”, which just aggravates me.

Not so, with “The Case Has Altered”, number 14 in the Richard Jury novels. Each of the titles in the series is named for a British Pub. The main characters are Richard Jury, a superintendent at Scotland Yard and his friend, aristocrat and former Earl, Melrose Plant. There is a whole cast of other characters that you will love to meet; some eccentric, some hauntingly sad, a few nasty types . . . but, all are multidimensional and human.

Jury and Plant are investigating the murders of two women – a notorious actress and a servant girl – murdered two weeks apart in the watery fens of Lincolnshire. The Lincolnshire police are sure that a friend of Jury’s (Jenny Kennsington) is responsible. He and Plant must unravel the untruths, and the secrets that the inhabitants of this remote, peaceful area are determined to keep. Jury must also comes to terms with Jenny and the many secrets she has kept from him.

Interestingly, actual physical descriptions of Plant and Jury are never given. You can only ascertain their looks through the actions of the other characters. Every woman is immediately filled with admiration for the brooding and (handsome?) Jury. Don’t mistake Plant for a bumbling Dr. Watson. In his own wry way he may very well be the more clever of the pair. As handsome, as Jury may or may not be…I’m betting most female readers would love to cuddle up with Melrose Plant.

The mystery is extremely well-crafted. Was there one murderer or two? How were the victims connected? Or were they? I did not solve the mystery until near the end of the book. I realized that Grimes had been hitting me over the head with clues all along, while intentionally letting me draw my own wrong conclusions. When it dawned on me what had really happened, I actually laughed at how clever she had been.

In the end, what truly makes this book so unforgettable is Grimes’ writing. She actually takes you to the place . . . you, feel that you are standing with the characters, experiencing the eerie beauty of the fens. Here is a excerpt of when Jury sees the second victim.

“At seven-thirty in the morning, Wyndham Fen was steeped in gray silence, except for the occasional hoot of an owl or saberlike rattle of the tall reeds in its narrow canals. Crystal cobwebs hung between post and rail of the boardwalk: out in the distant pastures, the rime-caked sheep looked as if they were dressed in glass coats. Morning might have been the time when the fens were most picturesque; Wyndham Fen would have been, except for the body.”

Yes, Martha Grimes has it all, a twisting, turning plot, cleverly crafted characters, and truly beautiful writing. Best of all, I have 21 more Richard Jury books to look forward to!