MARTHA GRIMES' ANIMAL CONCERNS

Tuesday, 12 June 2012 21:39 Martha Grimes' novels about Scotland Yard Detective Richard Jury and his aristocratic friend Melrose Plant meld the English village mystery with the police procedural.

These novels juxtapose a clever, cold-blooded killer, or killers with a quaint village filled with charming, eccentric residents. The American-born author honored the traditional English village mystery while giving it a hard edge and offering a little satire on the tea and scones world in these novels.

She also has written a book of poetry, three atmospheric novels, including Fadeaway Girl, featuring a 12-year-old girl and set at a Maryland hotel, two novellas and a novel about the publishing industry.

The 22 novels in the Jury series and her other novels earned Martha Grimes the title of Grand Master from the Mystery Writers of America, presented during the annual Edgar Awards banquet.

Anyone who was at the Edgar symposium this year heard my interview with Martha during which we talked about her novels and also a cause close to her heart--animal rights.

As a fund-raiser and someone who wants to bring more attention to animals who've ended up in shelters, Grimes has come up "Best in Shelter."

"Best in Shelter" is a virtual dog show in which real dogs at four Washington, D.C.-area shelters compete for prizes. Each dog in the show is up for adoption and, Grimes and the shelters hope this prompts people to give forever homes to these dogs.

The voting begins June 14 and ends June 17. Details on the website.

During our interview and on the Best in Shelter website, Martha discussed how the idea came about.

“Best in Shelter was inspired by one of the major “best in show” dog competitions," Grimes writes. "Or rather, inspired by the commercials between events. The commercials featured dogs behind bars; in other words, shelter animals. The contrast between the pedigree dogs, so well-trained, so well-taken care of, so admired, so worthy was in such contrast to the dogs behind bars that it seemed like two different dog-worlds," she added.

"The aim of “Best in Shelter” is to raise awareness of animal shelters and what they have to offer. We want to blot out the stereotypes of shelter animals as being the opposite of show dogs— as being untrained, unkempt, unworthy. This is far from the truth. Not all the dogs you see in shelters are there because they were unmanageable. Most are there because the shelters have rescued them from the street, from abuse, from “hoarding,” from puppy mills," she added.

"...vote for the dog you would adopt if you were able to. Best in Shelter is a virtual dog show, but the dogs are real," stated Grimes.

As a dog lover whose wonderful companions have come from shelters and other rescue situations, I applaud Grimes involvement. I hope each of these dogs receives a forever home.