Among the Mad: Maisie Dobbs mystery series

by: Jacqueline Winspear

Published by: Henry Holt and Company

Reviewed by Sarah Nagle

London, Christmas Eve, 1931. Private investigator Maisie Dobbs stops to help a homeless veteran and unwittingly puts herself in the middle of a fast-moving case involving Scotland Yard. Britain is in the depths of the worldwide depression, and the clouds of fascism and the specter of another war are already gathering. The plight of wounded veterans seems to have been swept from the national consciousness, but the anger and despair of the past dozen years may be coming to a massive explosion.

Maisie works with a high-level team, and also on her own, to identify a bombing suspect who is promising more calamity by year-end. Because of the larger scope and time pressures of this case, however, her usual careful methods don’t serve her as well this time, and more than a little coincidence help bring the situation to a welcome end.

This is the darkest Maisie Dobbs novel yet. The author continues to put an admirable focus on the “forgotten men” of WWI. It has been over a decade since WWI ended, however, and Maisie’s wounded fiancé Simon has finally died, but she is still living in the past. Her assistant Billy is attempting to cope with a wife still grieving over the death of their daughter and he is making plans to emigrate–and her best, perhaps only, friend Priscilla is using alcohol to deal with wartime trauma. It’s time for Maisie to listen to her own counsel and open herself up to being alive and whole. The author has hinted that Maisie’s personal life will be “rosier” in the next novel, with the seeds of romance planted in this one.

“I could do with a little lightness in my life,” says Maisie in response to Priscilla’s invitation to a New Year’s party. “You could do with a lot of lightness, if you ask me,” replies Priscilla. The reader, if asked, would heartily agree.

Maisie wraps up a far-reaching case with her usual aplomb, but the overwhelming focus on the past make this latest novel in the series a terminal choice unless Maisie is allowed to look to the future.

Armchair Interview agrees.

Author’s Web site: http://www.JacquelineWinspear.com