Messenger of Truth: A Maisie Dobbs Novel (Maisie Dobbs Novels)
by Jacqueline Winspear
List Price:
Our Price: $7.73
You Save: $16.27 (68%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.29 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Jacqueline WinspearEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2006-08-22
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Book Reviews of Messenger of Truth: A Maisie Dobbs Novel (Maisie Dobbs Novels)
Book Review: "Nick's art was his exorcism...Every time a picture was born of his memory, it was as if something dark was laid to rest."
Summary: 4 Stars
Set in post-World War I England, the Maisie Dobbs mysteries keep getting better and better--more fully developed, more complex, and more illustrative of life in that between-wars era. In this fourth novel, Maisie, a former army nurse, now in her late twenties, is an "inquiry agent," or private detective, who has been contacted by wealthy Georgina Bassington-Hope following the death of her brother Nick. Nick, a highly regarded artist, died in a fall from the scaffolding he was using to mount a new exhibition, and Georgina, defying her family and the police report, believes he was pushed.
Using straight-forward, workmanlike prose, author Jacqueline Winspear develops the story and a cast of characters which offers a broad cross section of the society between world wars--from the wealthy Bassington-Hopes, who can afford to be frivolous in their arty lives, to the family of Billy Beale, a poor man who supports his large family as Maisie's assistant. The exotic world of artists, gallery owners, and buyers, comes alive, as does the world of fishermen on the Kentish coast, where Nick Bassington-Hope has his studio, and the reader quickly develops an awareness of the stratification pervading society and the concern for one's "place" in it.
As Maisie begins her investigation of Nick's death, Winspear juggles several overlapping plot threads simultaneously. Nick's exhibition was to feature his "masterpiece," thought to be a triptych about his experiences in the war, a work of art so secret no one has ever seen it--and no one has found it since his death. The relationships of Nick Bassington-Hope with his family and friends; the problems of Billy Beale's family in an overcrowded and unhealthy tenement; Maisie's new suitor and romance; the centuries-long history of smuggling on the Kentish coast; and the search for Nick's missing masterpiece keep the action lively from beginning to end, with plenty of tugs at the heartstrings as sorrowful events, some associated with the war, unfold.
Maisie, as proper and chaste as the heroines of novels actually written in the 1930s, is imaginative and independent, always polite and "lady-like." Genuinely fond of Billy Beale's family, she nevertheless maintains a professional distance as his employer, not wanting to insult his pride. The novel feels "cozy," in its intimacy and family orientation, with care paid to characters' feelings and domestic conflicts. Though the novel has moments of excitement, the reader is left, at the end, with as much appreciation for its charm as for its mystery. Mary Whipple
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Books to get rid of your Breaking Dawn Blues
The Devil Wears Pradaby Lauren Weisberger
Anchor; Published: 2006-05-30; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.74
Price in other shops:
Queen of Babble Gets Hitchedby Meg Cabot
William Morrow; Published: 2008-07-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.49
Price in other shops:
Queen of Babbleby Meg Cabot
Avon A; Published: 2007-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.95
Price in other shops:
Airheadby Meg Cabot
Point; Published: 2008-05-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.89
Price in other shops:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)by J. K. Rowling
Arthur A. Levine Books; Published: 2007-07-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops:
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6)by J.K. Rowling
SCHOLASTIC BOOKS (TRADE); Scholastic Paperbacks; Published: 2006-07-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.44
Price in other shops:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5)by J. K. Rowling, Mary GrandPré
Scholastic; Scholastic Paperbacks; Published: 2004-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.66
Price in other shops:
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4)by J. K. Rowling, Mary GrandPré
Scholastic; Scholastic Paperbacks; Published: 2002-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3)by J. K. Rowling
Scholastic; Published: 2004-05-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.50
Price in other shops:
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2)by J. K. Rowling
Arthur A. Levine Books; Published: 2003-11-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.71
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
The Private Patient (Adam Dalgliesh Mysteries)by P.D. James
Knopf; Published: 2008-11-18; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.50
Price in other shops:
Silent In The Graveby Deanna Raybourn
Mira; Published: 2007-12-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.83
Price in other shops:
Death in the Gardenby Elizabeth Ironside
Felony & Mayhem; Published: 2005-10-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.95
Price in other shops:
Her Royal Spyness (A Royal Spyness Mystery)by Rhys Bowen
Berkley; Published: 2008-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.56
Price in other shops:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Societyby Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows
Dial Press Trade Paperback; Published: 2009-05-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.88
Price in other shops:
Among the Mad (Maisie Dobbs Novels)by Jacqueline Winspear
Henry Holt and Co.; Published: 2009-02-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.14
Price in other shops:
Maisie Dobbsby Jacqueline Winspear
Penguin Books; Published: 2004-05-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.25
Price in other shops:
Birds of a Feather (Maisie Dobbs Mysteries)by Jacqueline Winspear
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2005-08-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.77
Price in other shops:
An Incomplete Revenge: A Maisie Dobbs Novel (Maisie Dobbs Novels)by Jacqueline Winspear
Picador; Published: 2008-11-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.89
Price in other shops:
Pardonable Lies: A Maisie Dobbs Novel (Maisie Dobbs Novels)by Jacqueline Winspear
Picador; Published: 2006-06-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.90
Price in other shops: