I was not sure I was going to like this book or not. I had never read anything by Martha Grimes. However, she won the Nero Wolfe Award for best mystery of the year for "The Anodyne Necklace," which is the next book in this series. I figured I would give the book a try and was pleasantly surprised.

The story starts off with a murder. A young woman is dressed in a startling costume of half-black and half-black. Even her face is painted half-black and half-white (an important clue later on). The setting is very atmospheric - it is nighttime and there is heavy fog that obscures everything. As the young woman is walking down the street, she meets her killer. Richard Jury of Scotland Yard and his friend, Melrose Plant, an aristocrat who has given up his titles, begin to investigate independently, but quickly join forces. The twist in this murder case is that no one is exactly sure who the victim really was. Was she Dillys March, the former ward of Colonel Crael, or Gemma Temple, an imposter? And how is the Colonel's son, Julian Crael, involved?

A very intriguing and interesting read, one I would like to revisit - that's something I can't say for most of the mysteries I read.