I just finished reading Dust last night and I am confused too. Who pushed those kids out of the lifeboat? Why did the brother and sister kill Billy? Who was he related to that they were trying to hurt? Was his Grandmother on that ship? Too many unanswered questions.

I too am unhappy with the direction that Jury's character is taking. He used to be unattainable, for the most part -- there was a kiss now and then. Now he's a blur of raging hormones. I think Martha Grimes is losing interest in him -- getting bored.

The kids and dogs have always been in the Jury stories, but they are front and center in her lastest ones.

I still like her books, but I'm just not thrilled with the direction that she is taking the Jury series. I love the early books.

I agree with the unresolved issue of "Who done it?" in DUST. Though I like intrigue I'm perplexed with the grandmother, the "old devil" and Peter Quint. It seems there are three or four of us left wondering. And we're just the ones who've looked for an answer.

Virginia- I think that you got it. Why else would she allude to the wild past of the grandmother? Have you guys read Hotel Paradise? It is not a Jury novel and is more vague than Dust, but I loved it. It features a 12 year old child as the main character and narrator. She does like to write children-maybe because it is easier to describe things as they are without all of the biases of adults.

It's also possible the child in the boat was Roderick (aka General Rohm's son). After all, evacuations from Germany took place a couple of years earlier than from England didn't they? And a young girl might refer to an older boy as "you old devil". The grandmother is also a possibility, although she may allude to the wild past of her just to throw us off. I definitely feel a greater level of frustration with the last two books...

I'm a huge fan of Martha Grimes Richard Jury novels, but I thought dust was a mess. It had very little of the wit and cleverness of her other books.

The sex scenes between Lu Aguilar and Jury are just plain silly. Grimes seems to think knocking over furniture equates passion. If you're not good at writing sex scenes, don't.

Now on to Kurt Brunner. The name Kurt has never been a popular Jewish name and the character is described as big and blond like a stereotypical SS officer. Mrs Jessup is anti-German. Well, that's understandable, but why does she dislike poor Jewish Kurt and keep referring to his German-ness? Did she miss the persecution and extermination part of the war?

Then there's Rose Ames. She would have had to be an adult during WWII, so why would she have been on the City of Benares, except with her daughter, Billy's mother? The problem is there were 90 kids on that ship and no parents. Billy's mother died when she was in her 20s and Billy is 30. She can't have been on the City of Benares, either. The math doesn't work. She died in her 20s and Billy is in his 30s. She wouldn't have been born in 1940.

We're to believe that Mrs. Jessup and Gilbert hold a member of Billy's family responsible for pushing their siblings out of the lifeboat and have been harboring a grudge ever since? Were Mrs. Jessup and Gilbert on the ship that day, too? Surely they weren't in the same lifeboat, so how would they know who did the pushing?

Coincidentally Billy took up residence at Lamb House where Mrs. Jessup is the cook. Coincidentally Billy meets Kurt, the younger sibling of the boy his grandfather killed, in Berlin. Ok, that would have to make Kurt 60something. Is this book supposed to take place a good 20 years ago?

Gilbert Snow and his sister are so possessed by revenge that Gilbert gets a job at the trendy hotel where Mrs Jessup tells him poor Billy sometimes stays. Mrs. Jessup somehow knows that Kurt keeps a gun in the London apartment and swipes it on one of the rare occasions when she's there. She then gives the gun to her brother. Gilbert bides his time, waiting for god knows how long for the opportune time to kill Billy. Lord knows how many months he works there waiting. Luckily, that lovable scamp Benny has finagled a job at the Zetter and Gilbert is able to use him as part of the fiendishly clever and outlandishly elaborate revenge plot he and his sister have concocted.

Grimes would have us believe they are so overwhelmed by thoughts of revenege that they are willing to kill and risk going to prison to avenge siblings they never really knew. Why just the sight of an unruly child fairly unhinges Mrs. Jessup, so traumatized is she by the mystery child who pushed her siblings to their watery graves.

So it had to have been Mrs. Ames as a child who pushed the kids out of the boat, even though she had to be an adult in WWII, if she is roughly Sir Oswald's age. I have a headache. I give up.

The cliff-hanger ending is annoying. Having Lu seriously injured in an accident and putting Dr. Nancy there is silly. Do they really call the medical examiner when a police detective has been in an accident? No. Who would have called her, and why? The medics looks after the patient and rush off with her.

I thought the Old Wineshades was a disappointment and this book is even worse. Not what I've come to expect from a writer who is capable of careful plotting and great character development. It feels like something she just dashed off to get her publisher off her back.

It seems as thought the majority of readers of Dust all feel the same way! No one is really clear on the ending and some even felt maybe some pages were missing from their books! How awful to invest the time in reading a book only to have an unsatisfying and confusing ending!