A review by melissa_who_reads
Elegie for Eddie by Jacqueline Winspear

4.0

In the last one, Maisie went back to the Cambridge of her youth. In this one, she is taken further back, to the Lambeth of her childhood, as she is asked to solve the death of a developmentally disabled young man from Lambeth, who she knew as a child. Among other things, she discovers her father maintained a relationship with Eddie well into adulthood, long after Frankie moved to the country -- in fact, right up to Eddie's death.

This one has all her personal relationships thrown into disarray. What part does her best friend's husband play in the story of Eddie's death? Why is she feeling suffocated in her relationship with James? Her father refuses to move into the Dower House, now hers -- and is carrying on a relationship with her housekeeper, Mrs. Bromley. And perhaps most upsetting, her right-hand man, Billy Beale, is badly beaten up, and his mentally ill wife accuses Maisie of meddling in their lives -- and Maisie has to confront her own need for control and whether her own wisdom really is best.

Good read. Good lessons in the limits of generosity.