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MAISIE DOBBS
by Jacqueline Winspear
John Murray, July 2004
304 pages
16.99GBP
ISBN: 0719566215


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

I think I've just been mugged. I've been reading Jacqueline Winspear's MAISIE DOBBS and what I thought started out as a rather pedestrian stroll by the end, unexpectedly grabbed me by the throat, and had me crying my eyes out.

This is the first in what is intended to be a series of books centred on the eponymous Maisie Dobbs and is set primarily in London and Kent in 1929, and in France during the Great War.

We join Maisie as she is opening her office in Warren Street in 1929 and taking on her first case as an investigator in her own right. Her client, Christopher Davenham, suspects his wife is having an affair and asks Maisie to uncover what his wife is doing on the days she disappears. The answer, however, leads back to events in the war and its aftermath and Maisie feels compelled to examine them further.

This is not a series that will one day need a prequel. After recounting the early stages of her initial case, the novel switches to tell us the story of Maisie's life from her humble roots as the daughter of a costermonger in Covent Garden, to her days in service, her education, and her involvement as a battlefield nurse in France during the Great War. Indeed this takes up the majority of the book, which is more the personal history of an investigator than it is a mystery novel. The story sweeps one along until it comes up to date and we resume the current investigation with Maisie and head towards a very powerful conclusion.

I wasn't expecting to like MAISIE DOBBS as much as I ultimately did. It's been many years since I read a Barbara Taylor Bradford or Catherine Cookson novel, or anything similar, but that's what I was initially reminded of. Of course, they are successful for a reason, and once I dropped my defences I enjoyed the tale.

The story came most to life for me with the start of the war and Maisie's involvement in it, and the experiences of others who had suffered in or as a consequence of it. As the wounds beneath the politeness of society were exposed, my interest mounted, and for me the style of the writing improved and flowed more freely.

Now I know Maisie so well, I eagerly anticipate the next book in the series where the real sleuthing will no doubt begin but also because I want to follow her personal story.

I'd recommend you to try MAISIE DOBBS, and stick with it if, like me, you struggle a little at the beginning. MAISIE DOBBS was the winner of the Agatha Award for Best First Mystery of 2003, and short-listed for the Edgar Award for Best Novel in the same year. The emotional strength of its conclusion makes it easy for me to see why.

Reviewed by Bridget Bolton, June 2004

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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