Help the Poor Struggler

Martha Grimes

Apr 2013 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

Book seven of the suspenseful Richard Jury Mystery series!

Around bleak Dartmoor, where the Hound of the Baskervilles once bayed, three children have been brutally murdered. Now Richard Jury of Scotland Yard joins forces with a hot-tempered local constable named Brian Macalvie to track down the killer. The trail begins at a desolate pub, Help the Poor Struggler. It leads straight to the estate of Lady Jessica, a ten-year-old orphaned heiress who lives with her mysterious uncle and ever-changing series of governesses. And as suspense spreads across the forbidding landscape, an old injustice returns to haunt Macalvie…with clues that link a murder in the distant past with a killing yet to come.

Ratings and reviews

Overall I liked it. But it had a different structure than many of her other Jury novels. There is a section of 25 pages in the middle, roughly 12% of the book, that didn't have Jury or Melrose in it all. And, Melrose didn't show up until half way through the book. So far, my least favorite in the series. The story was good, though the conclusion seemed a little rushed. Macalvie was a great character, and I hope we'll see more of him in the future. Lady Jessica was kind of fun as well. It definitely could have used more Melrose, though. He's my favorite character, so I always think he doesn't have a big enough part.

About the author

Bestselling author Martha Grimes is the author of more than thirty books, including twenty-two Richard Jury mysteries. She is also the author of Double Double, a dual memoir of alcoholism written with her son. The winner of the 2012 Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Award, Grimes lives in Bethesda, Maryland.