Yesterday I read The Deer Leap by Martha Grimes. The copy I read was a wonderful signed first-edition I picked up at our local library’s book sale for just eight dollars. Wonderful because of the direct connection to the author, wonderful because all of Martha Grimes’ Richard Jury mysteries are wonderful, and wonderful because I thought I had read all of the Jury mysteries but this one was new to me!
After reading it, I say again: wonderful. Grimes is a deeply psychological writer, subtly probing and revealing the inner workings of her characters and always willing to show both harsh revelation of evil doers and gentle mercy for those affected by the evil. And yet even in her mercy, Grimes is not interested in happy endings: she is interested in exploring the steps that evil can take and the victims it claims along its rampage of greed, avarice, and selfishness.
Displaced, vulnerable, and wise children are always a presence in the Richard Jury novels. Jury, a Superintendent of Scotland Yard, is himself an orphan; he has a natural understanding and affection for children and people caught outside of the nets of security and safety, and he tries to bring them within the shelter of justice and understanding, sometimes successfully, sometimes not.
Grimes has created an entire world around Jury, every bit of it fascinating and every piece of it an integral part of what makes her mysteries work. Jury’s friends provide both insight into his investigations and comic relief, his workplace provides Scotland Yard respectability and access, as well as more comic relief, and his neighbors provide contrast again in both comedy and tragedy. All players provide the background to the mystery at hand, and give rich context to Jury’s compassion, his anger, his patience, his sex life, and his intelligence.
Grimes’ mysteries stay with the reader long after devouring; they are multi-layered and rich and worthy of long digestion. But they are so good, it is impossible to read them slowly, and so I read them over and over again, with new pleasures, new clues, and new insights into human nature discovered through every reading. Grimes ranks at the very top of mystery writers, one of the few that can enter the realm of “literature” because she does not just present characters in a plot that must be untangled: she creates characters and plots that demand an exploration of what duty is owed by those of relative strength to those who are vulnerable and alone. Her mysteries are so engrossing that when the last page is reached, every single time I sigh and wish for more, then go back and re-read just for the pleasure of her writing.
