While I've always enjoyed the cozy aspects of the Richard Jury mystery, with all its quirky characters and witty dialogue, The Red Queen follows the same formula without much forward momentum, leading to the tale being fairly predictable. The separate side story of Wiggins' search for his long lost sister was unrelated to the main plot (and seems to have been included to have Macalvie make an appearance).

Considering the longevity of the series, and the time period in which the characters were originally introduced, there's hardly any references to when the story are taking place (the characters would probably not still be out and about in 2025).

Richard Jury is British police superintendent, who is called in to investigate the shooting murder of Tom Treadnor at The Queen pub. There are twists and turns throughout, including who is guilty of painting the pub sign The Red Queen after the murder, and discovering who has been murdered.. I found Grimes' writing difficult to truly enjoy- I felt at a distance from the characters and events.

The Red Queen by Martha Grimes only arrived in my NetGalley review folder Friday morning and I allowed it to leap-frog over EVERYTHING else and read it that night in a sitting. Martha Grimes's Richard Jury / Melrose Plant series used to be my ultimate comfort read. Most of which I read pre-2014 before I started reviewing books on this site.

I used to say that if I could live in ONE book world it would be Melrose Plant's Long Piddleton with the aristocrats who spend the day at the pub when when they're not helping Scotland Yard Superintendent Richard Jury solve cases. I've always found it kinda fascinating that, though the series is quintessentially English (with each book named after a pub and many references English life), Grimes is American.

It's unsurprising that this series has dissipated over the last two decades as Grimes is 93 years old. It kicked off in 1981 and she wrote the early books at such a pace that she had to slow down her characters' ageing process... little did she know that septuagenarian / retirement village detectives would be the rage in the 2020s. 

I was disappointed with the last book in this series and unfortunately - despite my enthusiastic greeting - it was a bit the same here. Enjoyable but not the experience I remember. 

Here Jury is called in to a case where a wealthy businessman has been shot in a crowded pub. There are no shortages of suspects as he seems to have had very few fans. His wife is nonplussed and we learn a divorce was imminent. Added to that his business partners disagreed with some of the recent business moves he'd been making.

As is so often the case Jury has Melrose Plant (who ditched his 'Lord Ardry' title years before) go undercover as something called a Stable Master and Melrose has to have his own stable boy accompany him given he knows nothing about looking after horses. Like 2019's  The Old Success, we don't actually see / hear much from the usual Long Piddleton crew here or Jury's neighbour Carole-Ann though we do spend a bit of time at Melrose's private London club (Borings) and I'm always entertained by the witty banter Grimes offers up through her two lead characters.

It was slightly strange that Jury's offsider Wiggins went off on his own adventure here, in search of a lost sister, roping in series regular Brian Macalvie. This book is only just over 250 pages so it felt that that side plot was unnecessary - and a little strange that Wiggins had never mentioned a missing sister in forty years of novels (ie. 25 previous books in the series).

Grimes adds complexity to the plot through the disappearance of a man who's the dead businessman's doppelgänger... but there was just something missing that this series used to offer and I'm not sure what that was/is. I suspect (at the time) I sometimes grew frustrated by the extraneous characters in this series but the very brief return to Long Piddleton and exposure to the off-beat shenanigans (involving a goat and piglets) of Melrose's eclectic aristocratic friends reminded me of earlier books in the series. So perhaps those regular characters - and their droll banter - grounded Jury and Melrose. That said I will continue to go back for more Melrose and Jury while I still can.

3.5 stars

The Red Queen is a Richard Jury Mystery. It was a very good story. I am afraid I thought I had written my review and threw away all of my notes. I will try to give a short review. It takes place in the town of Twickenham. Superintendent Richard Jury is called in to find out who killed Tom Treadnor in the Red Queen Pub. Treadnor was sitting at the bar when he was shot dropping to the floor. No one in the bar realized what had happened. Richard and his partner, Wiggins go to Treadnor House to speak to his wife, Alice Treadnor.

There is a side story involving Wiggins and his family. He takes sometime off to go home to his mother as she is distraught getting a postcard from her daughter who has had any contact with her family for many years. He contacts his old commander for help. He and his old commnander, Brian Macalvie follow the trail of different towns until they find his sister, Betty Jean.

There is so much that goes on in this story that it can't all be put down on paper. I will let the reader read to the unusual ending. It does keep you on your toes as it zigs and zags through the mystery.

Thank You NetGalley and Atlantic Monthy Press for this ARC.

I was a fan of Martha Grimes and thought I would restart reading the series but it wasn't for me. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

I’ve been a massive Grimes fan for as long as I can remember, and Richard Jury is a favorite, but I must admit sadly, that this one was totally lacking in the usual clever dialog and clever plotting. The end was rushed, the characters were cartoons, and the book just didn’t work for me.

It had been quite a while since I’d read any of the titles in this series. I didn’t enjoy it. The characters were too impressed with themselves, there were too many characters that seemed superfluous , and it was bit too old school.