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Richard Jury is the fictional lead in the Richard Jury series of novels by bestselling American mystery thriller writer Martha Grimes. Grimes wrote the first novel featuring the lead character Jury titled “The Man With a Load of Mischief” in 1981. The novels series is so popular that over three decades since first publication, it is still ongoing.
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Order of Richard Jury Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Man With a Load of Mischief | 1981 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | The Old Fox Deceiv'd | 1982 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | The Anodyne Necklace | 1983 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | The Dirty Duck | 1984 | Description / Buy | |
| 5 | Jerusalem Inn | 1984 | Description / Buy | |
| 6 | Help the Poor Struggler | 1985 | Description / Buy | |
| 7 | The Deer Leap | 1985 | Description / Buy | |
| 8 | I Am the Only Running Footman | 1986 | Description / Buy | |
| 9 | The Five Bells and Bladebone | 1987 | Description / Buy | |
| 10 | The Old Silent | 1989 | Description / Buy | |
| 11 | The Old Contemptibles | 1991 | Description / Buy | |
| 12 | The Horse You Came In On | 1993 | Description / Buy | |
| 13 | Rainbow's End | 1995 | Description / Buy | |
| 14 | The Case Has Altered | 1997 | Description / Buy | |
| 15 | The Stargazey | 1998 | Description / Buy | |
| 16 | The Lamorna Wink | 1999 | Description / Buy | |
| 17 | The Blue Last | 2001 | Description / Buy | |
| 18 | The Grave Maurice | 2002 | Description / Buy | |
| 19 | The Winds of Change | 2004 | Description / Buy | |
| 20 | The Old Wine Shades | 2006 | Description / Buy | |
| 21 | Dust | 2007 | Description / Buy | |
| 22 | The Black Cat | 2010 | Description / Buy | |
| 23 | Vertigo 42 | 2014 | Description / Buy | |
| 24 | The Knowledge | 2018 | Description / Buy | |
| 25 | The Old Success | 2019 | Description / Buy |
Richard Jury the chief protagonist is a Scotland Yard detective who starts out in the rank of chief inspector and rises to superintendent. The detective works alongside Alfred Wiggins his dependable though hypochondriacal servant, and a British aristocrat named Melrose Plant, who has relinquished his titles to work on a range of investigative mysteries. In addition to several recurring characters, Brian Macalvie who is the Divisional Commander of the Cornwall and Devon Constabulary makes frequent appearances.
“The Man with a Load of Mischief”, the first novel in the series opens to the body of a man discovered inside a beer keg. It is not long before another dead body is found at the beam of the Jack and Hammer pub. The man had been thus placed to replace the mechanical man on the pubs sign. With two murders and two pubs, Scotland Yard’s best is called into offer his insights on what might have happened. Richard Jury the Detective Chief Inspector arrives in the small town of Long Piddleton to find most of the town’s residents trawling the outskirts of the city in search of the killer. Everyone in the city is looking at what they believe is the most probable hiding place except for resident aristocrat, Melrose Plant.
It turns out that Melrose Plant is the keenest observer of human behavior, and he leads the detective in the right direction. What follows is an enthralling tale that looks at the darkest recesses of the human heart, as Plant helps Jury find the killer among the townspeople. The novel is an excellent character driven narrative that shows just why Grimes went on to win a Nero Award.
RICHARD JURY AWARDS:
The Richard Jury series of novels has made the shortlist for and won several awards over the years. The third novel in the series “The Anodyne Necklace” won the prestigious best mystery of the year 1983 at the Nero Wolfe Awards.
RICHARD JURY BOOKS INTO TV/MOVIES:
The Richard Jury series of novels has had several adaptations into film. As at 2017, the series of novels had three adaptions in German in “Inspektor Jury – Der Tote im Pub” made in 2014, “Inspektor Jury: Mord im Nebel” made in 2015, “Inspektor Jury spielt Katz und Maus” made in 2017, and “Inspektor Jury: Der Tod des Harlekins” that is in production. All four adaptations star Fritz Karl and Götz Schubert as Inspector Jury and Melrose Plant respectively.
BEST RICHARD JURY BOOKS:
The Man with a Load of Mischief: The first novel in the series is one of the most popular novels in the series, going as far as to be made into four film adaptations in German.
The Old Fox Deceiv’d: This is one of the most brilliant of the novels in the series with the most riveting of plots. A young woman is the victim of a brutal attack and murder visited on her while she was heading to Twelfth Night party held at the local manor. The police are unable to locate any coherent clue to the happenings of the night, except that she had been repeatedly stabbed with some kind of two-pronged implement. With the local police befuddled, New Scotland Yard’s finest Richard Jury alongside Wiggins his sidekick, saunters into town to unravel the mysterious murder. Throw in Melrose Plant the unofficial but very efficient sidekick, and you have what promises to be a great mystery story.
The Anodyne Necklace: The Nero award-winning is without doubt one of the most incredible in the series. The hard-boiled mystery sees a bird watching spinster killed in extraordinary circumstances that provided a ghastly clue as to who was responsible. Opting to ignore the obvious clue, Jury heads out to the Anodyne Necklace Pub, where he believes looser tongues could offer a better chance at resolving the mystery.
OTHER BOOK SERIES YOU MAY LIKE:
Many fans of the Richard Jury series of novels also enjoy the “Inspector Lynley” series of novels by Elizabeth George. The series of novels follow the work of Scotlard Yard Inspector and eighth Earl of Asherton Thomas Lynley, who works alongside Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers to solve a range of crime mysteries in London.
Fans of the Richard Jury series also love the “Mitchell and Markby” series of novels. The novels feature detective superintendent Markby, who enlists the help of his girlfriend Meredith Markby in solving a range of mysterious crimes in quaint little villages and towns in England.
What Is The Next Book in The Richard Jury Series?
There doesn't seem to be an upcoming book in The Richard Jury Series. The newest book is The Old Success and was released on August, 6th 2019.