I was looking for the solution to the sub-plot in Dust and was surprised to learn others had the same problem.

I've looked back, re-read passages and have settled on Rose as the likliest person who pushed the children off the raft. Self-described 'during the war I was a helion - no care or conscience for other people'; she wasn't treated for her bi-polar disorder until in her twenties. Her daughter Mary drowned in a boat accident when she was not much over 30 and Mrs. Jessop, the cook, described Rose as 'the worst of them' and of the boat accident and Mary drowning she says 'what goes around comes round, is what I say'.

Now the question I have, is why would Rose have been on the ship, was she traveling with her parents? - Will that do?

Dust was a real disappointment. Can't believe I paid for that book. I don't know if Grimes was being lazy,"cleverly" experimental, show-offy(with the overdone discussions of James' works), or gimmicky, but the ending was weak. Don't leave me guessing; this is not a H. James work; it's supposed to be a mystery,so don't manipulate me in that way. After reading Dust, I immediately picked up P.D. James' Shroud for a Nightingale, finished it in 2 days, and then read Elizabeth George's In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner. I needed some classic and satisfying representations of the genre. It's on to Christie or Rendell.

I'm sure I'm being dim here, but I've read The Old Silent twice now, and have not figured out this: why did Nell Healey shoot Roger Healey? I get that her aunt and her father (?) kidnapped Billy and killed him; but I cannot find why Roger was killed by Nell. Anyone?

I listened to the audio book and may have missed this, but why didn't the autopsy show that Maples didn't eat the meal? Isn't examination of stomach contents a standard part of an autopsy? They would have had to trace wound tracks etc to estimate the height of the killer.

Rose is a grandmother. If anyone was on a boat it would have been Mary (Rose's daughter and Billy's real mom). It doesn't sound like Mary was the type to push kids off a boat, but perhaps. Do you suppose Mary was killed in a boating accident as revenge for Mary pushing the kids off the boat during the war? But how does Mrs. Jessup know her sisters were pushed off the lifeboat anyway? I thought Wiggins said there were no survivors?

Wow, looks like this author leaves more questions than she answers in her books. Are they all like this?

By the way, there is a Martha Grimes Facebook page - maybe some answers there?

So, I just bought my first Martha Grimes novel, The Dirty Duck, at a used book store today, and have a question for her readers.

Is it better to read Grimes' novels in order, or does it not matter? I read the first two chapters, and they way she writes about her characters seems to assume the reader is already familiar with them. So I was wondering if I should stop and get a hold of her first novel.

I am a brand new member and will start with a confession. I sometimes read mysteries too quickly and miss things. This happened as I finished Jerusalem Inn and am left uncertain as to the identity of Tommy's real father? Jury and Melrose have an oblique, puzzle-laden chat just before Jury confronts the killer, and a few of their comments were too well veiled for me as I breezed on to see if I had guessed the killer correctly (yes, I had).

I will probably reread the last 20 or 30 pages and (hopefully) figure this out for myself, but thought I'd start by seeing if a member will kindly help me out.

Well, I have answered my own question about Tommy in Jerusalem Inn. All I needed to do was to think about the characters a bit--especially the two orphaned boys. DUH!