My interest in this one was piqued by "the Knowledge"--"The Knowledge is a series of tests which must be passed by all black cab drivers before they can get a licence to work in the capital. Black cabbies must study some 320 routes and 25,000 streets and get to know them all by heart.
They also memorise roughly 20,000 landmarks and places of public interest, from tourist destinations to museums, parks, churches, theatres and schools.
The process typically takes between two and four years to complete and has been described as like having an atlas of London implanted into your brain.
Black cabbie hopefuls must then pass a written test and a series of oral exams before they can get their licence." (source The Sun)
Early studies have shown that the brains of London black cabdrivers had larger-than-average hippocampi. New research shows that "that London taxi drivers not only have larger-than-average memory centers in their brains, but also that their intensive training is responsible for the growth." (source The Scientific American)
OK--enough digression. This latest Richard Jury novel involves cab drivers and a rag tag bunch of kids who help solve the murder of a young couple.
from the description: Robbie Parsons is one of London’s finest, a black cab driver who knows every street, every theater, every landmark in the city by heart. In his backseat 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.
With the murderer as a passenger, Parsons surreptitiously signals other black cab drivers and then the kids get involved in keeping track of the killer's escape. Later, Jury enlists the aid of Melrose Plant (my favorite character, although he doesn't get as much play as I'd like) and Marshall Trueblood in an attempt to solve all of the twists and turns of the case.
You must be prepared to accept a less than realistic characterization of the kids, but as usual, Grimes' latest Richard Jury novel is a whirlwind of crime-solving and fun.
Read in February; review scheduled for April 8.
NetGalley/Grove Atlantic
British Detectives. April 13, 2018. Print length: 662 pages. !? I can't believe it was so many pages--I sped through it!
You must be prepared to accept a less than realistic characterization of the kids, but as usual, Grimes' latest Richard Jury novel is a whirlwind of crime-solving and fun.
Read in February; review scheduled for April 8.
NetGalley/Grove Atlantic
British Detectives. April 13, 2018. Print length: 662 pages. !? I can't believe it was so many pages--I sped through it!
I've always liked Martha Grimes and been fascinated by the amount of knowledge that London cabbies must possess, so this is one I'm interested in. Thanks for the review! This cold snap makes for good reading weather, or that's what I'm telling myself today. We had out-of-town guests this weekend and between the torrential rains, hail, tornado warnings on Friday evening and the chilly weather Saturday as we ate crawfish outside on the porch wearing earmuffs, today seems positively "boring." And reading sounds like more fun than doing laundry and putting the house and cottage back together.
ReplyDeleteI was outside gathering possible flying instruments of death (shovels, hedge clippers, etc.) and putting them in the garage. Then listening to the weather update tornado warnings. Been there. Done that. Once was enough! Then back to winter the next day--Fee made beef stew to warm us up, but would have loved the crawfish. What a weekend for weather variety.
DeleteThis series is really fun. I must have read about 5 or 6 books in the series but I did start at the beginning so I probably have lots more to catch up on before I get to this one. Cool stuff about the cabbies!
ReplyDeleteIt is a fun series, isn't it? Jury's oddball group of friends can always be relied for a laugh. I love the room in those old black cabs and using the knowledge to drive this book was so interesting.
DeleteInteresting about the titles. I have one of her books titled The Dirty Duck which is, the name of a pub! I haven't read it yet, but it is very short...more like novella length.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember The Dirty Duck, but I love the names of all the pubs. :)
DeleteOh, I like this -- alot! It's such an original premise, and it kind of reminds me of the very first episode of Sherlock, mostly because of the cab lol Do you think a reader could just jump into this series at this point?
ReplyDeleteI think you could still enjoy the series at any point because each mystery is complete. It is fun to get to know the oddball characters, so at some point, you could pick up earlier books. :)
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