The Grave Maurice
by Martha Grimes
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Book Summary Information
Author: Martha GrimesEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-09-02
ISBN: 0451411013
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Onyx
Book Reviews of The Grave Maurice
Book Review: A Grave Disappointment; a Cheat to the Reader
Summary: 1 Stars
I had been unable to "get into" a couple of other Grimes books (they are such slow starters!); but gave this one a try because of the involvement with horse ranches.
Interesting premise -- a ranch devoted to collecting mares' urine for hormone replacement therapy (which I myself once refused, for that reason, so I knew something about it) -- and the author had obviously done her homework.
I stuck with this book, though it's VERY slow-moving, in the expectation that all (or MOST) would come out well in the end. The ill-used horses would be rescued; the heroic, kidnapped girl would triumph; the hinted-at hope of romance would be fulfilled; the sad Granddad would have at least part of his family restored.
Sadly [SPOILER ALERT], at the end, the author chose to KILL OFF the only really admirable person in the story. And the resolution of the horse-rescue plotline was unsatisfying, insufficient. The many mares used in what was admittedly a COMPLETELY LEGAL operation, are stripped from the owner? Grimes throws this off in a piece of dialogue where someone says, Oh, they'll be reimbursed for them, of course -- but under what provision of law, were they removed from a legal operation in the first place?
"The Grave Maurice" is a throwaway title, obliquely referring to a throwaway character. Meaningless. And the author missed what could have been some interesting forensic developments. "N" being dead, and proof of her kidnapper/rapist needed, Grimes could have presented us with autopsy results that said, hey, there was a fetus and the DNA results implicate so-and-so as the father. But no.
Also, the very idea that a famous jockey could die on-track and be "mistaken: for another, was ludicrous. Seems to me that the author was playing a desperate shell-game at this point. And what about Melrose simply falling into bed with a woman who turned out to be a major suspect? This is professional? I have to ask those of you who appear to LIKE the Melrose character: I this what you would expect, and find attractive?
And frankly, I just can't forgive Grimes for needlessly killing "N"... And please, don't anyone say, "Well, in life these things happen." This was a piece of fiction; the author could have directed ANYTHING to happen; and ANYTHING would have been more satisfying for this reader. There's a REASON we endeavor to escape into fiction: It is there that we hope to find happier resolutions (and loose ends tied up in a tidier fashion) than we get in "Real Life."
This was my first & last Martha Grimes read. Too bad.
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