When the body of a French woman washes up on a wild inlet off the Cornish coast, Brian Macalvie, divisional commander with the Devon-Cornwall police, is called in. While he stands in the Sicily Islands, Inspector Richard Jury --- 20 miles away on Land’s End --- is at The Old Success pub, sharing a drink with the legendary former CID detective Tom Brownell, a man renowned for solving every case he undertook. Except one. In the days following the mysterious slaying of the Parisian tourist, two other murders take place: first, a man is shot on a Northhamptonshire estate, then a holy duster turns up murdered at Exeter Cathedral in Devon. Macalvie, Jury and Bronwell set out to discover if these three killings, though very different in execution, are connected.

In the backseat of Robbie Parsons’ cab 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 a number of unexpected turns.

People who suffer from alcoholism as well as their families and friends know that while it is possible to get sober, there is no one “right” way to do this. Now, award-winning mystery writer Martha Grimes and her son, Ken Grimes, offer two points of view on their struggles with alcoholism. In alternating chapters, they share their stories --- stories of drinking, recovery, relapse, friendship, travel, work, success and failure.

Richard Jury is meeting Tom Williamson at Vertigo 42, a bar on the 42nd floor of an office building in London’s financial district. Despite inconclusive evidence, Tom is convinced that his wife, Tess, was murdered 17 years ago. The inspector in charge of the case was sure Tess’ death was accidental --- a direct result of vertigo --- but the official police inquiry is still an open verdict, and Jury agrees to re-examine the case.

In Martha Grimes's sequel to FOUL MATTER, hitmen Candy and Karl once again venture into the murky Manhattan publishing scene. This time they come to the aid of a writer who is being sued by her unscrupulous literary agent, a man determined to get a 15 percent commission for a book he didn’t sell. The contract killers join forces with a publishing mogul and a mega-bestselling writer to rid the mean streets of the agent, not by shooting him, but by driving him crazy.

For waitress and cub reporter Emma Graham, tragedy defines where she lives. Spirit Lake, La Porte and Lake Noir have been plagued by intertwined crimes. And with the arrival of an unexpected visitor, it looks like the bad times have only just begun.