The Old Contemptibles - Softcover

Grimes, Martha

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345374568 ISBN 13: 9780345374561

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1992

Synopsis

"The author keeps us enthralled with the rich interior and exterior lives of her characters in this emotionally stormy family saga."
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
When Scotland Yard superintendent Richard Jury is drawn into a brief affair with a troubled widow named Jane Holdsworth, her subsequent death makes him a suspect in her murder. Unable to leave London, Jury sends Melrose Plant, eighth Earl of Caverness to the Lake District to pry open the Holdsworth family's locked box of secrets. Plant does what he is bidden, in his own particular style, and what he uncovers is a shocking sheaf of surprises about the death-prone Holdsworth clan and its growing number of orphans....
"As always, Grimes' characters are gems, and her writting is as witty as ever."
USA TODAY
Selected by the Literary Guild and the Mystery Guild

About this title

From the Publisher:

As the contracts director for Ballantine, most of my work is finished before a manuscript ever arrives on an editor's desk. Because of that, I have to rely on my colleagues to tell me about authors they feel I would like to read. Recently while in a meeting, I let it slip that I had never read Martha Grimes. Immediately I was told that I had to, that I would love her -- and I was asked if I had lived under a rock. Since I had a long train trip ahead of me, I said I would try her -- and someone volunteered a copy THE OLD CONTEMPTIBLES from their office. I am hooked!!!. Richard Jury and his friends are such a smart, eccentric, and funny bunch that I ordered Martha Grimes' other books the morning after my train ride.

--Amelia Zalcman, Director of Contracts

About the Author:

Martha Grimes is one of the few authors left carrying on the British detective mystery tradition, and doing it well. Scotland Yard Superintendent Richard Jury and sidekick Melrose Plant continue to enthrall readers with their clever, darkly humorous crime-solving careers.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0345374568
• ISBN 13: 9780345374561
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 293