A while ago I posted a quick review in the right hand column about Jacqueline Winspear's first mystery novel, Maisie Dobbs -- set in England between the World Wars. I have since fallen under the spell of Maisie Dobbs, psychological investigator, survivor of the brutal World War I, where she served as a field nurse, and one of the new social class of independent, intelligent women of the early 1930s. I have finished four of the novels currently available in paperback:
Maisie Dobbs, Birds of a Feather, Pardonable Lies, and Messenger of Truth.
Winspear has done a terrific job, not only in creating interesting murder mysteries, but in also in creating very moving and thoughtful stories of trauma and reconciliation of those whose lives were shattered by the war. Maisie and her colleague Billy Beale guide us by their own experiences through a broken society, aware that it has changed, but uncertain as to where it is going. As Maisie lends her considerable intuition and intelligence to solving crimes, she also examines the wounds in her own life, giving us a character that is both tough and tender, resolute and vulnerable. It is almost impossible not to fall in love with her.
Winspear's writing is wonderful -- clean and crisp, suitably paced for a cracking mystery, but also able to offer moments of thoughtful reflection, involving us intimately in the lives of the characters and not only the story's denouement. Winspear also manages to add little touches to her writing such as the unexpected arrival of historical personages, great slang vocabulary from London's East End and Kent, very specific details of home and hearth from the period, and the ability to make you drink tons of tea along with toast and jam as you read.
A fifth novel, An Incomplete Revenge, is currently available in hardcover, and a sixth novel (already receiving rave reviews), Among the Mad, is due out in February 09 and can be pre-ordered. You can also find a very moving essay by the author "Skylarks Above No Man's Land" about her visit to the battlefields of The Sommes and Ypres. She also has an excellent website that offers additional and quite enriching historical information about Maisie's world.
