A review by jaepingsu
Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

3.0

An interesting start to this mystery series set in post-WWI England. The structure of this was a bit off-putting, as it begins with Maisie tackling her first official job after taking on the investigation practice of her mentor and then throwing the reader into a condensed biography of Maisie (and occasionally flipping back to the "present" time of her story). In the audio edition this made for a few confusing moments as these time shifts had no warning so it took a bit to catch on when the events were occurring in Maisie's timeline.

I found her approach to mysteries to be interesting--a mix of deduction based off body language and some meditation--and I'll be picking up more to see her really in action. Since so much of this sets up her personal history, there wasn't much mystery solving.

Spoiler

I was disappointed to find out that the entire time Winspear teases about something having happened to Maisie's sweetheart during the war, it wound up he was still alive and Maisie was just avoiding visiting him for ten years. Yes, it's a terrifying thought to see the person you love damaged so much they can't respond anymore, but this felt like such a cruelty on her part.