This image is the cover for the book Five Bells and Bladebone, Richard Jury Mysteries

Five Bells and Bladebone, Richard Jury Mysteries

A body in a bureau sends the Scotland Yard detective on a vexing investigation in this “absorbing and stylishly crafty” mystery (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

When a dismembered corpse is found in the compartments of an antique writing bureau, Marshall Trueblood, recipient of the precious piece of furniture, is the first to protest: “I bought the desk, not the body, send it back.” But the dead body of Simon Lean presents more pressing concerns. Who, for example, would want to kill the greedy nephew of the wealthy Lady Summerston?

Leave it to Superintendent Richard Jury of Scotland Yard to suggest a connection to the murder of brassy Limehouse lady named Sadie Driver, found dead near Wapping Old Stairs . . . if that stone-cold body on the slipway is really Sadie. Not even her brother, Tommy, on a visit from Gravesend, can swear to it.

Martha Grimes

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.

Scribner