Reviews

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

svetlanans's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

4.25

noribedori's review against another edition

4.0

Good. I had a feeling of déjà vu while reading this...I'm pretty sure now that I've read it before. Some interesting themes to the mystery solving that I liked - trusting intuition and mirroring emotion and finding silence. Sometimes the explanations of the techniques felt a bit heavy-handed. I'd be curious to see how it evolves in the series.

naturegirl500's review against another edition

5.0

Delightful. I will look forward to more stories with gifted detective. The history and the details were so fascinating and I felt personally connected in many ways.

serein42's review against another edition

hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

rdaisygal's review against another edition

3.0

I very much liked it. It was quite charming. I may read more.

bkowalczik's review against another edition

4.0

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Maisie is not your typical private eye in England's late 1920's, as you realize when she tells her first client that he must agree to discussing what he will do with the information she provides him as part of the condition for using her services. Flashbacks into Maisie's life give us a feel for her working class upbringing and life at the front in World War I.

artistsallie's review against another edition

1.0

Primary problem: I was bored the entire time.
Secondary problem: weak mystery and bizarre structure
Tertiary problem: one-dimensional characters

I think this might have some appeal to the 10-13 year-old Nancy Drew demographic, but neither the mystery nor the setting provided any sense of accomplishment. It might be a way to start a "PG" conversation about WWI, but I would still look elsewhere. There's nothing "wrong" with it, so much as I just feel like I wasted my time. My search for a compelling female detective goes on.

persnickety9's review against another edition

2.0

Mary Sue, I mean, Maisie Dobbs, is honestly such an annoying character. I typically like historical fiction, but the pacing was so off, especially since we spent what felt like a 100 pages back in time. I doubt I’ll continue this series.

courtneyrath's review against another edition

5.0

I'm a sucker for historical mysteries, and this one is so well done! I love this character--a quirky but emotionally mature young woman from a working class family who (with the sometimes problematic and always condescending help of her social superiors) gets an excellent education (both in the world and at Oxford) and sets up her own business as a psychologist and investigator--and the way Winspear provides her protagonist with diverse experiences for learning from all kinds of different people.

I listened to the audiobook and the reader is excellent; she switches between English accents to distinguish the characters, and with the exception of an American soldier who sounded really odd, they all work.

I will definitely continue with this series!

zhuzhureads's review against another edition

3.75

Interesting take on a murder mystery novel. The use of psychology/therapy as a way to better the clients after their case was taken on is a clever twist on detective work. The pace felt a bit slow for me, and I wish there was a little more memorable moments about maisie, but I’m hoping the following novels will do just that.