Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline WinspearMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I enjoyed reading Maisie Dobbs and gave it four stars because it met several of my "good book" criteria very well, even though it was a relatively short book. It develops the characters well (although I would have liked even more - maybe Winspear will continue them in the series). The settings are well described throughout Maisie's career as a maid in a large estate to an army nurse to a self-employed private investigator. And the most important for me - it is historical and teaches about World War I from a personal point of view.
The story is about how Maisie helps other people with their problems. She comes from a humble background (her father is a costermonger - sells fresh vegetables from his own wagon) and her mother died when she was a child. Maisie has the fortune of being a wise person from birth. Her employer sees this and decides to help Maisie develop her "inner eye" by hooking her up with several philosophers and eventually a Cambridge scholarship. Maisie is popular wherever she goes.
The book has a different flow from most books. It starts out with Maisie solving a mystery for a husband who is afraid his wife is cheating on him. After Maisie discovers the truth and this mystery is resolved, the story flashes back to Maisie's childhood and upbringing through her nursing career in WWI. The facts of her early years coincide with some of the details of the first mystery and is continued in the second one which comes as the story flashes forward again. Maisie's second mystery revolves around a nearby home for war veterans and the son of her benefactor.
All in all, a book well worth reading and I'm looking forward to the next in the series "Birds of a Feather".
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