Maisie Dobbs the novel introduces Maisie Dobbs the private investigator who opens her new office in England in 1929. One of Maisie’s first cases requires her to pursue a case of presumed infidelity which leads her to investigate a countryside facility for returned soldiers who are injured or disfigured. There’s not much else in the way of mystery as the rest of the book is consumed with recounting Maisie’s back story including her years ‘in service’ and the time she spent as a nurse during the war.

In the main I like my crime fiction to focus on crime and if it doesn’t then the story has to be compelling in some other way. Maisie’s story centred too much on the ultimately hum drum details of her near allegorical journey from scullery maid to psychologist for my taste and Maisie herself was a bit too like Forrest Gump (everything that could have happened to someone during the period in which the book was set happened to Maisie) for me. Almost all of the other characters seemed far to good to be true (not even the villain had a drop of evil in him) and so were fairly forgettable. The details of the time period were very accurate and Winspear does depict the social changes that were happening well but my personal preference for crime fiction set in post World War One Britain would be Charles Todd’s Ian Ruteledge series. However if you like romance mixed with your well-researched historical crime fiction then I think you’d enjoy this book and, possibly, the following five in the series.

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My rating 2/5

Publisher: Penguin [2003]; ISBN: 0-14-200433-2; Length: 292 pages

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I always feel awkward posting a review of a book that I don’t think is bad but just isn’t to my taste so I make an extra effort to find other reviews from people who enjoy the kind of book so you should check out Karen’s review at  Over My Dead Body and the reviews at BookBlog.Com and A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy. Maisie Dobbs was also nominated for an Edgar Award in 2004 (being beaten by and Ian Rankin novel) and won the Agatha Award for best first novel in 2003