Book Description

As the New York Times–bestselling series continues, a double murder in front of an exclusive club takes a London detective on a wild ride. Robbie Parsons is one of London’s finest, a black cab driver who knows every street, every theater, every landmark in the city by heart. In his backseat is a man with a gun in his hand—a man who brazenly committed a crime in front of the Artemis Club, a rarefied art gallery-cum-casino, then jumped in and ordered Parsons to drive. As the criminal eventually escapes to Nairobi, Detective Superintendent Richard Jury comes across the case in the Saturday paper. Two days previously, Jury had met and instantly connected with one of the victims of the crime, a professor of astrophysics at Columbia and an expert gambler. Feeling personally affronted, Jury soon enlists Melrose Plant, Marshall Trueblood, and his whole gang of merry characters to contend with a case that takes unexpected turns into Tanzanian gem mines, a closed casino in Reno, Nevada, and a pub that only London’s black cabbies, those who have “the knowledge,” can find. The Knowledge is prime fare from “one of the most fascinating mystery writers today” (Houston Chronicle). “Grimes’ twenty-fourth mystery starring Richard Jury gets off to a breakneck start. . . . Besides the fast action, it’s fascinating to see how Robbie uses a London’s cabdriver’s deep familiarity with the streets to keep himself alive. . . . Jury’s devoted readership will find much to enjoy.” —Booklist “Solid. . . . Readers will appreciate the elements that have made this a long-running bestselling series, notably a complicated case and distinctive characters.” —Publishers Weekly “Martha Grimes’ Richard Jury returns in a new mystery that is every bit as clever and suspenseful as her others. The plot is intriguing and unusual, featuring the usual cast of characters Grimes fans have come to know and love, as well as a set of streetwise, worldly children that could have come straight out of a Dickens novel.” —Patricia Uttaro, Rochester Public Library