The Case Has Altered

by Martha Grimes

Book Overview

The thirteenth mystery for Richard Jury finds the detective investigating the murder of two women in the Lincolnshire fens. Both victims are connected to the wealthy owner of the Fengate estate: one a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451408683
• Release Date: November 1998
• Publisher: Berkley
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 1.2" x 4.2"

Customer Reviews

Melrose takes the case!

I missed Jury a bit during this read but Melrose is fabulous. This is a wonderful story, taking place out in the fens, filled with a fascinating cast including Jury's true love, Jenny, who's a suspect for murder, a little girl who lives in a barn with posters of old rock starts, the little girl's Aunt, a woman who has a mystery held over from many years previous, disappeared children... and of course Melronse, the urbane best friend of Jury's. And through it all is Martha Grimes artful, beautiful use of language. Her words leave me spellbound with their melody and color. I've read this one three times...be sure you read it at least once!

Wonderful!

This is the first of Martha Grimes' books that I have read, so I don't have much to compare it with, but I really loved it. The characters are vivid and interesting, and there is a wonderful sense of place here. I hadn't thought much about the English fens, but this book makes you want to look at pictures of them or go there. Grimes' descriptions of the light on the fens are particularly good.I figured out who the murderer was fairly early on here, but, as with many of the mystery writers that I like, who did it isn't as important as how you get there, and this is an excellent book from that perspective. The characterizations are wonderful, and the child character of Zell is particularly spendid.One comment here is that this books seems to exist out of time. I know that it is supposed to be set in the present, but there is very little way to tell that as you read. Some might say that this is not a good thing--is English life that changeless in the upper classes? but I found it interesting and perhaps intentional.

TIM CURRY IS MARTHA GRIMES' BEST AUDIO INTERPRETER!

Serious readers are wary of abridgements, often for good reason. Not having read this book in its unabridged form, I have my suspicions of what got cut from the audio version of "The Case" -- the background of the various suspects seems a bit less developed here, although I still wondered "whodunit" until the protagonists arrived at their conclusion. There also may have been some deleting of the descriptions of the bleak Lincolnshire fens, but with little loss to the overall effect of the tale.And what a tale that is! Not so much due to Grimes taking the English detective mystery to any new level - she doesn't do that nor intends to. The real laurels here go to reader/actor Tim Curry. He gets all of the character nuances just right, moving with ease and flair across British class, age and gender lines. He brings out with brio the fullest comedic potential of the text, clearly relishing his fleshing out of the eccentricities and peculiarities of Grimes' range of characters and situations. This is the perfect tape set for anyone facing a long commute. You'll be well entertained and amused. For Curry's perfomrance: six stars!!

Well done!

Martha Grimes paints an insightful and informatinve picture of English life. We're not reading a AAA Tour book, after all. I thoroughly enjoyed this particular novel. We're in it for the "who dunit" mystery not for the "day in the life of an average Englishman". Picking up this book is like getting a letter from an old friend. Melrose Plant is wonderful, as always. We see a different side of Jury this time. He's in love! What a terrific spin this is. He is so "by the book' that we don't think of him as the emotional character. It was so enjoyable to experience him in new territory. I would heartily recommend this to any Grimes fan or mystery reader.

An absolute must for the lover of this genre!!

What a book!! The best I've read since I've forgotten when. It made me realize why I love the English language so, beautifully written. I understand perfectly why Miss Cornwell says Grimes' work is poetry for the way she writes and the words Miss Grimes uses are those of a poet. Beautiful scenery, lifelike characters and a thoroughly satisfying end. Undoubtetly it has been said before but for once I don't mind repeating another man's words: an absolute must!! Since this was the first Richard Jury (and Martha Grimes) book I've read I'll be drawn inside every bookshop by an irresistable force: the other books by Martha Grimes!!