Dust (Richard Jury, #21) by Martha Grimes

I realize for the umpteenth ( first time using this word, its fun!) time that my impatience needs to learn to behave. I have found on many occasions that reading a series out of turn is not worth the effort and I should just wait long enough to read the books in turn. Especially since it directly impacts your opinion of the book/series. It is like hanging out in a group where you are not privy to the inside joke which is hinted at too often for our own comfort. It looks like the perusal of this series may be harder than I expected since the books seem harder to get at than any other average one of the series.

This book has Scotland Yard CID Richard Jury in a moral dilemma with regards to his love life and aside from that fact he is acceptable as the hero in the book. He has been called to the presence of a dead body by his good friend Benny and dog Sparky. The case seems to involve a convoluted life of an idle rich guy and his various activities. There are multiple possible villains in the story and as each has their background examined , further information is revealed.

The highlight of the book is the absurd humour involved in the conversations between the lead characters who openly admit to doing the word dance in order to make life more interesting . The revelation at the end did not come as too much of a surprise ( removing all the obvious suspects etc.) but the reason behind the action was surprisingly unexpected.

I would have given the book a full five star rating if I had an inkling to some of the mentioned characters or their part in the whole series, but since I did not, I settled for just four stars.