Lovely, back to Long Pidd, more of the characters there - of course, another weird fascination for Jury. But the mystery was intriguing, and definitely kept me guessing. ( )

Long Piddleton antiques dealer, Marshall Trueblood, has finally gotten the owner of Watermeadows Estate to sell him and exquisite rosewood desk at a great price. What he doesn’t expect is the dead body that has been stuffed into it. The body turns out to be Simon Lean, the husband of the owner’s granddaughter.

Simon Lean’s reputation of being a philanderer and has no qualms of spending his wife’s money on other women. His wife tolerates it and her grandmother, the widow of the owner of Watermeadows, avoids him as much as possible due to her dislike of him.

There is also Theo Wren Browne, the local bookseller, who is itching to get his hands on a number of rare books from the Watermeadow private library. He has been known to re-bind valuable books to disguise them and resell them for a higher price. He also is looking to push out his neighbour and take over her shop space.

Jury finds himself drawn in to the mystery by his friendship with Melrose Plant and other residents of Long Piddleton.

What he finds is the widow of Watermeadows, who is a recluse and prefers the past to the present. He also finds the young wife of the murdered man seems to not be affected by the man’s death or his treatment of her.

In researching Lean and possible connections that could shed light on the murder, Jury also finds a possible case of a doppelgänger in the mix.

The clues are revealed during the whole book, but putting them together correctly is a trick. ( )

switched identities a murder plot and surprise ending

What a diabolical imagination! Obfuscation all the way in this one which has a murder in the country and one in a transitional neighborhood in London that are totally connected. The happy ending part of me wishes that the orphaned brother and the totally bereft grandmother could be left together.
Steve West does a remarkable narration with this one. ( )

I do not care for Martha Grimes intentionally ambiguous endings and this one was just that. Richard heads on vacation to Long Piddleton to meet up with Melrose Plant for a little R&R. Instead he ends up embroiled in another murder mystery when Simon Lean, local philanderer ends up dead in Marshall Trueblood's newly purchased abattoire. Then Sadie Driver in Ramsgate ends up murdered, and Sadie bears a striking resemblance to Mrs. Hannah Lean. So, is it really Sadie that is dead or is it Hannah? ( )