Rainbow's end : a Richard Jury novel /

It's hard to say what makes Grimes' mysteries such a delight. Maybe it's her hilariously eccentric characters or her imaginative and cleverly convoluted plots. Maybe it's her wry humor or her imaginative turns of phrase, or perhaps it's the intelligence and humanity of her stories. Whatever the answer, Grimes is one of the outstanding mystery writers working today. Her latest book reconfirms her rightful place among the superstars. A young American woman is found dead on the grounds of England's historic Old Serum, obviously the victim of foul play. Enter Scotland Yard Superintendent Richard Jury and his colleague Brian Macalvie, who soon convinces a skeptical Jury that the young woman's death is connected to two other recent deaths, one in London's Tate Gallery, one in a remote parish church. The tenuous connection among the three, Macalvie concludes, is America, where one of the victims lived and the other two had recently visited. Of course, once Jury's interest is piqued, he's relentless, and nothing will suffice but a trip to the U.S. to see what's what--as if Jury doesn't have enough on his hands already, what with searching for his missing friend Jenny Kennington, finding he has a dog--albeit a well-mannered one--occupying the apartment above his, and trying desperately to give up smoking. Vintage Grimes, which means top-notch reading. (Reviewed May 01, 1995)0679441883Emily Melton

Set only a few weeks after the end of The Horse You Came In On, the newest case for Scotland Yard Chief Superintendent Richard Jury wings him back to the U.S. Jury is initially inclined to dismiss the similarities among three sudden deaths: those of two British women, one in Exeter Cathedral and the other in the Tate Gallery, and that of Angela Hope, a Santa Fe silversmith visiting Salisbury's Old Sarum. But he revises his opinion when he learns that all three women had recently been in New Mexico at the same time. Abandoning the hypochondriacal Sgt. Wiggins to the delicious pleasures of a hospital stay, Jury heads to the States, delegating to his civilian sleuthing partner, Melrose Plant, the task of tracking down Lady Jenny Kennington-who has vanished just when the local Stratford-on-Avon police have reasons to find her. In Santa Fe, clues are thin, although Mary Dark Hope, the American victim's 13-year-old sister-whose best friend is a nearly tame coyote-is convinced that her sister was murdered. Shrewdness (and a smidgen of serendipity) finally nudge Jury toward real insight-and the realization that another life is in danger. Once again, Grimes hooks her readers with the engaging Jury and friends, and with skillful tucking of hints into unexpected corners. 75,000 first printing; Mystery Guild selection; Literary Guild alternate. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

The first victim, American silversmith Angela Hope, is found at the bottom of a latrine at Salisbury's Old Sarum ruins. The second, Frances Hamilton, collapses at the Tate Gallery. And the third, Nell Hawes, dies during a visit to the tapestries she'd helped work on at Exeter Cathedral. All are apparently natural deaths--but the common thread of Angela Hope's Santa Fe, New Mexico, address makes it obvious that they're all murders, and after 200 pages of top-heavy domestic digressions, it's obvious even to Supt. Richard Jury (The Horse You Came In On, 1994, etc.). After the punishing pace of the opening movement, Jury's journey from Salisbury to Santa Fe--where he'll meet a cartoonish Hollywood agent, the standard run of New Age dreamers and retailers, and an altogether remarkable 13-year-old girl who's the best thing in the book--comes as a welcome relief from the facetiously complementary detective adventures of wealthy parasite Melrose Plant back home. Even here, though, the mystery plot shimmers and recedes like a desert mirage as Grimes's appetite for episodic whimsies runs unchecked. Grimes seems intent on confirming her status as the successor to Dorothy Sayers, though it's the Sayers of Busman's Honeymoon--that notorious ``love story with detective interruptions'' best appreciated by hopeless infatuates of the hero. (First printing of 75,000; Literary Guild alternate selection; Mystery Guild main selection)