Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Maisie Dobbs
Book Review: Wonderful
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved this book!! Very different from the mysteries I have been reading. I love the historical setting with characters I actually care for. It's so nice to have complete respect and admiration for the main character of a story and Maisie fits the bill. I'm looking forward to reading more from Jacqueline WinspearBook Review: Simply Stellar
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been meaning to read this book for a long time. MAISIE DOBBS made quite a sensation when it first came out in 2003, eventually winning the prestigious Agatha award for best first novel. It was also nominated for the Edgar award for best novel (the main category), one of only two debut novels in the history of the Edgar awards to be so nominated. Needless to say, my expectations were quite high for this book.
My expectations were easily met. This book is remarkably well written debut and features an extaordinary likable protagonist. I normally don't like historical mysteries, but Winspear did a great job of making early 20th century England come alive for me. This novel features a cast of fascinating characters that I can't wait to meet again in future installments. All of the characters in the book were three-dimensional human beings that you could imagine existing in real life.
This book admittedly does not have a very strong mystery story; the main purpose of the novel is to introduce the main character and her life history. If you're looking for a strong mystery instead, you may want to try one of the later novels in this series (like BIRDS OF A FEATHER).
Book Review: A charming debut
Summary: 5 Stars
By chance, I picked up this debut novel by Jacqueline Winspear, introducing her character Maisie Dobbs, a young woman running a detective agency between the two World Wars in England and still coping with the repercussions from the first war. I was pleasantly surprised and charmed! Since I love Golden Age mysteries and novels, I usually find the attempts to emulate them lacking, but Winspear did her homework and used many resources to faithfully recreate the aura, attitudes and period, and it pays off nicely. Unlike the standard mystery, this novel is more focused on characters and a gentle compassion towards the suffering that went on in World War I. She creates a landscape still reeling from emotional and physical devastation and individuals only able to cope with their losses and scars in doses. Maisie Dobbs is a healer of sorts, and through her, one sees the wider picture. She also has to come to terms with her own shattering experiences and she is a woman who rose above class, another nice touch.
I loved this novel. It's very warm, caring and beautiful with a leisurely pace and simplicity that is touching. It is a novel of grace and gentility. I look forward to the next installments in the series. Recommended.
Book Review: A Good NOVEL that happens to be a Mystery!
Summary: 5 Stars
Jacqueline Winspear writes with great style. MAISIE DOBBS is the first in this series. It is romantic like CASABLANCA with the same mysterious air. The book is set in wartime England. Both the setting and the characters are very well drawn...you can't help but to care for them as you get to know them. The other two books in this series are BIRDS OF A FEATHER and PARDONABLE LIES. The story continues through these books although they can be read seperate. Each title is strong enough to stand on its own merits. Winspear's book should be added to your permanent shelf whether you like mysteries or not.Book Review: The Debut of an Interwar Nancy Drew
Summary: 3 Stars
By rights, I'm just the right reader for this book: I love mysteries (especially British ones), I find WWI fascinating, I find the interwar era and the whole "upstairs-downstairs" British class stuff interesting. And yet...while mildly diverting and obviously well-researched, this first book in a series about a plucky young female investigator/psychologist really didn't work for me. It's written as if the intended readership were 10-14 year-old girls, which is fine, but as an adult, it's hard to find Nancy Drewish escapades of a flawless heroine all that fulfilling.
The framework is a little unconventional (though not the disaster some reviewers make it out to be): the first part of the book introduces us to 20something Maisie Dobbs, just opening her business in London. Her first case is a classic assignment: a man who is worried his wife is cheating on him wants Maisie to check into it. As her investigation unfolds there are allusions to Maisie's past and a mysterious mentor, but nothing is spelled out. Suddenly, the story drifts back in time to 1910 or so, and we are reintroduced to a younger Maisie as she enters service as a housemaid for an aristocratic family. We follow dutifully along as her employers discover her reading Latin in the library and extend their patronage, allowing her to be tutored by their strange friend (and apparent spy) Maurice, and eventually supporting her bid to go to Cambridge (Girton College). Despite success at school, when World War I starts, she decides to join the Red Cross, and eventually serves as a nurse in France, where she witnesses the horror of war.
The final third of the book then shifts back the the postwar era, and Maisie's patron asks her help in a family matter. This all dovetails with her earlier case, as well as the war and the scars (psychic and physical) left by the war. The mystery isn't substantial enough to satisfy most fans of the genre, and anyone with any discernment is going to find the climax painfully bad. (All I'll say is that involves singing...) As a detective, Maisie isn't particularly compelling -- her technique is a mix of keen observation and psychology. However, she's even less compelling as a character. Maisie's one of those plucky underdogs designed to provoke maximum reader projection: born into semi-poverty, raised by single father, highly intelligent, uncommonly perceptive, always composed, humble, beloved by all, and possessing big violet eyes. She's the kind of character everyone likes to imagine they would be, had they lived in that time and been born into those circumstances. The supporting cast is fairly pat: vegetable-seller father (with a heart of gold), feisty upper-class patroness (with a heart of gold), prim butler (with a heart of gold), plump cook (with a heart of gold), Cockney handyman/sidekick (with a heart of gold), etc...
The book isn't bad (except for the climax, which is terrible), it's just not very satisfying for adult readers looking for complex characters and a meaty plot. It suffers from feeling very much like a book designed to establish setting and characters for a series. I may read onward in the series (the next two are Birds of a Feather and Pardonable Lies), but may wait for the inevitable BBC TV series this will spawn.