Blue Last

By Martha Grimes

Book Overview

The City, London's famous square mile, is home to merchant bankers and brokers and maintains its own police force. Chief Inspector Michael Haggerty asks his old friend Richard Jury to do him a favor: prove that the granddaughter of the brewing magnate Oliver Tynedale is an impostor and that the real granddaughter was killed, along with her mother, in the London blitz when a bomb hit a pub called the Blue Last. The pub's location was the last bomb site in London and only recently bought by a developer. Excavation turns up two skeletons -- those of a young woman and a very young child.I don't get it, Mickey; you're a better cop than I am.Maybe. But I'll be dead.Mickey has incurable cancer.Mickey also has a murder to solve in the City: Simon Croft, a merchant banker and the son of the late Francis Croft, Oliver Tynedale's business partner and one-time owner of the Blue Last.To get eyes and ears inside Tynedale Lodge, where the nanny who purportedly saved the baby's life still lives, Jury asks Melrose Plant to take on the job and the guise of undergardener. I don't do floors, I don't do flowers, I don't know the difference between a hog and a hedgerow. He does it, of course, and is accompanied on his rounds by the irrepressible six-year-old Gemma Trimm and a resourceful twelve-year-old delivery boy named Benny Keagan and his dog Sparky.Questions remain: Is someone really trying to murder Gemma? She thinks so. Was Simon Croft shot because of something he discovered in the course of writing a book about the Second World War? Jury thinks so. And is the painting Marshall Trueblood carts around Tuscany -- dragging Plant with him -- really an original Masaccio? OnlyTrueblood thinks so. The Blue last is vintage Grimes -- crowded with eccentric characters and atmospheric, humorous, and hauntingly sad.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 067003004X
• ISBN13: 9780670030040
• Release Date: August 1970
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.16 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

I read this and gave it to mom quite sometime ago. I must say this was one of her best books, but there ARE others we also loved. You will enjoy this one.

The Blue Last: A Richard Jury Mystery

I owned every book in the "Richard Jury" series except this one. Received quickly and in better condition than advertised. Thanks!

Write to Martha Grimes Immediately!!!!

Having read all of Martha Grimes' Richard Jury Mysteries, I have loved them all, but this is definitely one of the best. It opens with a dying friend of Jury's asking him to prove that a 55 yr old heiress is an imposter. This is all sparked by the excavation of some old bones beneath a bar called the Blue Last.The site of one of the last bombing raids of the second world war sends Jury into the past in search of the truth of his own memories. There are several side issues, art forgery, another murder, Melrose Plant undercover as a gardener, two delightful children in jeopardy, even a dog who thinks! Well, if you have read Martha Grimes, none of this will surprise you-but the ending might! If you haven't read her before-don't wait! Get started. I couldn't put it down and read in two evenings. Can't tell you why you should write her without spoiling the ending, but fans-get out your pen and paper and make sure you let her know how much we're looking forward to the next Richard Jury book. Ask her to please "write fast!"

All in all, one of her best.

Well! After I finished the book last night I just sat there. As most people are wont to do, I had tried to tie some of the events together, but they all came unraveled at the end - mine, not Martha Grimes'. I do not for one second think this is the final book. It practically shrieks, "TO BE CONTINED!" Not just for Jury but also Gemma, Benny, and Sparky - and what about Liza? Could she be the person Jury might finally share his life with down the road? I thought the way Mickey Haggerty seemed to become increasingly obsessed with the case of the switched babies was just his desire to see justice before he died. And yes, Jury also noted this, but his inaction in trying to find out why Haggerty was obsessing I put down to trusting his friend completely and not wanting to cause him any more stress. Although I love Melrose I did find the subplot that had him and Trueblood traipsing all over Italy a little tiring. I enjoyed learning more about Wiggins (as did Jury) in finding out he had a sister who had died on Christmas (I'd really like to see Wiggins'character developed more). And while I find Aunt Agatha, Mrs. Wasserman and Mrs. Witherspoon endearing, Carol-anne flat out gets on my nerves. And who cares if Vivian DOES marry Count Dracula (except Melrose and Trueblood)? The character of Diane is tolerable - I like her idea of knowing "one or two things about everything." But Polly Praed? How many times has she even appeared in the series? All I know about her is she writes bad mysteries. However, we all know boring, odd-ball people and so in that sense, they do bring Jury a little bit closer to real life. I have great faith that Ms. Grimes is well on her way to tying up some of these loose ends and as for me, I'm waiting on the edge of my seat.

Can't wait for the next Jury book!

I thought that this book was excellent, as I would expect from this author. I don't understand what some other reviewers found so disappointing. All of the characters are familiar and enjoyable. I was completely surprised to discover who the killer was, I didn't see it coming at all. And, although the ending was a cliffhanger, I did not find that objectionable. I certainly hope that Ms. Grimes is well on her way to completely the next Jury book so I can find out what happens next!