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Last year's cliffhanger in THE BLUE LAST may have left fans wondering if they'd ever see their beloved Richard Jury again. They needn't have worried. He's back from death's door and eager to find a case that takes his mind away from the painful events of the previous novel. As luck would have it, there's a troubling case that lands in the Superintendent's lap before he's even sprung from the confines of the hospital.
Two years ago the fifteen-year-old daughter of Jury's surgeon, Dr. Ryder, disappeared along with one of her grandfather's prize thoroughbreds --- both, the apparent victims of a kidnapping. Even though most believe Nell must surely be dead by now, there's never been any real closure as to who kidnapped them or why. Jury knows the answers must be out there and, with Melrose Plant's help, he's determined to find them. As Jury's longtime friend and civilian partner, Melrose is asked to pursue his usual reconnaissance role, this time posing as a potential horse buyer. Melrose doesn't know a thing about thoroughbred horses, of course, so after boning up on just enough racing trivia to get himself in trouble, he travels to the Ryder Stud farm and makes the acquaintance of Nell's family and friends.
A distraught Arthur Ryder, the grandfather who has raised Nell since her mother died, fleshes out the family history for Melrose --- a family that has been besieged with recurring tragedies. Aside from Nell's father, the surgeon, there was another son, Danny, who became one of Britain's most successful and infamous jockey's. His death in a racing accident left his son Maurice to be raised by Grandfather Arthur as well. Both Nell and Maurice are motherless and find a tenuous bond through their love of thoroughbreds and racing. However, that's where the similarities between these two young people end. Nell was a lovely, happy young girl whose kinship with horses was something extraordinary. Maurice, on the other hand, is dark and brooding. He wanted desperately to become the great jockey his father had been but, unfortunately, he'll never have that chance, and bitter disappointment has taken root within his soul. There's also Vernon, a stepbrother to Nell's father, who is a wealthy wheeler-dealer in London's financial circles and secretly obsessed with the much younger Nell. Unlike the rest of the family, Vernon is firmly convinced Nell will return to them one day. Eventually it's Vernon's steadfast faith that convinces Jury that the girl may still be alive.
As Jury crisscrosses the landscape from Cambridgeshire to Wales, readers are treated to the usual cameo appearances of the Jack and Hammer regulars --- those colorful pub patrons that add amusing dimensions to the life of Melrose Plant in every Jury novel. Their roundtable dialogues and subsequent antics are the perfect comic relief for the darker drama taking place center stage. In THE GRAVE MAURICE, the group becomes entangled in an animal rights demonstration over one of England's oldest institutions, the fox hunt. Although good intentions evolve into embarrassing misadventure, it offers an inkling of the much grimmer events yet to come.
Aside from the welcome recurrence of these quirky village celebrities, Martha Grimes has consistently introduced fresh approaches to what could easily have become just another boiler plate series in the hands of a lesser author. With an arresting blend of prose and dialogue, the disappearance of Nell, the torment of Maurice, and the heartbreaking anguish of Vernon are revealed through the voices of their respective characters. And in a creative stroke that becomes the touchstone of the story, Grimes introduces the thoroughbreds, themselves, as their random thoughts and perceptions interject a unique voice among many who tell the story of THE GRAVE MAURICE.
The convergence of various subplots into seamless fiction is no small feat --- there's always lot happening in a Grimes novel, and in this storyline, more than most. Kidnapping and murder are the focus of Jury's investigation, complicated by underlying scenarios of revenge and greed, each subplot propelled to it's own climatic conclusion, becoming part of the overall chain of tragic events. And while the thoroughbreds may have originated as secondary characters, ultimately it will be their story, the horrifying truth behind Nell's disappearance, that will reverberate with readers long after cases are closed, murders are solved, and scoundrels confronted.
If there's any doubt that I have placed Martha Grimes firmly among the authors that I would walk 20 miles in a snowstorm --- uphill --- to get their newest book, you only need to browse my previous reviews over the years. I've described the qualities of her writing with every adjective that I could think of and it still seems inadequate praise. Maybe the author's own words define her essence better than anyone can: "writing takes place on an inner landscape, not an outer." An inner landscape. I love that.
--- Reviewed by Ann Bruns (BkPageWC@aol.com)
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