Having never read Jacqueline Winspear before, I came to this book with no expectations, but having read it, I can see why it won various Best First Novel awards, and I look forward to reading more in the Maisie Dobbs series, altho I'm not sure the others can hold the emotional impact of this one. This was not a happy book, but like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, it has that 'rising-above-what-life-dealt you' aspect. Maisie was a poor girl in service who caught the attention of Lady Rowan and Maurice Blanche, who helped get her into university, where she was studying when her friend Enid was killed in an explosion at the munitions plant where she worked. Maisie took her friend's advice to 'do something' and enlisted in the nurse's corp (with forged papers). This story is told through Maisie's feelings and experiences in WWI and the years following. As a survivor of a serious head injury, Maisie has much empathy for all those who survived, many in much worse condition, whether their injuries were visible or not. This story gets very much into both the physical and psychological scars of those who survived the war, and leads into the cases she follows as an investigator. It will be interesting to see whether this same aspect follows into other books in the series.

No es un libro que para mí destaque como detectivesco pero me ha resultado entretenido y me ha gustado conocer los orígenes de la protagonista (está parte es tan extensa o incluso más, que la otra)

"Truth walks toward us on the paths of our questions." Maurice's voice once again echoed in her mind. "As soon as you think you have the answer, you have closed the path and may miss vital new information. Wait awhile in the stillness, and do not rush to conclusions, no matter how uncomfortable the unknowing."

This is a story about a cute, clever, and plucky young woman named Maisie Dobbs. Maisie is setting up her own private investigation practice in London. The year is 1929, and everyone we meet is still coping with the effects of the world war, including Maisie.

Maisie has a cute and charming way of talking with people and getting them to share their stories. Her first client is a man who thinks his wife is cheating on him. Maisie follows the woman, befriends her and learns her sad tale about a loved one who was wounded in the war. Later, the man died of suspicious circumstances, so Maisie investigates a farm called The Retreat, using her charm and wits to get an inside look.

The middle section of the book is a flashback to how Maisie got to be so plucky and sweet and charming. Her mother died at a young age, and Maisie had to go into service to help her father pay the bills. Luckily, Maisie's master was a kind woman who observed the girl's cleverness, and encouraged her to study and take lessons from a tutor. Eventually, Maisie earned the chance to go to college, although the war intervened. in the end, Maisie shares her own sad story of what happened to her during the war.

Did I mention that Maisie is cute and charming and sweet and plucky and charming?

A few friends recommended this book to me, knowing how much I enjoy charming British novels. But an odd thing happened — I thought this novel was TOO charming and precious. Maisie was TOO cute and plucky. The story was TOO predictable and bittersweet.

I felt like the author was hitting me over the head with a pile of those big books that Maisie liked to study in order to emphasize how cute and plucky she was.

This book is the first in a series about Maisie, and I'm not sure if I will read any more. I'm glad I finally checked out this one to see what the fuss was about, but my curiosity has been satisfied.

I loved it!

The characters are wonderful, even though some of the subject matter is painful. The war section was sad, but well managed. The horror and hardship was all there with just enough detail to let the love story shine through.

I am looking forward to reading more of the series books.

The only mystery is how this book became popular enough to be turned into a whole series of books.

So yesterday I watched The Soup's collection of clips of the worst TV of 2008, and the one soap opera clip they ridiculed involved a face off between two guys over one's marriage to the other's mother. What was hilarious wasn't the situation, though, but the fact that one of the guys referred to the other by name ("Rick") about 10 times in the space of two minutes. Maisie Dobbs does this incessantly. In just about every line of dialogue one character MUST refer to the other by name. The reuniting of the two lovers as they yell out each other's names is unintentionally hilarious, as if one is watching an SNL parody or a diamond commercial. Even when referring to other characters, there is a bizarre need for repetition, as if the author thinks the reader must need lots of reinforcement or that they have the memory of a goldfish. ("Vincent gave Adam--that's it, Adam Jenkins, his name is Adam Jenkins--Vincent gave Adam Jenkins control of his finances...") I am not exaggerating (p.60), and this example is especially egregious because it provides the answer to the so-called mystery, spelled out in capital letters. But even without the repetition, the mystery is capital O obvious. In fact, there really is no mystery, because there is only one murder (in the present part of the plot) and one suspect.
Yep, pretty much everything about this novel is amateurish--from the lack of mystery, to Maisie's ludicrous detective style (she's more of a counselor than a detective), to the final confrontation with the murderer (Maisie has no weapon or backup so, of course, she breaks out into song. Song?!? The novel becomes a musical, and that's how she defeats the culprit. I wish I could say I'm making this up.), to the idiocy of the plot structure--the mystery goes for about 100 pages, then there's a 100 page flashback (!), then another 100 pages of the current "mystery."
Incidentally, there is a clue to how bad this book is on the front cover. "Be prepared to be astonished," reads The New York Times quote at the top. At first, this attracted me to the novel--"The Times says I'll be astonished, it must be good"--but the more one thinks about it, the less sense it makes. How can one "prepare" for the sense of astonishment? I may be parsing words here, but this novel was such an utter disappointment, that I really felt cheated. This book is truly a candidate for a one star rating, although the writing (with the exception of the name-calling) is better than the average best-seller. Too bad the plot, the detective, and the "mystery" are so far below the average supermarket potboiler.

I recall reading this book when it was first released but, like so many other series I start, somehow this fell by the wayside. So, I decided to give it another try and really enjoyed getting re-aquainted with Miss Dobbs. In this first novel we learn about her setting up her own private detective agency, but we also learn about her back story.

This novel is set during 1929 and also before, and during, WWI. The echoes of that conflict hang over this book, and the characters within its pages, as though it were yesterday. Maisie’s first client in the book is Christopher Davenham, who suspects that his wife, Celia, is having an affair. On investigation, Maisie discovers that she is mourning a man she loved. However, he did not die in the trenches, but in a retreat, run by an ex-army officer who offers a place for the injured and scarred to live without being stared at.

As the book progresses, this storyline intersects with Maisie’s own back story. We discover that she started life as a servant at the house of Lady Rowan; whose only son James is intending to relinquish both title and wealth to go to the same retreat. Gradually, we learn how Maisie’s intelligence was recognised by Lady Rowan, who encouraged her to gain an education; how the war intervened and how Maisie has reached the point in her life that she has by the time we meet her. With Maisie feeling something is really wrong at the Retreat, she sets out to investigate, with Lady Rowan’s approval.

This really does set the scene for what became a long running series. I look forward to continuing these books and am really glad I gave this another try. Maisie is an interesting character and this novel covers so much – from a touching love story, to life below stairs, early university education for women, nursing during the first world war and more. Somehow, the author holds all the threads of the storyline together and you are left with a satisfying novel and a main character you have come to care about.

Such a disappointment. Maisie Dobbs started well, a bit flat but with a solid premise (spunky female private eye in 1920s with a foot in both the upper and working classes), but it derailed when it dived into a massively long cliche-ridden flashback that took the bulk of the book and added nothing to the theoretically central mystery or making me care about Maisie. The boringly perfect heroine's origin story turned out to be exactly what I assumed from a few lines... But it took Winspear about ten million lines to tell every tedious detail of it. Then, finally, back to the mystery - only to have that wrapped up in a bewildering and laughable few chapters in which the original client was no longer relevant, the denouement literally hinged on the power of music, and Maisie's annoyingly Yodalike Wise Old Mentor predicted the rise of the Nazi party. Um, okay.

Rita Barrington's reading for the audiobook was a 3.5/4 star narration for me, but unfortunately she had terrible material to perform. There's about a dozen more books in the series, and I plan to avoid them.

Maisie Dobbs, neo detective privata, si trova a indagare su un caso di presunta infedeltà, ma in realtà apre il vaso di Pandora dei ricordi legati alla Grande Guerra, terminata dieci anni prima, ma che ha lasciato cicatrici indelebili, sui corpi, ma, soprattutto, sulle anime.
Nella seconda parte, quella dedicata proprio alla storia di Maisie prima e durante la guerra, sembrava di leggere Generazione perduta di Vera Brittain, anche perché la storia di Maisie è molto simile a quella (reale) di Vera.
Chiusa la parentesi personale, Maisie si troverà poi a indagare su un ospizio per reduci di guerra, la Ritirata, in cui vorrebbe andare a riposare il figlio della sua benefattrice, Lady Rowan; un'indagine collegata anche con il caso di infedeltà con cui si apre la storia.
Molto piacevole da leggere questo romanzo storico, anche se molto triste. E già non vedo l'ora di continuare la serie!

Съвсем тънка и незначителна спрямо цялостната идея криминална интрижка, в която бившата военна сестра и настоящ детектив Мейзи Добс разследва смъртта на млад мъж, обезобразен от войната. Следата води до дом за уединение, в който тежко ранените на бойните полета в Първата световна война намират подслон, далеч от очите на обществото, което предпочита героите му да са физически и психически непокътнати.

По-различен ъгъл към следвоенната действителност в Англия – наличието на огромен брой инвалидизирани и психически травматизирани млади мъже, което се превръща в тежък социален проблем за тях и техните семейства. Оттук до вкарването на криминален елемент в историята пътят е кратък.

Интересният замисъл и прелюбопитният исторически контекст са май единствените плюсове на книгата. На другия полюс са слабите диалози, натъпкани с клишета („погледни навътре в себе си“, „време е да свалиш маската си“), което удря и по убедителността на образите. Парадоксално обаче, прекарах си няколко отморяващи часа с книгата, без да се подразня прекалено, и дори бих продължила с поредицата като пауза между две тежки книги, например.

This story was more of a historical fiction with a bit of a cozy mystery. The mystery wasn't difficult to figure out, but it was explained well at the end. I enjoyed Maisie's back story and liked her as a character. I'd be interested in reading more in the series. 3.5★