Jury

July is not a month overburdened with heroes of the real life type, so I have once again plucked a fictional character out of my, ever decreasing, hero bag of tricks. His name is Richard Jury, and he is the "hero" of a lovely series of books by Martha Grimes. Each book (they are murder mysteries) is named after an English pub, and follow a pretty set formula, but even so they are pretty damn fine books. At least the first ten or so, after that Ms. Grimes kind of goes of the rails, but until then all is well.

Jury is a superintendent at Scotland Yard, and is the fellow tasked with solving all those lovely little murder that Ms. Grimes can think of in her over active imagination. Jury had a rough childhood, his father was an RAF pilot that got himself killed over Germany, and his mother was killed during the London Blitz. His age is only given once, as far as I know, and he is 43 (forever 43 it seems). The joys of being a fictional character, never aging, and in theory at least immortal. He is moody and a bit of a melancholic and a bit moody, both of these character traits (or flaws depending on your point of view) I have been accused of possessing myself. He also takes a field of untrodden snow as a challenge. However, unlike me, Jury is a bit of a ladies man, he is supposedly a handsome devil, and the ladies just can't resist. Sadly for him, he is unlucky in love, and remains a challenge to single women everywhere. He usually gets his man, but he certainly doesn't always take a lot of joy in it. In fact, happiness does not seem to be on the menu for our boy Jury. A certain sadness permeates his soul, but it is not despair, it is just sadness. So, for all those cases closed, and for doing it with a lovely English style, Richard Jury (???-present), you are my (337th) hero of the day.