The Man with a Load of Mischief

A Richard Jury Novel, Book 1

By: Martha Grimes

Narrated by: Steve West

At the Man with a Load of Mischief, they found the dead body stuck in a keg of beer. At the Jack and Hammer, another body was stuck out on the beam of the pub's sign, replacing the mechanical man who kept the time. Two pubs. Two murders. One Scotland Yard inspector called in to help.

Detective Chief Inspector Richard Jury arrives in Long Piddleton and finds everyone in the postcard village looking outside of town for the killer - except for one Melrose Plant. A keen observer of human nature, he points Jury in the right direction: into the darkest parts of his neighbors' hearts.

©2013 Martha Grimes (P)2013 Simon & Schuster

Favorite Revisited

I was excited about revisiting - in audio - a series of books which I have so enjoyed over the years. In one way, I was not disappointed, because the performance by Steve West is quite good, and all the quirky characters I remembered are still there. The aristocrats, the wannabes, the shop-and-bar keepers.

But, on the whole, these characters have not aged particularly well. Although the "pub" title trademark remains interesting, "Aunt Agatha" and "Melrose Plant" now seem more the copies from older British mysteries that they actually are. There's a dated, self-conscious feeling here that is not as apparent in the original, classic series of Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, Marjorie Allingham and, to some extent, Agatha Christie.

Is it possible that American authors really can't quite capture the traditional, cozy British who-done-it? Maybe - and I think I'd rather just remember the Jury/Plant series as something I really liked 25 years ago. No need to revisit.

Best mystery I’ve listened to in a long time

What delightful characters, so quintessentially, English, excellent foreshadowing. Can’t wait to read the rest of her books.

Keep characters straight!

One only has to keep the characters and the pubs straight for a good shot at hitting the murderer!!

Not terribly exciting

I really had to force myself to finish this one. None of the characters were very interesting, and the murder mystery was lackluster as well. The narration was fairly well done. I just didn't enjoy this book very much.
There was a small amount of profanity in this book, but otherwise it was fairly clean.
I might try another Grimes book in the future, but it will have to hook me from the beginning.

Jury meets Plant

I love this multiple-murder puzzler, which introduces Inspector Jury to Melrose Plant, his loathe some Aunt Agatha, and the rest of Long Pid. All Grimes' Jury novels are good, but they're best read in sequence, and this one sets up some important relationships.
Recommended to those who love understated British humor and a bit of sad WWII childhood memories.

Well done

Thoroughly enjoyed. Narration excellent. Intend to continue this author series. Surprise ending. Recommend to mystery lover.

Loved the reader and story

A well written, friendly who- dunnit , and glad to know there are more for this latecomer

Showed promise for the series to come

As is my unfortunate habit, I read this book after becoming hooked on Grimes' Jury character and books. That was just as well, because this didn't have anywhere near the character depth and entertaining mannerisms that developed in future books, so I may not have gone further with the series had I read this first. I am glad to know the origins of the characters, and how the Jury-Plant friendship formed. But having the characters become so much more entertainingly eccentric in newer books was so much better. Plant is so much more than he showed in this book, as is Agatha. And Jury is too one-dimensional here--his subtle mannerisms have not appeared yet. The plot is kind of exaggerated, as would be good for a stage play, but is still Grimes, and Grimes is generally quite good. Glad to have this one under my belt to go on reading her more recent and more entertaining tales of Jury, Plant, et al.

So good!

The Man with a Load of Mischief is the book equivalent of comfort food for me. I have long loved the abridged version exquisitely performed by Tim Curry and now can add this version to my list of life's necessities.

good fun

lots of details about colorful characters. enjoying the 80s era with no cell phones. drinking in the afternoon and fun chats all day long. And oh yes a clever mystery murder.