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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
This is a girl with imagination and tenacity, who will not let go! Forget her age (soon to become thirteen) she is as old as the hills and as wise as Methusaleh! When her imagination runs riot over an old kidnapping there is no stopping her. Would that modern day detectives had her single minded purpose and far view. She will get to the truth and along the way, charm not only you but the characters in the book. Emma is growing up, and I tremble at the adult she will become.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
52 reviews
28 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Two stars for half of a four-star novel.
12 July 2006
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
For twenty years or longer, Martha Grimes has been one of my favorite mystery writers. Furthermore, in recent years, particularly in her Emma Graham series, she has emerged as an eloquent and graceful wordsmith. Her ability to create a mood, from sleepy and laid-back to threatening to comical, with a few well-placed impressionistic brush strokes sets her apart from other writers of the genre. Unfortunately, her emergence as a word stylist has been more than offset by her decline as a constructor of plots.
There is almost enough of a story line here for an economical, 200-page novel. Almost. Unfortunately, what we get is nearly 400 pages with no plot resolution; the story merely proceeds to a point and stops. I assume that Part 2 will be forthcoming -- for another 20 bucks, of course. Instead of a completed narrative, we're treated to half a story and a whole boatload of filler. She gives us one too many performances of "Medea: The Musical." It only works once per book, Ms. Grimes! Ditto the upstairs visits to alcoholic Aunt Aurora; the cab rides with the moronic Delbert; the trips to the diner in Cold Flat Junction, the musings on what lies beyond the line of trees at the horizon; the put-downs of Ree-Jane; the sabotaging of Miss Bertha's meals; and on and on and on. I often found myself thinking, "Not another one!"
Since Ms. Grimes' latest Richard Jury novel, The Old Wine Shades, suffers from the same defects as Belle Ruin -- no plot resolution and reams of marginally relevant filler -- I conclude that she has made some sort of deal with the devil to serialize her novels. Furthermore, the multiple editing errors that other reviewers have noted indicate the same thing - that Ms. Grimes is now cranking out her books assembly-line style, a la Tom Clancy. What a shame. What a loss.
There is almost enough of a story line here for an economical, 200-page novel. Almost. Unfortunately, what we get is nearly 400 pages with no plot resolution; the story merely proceeds to a point and stops. I assume that Part 2 will be forthcoming -- for another 20 bucks, of course. Instead of a completed narrative, we're treated to half a story and a whole boatload of filler. She gives us one too many performances of "Medea: The Musical." It only works once per book, Ms. Grimes! Ditto the upstairs visits to alcoholic Aunt Aurora; the cab rides with the moronic Delbert; the trips to the diner in Cold Flat Junction, the musings on what lies beyond the line of trees at the horizon; the put-downs of Ree-Jane; the sabotaging of Miss Bertha's meals; and on and on and on. I often found myself thinking, "Not another one!"
Since Ms. Grimes' latest Richard Jury novel, The Old Wine Shades, suffers from the same defects as Belle Ruin -- no plot resolution and reams of marginally relevant filler -- I conclude that she has made some sort of deal with the devil to serialize her novels. Furthermore, the multiple editing errors that other reviewers have noted indicate the same thing - that Ms. Grimes is now cranking out her books assembly-line style, a la Tom Clancy. What a shame. What a loss.
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Another beautifully written and crafted book by Martha Grimes
20 Jun 2006
Format:Hardcover
Yes, Belle Ruin is a sequel. That means you have to read the books that came before it or it can be rather confusing. And, like most books, you can't skim through it and expect to get the point. Besides, Martha Grimes' prose is worth reading every word. The characters are multi-dimensional--you'll find things to like, love, and dislike in all of them. And the story is like real life; sometimes there's no neat, tidy ending. I loved the bravery of the open-ended ending in Hotel Paradise and that theme continues in Belle Ruin. If you're looking for a tidy, happily-ever-after ending, read a fairy tale. If you're looking for a beautifully written, quirky, slice-of-life mystery, read anything by Martha Grimes.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
A slice-of-life coming of age tale
27 Sep 2005
Format:Hardcover
Emma Graham, a precocious 12-year-old girl growing up in mid-twentieth century, small-town America has been heartily adopted by Martha Grimes fans old and new. Emma waits tables and serves the quirky and crotchety elderly inhabitants of the crumbling but sedate residence hotel owned by her mother. Emma's curiosity, unmatched by any cat or fictional adolescent sleuth, has already uncovered two separate murders in the first two books, HOTEL PARADISE and COLD FLAT JUNCTION.
The notoriety from those adventures has turned Emma into a local celebrity and landed her a job as a cub reporter at the local newspaper, The Conservative. BELLE RUIN finds Emma with writer's block while she tries to write a final chapter to the series. She starts looking into past events that took place at Belle Ruin, or more properly, Belle Rouen, an exclusive lakeside resort hotel that burned to the ground during that mystery-laden period 40 years in the past. Emma's browsing through the newspaper morgue in search of story ideas discloses a mysteriously abandoned case of an unresolved infant kidnapping. Naturally, Emma, with her indefatigable nose for news, begins to dig and uncovers more buried secrets of the small town's past.
Martha Grimes has populated the plot with a colorful cast of characters that includes a garage mechanic, a taxi driver, her alcoholically experimental Aunt Aurora, the blue-eyed sheriff on whom Emma has a huge crush, the hated Ree-Jane, and the mysterious disappearing girl from the previous novels. Emma's offbeat brother Will and his talented pal Mill create a locally written and produced version of "Medea," in which Emma is cast as Deux ex Machina in perhaps the most abridged version ever brought to the stage. Complete with a derivative musical score, the performances become a standing-room only hit, adding comedic relief to this slice of life coming-of-age tale.
Emma's wry and often mature-for-her-age observations on human nature belie her young years, but make for joyful reading. Grimes's well-established reputation for depth and breadth of characters and plot is evident in BELLE RUIN. Whether or not we can believe that there is a 12-year-old girl, even in the halcyon years of the mid-twentieth century, who is as bright, precocious and observant as Emma is rather beside the point. The story is as full of life and spice as Emma and should be welcomed by Grimes's legion of readers.
--- Reviewed by Roz Shea
The notoriety from those adventures has turned Emma into a local celebrity and landed her a job as a cub reporter at the local newspaper, The Conservative. BELLE RUIN finds Emma with writer's block while she tries to write a final chapter to the series. She starts looking into past events that took place at Belle Ruin, or more properly, Belle Rouen, an exclusive lakeside resort hotel that burned to the ground during that mystery-laden period 40 years in the past. Emma's browsing through the newspaper morgue in search of story ideas discloses a mysteriously abandoned case of an unresolved infant kidnapping. Naturally, Emma, with her indefatigable nose for news, begins to dig and uncovers more buried secrets of the small town's past.
Martha Grimes has populated the plot with a colorful cast of characters that includes a garage mechanic, a taxi driver, her alcoholically experimental Aunt Aurora, the blue-eyed sheriff on whom Emma has a huge crush, the hated Ree-Jane, and the mysterious disappearing girl from the previous novels. Emma's offbeat brother Will and his talented pal Mill create a locally written and produced version of "Medea," in which Emma is cast as Deux ex Machina in perhaps the most abridged version ever brought to the stage. Complete with a derivative musical score, the performances become a standing-room only hit, adding comedic relief to this slice of life coming-of-age tale.
Emma's wry and often mature-for-her-age observations on human nature belie her young years, but make for joyful reading. Grimes's well-established reputation for depth and breadth of characters and plot is evident in BELLE RUIN. Whether or not we can believe that there is a 12-year-old girl, even in the halcyon years of the mid-twentieth century, who is as bright, precocious and observant as Emma is rather beside the point. The story is as full of life and spice as Emma and should be welcomed by Grimes's legion of readers.
--- Reviewed by Roz Shea
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