The Dirty Duck (original 1984; udgave 2004)

I want to like it, but I don't.

Superintendent Richard Jury is in Stratford-on-Avon on some regular police business. He’s given a call to Melrose Plant to come meet up. Plant has taken Jury up on the invite to visit and has also come to Stratford to avoid the “American cousins” from Milwaukee descending on Ardly End. Aunt Agatha, Plant’s American aunt-by-marriage, had hopes of impressing her American cousins with Plant’s titles and wealth. A visit to Stratford in the middle of tourist season was the only way Plant could avoid the invasion.

Instead of taking in a few of the nightly Shakespeare performances, the two men find themselves dealing with a missing boy and then three slash murders. The people involved are all from the same tour group. Three are from the same family.

The murders are quite violent and at each one two lines from an Elizabethan poem are found. How do these poetic quotes tie to each death and to each other?
The murder victims are all women. How does the missing boy play in and will he be found violently murdered also?

Grimes writes a good mystery that I find I can get into and escape in. I was not disappointed with this one. ( )

Martha Grimes tells an interesting story like Louise Penny. Both writers employ writers from the past as part of the story. And both writers delve into setting and characters and steer clear of rambling dialogue. In The Dirty Duck, Grimes sets her sights on Shakespeare’s, As You Like It, and the writer Christopher Marlowe. What an adventure as the reader learns more about Shakespeare and Marlowe and the political world of writers in merry olde England. Grimes presents history and literature as delightful tales in her mystery of murder and mayhem which Richard Jury and Melrose Plant must solve. The list of characters and old favorites dance among the pages and even Vivian and Aunt Agatha appear. A young boy disappears, and his stepmother and stepsister meet with danger. Is this one family the target of misfortune? I love the story and the familiar articles such as Melrose drinking Old Peculiar ale and Agatha eating everything. ( )

murder in Stratford on Avon

murder-investigation, law-enforcement, friendship
What a creative tale! The characters certainly are, the venue is odd, the murders are artfully done, the investigation is much like rabbits out of hats, and the humor is sly. But I liked it.
Steve West is rather droll as narrator. ( )