Jacqueline Winspear

Book review: In This Grave Hour: (Maisie Dobbs Series #13) by Jacqueline Winspear

~ Debra Schoenberger ~ 1 Comment

About In This Grave Hour

Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Harper (March 14, 2017)

“A female investigator every bit as brainy and battle-hardened as Lisbeth Salander.”†ó Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air, on Maisie Dobbs

Sunday September 3rd 1939. At the moment Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain broadcasts to the nation Britain’s declaration of war with Germany, a senior Secret Service agent breaks into Maisie Dobbs’ flat to await her return. Dr. Francesca Thomas has an urgent assignment for Maisie: to find the killer of a man who escaped occupied Belgium as a boy, some twenty-three years earlier during the Great War.

In a London shadowed by barrage balloons, bomb shelters and the threat of invasion, within days another former Belgian refugee is found murdered. And as Maisie delves deeper into the killings of the dispossessed from the last war,” a new kind of refugee – an evacuee from London – appears in Maisie’s life. The little girl billeted at Maisie’s home in Kent does not, or cannot, speak, and the authorities do not know who the child belongs to or who might have put her on the ìOperation Pied Piper evacuee train. They know only that her name is Anna.

As Maisie’s search for the killer escalates, the country braces for what is to come. Britain is approaching its gravest hour – and Maisie could be nearing a crossroads of her own.

Purchase Links for In This Grave Hour

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Jacqueline WinspearAbout Jacqueline Winspear

Jacqueline Winspear is the author of the New York Times bestselling Maisie Dobbs series, which includes†In†This Grave Hour,Journey to Munich, A Dangerous Place, Leaving Everything Most Loved, Elegy for Eddie, and eight other novels. Her standalone novel, The Care and Management of Lies, was also a New York Times bestseller and a Dayton Literary Peace Prize finalist. Originally from the United Kingdom, she now lives in California.

Find out more about Jacqueline at her website, www.jacquelinewinspear.com, and find her on Facebook.

REVIEW:

WW II is looming and Maisie and her fellow Londoners are preparing for life under siege from the Germans.  Sandra and Billy, Maisie’s employees are back again at Maisie’s newly renovated office and she has re-opened her business as a private investigator.  She soon receives a request to solve a murder from an unusual source, a secret service officer from Belgium.  She needs to prevent further murders and pulls in a few favours from Scotland Yard to assist her as she must tread lightly when investigating in diplomatic circles.

At the same time, children are being sent out of London to be billeted in the countryside for safety reasons.  Several children are lodged at Chelstone, Maisie’s home outside of London.  A little dark skinned girl mysteriously appears with a group of boys and no one has been able to identify who she is or where she came from. Maisie is drawn to this little girl whose name is Anna and is determined to find her family.   Maisie’s father, Frankie and his wife Brenda are beginning to worry that Maisie is developing a stronger than normal attachment to Anna and don’t want her to be hurt when her family is found.

I really loved the way the author uses language that was common to the era. Several of the expressions were quite amusing and the characters that we know from the previous novels appear in this one as well. It’s been a pleasure to follow Maisie from a young girl to a mature woman, through one war and now into another.  I suspect there is another story in the works and can’t wait to read about happens next.

Book review: Journey to Munich: (Maisie Dobbs Series #12) by Jacqueline Winspear

~ Debra Schoenberger ~ 1 Comment

  • Publisher:  Harper Collins
  • Publication date:  March 29, 2016
  • Genre:  mystery / crime / detective / suspense
  • Pages:  309

Description:

Working with the British Secret Service on an undercover mission, Maisie Dobbs is sent to Hitler’s Germany in this thrilling tale of danger and intrigue—the twelfth novel in Jacqueline Winspear’s New York Times bestselling “series that seems to get better with each entry” (Wall Street Journal).

It’s early 1938, and Maisie Dobbs is back in England. On a fine yet chilly morning, as she walks towards Fitzroy Square—a place of many memories—she is intercepted by Brian Huntley and Robert MacFarlane of the Secret Service. The German government has agreed to release a British subject from prison, but only if he is handed over to a family member. Because the man’s wife is bedridden and his daughter has been killed in an accident, the Secret Service wants Maisie—who bears a striking resemblance to the daughter—to retrieve the man from Dachau, on the outskirts of Munich.

The British government is not alone in its interest in Maisie’s travel plans. Her nemesis—the man she holds responsible for her husband’s death—has learned of her journey, and is also desperate for her help.

Traveling into the heart of Nazi Germany, Maisie encounters unexpected dangers—and finds herself questioning whether it’s time to return to the work she loved. But the Secret Service may have other ideas. . . .

Buy the book:   Amazon    Barnes & Noble   Harper Collins

Jacqueline Winspear is the author of the New York Times bestselling Maisie Dobbs series, which includes In This Grave Hour, Journey to Munich, A Dangerous Place, Leaving Everything Most Loved, Elegy for Eddie, and eight other novels. Her standalone novel, The Care and Management of Lies, was also a New York Times bestseller and a Dayton Literary Peace Prize finalist. Originally from the United Kingdom, she now lives in California.

Connect with the author:  Website   Facebook 

REVIEW:

This a very different storyline from the other Maisie Dobb novels. Maisie has returned to England after a brief sojourn in Gibraltar and Spain. She is grieving the loss of her husband and unborn child and is at odds with herself, especially as she no longer runs her investigation agency. Her longtime and closest friend Priscilla takes Maisie under wing as Maisie tries to come to terms with her life.

An unusual request from the British government presents itself as Maisie is requested to go to Germany on a special assignment. Her skills as an investigator and psychologist will prove to be her greatest assets. Her cut-and-dry assignment spirals out of control and she must rely on her “secret service” training to protect herself. She unexpectedly finds that she becomes a pawn in an international game of cat-and-mouse between Hitler’s henchman and Great Britain.

This segment of the Maisie Dobbs novels was one of the most intense so far.

 

 

 

Book review: Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear

~ Debra Schoenberger ~ 2 Comments

among-the-mad (1)

  • Series: Maisie Dobbs (Book 6)
  • Paperback: 303 pages
  • Publisher: Picador; Reprint edition (November 24, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0312429258
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312429256

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Christmas Eve, 1931. On the way to see a client, Maisie Dobbs witnesses a man commit suicide on a busy London street. The following day, the Prime Minister’s office receives a letter threatening a massive loss of life if certain demands are not met—and the writer mentions Maisie by name. Tapped by Scotland Yard’s elite Special Branch to be a special adviser on the case, Maisie is soon involved in a race against time to find a man who proves he has the knowledge and will to inflict destruction on thousands of innocent people.

In Among the Mad, Jacqueline Winspear combines a heart-stopping story with a rich evocation of a fascinating period to create her most compelling and satisfying novel yet.

Buy the book:   Amazon   Barnes & Noble 

Meet the author:

winspear-275 (1)Jacqueline Winspear was born and raised in the county of Kent, England. Following higher education at the University of London’s Institute of Education, Jacqueline worked in academic publishing, in higher education and in marketing communications in the UK.

She emigrated to the United States in 1990, and while working in business and as a personal / professional coach, Jacqueline embarked upon a life-long dream to be a writer.

A regular contributor to journals covering international education, Jacqueline has published articles in women’s magazines and has also recorded her essays for KQED radio in San Francisco. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and is a regular visitor to the United Kingdom and Europe.

Jacqueline’s grandfather was severely wounded and shell-shocked at The Battle of the Somme in 1916, and it was as she understood the extent of his suffering that, even in childhood, Jacqueline became deeply interested in the “war to end all wars” and its aftereffects. As an adult her interest deepened to the extent that, though she did not set out to write a “war” novel, it came as no surprise that this part of history formed the backdrop of Maisie Dobbs and other books in the series. The unique and engaging character of Maisie Dobbs is very much a woman of her generation. She has come of age at a time when women took on the toil of men and claimed independence that was difficult to relinquish. It was a time when many women remained unmarried, simply because a generation of men had gone to war and not come home.

“The war and its aftermath provide fertile ground for a mystery. Such great social upheaval allows for the strange and unusual to emerge and a time of intense emotions can, to the writer of fiction, provide ample fodder for a compelling story, especially one concerning criminal acts and issues of guilt and innocence. After all, a generation is said to have lost its innocence in The Great War. The mystery genre provides a wonderful vehicle for exploring such a time,” explains Ms. Winspear.

Jacqueline’s first novel, Maisie Dobbs, was a National Bestseller and received an array of accolades, including New York Times Notable Book 2003, a Publishers Weekly Top Ten Mystery 2003, and a BookSense Top Ten selection. In addition, the novel was nominated for 7 awards, including the Edgar for Best Novel—only the second time a first novel was nominated in this category. She subsequently won the prestigious Agatha Award for Best First novel, the Macavity Award for Best First Novel; and the Alex Award, which is presented annually by the American Library Association in conjunction with the Margaret Alexander Edwards Trust. Maisie Dobbs was published by Soho Press in hardcover and by Penguin in paperback, an edition that spent almost four months on the Independent Mystery Booksellers Bestseller list in 2004.

Connect with the author:   Website   Facebook   Blog

REVIEW:

Book six of the Maisie Dobbs series opens with a “bang”!  Literally.  Maisie is injured as she witnesses a man’s suicide on a busy London street.  Perplexed by the suicide, Maisie “presence” is requested by Scotland Yard’s Elite Special Branch to ferret out the writer of a threatening letter to a high government official who is suspected of instigating the suicide-bombing, and is determined to pursue the investigation using her skills and wits without the interference of the male detectives assigned to the same case.  Her assistant Billie Beale proves once again to be a valuable asset to the case, despite the fact that his family life is going through a distressing emotional upheaval.

Having followed Maisie Dobb’s story from the previous six books in the series I was curious to see how the explosion from the suicide would affect her.  As a nurse who suffered from PTSD (war neurosis as it was termed after the war) Maisie has had to learn to identify the source of the mental anguish she suffers from and come to terms with the loss of the love of her life.  Maisie is a strong, intelligent and compassionate woman who works constantly to keep the past at bay.  She’s human and we can feel her struggle.

This book can be read as a “stand-alone” novel however, Maisie Dobbs’ character has been developed quite nicely through the previous six books and it would be a shame not to have read them first.

An entertaining and informative segment in this series that a reader of historical fiction would enjoy. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series “The Mapping of Love and Death”.

Tour Stops

Tuesday, March 1st: My Book Retreat – Maisie Dobbs

Wednesday, March 2nd: Jancee Reads – Maisie Dobbs

Wednesday, March 2nd: Reading Reality – Birds of a Feather

Thursday, March 3rd: View from the Birdhouse – Birds of a Feather

Thursday, March 3rd: BookNAround – Pardonable Lies

Thursday, March 3rd: Puddletown Reviews – Pardonable Lies

Thursday, March 3rd: From the TBR Pile – Messenger of Truth

Monday, March 7th: Books & Tea – An Incomplete Revenge

Monday, March 7th: Olduvai Reads – An Incomplete Revenge

Tuesday, March 8th: #redhead.with.book – Among the Mad

Wednesday, March 9th: Lavish Bookshelf – The Mapping of Love and Death

Thursday, March 10th: Joyfully Retired – A Lesson in Secrets

Monday, March 14th: Queen of All She Reads – Elegy for Eddie

Monday, March 14th: Lis Carey’s Library – Leaving Everything Most Loved

Tuesday, March 15th: Nighttime Reading Center – Leaving Everything Most Loved

Tuesday, March 15th: Lit and Life – Leaving Everything Most Loved

Wednesday, March 16th: Emerald City Book Review – A Dangerous Place

Wednesday, March 16th: History from a Woman’s Perspective – Leaving Everything Most Loved

Monday, March 21st: A Bookish Affair – Leaving Everything Most Loved

Monday, March 21st: Book Nerd – A Dangerous Place

Wednesday, March 23rd: Carina Gonzalez – A Dangerous Place

Thursday, March 24th: My Reader’s Block – Leaving Everything Most Loved

Thursday, March 24th: Lis Carey’s Library – A Dangerous Place

Tuesday, March 29th: Curling Up by the Fire – Journey to Munich

Tuesday, March 29th: nomadreader – Journey to Munich

Wednesday, March 30th: A Chick Who Reads – Journey to Munich

Thursday, March 31st: A Bookish Way of Life – Journey to Munich

Friday, April 1st: A Bookish Affair – A Dangerous Place

Friday, April 1st: My Book Retreat – Journey to Munich

Monday, April 4th: Raven Haired Girl – Journey to Munich

Tuesday, April 5th: Broken Teepee – Journey to Munich

Wednesday, April 6th: Reading Reality – Journey to Munich

Thursday, April 7th: Dwell in Possibility – Journey to Munich

Monday, April 11th: Luxury Reading – Journey to Munich

Tuesday, April 12th: M. Denise Costello – Journey to Munich

Wednesday, April 13th: A Bookish Affair – Journey to Munich

Thursday, April 14th: A Bookworm’s World – Journey to Munich

Monday, April 18th: Joyfully Retired – Journey to Munich

Tuesday, April 19th: Lavish Bookshelf – Journey to Munich

Wednesday, April 20th: bookchickdi – Journey to Munich

Wednesday, April 20th: Emerald City Book Review – Journey to Munich

Thursday, April 21st: Nighttime Reading Center – Journey to Munich

Monday, April 25th: Time 2 Read – Journey to Munich

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