European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 8, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                English Village mysteries witha Yankee touch by Mary Campbell associated press american mystery writer Martha Grimes is a suspect when she goes to England to research her novels she s in danger of being audited by the internal Revenue service it has happened three times the irs suspects she is taking vacations and calling it work Quot the computer kicks me fight out says Grimes who has written 10 murder mysteries each with the name of a British pub As the title plus her newest. Send Bygraves if it seems unusual for an american to be considered a top writer of English Village mysteries her latest work is even More unusual. Send Bygraves is a mystery written in 32 poems. Grimes wrote poetry for 10 years before she wrote her first novel Quot my poetry tended to be stuffed with bodies falling Down stairs and dark houses that kind of atmosphere Quot Grimes says Quot i thought. Maybe what you d really like to do is write a mystery Quot the novels Star inspector Richard jury of Scotland Yard and Melrose Plant his aristocratic sidekick Send Bygraves published by Putnam can be taken As an amusing satire on the novels including its locations such As Little puddle in Surrey and Dre crumble Moor Quot you can read it and laugh Quot Grimes says Quot you re supposed to Quot she has had poems published before but never a Book of poems Quot writing poetry really was spilling blood for  she says. Quot it was so difficult. Quot i got into poetry when i was working on a pm d at the University of Iowa All of my friends were in the poetry  games was born in Pittsburgh and grew up in Western Maryland. Now divorced she lives in Washington. Do. She taught English in College before her books started Selling Well enough for writing to be a full time occupation each Book has out sold the previous one her ninth the five Bells and Bla debone got on the Best seller list before it had been promoted or advertised she says Quot you know it was pretty much word of Mouth you can to beat that Quot Grimes is praised for her writing style but As she writes she gets discouraged Quot maybe Halfway through i say what wooden prose can t you make these characters breathe Martha this is junk a once i said to Kent my son i cannot write this Book he said. A of. Mom you always say that Quot for the Anodyne necklace the third one. I was Reading the galleys. I thought you can t let this Book be printed this has got to be one of the stupidest plots i Ever read nobody is going to buy this i be got to Call them up and Tell them Quot no Way Quot Quot then i thought. Well but like the characters it s True of everything i write. It in t the plot i m so fond of the characters that s Why you get this Little band of people turning up in every  Grimes does no to know whether solving the crimes gets harder in the Book she s currently working on she says Quot i be written 100 pages now and i Don t know who the murderer is in the dirty Duck i hated it when i found out who the murderer was because he was so neat Quot she does t make an outline Quot the Way i write is simply to Start writing. By the time in a Halfway through i sort of know what s going to happen. Two thirds of the Way through i know who the murderer  she writes in longhand on a Legal pad and copies it a p into a word processor. Before writing the old silent published by Little. Brown in september she says. Quot a character walked into my mind he was a guitarist. I thought. A what i really ought to do is get into the current Rock scene i read about 100 copies of guitar Magazine. I got hold of a student at Johns Hopkins and had him give me lessons i went out and bought a guitar. I listened to Jeff Beck. He is amazing Quot my son works for a publisher. When he was living with me he was listening to the grateful dead and Jimi Hendrix. He had his digs in the basement. I used to yell Down will you shut that Racket off now i play it All the time Quot after picking up a Book about engish pubs she recalls Quot i thought. Golly these would be great titles i could t make up titles that were As Good As these pub  so the first Book became the Man with a Load of mischief. Most of her titles have come from observation not from that Book. Quot i was walking around Mayfair in London i looked up and saw a sign i am the Only running Footman i loved  it s the title of her eighth mystery most years she goes to England twice for two or three weeks she researches the setting returns Home and writes goes Back to Check details. Quot for the five Bells and Bla debone i had to go Back twice Quot she says Quot the trs does t like  Bombeck when one of our grown kids was Home for the holidays he ran out of his shampoo you d think i  remember something As trivial As that but you have to appreciate his reaction. He ran through the House like a crazy person rummaging through bathroom drawers Medicine chests and the Linen closet he was on the verge of slipping into a coma for Greasy hair when i suggested Quot use mine it s on the vanity a he gave me that look a the one he gives just before he says Quot Are you trying to scare me with your mental incompetence7 he got into the car and at 9.30 at night set out in Pursuit of Quot his Quot shampoo looking Back Over his life i realize he did t adopt shampoo As a major world religion until he was in his 20s before that he regarded the family shampoo As just another built in Utility that ran free through spigots if the tube Felt on the floor with the Cap off and the contents ran into the Drain Whu cares7 another bottle would mystically heal and fill itself for his next shampoo not to worry then one Day All of that changed Brand x shampoo did not serve his lifestyle he was on the move and needed pm balance with sodium c-14 Lauretha sulfite to get there his self esteem demanded a Rich formula of protein ammo acids and a unique blend of Swiss Herb extracts every Lour or five hours he developed a Trust for his shampoo that Donna Reed would have killed for it s All a gender thing daughters need fat hair to find happiness a hair that expands like a sponge and bounces and heaves with the blink of an Eye hair that announces. Quot i m wild  sons need manageable hair a hair that has purpose and announces Quot i m Cool i m in control Quot As my son returned from his excursion into the darkness for his manhood i was reluctant to destroy his illusion. In a few years hell probably be using his wife s shampoo that smells like Rose petals. In live years hell resort to his child s shampoo that does t sting the eyes. And in to years hell Settle for the dog s shampoo with a White vinegar rinse. In 20 years hey he could possibly get by with a Washcloth As do Gorbachev and Sean Connery. They re Happy Ltd 1989 Emma Bombeck Page 16 a a a the stars and stripes monday january 8, 1990