The Horse You Came In On by Martha Grimes, 1993

 

About the author: This is #12 of 25 books featuring Richard Jury. See this Wikipedia article for biography and list of the 25 Richard Jury books. Click this Martha Grimes label to see all my reviews of this series.

Major characters:

Ellen Taylor, college professor and author

Beverly Brown, her student

Patrick Muldare, college instructor

Vicki Salva, aspiring author

Frances Hamilton, who died in the art gallery

Philip Calvert, Frances Hamilton's nephew

John-Joy, who was blind/deaf

Locale: Baltimore, Maryland

Synopsis: Two deaths occur in London: homeless John-Joy, a man who is blind and deaf, is killed in an alley. Frances Hamilton is sitting on a bench in an art gallery and suddenly just falls over dead.

Inspector Richard Jury meets up with Lady Cray, an acquaintance from a previous book. She suggests he go to Baltimore to look into the death of Philip Calvert, who was Frances Hamilton's nephew. Melrose Plant goes along to see his old friend, professor Ellen Taylor. Along with Sgt. Wiggins they fly to Baltimore.

In Baltimore, the grave of native son Edgar Allan Poe has a mysterious visitor on his birthday each year. Ellen's student, Poe enthusiast Beverly Brown, had gone to observe and was murdered there. Brown had found an unpublished manuscript - possibly Poe's - which led to her death. Ellen now has the manuscript, and it contains Beverly's notation of initials J-J, P.C., and P.M. Jury speculates J-J is John-Joy, P.C. is Philip Calvert, and P.M. may be Ellen's fellow instructor Patrick Muldare. 

Jury and Plant try to find a connection between the three ... and quickly, as two of the three are now dead. 

Review:

This is not a standalone book - many of the characters appeared in earlier books. It got off to a slow start, a quarter of the way in the only action was the usual series characters sitting around in the Jack and Hammer recapping the series. 

Once Jury, Plant, and Wiggins get to Baltimore things get rolling as the Edgar Allan Poe story line develops. A particularly enjoyable interlude is when Melrose Plant visits an antique store and gets into a long discussion with a young girl, Jip, as he makes up a fanciful story as he goes along. It is recurring element that Jury has no ability to talk to young people, while Plant always does. 

I didn't think the series would survive a trip to USA but once they arrive it is business as usual. It is funny when Plant tries to pass himself off as a local in the Baltimore bar, The Horse You Came In On.