The Red Queen

A Richard Jury Mystery

De: Martha Grimes

Narrado por: Steve West

A sudden murder in an English village pub sets off the twenty-sixth novel in the bestselling series starring superintendent Richard Jury, from bestselling author Martha Grimes, still “one of the most fascinating mystery writers today” (Houston Chronicle).

One calm night in Twickenham, a businessman named Tom Treadnor is shot off his barstool at The Queen Pub. Superintendent Richard Jury is called in to investigate and quickly realizes that everyone in Treadnor’s life—from his widow, Alice, to the staff at his manor, to his business partner—had differing opinions of him. And to complicate things further, Jury has just happened upon a photo in a newspaper of a man in the United States, who is a dead ringer for Treadnor.

Meanwhile, Wiggins, Jury’s partner at New Scotland Yard, becomes sidetracked by an investigation of his own: His sister, missing for years and presumed dead, has just sent a postcard to their mother. When Wiggins takes off in search of his sister, the two investigations begin to converge.

Funny, eccentric, and fueled by Richard Jury’s talent for seeing clues in the most unlikely places, The Red Queen is a welcome return to a classic character and an exciting addition to a series that has been called “delightful, surprising, even magical” (The Washington Post).

Not a finished satisfying mystery!

This was not a satisfying mystery in any way! It’s sad! As a long time Martha Grimes fan it’s heartbreaking! How did her editors let this book be published as written!? It’s more of an outline sketch of a story than an actual novel. Just WOW! And not in a good way!

Martha Grimes?

I had to listen to this book twice because I have read every M Grimes book and could not believe the mistakes could be real. Football with a "down" and "dangerous" in England? Football in England is soccer. Did she mean soccer? Did she have an American underwriter? I believe the ending was meant to be ambiguous as Martha Grimes often does in her writing, but an editor added a last chapter to "clear things up" and screwed up the entire book M Grimes had written. The general voice of the writing was Martha Grimes but there was an underwriter (probably American) that didn't get it. That's my theory, and I'm sticking to it.

Choppy and disconnected transitions.

I love the characters but the story was as if 3 different books were put together to make one.

The Wiggins storyline in particular was discordant.

Just a wonderful as ever

It felt so good to get back into Jury land. I hope we get more new novels. Listening to this one has made me want to start at the beginning of the series again.

Unbelievably bad farrago of nonsense

It's time for Grimes to stop! This plot is a re-hash of the doppelganger plot from "The Case Has Altered." Grimes seems to have forgotten what she has written in the past. Wiggins's subplot re: a missing sister not only makes no sense, but the time line is impossible and the details contradict previous books. Macalvie is dragged in for no good reason and Grimes makes both him and Wiggins into ballroom dancers! There's a chapter about a butcher that has no relevance to anything; the sensitive, capable, and wonderful Dr. Phyllis Nancy becomes a mean rich bitch shopping at Fortnum's - apparently no longer dating Jury, who's buying intimate apparel for Carole Anne - just stop! I would have given this book no stars if possible.

Melrose & Jury have lost their swag. Sad.

The murder itself was far-fetched, as was the "solution". I am still uncertain who did what to Whom nor why. Then Melrose - who has always been my favorite character, sounded more like a stuck-in-the-mud elderly person than the smart, chic cat we knew him to be. And who in heck was that Wiggans? I can't go on with this. So disappointed. Ms Grimes is 94. I can't believe that she wrote this. There must be thieves in the temple. Please.

Poor entry in the Jury series

This was a big disappointment compared to other Richard Jury books. Confusing, poor plot - almost like stream of consciousness musings.

curious

Throughout most of this I wasn't sure what was going on. The story was lost in a mass of unnecessary details about things that had no bearing on the plot and grown men bickering about this and that. I stuck with it for the entertaining British characters and the performance of them. At the conclusion I still didn't know for sure who dunnit or how. Or why it was named Red Queen.

Huge disappointment after relying author's earlier and substantial collection.

Nothing makes sense in a flimsily constructed story at the end of the author's illustrious career. What a disappointment!

No plot. Just awful. Such a disappointment

Steve West is a good narrator but he couldn’t save this disjointed mess. Don’t waste a credit.