Maisie Dobbs

Maisie Dobbs
by Jacqueline Winspear

I wasn't sure what to expect when this title ended up as one of the monthly discussion titles for the Just Desserts mystery group here at the library. I had seen good reviews of this series, and knew that it was popular, with seven volumes released so far. I ended up enjoying this one tremendously. Though classified as a mystery -- Maisie is a fledgling detective in this first volume -- this was more of a period character study than anything else. Set primarily in late 1920s London, as Maisie Dobbs sets up her first independent investigation agency, this novel also features extended flashbacks to Maisies youth, in which she leaves her father to take a position as a household employee to a forward-thinking socialite, and ultimately to the period in which Maisie serves as a nurse near the front lines of WWI in France. Maisie, and the quirky characters that surround her, is a believably real figure, and you'll grow to care about what happens to her. The Dobbs series is often compared, favorably, to the series by Alexander McCall-Smith set in Kenya, and I agree with that assessment. If you like Precious Ramatswe, you'll like Maisie, too. -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[Also available in downloadable, book-on-cd, and Book on Tape formats.]

[ official Jacqueline Winspear/Maisie Dobbs web site ]

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