The Black Cat

A Richard Jury Mystery

By: Martha Grimes

Narrated by: John Lee

The inimitable Richard Jury returns in a thrilling tale of mystery, madness, and mistaken identity

Three months have passed since Richard Jury was left bereft and guilt- ridden after his lover's tragic auto accident, and he is now more wary than ever. He is deeply suspicious when requested on a case far out of his jurisdiction in an outlying village where a young woman has been murdered behind the local pub. The only witness is the establishment's black cat, who gives neither crook nor clue as to the girl's identity or her killer's.

Identifying the girl becomes tricky when she's recognized as both the shy local librarian and a posh city escort, and Jury must use all his wits and intuition to determine the connection to subse­quent escort murders. Meanwhile, Jury's nemesis, Harry Johnson, continues to goad Jury down a dangerous path. And Johnson, along with the imperturbable dog Mungo, just may be the key to it all.

Written with Martha Grimes's trademark insight and grace, The Black Cat signals the thrilling return of her greatest character. The superintendent is a man possessed of prodigious analytical gifts and charm, yet vulnerable in the most perplexing ways.

Jury did it againnisledingly funny and surprising

If you could sum up The Black Cat in three words, what would they be?

misdirecting. clever and fummy

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

the pace was easy

Which scene was your favorite?

the one with the 1 cats in the bar

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

dealing with the sargent

Any additional comments?

love jury and his neighvor

Narration is awful.

The new narrator is terrible. If the next books are narrated by him. I am not sure I will make it through them.

The dog is the smartest one!

british-detective, murder-investigation, friendship, law-enforcement

Three single women discreetly living double lives are murdered and the only connection seems to be the nature of the second job and the wearing of pricey designer shoes. The investigation is twisty and convoluted enough, but there is a side issue with a couple of dogs and some look alike black cats. If you like listening to the conversations among cats and dog, this will suit very well.

Haven't finished it yet....

Would you consider the audio edition of The Black Cat to be better than the print version?

In this instance I'm going to guess the print version is better, since we've become used to hearing Steve West portray all the characters' voices with all their nuances.

If you’ve listened to books by Martha Grimes before, how does this one compare?

Terrible. Horrible narrator. Mr. Lee is simply reading the book to us (and too fast) in a monotonous tone rather than playing out the characters with his voice like we've come to know and love them when read by Steve West.

How could the performance have been better?

Never let anyone besides Steve West narrate this series.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Haven't finished it yet.

Any additional comments?

Can't wait to finish this story so I can stop listening to it. Pleased to see Steve West is back to narrating the next in the series. I've listened to them all up to this point and love the characters as fleshed out by Steve West.

Tweak your audio settings

The story is worth listening to as hard as it is to hear it butchered by a poor reader. For me the worst is hearing the butler's name pronounced exactly as Agatha pronounces it! Slow down the speed and change audio settings to highest bass and lowest treble to take away the whiny sound.