A Work in Progress

In This Grave Hour, Jacqueline Winspear

Finally back in familiar territory and a most enjoyable and satisfying read.  Maisie Dobbs, a little older, always wiser, not quite as grief stricken and ready to face yet another war.  Storm clouds had been on the horizon for the last couple of books, and now they have arrived.  Jacqueline Winspear's thirteenth Maisie Dobbs mystery, In this Grave Hour, opens on that fateful day, September 13, 1939 as Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain declares war on Germany.  Somehow this book feels like a circuitous but circular route has finally ended in a sort of completion even as we open a new chapter on world history.  While this mystery is steeped in the events of the Great War, Maisie and her friends and colleagues realize that they really must face yet another terrible conflict.

While I do love a good novel of suspense and espionage and spy stories are always welcome, the last few years have been particularly rocky ones for Maisie.  The last two books definitely have taken her out of the realm of mystery/detection and even several books prior to those hinted at another path that Maisie would take.  Perhaps not at all surprising considering her late mentor, Maurice Blanche had a secretive past involving work with HM's government and the Secret Service, that she would also one day get involved in spy work.  Her work as a psychologist and her sharp and intuitive mind and years of training means she is a natural for such work.  She is a brave and capable woman but the work has been dangerous, and she has done her work mostly on her own.  This has been a Maisie very different than the one so familiar during her more routine investigative work.

I hate to give any spoilers away, so I won't mention much about her personal life, but she had love and then lost it tragically, and it left her reeling.  So the last few novels had been quite a departure from the Maisie I've known and loved as her life has had some very major upheavals.  It feels good to get back to business and see all those familiar faces peopling the pages of this story once again.  Maisie is known to have been a little prickly and very much the perfectionist.  I've always loved the character of Maisie Dobbs, but it feels like her edges have finally softened.  That impenetrable wall that has existed around her has begun to crumble and I see glimpses of a very human woman who maybe doesn't always have all the right answers or make the best decisions but she always makes them with her heart in the right place.

Anticipating the announcement Maisie is invited to the home of her much loved best friend Priscilla Partridge to hear Chamberlain's radio address.  She and Priscilla met at Girton and then went through the Great War sharing experiences that would forever tie the two together.  Although they come from vastly different backgrounds they have always complemented and supported each other.  Priscilla's three sons refer to Maisie as Tante Maisie and they form a tight-knit extended family.  The support will be needed now more than ever as Priscilla's husband is called up to do government war work and her sons are just on the cusp of adulthood.  Already the war fervor has started and it's not hard to imagine the boys' desire to join up and become involved.  Priscilla lost brothers in the first war so she's pained at the thought of another war and the danger her sons may soon be placed in.

The mystery of the novel hearkens back to the First World War even as the Second one begins in earnest.  Francesca Thomas, formerly of Belgium but now working clandestinely for both the British and Belgian governments asks Maisie to look into the murder of a Belgian immigrant.  A man who had come to England as a refugee from the First World War has been murdered in what appears to be an assassination style.  He was shot in the back while kneeling.  Although Maisie has given up any sort of espionage work, she agrees to help Thomas with her inquiries since this appears to be a "straightforward" murder.  Of course rarely does murder turn out to be straightforward and things become more complicated the deeper Maisie digs to find answers.  And one murder soon turns into two and then three.  But once again Maisie is back at Fitzroy Square and in her old digs with Billy and Sandra back at work helping the investigation.

Maisie's personal life may have (happily) settled down but Winspear has opened up new possibilities for her and for Priscilla.  The murder is not the only thread that weaves through this story.  When war was declared London's youngest citizens began flooding the countryside to get them out of harm's way (the Blitz has not yet started but the fear of German bombs is palpable).  Among the evacuees to come stay in Maisie's home village is one small girl who seems abandoned.  She won't let her suitcase out of her sight and won't remains mum as to who she is, so there is a bit of a mystery involved there as well.  Lots of old faces return in this story including a former friend (there was a hint of the chance of something more so many many years previously), Richard Stratton.  So many old faces return as the war calls them all to take on new roles.  I can already foresee lots of new avenues for Winspear to explore as both Priscilla's and Billy's sons all are coming of age.  And Maisie's and Priscilla's previous war work and the fact that both women are capable drivers (Maisie has an Alvis!) likely will give them opportunities to do their part.

Needless to say I am already looking forward to Maisie's next adventure and am happy that she will be joined with family and friends who have been too far in the background in recent books.  It's a testament to how much I admire Maisie that I have read each and every book.  The Maisie Dobbs series in order consists of: Maisie Dobbs, Birds of a Feather, Pardonable Lies, Messenger of Truth, An Incomplete Revenge, Among the Mad, The Mapping of Love and Death, A Lesson in Secrets, Elegy for Eddie, Leaving Everything Most Loved, A Dangerous Place and Journey to Munich. I've linked the titles to my own reviews.  And now the wait for the next book begins.

Teaser Tuesday: New Starts

Resisting is sometimes futile.  When a book calls loud enough it is just downright rude to ignore it.  And I am all for civility these days.  So I have started not just one new book.  No, not one.  Not even two.  But yes, three new books (one an eGalley) added to my in progress pile.  The year is young, so why worry about cleaning up those 'in progress books'.  I have months and months to be good (and bad). 

So, first up, and I am sorry I am not going to be able to share a teaser since Jacqueline Winspear's newest Maisie Dobbs mystery, In this Grave Hour (#13 in case you are counting!) is not due to be released until March 14, is a book I have been eagerly awaiting.  I held off for more than a month.  It has been sitting in my Bluefire Reading app for a while now.  But if I don't start reading it will not be accessible and I waited too long to get in line at the library.  I will just say that it starts with the announcement of England's declaration of war and the start of WWII!  Such a long journey I feel like I have taken with Maisie. 

It is early days, but if you have missed the Maisie we all know and love, she seems to be back.  The story, which has just the tiniest little hint of espionage overtones, appears to be a more traditional Maisie mystery.  She has returned to her role as psychologist/investigator.  It is now my gym book since it is on my tablet and can easily sit propped on the stationary bike.  Nothing like a good book to keep me motivated to exercise!

***

I have been regularly visiting my favorite used bookstore in search of new Viragos, but if something else catches my eye, I will grab it, too.  I have never read Francine Prose, and I didn't realize she had written so many books.  I guess I am mostly familiar with her newer books, but I found one published back in 1981 called Household Saints about an Italian-American family living in NYC's Little Italy ca. 1950.  It is light and humorous--at least on first impression.  The story revolves around the Santangelo family in particular.  At the start Joseph Santangelo wins his wife in a game of pinochle!  Joseph's mother tries to talk him out of marrying Catherine Falconetti.  She tells him--you don't even know this girl (she is a mere 17.  I am not sure how old Joseph is--his 20s perhaps?).

"And then, for the first time that either of them could remember, his mother's own magic worked against her.  For as Joseph stared down at his plate, he thought of the sausage he rubbed (he's a butcher by the way) in front of Catherine's face, and of her serious wide eyes watching him.  More than anything in the world, he wanted to see her look like that again."

"Sensing the sudden change in him, Mrs. Santangelo resorted to her darkest tone, saying,"

"'Joseph, if you marry that girl, your whole life will taste like that meal'."

"But Joseph's only reaction to this gloomy prophecy was a dreamy grin."

"'As I remember,' he said, 'the antipasto was delicious'."

This coming after a disastrous meal cooked by Catherine.   I am really enjoying this.  I love finding these little old gems in the used bookstore.  I even seek them out.

***

So, one brand new book.  One old book but new to me.  And now one old book and long untouched on my shelves.  There is a sort of symmetry about it all, don't you think?  You know how much I love Mary Russell.  There have been lots of reinterpretation of Sherlock Holmes as a character and of his various mysteries and adventures.  I am not well-read really when it comes to Sherlockania.  I have read a book or two and maybe a short story or two, but Sherlock is such an icon that you don't necessarily have to be well read to know something about the man and the mysteries. 

I have had several of Carole Nelson Douglas's books on my shelves for years.  She is a prolific writer and at one time in her long career she took the one woman to better Sherlock Holmes and give her her own adventures--Irene Adler.  I cannot tell you how many times I have picked up the first of the series, Good Night, Mr. Holmes, which was published in 1990.  Another case of just the book I need at the moment, as I have just started and it has clicked nicely!

I don't know anything about Irene Adler, other than she is an opera singer.  She reminds me of Mary Russell (Holmes definitely prefers women who are his intellectual equals) in that she is adept at subterfuge, well read and very articulate with a very dry sense of humor.  I like her.  Here is a little something about her (rather the author's interpretation of her).  And just to put it into context--the narrator is sort of a Watson-type foil (or will be) to Irene.  Penelope Huxleigh is a former governess (her family left for India and didn't take her along) and daughter to a curate who has also left her.  She is wandering the streets of 18th century London trying to figure out what to do next when she is spotted by Miss Adler, who comes to her rescue.

"Before I could act or the awful child could answer, someone else was in our midst.  A lady had wheeled from the crowd to seize the lad's arm.  Had she not been so well dressed, my protective instincts would have led me to defend even this wretched ragamuffin."

"But the lady was magnificently attired--a sheared beaver muff cuffed one entire forearm.  The brown felt hat smartly tipped over her brow was lavished with velvet ribbons and crowned with a peacock-blue bird in full flight."

"She descended upon us like some glorious goddess, her dark eyes flashing fire, her pendant amber earrings swaying exuberantly.  Then that angelic face screwed into an unlovely snarl.  A stream of Queen's English translated through the scullery poured from her mouth."

She certainly shows more than a little moxie.  I think she and I are going to get on well together, too.  I think there are only a handful of Irene Adler mysteries, so I will work my way through them slowly.  And I should read Arthur Conan Doyle's short story "A Scandal in Bohemia", too.  And then maybe it will soon be time for another Mary Russell, too.  Yep, more reading paths are diverging.

Journey to Munich by Jacqueline Winspear

I've just turned to the last few pages of Jacqueline Winspear's Journey to Munich, read the last page and then skimmed the rest of the chapter.  Are you worried I have cheated and read ahead?  While I have been known to flip to the last few pages of a book out of fear (for a character's life) or curiosity (will the ending be a happy one) . . . I would never do that with a Maisie Dobbs story. 

Did you know there are currently twelve mysteries featuring Maisie, and this series is the only one I can boast having read all of?  Journey to Munich was one of the first books I read this year, but as it was an ebook I never managed to write about it.  I was fortunate to have access to a galley copy and so could not post a review of it before it was published, and then so many weeks passed by the time I could write about it that I lost that thread. 

But now a new Maisie novel looms on the horizon; In This Grave Hour is due out in March 2017, and as I like things as tidy as possible I have to write something about my reading experience.  I'm going to go about this slightly in reverse, however.  How do I tell you about the story when so very much has happened to Maisie since I first met her.  In so many ways she has been through the wringer and had veered off the path she had been on for so long.  I hesitate to call Jacqueline Winspear's books mysteries, though of course they are.  The last few books have made a leap, naturally so I think, from traditional mysteries to a hybrid kind of story that is part mystery and part spy novel.  For me, I think the two genres almost go hand in hand and I do love a good spy story. 

I was happy when Maisie was approached to do a little secret government work, and being Maurice Blanche's protegé it was not surprising she would be asked.  I won't say it was entirely coercion, but I think she was somewhat trapped into doing the work.  It seemed a very natural progression, however.  I won't give away any major spoilers, but I will say that after several books' worth of very difficult times and a path not previously trodden with her spying, I think the next book will see Maisie back in London with her friends and family and I do hope back with Billy Beale and finally back at work as an inquiry agent.  I'm ready (and I think Maisie is, too) for the 'normalcy' that detective work will bring. 

I won't go into Maisie's personal life, which has been a series of upheavals over the last few years, but last time around saw her returning from Canada to England by way of Gibraltar.  Gibraltar had been flooded by refugees fleeing the Spanish Civil War (signs of things to come) and Maisie stumbled upon the body of a man who had been murdered.  The twist being that he had been involved in photographing things he should not have.  In a sense her adventures in Gibraltar had been somewhat therapeutic as Maisie was able to put her nursing skills to work at a time when she really needed an important distraction.  It was a light at the end of what had been a dark tunnel.  She was needed.

Now it's 1938 and she is called upon by the British Secret Service to travel into Nazi Germany where she will pose as the daughter of a British scientist imprisoned at Dachau.  It's risky since she has never met him and must not only convince the German government that she is his daughter, but that the man will not give the game away when he first sees her and possibly realize she is not who she says she is.  Things turn even more complicated when she's asked by a wealthy countryman to do a side job, to make contact with his errant daughter who has been living in Germany and refuses to come home.  Things become dangerously tangled up as Maisie tries bring not just one British subject home but two, the young woman not being especially responsive to her father's wishes. 

This Maisie Dobbs story is something of a heart stopper since it includes one of those mad dashes at the end with is fraught with peril.  Maisie mysteries are often matters of life or death, but going into Nazi Germany, a country hostile to British citizens is particularly so.  Not only is the British government depending on her but she is risking her life for not just one other person but two.  It's all a bit dark and page-turny, but as you already know there is another Maisie adventure coming, you can rest assured that Journey to Munich ends on a mostly happy note.  And Maisie deserves more than a little happiness and normalcy. 

I can't wait to see what happens in the next book.  Here is a little tiny teaser from the forthcoming book's description: "Sunday September 3rd 1939.  At the moment Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain broadcasts to the nation Britain’s declaration of war with Germany, a senior Secret Service agent breaks into Maisie Dobbs' flat to await her return. Dr. Francesca Thomas has an urgent assignment for Maisie: to find the killer of a man who escaped occupied Belgium as a boy, some twenty-three years earlier during the Great War."  Hmm.  So maybe a transition from international spying to a more traditional mystery? 

I still have Winspear's standalone novel, The Care and Management of Lies, a WWI novel, sitting and waiting for me.  Maybe it is time to pull it out and get a little dose of Jacqueline Winspear's storytelling while I wait.  The Maisie Dobbs series in order consists of: Maisie Dobbs, Birds of a Feather, Pardonable Lies, Messenger of Truth, An Incomplete Revenge, Among the Mad, The Mapping of Love and Death, A Lesson in Secrets, Elegy for Eddie, Leaving Everything Most Loved, and A Dangerous Place.  I've linked the titles to my own reviews.  And the wait for the next book continues, but now it is only just around the corner.  Something good to look forward to. 

A Dangerous Place, Jacqueline Winspear

I don't often get to make this claim despite having many mystery series I like to follow, but once again I've read them all and now I have none to look forward to until a new book is published.  Maisie Dobbs, of course.  She is the only fictional sleuth whose books I have read (and savored) each and every one of.  I must admit this latest installment, A Dangerous Place, was a little slower going for me.  When I really like a character, I tend to get very wrapped up in their lives.  While Maisie can be a little formidable and even a little bit prickly on occasion, she is one of my favorite fictional heroines.  Strange as it sounds I feel like I have gone through quite a lot with her.  From the battlefields of WWI as a nurse to, with this latest book, the middle of the Spanish Civil War.  It's been quite a journey and of late, a tumultuous one, too.

I won't give spoilers away in terms of the mystery at the heart of the novel, but it is hard to not to give away a few things when it comes to how Maisie has ended up in Gibraltar.  I won't go into detail, but Maisie's life has taken quite a lot of surprising and difficult turns in the last few years.  In Leaving Everything Most Loved Maisie had come to a turning point in her life.  Finally able to put the war years and her losses behind her and open up to the possibility of a permanent romantic relationship, Maisie had set off for India at the end of the previous novel.  It was time to give her relationship with James Compton some serious thought. 

When the story picks up in A Dangerous Place, it is now 1937.  Four years have passed and Maisie has traveled long distances both literally as well as mentally and psychologically.  In many respects the distances were long and life altering and now her life once again takes on an entirely new trajectory.  Maisie has, after years abroad, decided it is time to return to England.  Nearly there, however, she finds she is not quite ready to set foot on English soil.  Certain emotions must be dealt with and put to rest.  What happens in Gibraltar will again change her perceptibly, in good ways, but also in ways that continue to challenge her.  Darker years are on the horizon, but in some ways she will return to her roots and that in turn helps heal her many wounds.

Her stop in Gibraltar is meant to be only a short stay, to fortify herself for her return home.  The last thing she expects is to get entangled in a murder investigation.  It's a tricky one.  The death of a local man, a photographer, is assumed to be a cut and dry case.  Gibraltar has been overrun by refugees from Spain, which is in the middle of a messy civil war.  Sebastian Babayoff, a member of Gibraltar's Shephardic Jewish community, was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time and was murdered by one of those refugees.  When Maisie returns to the path where she found the murdered man, she discovers a small camera, which had been thrown aside--perhaps with the intention of hiding it--and overlooked by the local police.  Did he see, and worse photograph, something he shouldn't have?

But with a war going on in Spain, refugees milling about, and an obvious British presence, Maisie begins to wonder how much is chance and whether she is, herself, being manipulated in some way.  Some of her more recent investigations had begun seeping over to the realm of political intrigue rather than simple inquiries using her knowledge of psychology.  Perhaps it was not so surprising considering her beloved mentor, Maurice Blanche, was himself involved in clandestine business with the British Secret Service.  Maisie is no fool and she knows she is being followed.  

Always concerned with getting to the truth of the matter, the real truth, Maisie's questions and her search for the murderer will take her into Gibraltar's Jewish community and even so very far into the heart of Spain.  What she had left behind so very long ago, bombs and wounded men, once again make a vivid and palpable presence in her life.  

What a long way she has come from her years as a servant in the Compton household.  On to the Great War and then Girten College.  Finally an inquiry agent working with her good friend and former soldier Billy Beale.  And now she is on yet another path.  She finds answers, rather she finds truths that have been shaped by circumstance and chance and what is happening in Spain.  Maisie maintains her independence, but once an agent--however reluctant on her part--of the British Secret Service, she may never again be fully her own woman.  Things get sorted, mysteries resolved and Maisie is ready to undertake yet another adventure.  I suspect it might take place off stage--even now she might be doing something related to the war in Spain.  I think she is going to be returning to her investigative roots, but only time will tell.

A character like Maisie, who has gone through so many stories is bound to change over time, and Maisie has certainly never stagnated.  It's been interesting to see how she grows and changes, to see her opinions form according to her life experiences.  This was a slow going read for me not because of the plot but simply to see how much Maisie has endured.  I wonder where her life will take her next.  I only hope that Jacqueline Winspear is even now at work on the next chapter of Maisie's life. 

Until then, I still have Winspear's standalone novel, The Care and Management of Lies, a WWI novel, to look forward to finally reading.  The series in order consists of: Maisie Dobbs, Birds of a Feather, Pardonable Lies, Messenger of Truth, An Incomplete Revenge, Among the Mad, The Mapping of Love and Death, A Lesson in Secrets, Elegy for Eddie and Leaving Everything Most Loved.  I've linked the titles to my own reviews.  Now, once again, the long wait for a new Maisie Dobbs novel begins.

March 24: Reading (and watching) Notes

Yesterday was all about the Baileys Longlist and today is all about (or the topics that strike my fancy at the moment) everything else.  Should I preface this post with a 'if you could see my night table right now your jaw would drop'?  No, best not.  You probably already know my indulgent reading style.  I thought this year would be different but if anything it seems worse.  But why not be surrounded by good stories?  Even if there are a lot of them, that's not a bad thing, right?

The newest Maisie Dobbs mystery, A Dangerous Place, is out and in my hot little hands.  I was going to wait and borrow it from the library, but I caved into temptation.  We are talking Maisie Dobbs here, one of my favorite female sleuths.  But then, she is not at all your traditional sleuth, and I think that is why I like her so much.  I am already engrossed in the story, and it is a doozy.  Leaving Everything Most Loved was the last Maisie novel back in 2013, and it was quite a game changer.  It's going to be hard writing about this newest book without giving away plot spoilers, so that will be a creative post to write when I get to it.  I will only say that Maisie is in Gibraltar, Spain is fighting their Civil War and things are once again changing for Maisie.  The series is taking a decidedly different turn, but then it was obvious Jacqueline Winspear was going to move the story in a new direction.

Before I started the newest Maisie Dobbs, the urge was striking to pick up a nice cozy mystery, so I decided it had been far too long since I had last met up with the Honorable Daisy Dalrymple.   Has it really been five years since I read Styx and Stones?  Time flies.  These cozies by Carola Dunn are breezy, entertaining stories with likable characters.  Pure unadulterated escapism.  Just what I need at the moment.  Rattle His Bones takes place in the Natural History Museum in London and the year is 1923.  Daisy is planning a wedding to her very attractive detective inspector, Alec Fletcher.  She has just stumbled over a body (as she is wont to do) so the story is just about to really take off.  I think Daisy is an absolute delight and I don't want so much time to pass before I pick up more of her adventures.  I seem to be reaching quite often these days for mysteries and crime novels.  An unplanned binge, it seems.

Remember when I was soliciting opinions on which classic to choose, would you believe I never did start any of them?  I had Dumas in hand, but I was a little afraid of the sheer size of the book (actually I had started reading but was a little afraid I was getting bogged down in that introductory bit about the politics of the era which was helping set the scene).  Over 800 pages, but then with Dumas, does it ever feel like so many pages?  Mostly it's a matter of not wanting the story to end.  So I have been without a classic, and now I am reconsidering Dumas.  (Though after this weekend's short story, Edith Wharton has been hanging out on the edge of my thinking).  So, a dilemma.  Dumas or Wharton? 

I have just started watching the first season of BBC's The Musketeers.  It is quite addicting.  I am pretty particular when it comes to film adaptations of Dumas's work.  Usually I don't like it (they never seem to get it right), but I haven been glued to the TV this past weekend watching the series on DVD (I wish I had BBC America and could see the new season, which I think is airing now . . .).  There are some definite liberties taken with the story, but I think it captures the spirit of the books nicely. 

I watched the spring preview of shows for PBS's upcoming season and there is going to be lots of good things to watch.  Wolf Hall (which I have not yet read) is going to air next month.  I tend to like to read the book before watching the film adaptation, but in this case I think I will read the book later.  This summer The Crimson Field will air and it looks very promising, too.  But it is Poldark (from the novels by Winston Graham) that I am most looking forward to in June.  I have not read the novels, but I do have the first, Poldark, already pulled from my bookshelves and waiting for me at my bedside.  The series is based on the first two novels, so I will have to find a copy of Demelza soon, too.

Needless to say I feel fortunate to have such a most excellent pile of reading material so close at hand.  I won't even complain about a lack of enough reading time (because there never is enough, is there . . .).

Leaving Everything Most Loved

Given the number of mysteries I own, buy or borrow, you would think they are the only types of stories I read.  On more than one occasion I have said I could subsist on a steady diet of mystery novels, but like everything else in life--all things in moderation.  I am, however, looking forward to spending most of my reading time this month with some good mystery/crime stories.  How fitting then, to have recently read Jacqueline Winspear's Leaving Everything Most Loved and being able to kick things off with one of my favorite fictional sleuths.

Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs novels are one of the few mystery series I have read from first book to last and eagerly look forward to each new instalment and read it right when it is released.  They are easy, gentle sorts of reads but well done and becoming increasingly more complex over time.  It's probably a little strange-sounding, but I feel like over the course of (now) ten novels I have gotten to know Maisie and her family and friends, a cast of characters that with each book becomes more fully developed.  I recognize her corner of the world each time I crack open a new book.  Winspear is a dependably good author, but I see she is going to shake things up a bit.  I am not giving anything away by noting that Leaving Everything Most Loved is a game changer.  The book blurb itself tells the reader that this is a pivotal book in the series.     

If you've been following the story, you'll know that on the far horizon are glimmers of what is to come in Europe in not too many more years.  Maisie has grown and matured from her days as a servant, her time in France as a nurse during WWI, and the years after as she comes to terms with what she experienced and lost.  A psychologist and inquiry agent, she's not your typical detective, rather she concentrates on the wholeness of her clients and the situations they find themselves in.  She's quite a unique character really.  Intelligent and independent, empathetic, caring yet also somewhat cool and reserved.  Her intentions are always good, but she perhaps takes too much on herself.  She always wants what's best for those around her and offers a guiding hand whenever she can though sometimes to the detriment of her good intentions.  She can be quite formidable and correct, but I like her immensely.

Over the course of the last few books Maisie has slowly been moving away from her investigative work, or more accurate to say that she has taken on new roles in association with Scotland Yard as well as more secretive government work.  It's hardly surprising that she's following this path since she was long a student and then a colleague of Maurice Blanche who was himself tied to the government in the last war and involved in clandestine activities.  It's Maisie's vehement hope that the rumblings occurring in Germany are not going to lead to war, but she's savvy enough to know how to read the signs.

It's thanks in large part to Maurice that Maisie has become the woman she is.  He aided her in her education, mentored and influenced her.  At his passing several books previously he gave her the gift of independence by willing his estate to her.  So far from her humble beginnings as a servant, she is now a wealthy woman with her own business.  Now she finds herself at a crossroads.  I found myself wondering as I was reading if this could possibly be the last Maisie Dobbs mystery, or at least I wonder what form the next book will take.

It's 1933.  Hitler has become chancellor of Germany, but it's problems much closer to home that will occupy Maisie's time and thoughts.  Although this is a return to a more straightforward mystery investigation, there are different rumblings going on in Maisie's life--not just of the political sort.  Maisie has been asked to investigate the murder of Usha Pramal an immigrant from India.  Usha had come to England as a governess many years earlier but had left her situation, perhaps under a dark cloud. Not having the money to return to India she ended up in what's known as an Ayah's Hotel.  Women in the same situation as Usha can live in the safe environment of the hotel, giving most of their wages to the owners for board and safekeeping until they have earned enough to travel back to India.

Usha was a singular woman.  Also independently minded, educated and a healer, it was her profound wish to save enough money to not just return home but return with enough money saved to open a school for girls.  Instead she was found floating in a canal with a bullet in her head and no leads as to who could possibly have committed such a crime.  Scotland Yard had been investigating, but with no witnesses, a victim not of British origin and a family far away in India, there was no pressure on them to get fast results.  By the time Maisie is asked to take over the case has gone cold.  And then a second woman is murdered, a friend of Usha who might have shed light on Usha's circumstances and what led up to her death.  Things become increasingly tangled for Maisie.

Usha, only known to Maisie through her death, touches her just as she did so many other people when she was alive.  Although it is once again Maurice who is gently pushing Maisie on to the next stage of her life, her involvement with Usha influences her as well.  I don't want to give any more of the plot away for fear of spoiling the story, but this is one with an elegiac tone to it.

Although I do wonder where Maisie's own journey will take her in the next book, I do think there will be a next one.  I'm curious to hear what others who have read this think?  The series in order consists of: Maisie Dobbs, Birds of a Feather, Pardonable Lies, Messenger of Truth, An Incomplete Revenge, Among the Mad, The Mapping of Love and Death, A Lesson in Secrets, Elegy for Eddie and Leaving Everything Most Loved.  I've linked the titles to my own reviews (I was wondering how many I wrote about).  Now the long wait for a new Maisie Dobbs novel begins. 

Elegy for Eddie by Jacqueline Winspear

Jacqueline Winspear's Elegy for Eddie is yet another satisfying instalment in the Maisie Dobbs series of books.  To be honest, initially the mystery which concerns the death of a London costermonger didn't appeal to me as much as some of her previous stories.  But as the line for the book is long at the library, I knew I had to read it now or go the back of the queue and wait weeks for another turn.  It didn't take me long, however, to find I was totally absorbed in the story once I started, and now that I'm finished am sad to know there won't be another book to look forward to for at least a year.  I've been on a mystery binge lately turning to mostly cozy, comfort read type books, so Elegy for Eddie matched my mood perfectly as it turns out. 

If you follow the series as well, you'll already know about Maisie's history from her humble beginnings as a below the stairs servant in a grand country house and her love of reading and learning which caught the notice of Lady Compton who, along with Maurice Blanche, a family friend, helped nurture her talents to enable her to study at Girten College.  WWI intervened in Maisie's education as she went off to France to serve as a nurse.  All her experiences have helped mold her into a sensitive and inquisitive woman who is as interested in solving problems as delving into the psychological nature of both victim and perpetrator when she's asked to take on a new case.  Although she is an inquiry agent, or private investigator, she takes care to deal with the total well-being of her family, friends, and those clients who come to her for help and not just find a solution to a crime.

Maisie is an interesting character and a formidable one.  She's strong, intelligent and independent.  In some ways she's been damaged by the war, which though it's long finished still hovers in the background of the stories.  Perhaps she is more damaged, or better to say still affected by the war than she sometimes cares to admit.  And she is definitely something of a perfectionist and maybe even the tiniest bit controlling, though her intentions are always to make life better for those around her.  What I enjoy most about these books is seeing how she and the other characters have grown and evolved over time. In the last few books chinks to her armor have been spotted, and in this latest story she finally begins to realize some of her own shortcomings and how they impact those around her.  It turns out that Maisie is as human as the rest of us.

Elegy for Eddie is set in 1933, and while often Winspear's stories look back on WWI, her more recent books are looking forward as ill winds are blowing in Europe with Hitler's rise to power in Germany.  In the last book, A Lesson in Secrets, Maisie was asked to take on an assignment with the British Secret Service thanks to her association with Maurice Blanche her former mentor and colleague.  Maurice's work was far reaching and has influenced Maisie in her own endeavors, but it's a traditional mystery she's asked to unravel this time out.  Still, what appears to be a "simple" death under questionable circumstances will turn out to be darker and murkier and have far reaching connections to some close to her.

Maisie is asked to look into the death of a man she knew growing up.  Her own father was a costermonger, who sold fruit and vegetables in London before moving to the countryside.  Eddie Pettit, her elder by some years, was someone who was well loved by those close to him, and when he dies under unusual circumstances his friends come to Maisie hoping she can find answers to their concerns.  Eddie had a natural affinity and gift for working with horses having been born in a stable.  Although a gentle soul, there were a few around him who would take out their anger on his deficiencies, including a bully from his childhood who turns up just when Eddie seemed to be doing well for himself.  Eddie, it would appear, had gotten caught up in events much larger and more dangerous than he could handle.

During her investigation Maisie finds that nothing is quite as simple as it appears, and Eddie's death is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of lies and deceptions perpetrated by some in positions of power.  Finding a solution and revealing the truth becomes a moral conundrum, and while she might solve the murder she is left with uneasy answers showing that life is rarely pat and dry but plays out in shades of gray.  As with so many of my favorite mystery series it's not just the solving of the crime I'm interested in, but with the characters' lives and the world in which they live.  On these counts Winspear rarely fails to deliver.  Maisie is likable, but she is not without her flaws, and more so in this story than in many of the others she shows herself to have weaknesses.  And Winspear has a real knack for creating atmosphere and painting period details in a way that is natural and not glaring.  I think I say this with every new Maisie book I read, but I really do think this is my favorite one so far.

I'm almost finished with Andrew Taylor's The Lover of the Grave, which is another excellent mystery series, though set in post-WWII England.  I hope to write about it a little later this week.  And I'm also wrapped up in a Miss Marple mystery, The Body in the Library and still contemplating something with an Italian setting as well.  I'm having a really good run of mysteries at the moment!

A Lesson in Secrets

Every year about this time I look forward to a new Maisie Dobbs mystery.  Maisie is one of the few fictional sleuths that I follow faithfully (though I dip into quite a few other mystery series).  Jacqueline Winspear is very good about publishing her books regularly and not letting too much time pass before a new instalment is released, the latest being A Lesson in Secrets.  What I like most about these books, aside from the characters and interwar setting, is that she never lets the storyline go stale.  It's not just Maisie Dobbs solving a new mystery, but her life and the lives of those around her are constantly changing with the times.  Of course the mystery aspect is interesting but it's also the other myriad details of life in the 1930s and the interplay between characters that I enjoy so much and draws me back to these books again and again.

Once again Winspear moves in a new direction and the story has gotten slightly more complex than previous books.  Although I won't give away spoilers, I will be mentioning a few details from the last book, The Mapping of Love and Death, which you might not want to know if you've not yet read it, so a bit of a heads up here.  As each book seems to build upon the last it's hard to talk about them without letting something important slip. 

With the death of her former mentor and associate Maurice Blanche, Maisie finds herself in more comfortable circumstances having inherited the Dower House from Maurice along with a healthy savings account.  With her business doing well despite the country falling into a depression and many out of work, several new opportunities come Maisie's way.  Maurice was a great influence on her and she continues to feel his presence in her life, so when she's asked to take on an assignment with the British Secret Service, it seems a natural step forward to her.  It was only in recent years that Maisie learned of Maurice's own work with Special Branch, particularly during the war years.  There's a growing concern about the activities of a man who has established a small, private college in Cambridge.  As many members of the staff and student body are foreign born, Maisie is asked to take on a job as a lecturer in philosophy in order to observe the inner workings of the college and try and suss out if any of their activities are against the interests of the government.

Greville Liddicote, the college's founder, is found dead shortly after Maisie's arrival, which makes things messy.  Her brief does not include trying to find Liddicote's murderer, but his life's work seems inextricably tied up with the work at the college and possibly became the motive for his murder.  Liddicote is a famed author of children's books, the latter few with strong pacifist messages, and there is rumor the books were the cause of an embarrassment to the British government during the war, which was subsequently hushed up.  It's not in Maisie's character to not seek the truth in the matters she's investigating, so finds herself mixed up in inquiries on several fronts.

Billy Beale, Maisie's assistant is asked to take care of the day to day cases in London and is joined by a young woman who was also in service with the Compton family but left to marry.  When her husband is unexpectedly killed in an accident Maisie takes her under her wing and offers her a job in the office.  Sandra proves to be a good worker but is convinced her husband's death was not accidental, and ends up in trouble when she starts doing a little snooping of her own on the side.

There are a number of different threads to this latest Maisie Dobbs mystery.  While the situation she finds herself in is new, working for the Secret Service, there is still the element of mystery solving to the story.  By branching out into the area of national security Winspear is opening the storyline up to many new elements that I expect she'll flesh out in upcoming novels.  Maisie is a very rational, analytical character who through her training as a nurse and then later at Cambridge and with Maurice Blanche has received a perhaps unique but practical background for this sort of work.  She still does all the legwork and questioning you would expect of a inquiry agent and will occasionally work closely with detectives at the Met, but she also uses the science of psychology in finding the solution to the cases she works on.  

As Maisie's professional life progresses, so too her personal life has developed and she's grown and matured over the course of the novels.  And there is again the whisper of a romantic side to Maisie, though that is largely on the back burner this time around.  What Winspear does begin exploring is the rising tide of Nazism, thought at the time to be benign and maybe even somewhat positive in some circles.  Given Maisie's past experiences, it's not a political movement she finds encouraging.  As always I am curious to see which direction Winspear takes Maisie next.   Quite often the stories reach back to events during the First World War, but we all know the turmoil that Maisie and so many others will soon be confronting.

I'm sure I say this about every new Maisie Dobbs mystery I read, but this is my favorite so far.  And as expected it was a thoroughly enjoyable read.  My copy was courtesy of Harpercollins and Netgalley.

The Mapping of Love and Death

Satisfying sigh.  I've just finished reading Jacqueline Winspear's soon to be released The Mapping of Love and Death.  Last year at about this time I read Among the Mad and considered it my favorite book thus far in the series, but that's now been replaced by her newest Maisie Dobbs novel, which I thought was a marvelous read.  I've always felt these books were quality cozy mysteries, though they could almost just be considered novels with a mystery incorporated into the story.  Winspear continues to develop not only the character of Maisie but those around her.  I find that when I start each new book it isn't so much the crime I'm interested in reading about and discovering the solution or culprit, but I want to read about Maisie and Billy Beale and their families and the people who circle and cross their orbits.  All the old faces are here and even a couple new ones.

I suspect many of you might already be acquainted with Maisie and know she is a psychologist and investigator whose assistant is Billy Beale.  Maisie is a former nurse and Billy served as a sapper in WWI.  Part of what draws me to these books, aside from my interest in the interwar period, is Maisie herself.  Maisie is appealing to me because in many ways I'm so unlike her.  She's rational and analytical.  She's not overly emotional, which isn't to say she doesn't feel things deeply, but she never wears her heart on her sleeve.  Although she might seem in some ways almost too dispassionate it's no wonder considering what she went through during WWI, wounded not only in body but in soul.  And she lost the love of her life, if not physically then mentally when he was injured in an artillery bombardment.  Over the course of the books, however, particularly this one and the last, Maisie has really opened up and that hard shell that she had built around her is starting to come down.  Post-WWI was a period of opportunity for many women as almost a whole generation of men were lost.  Maisie is smart and independent and trying to find her way in this new society. 

It's now 1932, but the novel begins in California back in 1914 just as war is breaking out on the Continent.  Michael Clifton, a young American, prepares to return to his family in Boston after surveying land he's bought in the Santa Ynez Valley, an impressive property visually as well as lucrative for what it hides beneath its surface.  When he reads about England's declaration of war he decides to offer his services as a cartographer to the British forces.  His father emigrated to America as a young man, so he can trace his lineage back to England, though it's almost assured his skills will be needed as accurate maps will be necessary to fight the war.  

Nearly two decades later a farmer plowing land in the Somme valley discovers the bodies of several British soldiers in what was once a trench.  Amongst them is the body of Michael Clifton.  It would have simply been a sad footnote to the war, but bones don't lie.  Michael wasn't killed by enemy fire, rather his death was caused by a gash on the back of the head.  When the trench caved in the crime would almost surely go unnoticed.  A diary and packet of letters from a woman were found on Michael's body.  The Cliftons are referred to Maisie Dobbs in London by an American doctor that worked with her during the war.  So Maisie is hired to look into his death and try to find the nurse that sent Michael the love letters.  Letters that were signed only, The English Nurse.   

I don't want to say any more about the plot.  I'll leave all the good stuff for you to discover if you plan on picking this one up.  I will mention that as always Jacqueline Winspear has done her homework and the historical details seem very authentic.  This time around she writes about the cinema and a new art form known as the documentary, which will come into play as Maisie investigates Michael's murder.  The reader also gets a taste of car racing at Brooklands.  

The Mapping of Love and Death seems a pivotal novel in the series and will be life altering for some of the characters.  I had already thought Among the Mad broke new ground a bit with Maisie and burgeoning relationships, and Winspear explores this avenue more in this book.  I can also see many new possibilities for Maisie, which are quite exciting, that now make me anxious for another book.  And on the far horizon lies another possible conflict as there are the very beginnings of rumblings once again from the Continent.  The Mapping of Love and Death is due to be published March 23.  I think it's Jacqueline Winspear's best yet.  Many thanks to HarperCollins for sending me a copy to read in advance (which I admit I very shamelessly requested).  And do check out Jacqueline's new website.

Jacqueline Winspear & Maisie Dobbs

If you're an occasional visitor here you already know I'm very fond of Jacqueline Winspear's novels featuring Maisie Dobbs.  I've been a fan of the series since it's inception back in 2003 with Maisie Dobbs, which introduced the investigator/psychologist.  I first discovered Maisie whilst browsing the 'new books' shelves at my local library.  I had a good feeling about the book and judging from the many accolades Maisie Dobbs and subsequent books have garnered, I wasn't wrong.  Now every year I eagerly await each new installment (no longer waiting for a library copy, I have to have my own).  I was fortunate enough to read Jacqueline's sixth Maisie novel Among the Mad last month, though you'll be happy to know it is officially on sale today.  Jacqueline Winspear kindly agreed to answer a few questions about her work.

By way of introduction would you mind telling us a little bit about yourself?

I am originally from the United Kingdom and came to the United States eighteen years ago (though I had visited the USA many times from my late teens onwards, it wasn't until 1990 that I came here for a longer period of time, which ended up being much longer than I expected!).  I live in California, and as well as writing every day, I also train in the equestrian sport of dressage - I have two horses.      

Maisie Dobbs is one of my favorite characters, and I know I'm not alone in enjoying the Maisie Dobbs novels.  What was your inspiration when you created her, and how would you describe her?

As many of my readers know, I did not actually plan to write a novel - Maisie Dobbs chose me!  The "idea" came to me whilst I was daydreaming in very heavy traffic that had backed up at a stop-light.  However, as I continue now to create the character, and as she reveals herself to me, I am always inspired by the spirit of that generation of women in Britain - women who came to womanhood in the years of the Great War, and for whom everything changed.  As I have said on my website: Maisie Dobbs is very much a woman of her generation.  She has come of age at a time when women took on the toil of men and claimed independence that was difficult to relinquish.  It was a time when many women remained unmarried, simply because a generation of men had gone to war and not come home.  

Why did you choose the post-WWI era as a setting?  And what are the biggest challenges writing historical mysteries?

I have always been fascinated by the period from, say, 1913 - just before the Great War - until 1954, the end of the post WW2 rationing in Britain, but I find the Great War and the period between the wars particularly compelling.  The war and its aftermath provide fertile ground for a mystery.  Such great social upheaval allows for the strange and unusual to emerge and a time of intense emotions can, to the writer of fiction, provide ample fodder for a compelling story, especially one concerning criminal acts and issues of guilt and innocence.  After all, a generation is said to have lost its innocence in The Great War.

From my point of view, I think the challenges are the same for any novelist, whether their work is set at a time in history, or in the present: Essentially the writer, through story, is shining a light onto a time, place and certain group of characters - and facts don't necessarily help you there.

I love reading about the period, and the details ring true when I am reading other books about Britain in the 1920s and 1930s.  How much research goes into your books?

It really depends, but the truth is that I have been "researching" the background for my books throughout my life, through personal experience (for example, my grandfather was shell-shocked and wounded in the Great War, and because he was older when he married and elderly by the time I was born, I remember him well).  But I do a fair amount of research too.  I visit the UK three or four times a year, and invariably to do some sort of research, whether walking the area depicted in a given novel, or using reference libraries and archives I cannot access online.

How do you approach your writing?  Do you have set writing times when you're working on a book?  And do you have a general idea how the mysteries will work out or do you decide as you go?

I write every day, though when I write depends on the weather!  If it is really hot, I have to get my horses out early in the morning, so I write after I ride.  In winter and spring, the writing comes before riding!

I have a general idea when it comes to plot, but I also allow unexpected inspiration to take me down unanticipated paths.

The characters have really changed and developed over the course of six books.  Can you already visualize what will happen to Maisie in the future?  And out of curiosity might she ever travel to America?

Yes, I can visualize what happens to Maisie in the future, and though America will be featured in the novel I am working on now, Maisie will not be traveling to America.

Can we have a sneak peek of Maisie's next msytery?  What about any other writing ventures, do you have any plans to write any non-Maisie Dobbs novels?

If you mean Among the Mad, to be published on February 17th, here's the advertising blurb: 

It's Christmas Eve 1931.  On the way to see a client, Maisie Dobbs witnesses a man commit suicide on a busy London street.  The following day, the prime minister's office receives a letter threatening massive loss of life if certain demands are not met--and the writer mentions Maisie by name.  After being questioned and cleared by Detective Chief Superintendent Robert MacFarlane of Scotland Yard's elite Special Branch, she is drawn into MacFarlane's personal fiefdom as a special adviser on the case.  Meanwhile, Billy Beale, Maisie's trusted assistant, is once again facing tragedy as his wife, who has never recovered from the death of their young daughter, slips further into melancholia's abyss.  Soon Maisie becomes involved in a race against time to find a man who proves he has the knowledge and will to inflict death and destruction on thousands of innocent people.  And before this harrowing case is over, Maisie must navigate a darkness not encountered since she was a nurse in the wards filled with shell-shocked men.

I have already written a non-Maisie novel.  It's not a mystery and I have no plans to publish yet.

Who are your favorite mystery authors?  Did any one in particular inspire you to write mysteries?  And as I'm always curious, what books are you currently reading?

No one mystery writer inspired me to write a mystery.  I just began writing a story that was in my head - and it just so happened it turned out to be a mystery.  As I wrote the novel, more ideas were coming to me so I knew I had a series character - in fact, as far as I'm concerned, Maisie Dobbs is the mystery.  I'm as interested as anyone else to find out who she will be by the end of the book, how she has changed and developed as a person through her work and the associations that come with it.

As far as mystery authors are concerned - I have broad tastes, from P.D. James to Patricia Cornwell.  I think most mystery writers might say the same thing.

I am currently reading about three non-fiction books about life in the 1930's.  I do not read fiction when I am writing a novel (but I have HUGE pile of books to read as soon as I've laid down the first draft of my next novel).

You can read more about Maisie Dobbs here.  Also check out The Naked Truth about Life and Literature, where Jacqueline blogs along with five other authors.    

One more good piece of news, Jacqueline's publisher Henry Holt is offering three freebie copies of Among the Mad to be given away here.  I'm afraid the books are only available to readers in the US and Canada.  So, if you'll leave a comment on this post by Saturday letting me know you're interested in being included in the drawing, I'll be happy to drop your name in the hat.  I'll draw three names on February 21, Saturday morning.

Many thanks to Jacqueline Winspear for taking the time to answer my questions, and Henry Holt for copies of her new book to give away.