The Man with a Load of Mischief

A Richard Jury Novel, Book 1

By: Martha Grimes

Narrated by: Steve West

Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

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.

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.

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

Good but not great......

Even though this novel is over 30 years old, it's the first time I've sampled any of Martha Grimes' books and so far I think they're good - but there's not much in this one that will make me rush to listen to the rest of the series. I've found I like the character-rich British mysteries more than American ones, and I guess I should have realized that even though these mysteries are set in small-town Britain, they're still written by an American and that will seep through. Too many of the players here seemed almost to be caricatures of themselves, or of a type. Not really my cup of tea, I guess.

great detective begins

lots of characters developed for future works. performance is very strong. complex plot which ties pieces together well.

Love Richard Jury Mysteries!!

This is my second book from this series. I do realize this book happens to be the first book of Richard Jury Mysteries by Martha Grimes but by accident listened to book 10 first. No matter I love Martha Grimes writing of these mysteries. They remind me of when I was a kid watching PBS Mysteries. The stories are set in the 1980s in England which make sense since it was in the early 1980s these books were published. They have great plots humor and a bit of romance. Richard Jury of New Scotland Yard is described as 6’2 handsome and in his 40s. The collection of books are narrated by Steve West. I’m so happy about that due to his beautiful deep voice and his ability to do any kind of accent from American and all kinds of regional accents. If you love British mysteries you are going to love these books!