The Blue Last

I've been reading my way through the Martha Grimes, Richard Jury Mysteries. I had not been a big mystery reader until a few years ago. I first read through all of the Inspector Lynley series by Elizabeth George. I often swap books back in forth with my mother and she gave me Winds of Change and I enjoyed it immensley but like any series it referred to events in previous books which I didn't understand. So off I went to start at the beginning. I'm up to #17, The Blue Last. (Although, I skipped #16 and need to go back before moving on.) The Blue Last tackles a mystery 55 years old brought back to the present with the recovery of bones from a London bomb site from WWII. Like many of Grimes mysteries although the mystery was solved at the end of the book many things were left dangling. In fact, I turned the last page with shock to realize the author had left me hanging (or lying on the ground in a pool of blood you might say). A trick I'm sure to entice her readers to eagerly anticipate the next novel and purchase it in hardaback. Of course, I am still not up to the present offerings so I could go right out and by the next book. But I'll wait a few days. I truely enjoy these Richard Jury mysteries. And although both Jury and Lynley (Elizabeth George) are Scotland Yard detectives the characters share little else in common. I would recommend anyone who hasn't yet delved into these books to go back and start at the beginning with The Man with a Load of Mischief. And in case you might wonder about the unusual titles, all of the novels are named for a pub that somehow figures into the story.