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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
Sometimes a gentle mystery is what you need to read. Escapist - yes, but a good story.
Private investigator Maisie Dobbs is called on to reopen a cold case--a murder of an Indian woman in a working class London neighborhood. The more Maisie learns about the victim, the more she begins to feel it was Usha Pramal's peculiarly attractive personality that may have led to her death. Could someone have loved her so much, they began to hate her? Her pursuit of clues leads her to many intriguing people, including a remarkable Indian scholar, a cleric of a self-invented church, the hosts of a Christian hostel offering shelter to Indian women stranded by employers or circumstances in a foreign country. All seem to be concealing bits of Usha's story.
Meanwhile, Maisie wrestles with her own questions. Should she intercede again in the life of her assistant, Billy, who is suffering the aftereffects of severe injuries from a previous case? Should she put a stop to her other assistant's apparent relationship with married Billy? And what of her own proposal of marriage? Her paramour, James, wants to marry and carry Maisie off to Canada. Can Maisie wed and stay true to herself? Does she even know who she wants to be?
As the intrepid detective zeroes in on the murderer, a second murder occurs, upending Maisie's case and sending her in a new direction--straight into danger.
Ms. Winspear's fine series, set in Britain in the years between WWI and WWII, is a evocative of the time, and reminds me of the best of Christie, Sayers and Allingham.
Meanwhile, Maisie wrestles with her own questions. Should she intercede again in the life of her assistant, Billy, who is suffering the aftereffects of severe injuries from a previous case? Should she put a stop to her other assistant's apparent relationship with married Billy? And what of her own proposal of marriage? Her paramour, James, wants to marry and carry Maisie off to Canada. Can Maisie wed and stay true to herself? Does she even know who she wants to be?
As the intrepid detective zeroes in on the murderer, a second murder occurs, upending Maisie's case and sending her in a new direction--straight into danger.
Ms. Winspear's fine series, set in Britain in the years between WWI and WWII, is a evocative of the time, and reminds me of the best of Christie, Sayers and Allingham.
Maisie at a crossroads in both her cases and life. An intricate book filled with the colors of a different culture trying to make their way in England in the pre WW2 era.
In addition to this being a well-written mystery; it also tugged on my heart strings. The title is, "Leaving Everything Most Loved"- and it makes me wonder if there will be any additional books in the series.
I would give this six stars if I could. It is wonderful that this being the 10th in the Maisie Dobbs series and each book has been as captivating and well written as the one before. I do think [b:Leaving Everything Most Loved|15819025|Leaving Everything Most Loved (Maisie Dobbs #10)|Jacqueline Winspear|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1356454162s/15819025.jpg|21547733] and the first in the series [b:Maisie Dobbs|462033|Maisie Dobbs (Maisie Dobbs, #1)|Jacqueline Winspear|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1312066155s/462033.jpg|976403] are my favorite. If read in order the background on Maisie and those important in her life are well developed. Maisie brings a sense of calm to me while I read. I want to savor each page, and sometimes I reread a paragraph again just to take it all in. Now the hard part is waitng for the next book as I hope there is another one. Maisie has moved on with much to discover and much to decide.
The mystery was fairly intriguing, even if I did tire of Maisie interviewing the same people over and over and over. However, her personal life continues to move at a glacial pace. I find it hard to believe that in this era, shacking up was such an acceptable thing to do. And it's even harder to believe that Maisie, who is written as somewhat of a traditionalist in these matters, is more intimidated by society's reaction to her marrying James than their prolonged love affair and cohabitation.
I read Leaving Everything Most Loved out of sequence but it didn't matter! I can't get enough of Maisie Dobbs. Jacqueline Winspear is a great story teller.
I just couldn't finish this. All the annoying problems that have been festering in the last few books just got to be too much. There is no growth or development of characters. Maisie has gotten so tiresome in her moral superiority and belief that it is her job to fix the lives of all the grown adults that are connected to her. I can see that Winspear is setting things up for a major shift, but it's too little too late.