Book Review: The Red Queen by Martha Grimes

  Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook, free of charge, from Grove Atlantic via #netgalley, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it. All opinions are my own

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)

Synopsis;

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 the series,

Review:

This is book 26 of the series, and man does that make me feel old! I've been reading this series, since almost the beginning! Jury is different than more normal detectives, resulting in cases that lean more to the intellectual, and offer a different look at his social life, due to having 'friends in high places'. This disparity lands the books solidly between typical police procedurals and cozies, but gives them their own niche. In this latest book, Jury and Wiggins are divided due to a family emergency, and each has their own case leads to follow and decipher. Jury's is very confusing as he appears to have a schizophrenic victim, or a doppleganger. But all his suspects had solid alibies and no clear cut lead to prove otherwise. meanwhile Wiggins soon realizes he has a doppleganger of his own, and soon with Jury's help, he realizes their cases intersect. With a last minute roller coaster to see if the suspect gets caught, this one keeps the reader guessing!

About the Author:

Martha Grimes is the bestselling author of more than thirty books, twenty-five of them featuring Richard Jury. The recipient of the 2012 Mystery Writers of America’s Grand Master Award, Grimes lives in Bethesda, Maryland.