Martha Grimes Walks Into a Pub

Since the 1979 discovery of Martha Grimes' work in a slush pile at Little, Brown & Co., she has gone on to publish more than thirty books, won international acclaim (and a Nero Wolfe Award) for her detective series, and developed a following of readers whose loyalty translates to repeated stays on the best-sellers lists. This collection of ten critical essays provides an in-depth analysis of Grimes' oeuvre, principally the Richard Jury, Emma Graham, and Andi Oliver series. The essays address Grimes' themes of parental abandonment, loneliness, obsession, greed, mistaken and dual identity, the resilience of children, stunted romantic relationships and animal cruelty. Particular critical attention is paid to her engaging characters, strong sense of place and the comedy, which features so strongly in her novels.