Maisie Dobbs
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Review
'In Maisie Dobbs, Jacqueline Winspear has given us a real gift. Maisie Dobbs has not been created - she has been discovered. Such people are always there amongst us, waiting for somebody like Ms. Winspear to come along and reveal them. And what a revelation it is!'
(Alexander McCall Smith )'It's a long time since I've read a crime novel that begins as well as Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs ... well written ... [Jacqueline Winspear] is set fair for a very bright future as a crime novelist.' (Simon Brett, Daily Mail )
'Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs is a welcome addition to the sleuthing scene. Simultaneously self-reliant and vulnerable, Maisie isn't a character I'll easily forget' (Elizabeth George )
'Readers sensing a story-within-a-story won't be disappointed. But first, they must prepare to be astonished at the sensitivity and wisdom with which Maisie resolves her first professional assignment' (New York Times )
'A wry and immensely readable beginning to what promises to be a vivid new addition to crime fiction' (Mail on Sunday )
'Even if detective stories aren't your thing, you'll love Maisie Dobbs' (New Woman )
'The book is much more than a cosy mystery - it is also about women's growing emancipation and the profound changes to society after the First World War.' (Mail on Sunday's You ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Mail on Sunday
'A wry and immensely readable beginning to what promises to be a vivid new addition to crime fiction'
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'd prefer to review this along with the second book, Birds of a Feather, simultaneously, because I thought that there were problems with the first book which the author had resolved by the second. In Maisie Dobbs, it seems to me as though Winspear doesn't wear her research lightly enough: she gives in to the temptation to cram in all the knowledge she's gleaned about the Great War period into a single book, even when it isn't particularly valuable to the plot.
The book could have benefitted also from a more alert editor: in the retreat, a man 'not yet thirty' is mentioned just a couple of pages before 'the youngest man she met must have been thirty'. Those kind of mistakes (paradoxically just like the over layering of period detail) create a barrier between reader and narrative.
However, I think that Winspear has created a wonderful character (even if she is a little 'too good to be true'). And the story she is given in the second book allows all the potential of the first book to blossom. In fact, it seems to me that Maisie's "back story" need not have been narrated. The hints to her past that one can glimpse from the second book are surely enough, and Winspear could have allowed us to gain more and more knowledge of her over a larger series of books.
The book could have benefitted also from a more alert editor: in the retreat, a man 'not yet thirty' is mentioned just a couple of pages before 'the youngest man she met must have been thirty'. Those kind of mistakes (paradoxically just like the over layering of period detail) create a barrier between reader and narrative.
However, I think that Winspear has created a wonderful character (even if she is a little 'too good to be true'). And the story she is given in the second book allows all the potential of the first book to blossom. In fact, it seems to me that Maisie's "back story" need not have been narrated. The hints to her past that one can glimpse from the second book are surely enough, and Winspear could have allowed us to gain more and more knowledge of her over a larger series of books.
28 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
By rights, I'm just the right reader for this book: I love mysteries (especially British ones), I find WWI fascinating, I find the interwar era and the whole "upstairs-downstairs" British class stuff interesting. And yet...while mildly diverting and obviously well-researched, this first book in a series about a plucky young female investigator/psychologist really didn't work for me. It's written as if the intended readership were 10-14 year-old girls, which is fine, but as an adult, it's hard to find Nancy Drewish escapades of a flawless heroine all that fulfilling.
The framework is a little unconventional (though not the disaster some reviewers make it out to be): the first part of the book introduces us to 20something Maisie Dobbs, just opening her business in London. Her first case is a classic assignment: a man who is worried his wife is cheating on him wants Maisie to check into it. As her investigation unfolds there are allusions to Maisie's past and a mysterious mentor, but nothing is spelled out. Suddenly, the story drifts back in time to 1910 or so, and we are reintroduced to a younger Maisie as she enters service as a housemaid for an aristocratic family. We follow dutifully along as her employers discover her reading Latin in the library and extend their patronage, allowing her to be tutored by their strange friend (and apparent spy) Maurice, and eventually supporting her bid to go to Cambridge (Girton College). Despite success at school, when World War I starts, she decides to join the Red Cross, and eventually serves as a nurse in France, where she witnesses the horror of war.
The final third of the book then shifts back the the postwar era, and Maisie's patron asks her help in a family matter. This all dovetails with her earlier case, as well as the war and the scars (psychic and physical) left by the war. The mystery isn't substantial enough to satisfy most fans of the genre, and anyone with any discernment is going to find the climax painfully bad. (All I'll say is that involves singing...) As a detective, Maisie isn't particularly compelling -- her technique is a mix of keen observation and psychology. However, she's even less compelling as a character. Maisie's one of those plucky underdogs designed to provoke maximum reader projection: born into semi-poverty, raised by single father, highly intelligent, uncommonly perceptive, always composed, humble, beloved by all, and possessing big violet eyes. She's the kind of character everyone likes to imagine they would be, had they lived in that time and been born into those circumstances. The supporting cast is fairly pat: vegetable-seller father (with a heart of gold), feisty upper-class patroness (with a heart of gold), prim butler (with a heart of gold), plump cook (with a heart of gold), Cockney handyman/sidekick (with a heart of gold), etc...
The book isn't bad (except for the climax, which is terrible), it's just not very satisfying for adult readers looking for complex characters and a meaty plot. It suffers from feeling very much like a book designed to establish setting and characters for a series. I may read onward in the series (the next two are Birds of a Feather and Pardonable Lies), but may wait for the inevitable BBC TV series this will spawn.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
With its Art Deco type front and the word mystery liberally splattered across the jacket, I expected this to be a rival to the Poirot series. In that respect, I was mightily disappointed - the mystery (such as it is) is only evident at the beginning and the end of the book.
However, I thoroughly enjoyed the middle portion, with its vivid detail and descriptions of Maisie's early years. Particularly evocative were the passages on the Great War and its long lasting effects on those who returned.
A slight annoyance was the cockernee chirpiness of some of the characters, who were a bit too Dick Van Dyke-ish for me. However, that alone would not put me off buying the next in the series.
However, I thoroughly enjoyed the middle portion, with its vivid detail and descriptions of Maisie's early years. Particularly evocative were the passages on the Great War and its long lasting effects on those who returned.
A slight annoyance was the cockernee chirpiness of some of the characters, who were a bit too Dick Van Dyke-ish for me. However, that alone would not put me off buying the next in the series.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Light Reading
This is a nice pleasant read, with no bad language and no violence other than the stories from the Great War. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mrs. A. L. Maddocks
Give Maisie a chance!!!
If I had previously read the reviews for this fabulous book I doubt that I would have even picked it up! Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mo Taylor
A world recreated
This first novel in the Maisie Dobbs series is not the best of them but it is still absorbing. Maisie is a modern woman in a world now disappeared; she is highly intelligent and... Read more
Published 9 months ago by H. Jenkins
A classic story
I have read the second book first, and enjoyed it alot, now I am enjoying the first book second. would def recommend.
Published 10 months ago by ohall
Treasure of the Year
I picked up this beauty in an old book shop just on the off chance. It turned out to be the most precious literary buy of my year for me as I quickly made my way through the rest... Read more
Published 12 months ago by GILLIAN BIRCH
The introduction to a promising series
This is the first book in a series about Maisie Dobbs, a private investigator working in London in 1929. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Julia Flyte
Solid if slow-moving
This is the first book in a series, and established the main characters. It is more of a novell than a crime novel, and the story moves relatively slowly. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Michael G. Hinton
Should have been good - wasn't.
This book contains a lot of things that appeal to me. I like detective stories, am fascinated by the first world war and the social changes that occurred before, after and during... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Lilith
Absolutely brilliant!
I really love mysteries and as a result am very picky about what I read. I started this book a bit uncertain but soon found myself enthralled. Read more
Published 23 months ago by C. Curtis
A hateful character
I bought this book as I'm very interested in historical murder mysteries and have recently discovered some fabulous ones in the shape of the Daisy Dalrymple and Dandy Giver... Read more
Published on 26 Mar 2010 by Sarah C
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