The Grave Maurice
by Martha Grimes
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Book Summary Information
Author: Martha GrimesEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-09-02
ISBN: 0451411013
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Onyx
Book Reviews of The Grave Maurice
Book Review: A Grave Disappointment; a Cheat to the Reader
Summary: 1 Stars
I had been unable to "get into" a couple of other Grimes books (they are such slow starters!); but gave this one a try because of the involvement with horse ranches.
Interesting premise -- a ranch devoted to collecting mares' urine for hormone replacement therapy (which I myself once refused, for that reason, so I knew something about it) -- and the author had obviously done her homework.
I stuck with this book, though it's VERY slow-moving, in the expectation that all (or MOST) would come out well in the end. The ill-used horses would be rescued; the heroic, kidnapped girl would triumph; the hinted-at hope of romance would be fulfilled; the sad Granddad would have at least part of his family restored.
Sadly [SPOILER ALERT], at the end, the author chose to KILL OFF the only really admirable person in the story. And the resolution of the horse-rescue plotline was unsatisfying, insufficient. The many mares used in what was admittedly a COMPLETELY LEGAL operation, are stripped from the owner? Grimes throws this off in a piece of dialogue where someone says, Oh, they'll be reimbursed for them, of course -- but under what provision of law, were they removed from a legal operation in the first place?
"The Grave Maurice" is a throwaway title, obliquely referring to a throwaway character. Meaningless. And the author missed what could have been some interesting forensic developments. "N" being dead, and proof of her kidnapper/rapist needed, Grimes could have presented us with autopsy results that said, hey, there was a fetus and the DNA results implicate so-and-so as the father. But no.
Also, the very idea that a famous jockey could die on-track and be "mistaken: for another, was ludicrous. Seems to me that the author was playing a desperate shell-game at this point. And what about Melrose simply falling into bed with a woman who turned out to be a major suspect? This is professional? I have to ask those of you who appear to LIKE the Melrose character: I this what you would expect, and find attractive?
And frankly, I just can't forgive Grimes for needlessly killing "N"... And please, don't anyone say, "Well, in life these things happen." This was a piece of fiction; the author could have directed ANYTHING to happen; and ANYTHING would have been more satisfying for this reader. There's a REASON we endeavor to escape into fiction: It is there that we hope to find happier resolutions (and loose ends tied up in a tidier fashion) than we get in "Real Life."
This was my first & last Martha Grimes read. Too bad.
Summary of The Grave Maurice
Richard Jury returns in the 5-week New York Times bestsellerA strange and unsolved case of abduction is reopened by Melrose Plant, reexamined by Richard Jury-and revisited by a killer...
In this, the 18th outing in Martha Grimes's popular series featuring Scotland Yard Superintendent Richard Jury and his aristocrat pal Melrose Plant, Jury, recuperating from a near-fatal shooting (The Blue Last) hears about the two-year-old abduction of his doctor's talented young daughter, Nell Ryder, who disappeared from her grandfather's stud farm, along with a champion thoroughbred horse. Pursuing the stalled investigation when he's released from the hospital, Jury stumbles on a complicated scheme involving murder, insurance fraud, and a scheme to replicate a popular menopause drug derived from the urine of pregnant mares. As readers of this popular series know, while there's a mystery at the heart of every Jury novel, the real payoff is in Grimes's lucent prose, wit, and complex characterizations. Fans of British mystery writer Dick Francis, who's made the world of thoroughbreds his own turf, will find this a delightful diversion, particularly since Francis recently announced his retirement from the genre. --Jane Adams
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