(New York: Viking Penguin, 2002)

In THE GRAVE MAURICE Jury once again turns to Melrose Plant, his best friend, amateur sleuth and former 8th Earl of Caverness, to delve into the singular world of horse breeding and racing Š and he quickly encounters a corpse dumped on the Ryder Stud Farm^(1)s training ring.

Meanwhile, Nell Ryder is alive, in hiding and trying to save horses from a Premarin mill, a horse farm dedicated to collecting the urine of pregnant mares for HRT, the hormone replacement therapy drug for women. Running out of time to save all of the horses and afraid of discovery, Nell hides from her former kidnappers, the police, and Vernon Rice, the multimillionaire financier and step-brother who has hired a detective to help track her down. And with Jury soon out of the hospital and into the hunt, the book accelerates around the track to its calamitous ending.

Combining the fast-paced action of the racing world with the country village atmosphere and her recurring cast of characters, THE GRAVE MAURICE finds Grimes in fine form as she shuttles between Nell^(1)s disappearance and the hilarity of “Melrose Plant, thoroughbred owner” amid daily machinations of life in Long Piddlington.