Maisie Dobbs
Registered by gypsysmom of Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada on 12/24/2021
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
This was one of the books my Secret Santa on LibraryThing chose for me. I have not read anything by Jacqueline Winspear but I know lots of people are fans.
This book was first published almost twenty years ago but I missed out on it then. And although I've seen it mentioned as a good mystery a number of times I didn't check into it. Now that I've read this book and realized that it is just the kind of historical mystery that I really enjoy I'm going to have to find time to read the other sixteen books in the series. Yikes!
The roaring 20s are in full force but Maisie Dobbs doesn't seem to have the time or the money to partake. She has just set up her own private investigative firm. One of her first cases is to follow a married woman whose husband suspects of having an affair since she disappears for hours at a time several times a week. But the first time Maisie follows her she realizes she is not having an extramarital affair. The woman takes a train out of London to visit a small cemetery filled with the graves of the dead who served in World War I. The grave she visits has only a first name engraved on the headstone and it seems fairly recent. As Maisie delves further, with the help of her building caretaker, Billie Beal, she learns about a farm in Kent where the most severely injured veterans live. It is called The Retreat and is run by a former officer. Each man who goes to live there signs over his estate and income to The Retreat in order to maintain the farm. Then Maisie is asked by her former employer, Lady Rowan Compton, to investigate The Retreat further because her son plans to go there. Billie Beal goes undercover to stay at The Retreat and Maisie stays nearby at the Compton rural estate. Maisie is quite worried but Billie seems to be enjoying his time there and he thinks the world of the Major. Until he doesn't!
A good portion of the book is devoted to the story of Maisie's life from her time in service, to attending Girton College for Women, to becoming a nurse on the front lines during World War I. We learn about her coster-monger father and her mentor Maurice Blanche and her friends, including one particular male doctor friend, Captain Lynch. No doubt they will pop up again.
The roaring 20s are in full force but Maisie Dobbs doesn't seem to have the time or the money to partake. She has just set up her own private investigative firm. One of her first cases is to follow a married woman whose husband suspects of having an affair since she disappears for hours at a time several times a week. But the first time Maisie follows her she realizes she is not having an extramarital affair. The woman takes a train out of London to visit a small cemetery filled with the graves of the dead who served in World War I. The grave she visits has only a first name engraved on the headstone and it seems fairly recent. As Maisie delves further, with the help of her building caretaker, Billie Beal, she learns about a farm in Kent where the most severely injured veterans live. It is called The Retreat and is run by a former officer. Each man who goes to live there signs over his estate and income to The Retreat in order to maintain the farm. Then Maisie is asked by her former employer, Lady Rowan Compton, to investigate The Retreat further because her son plans to go there. Billie Beal goes undercover to stay at The Retreat and Maisie stays nearby at the Compton rural estate. Maisie is quite worried but Billie seems to be enjoying his time there and he thinks the world of the Major. Until he doesn't!
A good portion of the book is devoted to the story of Maisie's life from her time in service, to attending Girton College for Women, to becoming a nurse on the front lines during World War I. We learn about her coster-monger father and her mentor Maurice Blanche and her friends, including one particular male doctor friend, Captain Lynch. No doubt they will pop up again.
Journal Entry 3 by gypsysmom at Salty K Laundry in Corpus Christi, Texas USA on Saturday, March 25, 2023
Released 1 yr ago (3/25/2023 UTC) at Salty K Laundry in Corpus Christi, Texas USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
I left this book on the Little Free Library shelf to replace one by L. M. Montgomery that I took.
When you find a BookCrossing book it is yours to do with what you like. You can read it and keep it or pass it on or if you don't think it is your kind of book pass it on to someone who might like it or release it in a spot for someone else to find like you just did. Whatever you choose it would be great if you could write a short note letting us know what new adventures the book is on.
When you find a BookCrossing book it is yours to do with what you like. You can read it and keep it or pass it on or if you don't think it is your kind of book pass it on to someone who might like it or release it in a spot for someone else to find like you just did. Whatever you choose it would be great if you could write a short note letting us know what new adventures the book is on.