It all starts with two unlikely passengers on the same number 14 Fulham Road bus--Scotland Yard superintendent Richard Jury and a glamorous blonde woman in a sable coat. He can't keep his eyes off her, and when she disembarks, Jury follows her to the gates of Fulham Palace. He loses her in the fog, however, and when she's found shot to death in the herb garden of the palace, the game's afoot--especially since the victim may only look like Jury's blonde, but not be her at all. Two glamorous women in priceless fur coats in an obscure little museum in the London suburbs on the same foggy autumn night? Well, maybe. Or maybe not. The plot ultimately involves chicanery in the art world, a family of Russian émigrés, a missing Chagall, an international female assassin, a couple of unsettlingly strange young girls, and a hilarious send up of a stuffy English men's club. The tale serves a hearty helping of Grimes's usual interesting, not to say eccentric, characters. Among the most consistently fascinating of these is Jury's aristocratic friend Melrose Plant, a direct descendant of Lord Peter Wimsey and other wealthy, titled, amateur English detectives. Fans of Grimes's previous Superintendent Jury capers--each of which takes its name from an English pub--will enjoy the jokes, and new readers will appreciate the author's dry wit, her sharp eye for British oddities, and the way she turns an ordinary police procedural into a cozy little study of the national character. The Jury series began with The Man with a Load of Mischief (1981) and has included The Deer Leap (1985), The Horse You Came In On (1993), The Case Has Altered (1997), and several other tales. --Jane Adams

The New York Times Book Review, Marilyn Stasio
This one is strange beyond belief, strained in the telling ... and garbled in its conclusions. But if the big picture is absurd, the details are divine.

From Booklist
Grimes' popular Richard Jury returns in top form. A dead woman found at London's Fulham Palace is a dead ringer for a mysterious passenger who boarded the same bus Jury did just a few days earlier. Jury's only lead to the victim's identity is the fur coat she was wearing. The coat, which once belonged to an aging film star, was passed along to a family of Russian immigrants who own a posh art gallery. Jury asks his friend, art collector Melrose Plant, to investigate the connection between the coat, the art gallery, and the dead woman. Then another deadly clue turns up when a retired art critic with links to the gallery is murdered. Jury and Plant finally unravel the myriad bits of evidence and uncover an art-theft ring, unmask a professional assassin, and prove--sadly and yet again--that hatred, greed, and anger remain in plentiful supply and continue to drive much of human behavior. Grimes' latest delivers a delightfully entertaining blend of irony, danger, and intrigue, liberally laced with wit and charm. Certain to be popular, this is a must-have from one of today's most gifted and intelligent writers. Emily Melton

From Kirkus Reviews
Another exotic adventure in never-never land for Scotland Yards Richard Jury and his rich, titled sidekick, Melrose Plant. At the Stargazey pub, Jury observed a striking blond woman in an elegant fur coat. He idly followed her to the gates of Fulham Palace, which she entered while he went about his business. That night, the body of a woman fitting that description (but lacking identification) is found in the Palace gardensmurdered. But Jury knows its not the same woman. The fur coat provides a trail that leads to old-time movie star Mona Dresser, whod given the coat to Olivia Inge, her daughter by the late Clive Fabricant. Clives second wife is Ilona Kuraukov, aristocratic mother of Nicholas and Sebastian, art gallery owners. At this point, Jury enlists old friend and unofficial aide Melrose Plant to find out more about the Fabricants. The murder victim has finally been identified as one Nancy Pastis, a widow with an alibi and a weird story of a vanished child to tell. Meanwhile, Melroses efforts at the gallery and at Borings, his London club, bring him a couple of good paintings, a lone dud, and a burgeoning friendship with elderly club member Simeon Pitt, one-time art critic for the Times and slated to become the second victim of one of Grimess least believable killers. Melroses own life is soon at risk, only to be saved by an unlikely rescuer. Vignettes of life in Melroses village, Long Piddleton; a pungent take on the contemporary art scene; a steady stream of loopy charactersall help to make Grimess 15th Jury outing (The Case Has Altered, 1997, etc.) great fun. Just dont look for common sense or logic. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Newsweek
"One of the established masters of the genre."

Book Description
In Martha Grimes' newest, most intriguing novel yet, Richard Jury follows a beautiful blonde to the gates of Fulham Palace--only to hear of her death three days later. Soon Jury realizes that he may have finally met his match in this mystery woman--dead or alive...

* A major bestseller: New York Times, USA Today, Los Angeles Times

"Wondrously eccentric." --New York Times Book Review

"Delightfully entertaining. Grimes' popular Richard Jury returns in top form...a must-have from one of today's most gifted and intelligent writers." --Booklist (starred review)

"The literary equivalent of a box of Godiva truffles...Wonderful." --Los Angeles Times

"Martha Grimes's wintry new mystery envelops the reader in all the comforts of an English whodunit...The Stargazey is wellworth setting your sights on." --USA Today

"The author weaves a psychologically complex plot [and] delicious wit." --Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

"Wonderfully daffy and endearing." --Publishers Weekly

"One of the established masters of the genre."--Newsweek

"Read any one [of her novels] and you'll want to read them all."--Chicago Tribune

"Grimes is not the next Dorothy Sayers, not the next Agatha Christie. She is better than both."--Atlanta Journal & Constitution

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In a bleak November, a bleak Richard Jury takes an aimless ride on one of London's icons - the old double-decker bus, a number 14 traveling the Fulham Road. His attention is caught by a woman "with hair so gossamer-pale you could see the moon through it" leaving a pub called the Stargazey. Her behavior intrigues him, as she leaves, reboards, and leaves the bus again at Fulham Palace Road. Jury follows her to the gates of Fulham Palace - but only to the gates. There he stops. Later she asks, "Why didn't you come in?" He wonders if the death in the Palace's walled garden could have been averted if he had. The answer he settles for is "Fate, I guess. It wasn't in the stars." Yet, perhaps it was: perhaps in this captivating woman Richard Jury has met his match. Before Jury and Plant can solve this complex case, they move from the Crippsian depths of London's East End to the headier heights of the London art scene, bringing with them Martha Grimes' familiar band of eccentrics.

SYNOPSIS

A beautiful woman, a double-decker bus, a foggy London night -- and a brutal murder. It's all par for the course for Richard Jury, Martha Grimes's Scotland Yard detective, who has an all-new case to solve in The Stargazey, a novel that calls to mind the classic works of John Dickson Carr.

FROM THE CRITICS

Margo Kaufman

The literary equivalent of a box of Godiva truffles. . .run out and buy it at once. —The Los Angeles Times

Newsweek

One of the established masters of the genre.

Ann Prichard

Delivers the escapist goods. The journey is such fun, the characters appealing. . .and the atmosphere to tapestried that Stargazey is well worth setting your sights on. —USA Today

AudioFile - Beth J. Long

British life and the ambience of London enliven this thriller as Superintendent Richard Jury of Scotland Yard follows a woman whose identity connects her to a murder. Narrator Donada Peters efficiently ties together bits of evidence, subplots, and an array of characters who zigzag throughout the story. Her English dialect personifies the moods of the detectives on the prowl and the other cast members. B.J.L. ￯﾿ﾽ AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Margo Kaufman