So, if you take a look through my lists of books during my more recent reading challenge years, you may notice I like a lot of series – particularly mysteries, particularly cozy mysteries. I listen to a lot of audiobooks at work while I’m fighting for my life in Excel and I love when I can go from one to the next.

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear was an exception. We meet Maisie, who is pressed into service at thirteen when her mother dies and she needs to work to help support her family. She becomes a maid for the wealthy Compton family and the lady of the house catches Maisie indulging her love of reading in the family’s private library. *clutches pearls* But instead of kicking her to the curb, the lady sends Maisie to be tutored by a friend of the family named Maurice Blanche. Blanche, a gifted but discreet investigator, takes Maisie into his tutelage and he teachers her about science, psychology, and pretty much anything else Maisie will try learning. She tries everything.

Maisie is accepted into Cambridge University but her plans are put on hold when World War I breaks out. Maise becomes a nurse and falls in love with a young man, another service member. What happens to him is part of what Maise must deal with throughout the rest of the novel.

After the war, Maisie resumes her studies with Blanche, now more in an investigative capacity and she eventually opens her own investigation service when he retires. When the Comptons’ son signs his family’s fortune over to The Retreat – a home for war veterans – Maisie must get to the bottom of what’s happening at the veterans home while confronting her own traumas from the war.

The story didn’t hook me, but I don’t mean to disparage it. Winspear’s historical mystery was extremely well researched – some of the most delightful details came from Winspear’s knowledge of the time period, and I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it. It was good, but for whatever reason it didn’t suck me in enough to want to continue with the series. It doesn’t make sense to me really, because it had so many elements I enjoy. An interesting female protagonist, a setting I’m not entirely familiar with (England circa World War I), and intriguing mystery. I still might try another one to see if it the series gets more interesting after we got past setting up Maisie as a character.

Tagged: authors: jacqueline winspear, books: maisie dobbs, genere: historical fiction, genre: mystery