I Am the Only Running Footman

The deceased, Sheila Broome, lived in Exeter. Racer disturbed Richard Jury to call him to the crime scene. It is another death, that of Ivy Childess, that causes Wiggins to make the conection between Ivy Childess and Sheila Broome because of the manner of death. As connections are teased out laboriously by everyone including Melrose Plant and Marshall Trueblood, it is determined that the members of the Winslow family were bonded to each other. The two murders had to do with the accidental death of a child, Phoebe Winslow. As in every other instance that I know of, this Martha Grimes novel contains excellent writing coupled with interesting and compelling material. She is a first rate practitioner of the craft of crime fiction.

I find myself a little addicted to the recurring characters in this series and enjoy following their lives. I can't help thinking I missed something when I found Richard Jury in a relationship with someone I know nearly nothing about. I like the writing and images created of people, homes, buildings, art and all around. I also felt at the end that I might again have missed something. All the loose ends were not quite tied up as they usually are. I had more questions than answers. What really happened to Rose and did she leave or was she the first? Hopefully in the next book I will find some of the answers. I recommend this series and author. I found the series much later than they were actually published and had to purchase all in the series before I could begin reading the first one. I have not been disappointed.

After reading "I am the Only Running Footman" I am again satisfied with yet another great Martha Grimes novel. Her stories contain a great collection of mystery crimes with the lead detective being Richard Jury. In this book, Richard has to team up with an old rival in order to solve one of this centuries greatest cases, the scarves murder. But there seem to be no leads. So will Jury and arch rival Macalvie be able to put their past behind them and solve this crime, or will there be yet another victim of the fatal scarves.