Well. This was a waste of time. I don't think there was an aspect of this book I did not hate. Starting from the holier-than-thou main character, to the non-existent mystery, to the amazing (not) resolution of the non-mystery, to the abrupt hundred pages worth of tedious flashback in the middle of the mystery; everything bothered me.

So. Maisie Dobbs is a private eye. She was a housemaid once, but it turned out that she was one of nature's rare prodigies, reading Latin by candlelight. Her masters then decide that she ought to be tutored, along with all her work as parlormaid. Enter Master Yoda from stage left, I mean, Maurice Blanche. He fills her mind with such gems as "Rush into conclusions not... In the stillness, wait awhile...", which pop into her mind opportunely in present day when she's talking to clients.

Anyhow. On to the mystery! A ladies infidelity is suspected by her husband, the lady is blameless, and Maisie spends some time giving him shit for suspecting his wife. However it leads Maisie onto a suitably creepy post-war hidey hole for army men affected by the war called The Retreat. Nothing happens. Then, there's someone else talking about the Retreat too, and Maisie decides to investigate. Cut. Flashback into Maisie's early life. Some tedious accounts of class differences. Maisie in college. Maisie as a nurse in WW I France. Maisie with Simon, a brilliant and talented young doctor who worships the ground she walks on. Cut Back. Where were we?

There's hardly a set up for a mystery in this book. The half hearted attempt is cut abruptly so we have pages of Maisie backstory, for no discernable reason. By the time the story comes back to the current time, I lost any inclination of knowing what would happen. I had to finish it though. Maisie herself I thought had a border-line God complex. She instructs her first client to make her a commitment, and to his marriage. She calls herself responsible for the safety of all parties, but she makes friends with and invites confidences (even after the husband has been sent away happy) from her emotionally susceptible mark, by lying about who she is. But let's not call this unprofessional.

She has dodgy methods of problem solving. She may regurgitate the Maurice Blanche homilies to herself, but she the chill down her spine makes her jump into conclusions pretty much from the start. She is never wrong though, so I suppose that doesn't matter either. As for her personal life, she behaves despicably. Simon's alive, but unaware of his surroundings because of his war wounds (I think). It's been twelve years since this happened, and heroine has not bothered to visit him. Her explanation - how scared she was about not remembering them as they were! She's a flake, true enough, but what's bad about this situation is a) how happy Simon's mother is that madam finally condescended to visit the man she supposedly loved, b) how Maisie has been so superior all through the book, with trite sayings such as "I know about wounds, I know about disfigurement" when she's done jack squat, and c) zero insight into any thoughts Maisie might have had about Simon because the author thought that this needed to be a secret so there would be a big reveal (shock! dramatic music!) at the end. The two paragraphs of lame explanations for her actions were the final nail in the coffin of this series for me. I'll re-read Agatha Christie for the nth time instead.

This book was like a weighted blanket for my brain

I’m so mad that I wasted my time reading this book. This was the most boring, anticlimactic “mystery” I’ve ever read in my life.

Like, why on earth was there a section of 140 pages of backstory in the middle of the book?? Yeah, you do get information about Maisie and the people in her life. But surely there could’ve been another way to introduce that into the story without going away from the present day plot for almost half of the book. Also, the way she figures stuff out about people just felt way too convenient. Maisie just did not feel like a real person.

I do not understand how there are 17 books in this series.

A quick, light mystery with an engaging heroine set in England between the wars that I think will appeal to fans of cozy mysteries and those in search of a grown-up Nancy Drew.

There's a nostalgic quality to Maisie Hobbs, not just in the character, setting, and style, but also in the writing itself. While we spend most of our time in Maisie's perspective, the novel is written in omniscient third-person. What that means in practical terms is that we quite often know what other characters are thinking. This isn't as common now as it used to be, but Winspear does it with a light touch so it doesn't break the reading experience.

The book also does some unusual things with its structure. The first third or so is very much set in the story's present with Maisie as a new private investigator investigating on behalf of a wealthy husband concerned about his wife. That thread reaches its conclusion, and then for the next third of the book we go to Maisie's past as a precocious young woman in service who then volunteers to be a nurse during World War I. With that thread completed, we return to the narrative present of 1929 where Maisie investigates a strange commune for injured war veterans. Of course there are connections between each thread, but the overall effect was almost like reading three linked novellas.

Maisie herself is remarkably reminiscent of Nancy Drew in that she's clever, quick, daring, and largely without discernible flaws. While this is frowned upon in writing manuals and social media these days, I really didn't find it getting in the way of my enjoyment of the book. I never quite fell in love with the novel, but I also never felt a strong urge to set it aside, so I suspect many readers will find Maisie Dobbs to be an engaging first novel in a series that some will no doubt adore.

Приятна неделна вечер. The Tortured Poets Department на Taylor Swift за музикален фон. И така на един дъх прочетох „Първият случай на Мейзи Добс” от Джаклин Уинспиър.

Не седнах с идеята да прочета книгата наведнъж, но с цялата атмосфера около мен и лекотата, с която се чете романът, изведнъж се оказах на финала му.

Не мога да определя тази първа книга от поредицата за изцяло детективски роман. За мен тя бе по-скоро запознаване с Мейзи Добс. Разбрахме много за живота ѝ, образованието ѝ, за това, което е преживяла по време на Първата световна война и как се е отразило всичко това върху нейната личност. И си мисля, че имаме да разбираме още неща от миналото ѝ. Това е роман, който просто се разкрива пред теб постепенно и ти така се потапяш в него, че ти е интересно да разбереш повече както за първия детективски случай на Мейзи, така и за самата нея.

Нямам търпение за следващата си среща с нея. Препоръчвам горещо!

A friend turned me on to the Maisie Dobbs series. I recommend that you read them in sequence. I enjoyed the historical references about World War I, which is a war that many of us today could not understand the horrific conditions that soldiers and nurses, in particular, endured in the trenches. Talk about post traumatic stress!

The mysteries are interesting as they involve the human pysche. A must read.

Review of Maisie Dobbs
By Jacqueline Winspear

This book is the first in a series about female Maisie Dobbs and takes place during the WWI era where she works in the field as a nurse. To say that Maisie is perfect in every way would be an understatement.

This is an extremely light read with short chapters. The book lays the foundation to explain how Maisie came to be the PI that she is. There's a mystery in the middle to late place in the book. Not hard to figure out.

All that being said, I enjoyed getting to know Maisie and all the other characters in the book. I rated it 3*, which means that I liked it. I would recommend it to anyone that wants a light read.

3 stars

Book #1 of a multi-book series, in which we meet Maisie Dobbs, female detective, in the early 1900's. This novel gives her backstory through childhood, housekeeper, college, early nursing career, and into her formal detective career.

The author stays true to the time period of this story, while inventing this fictional character. This book copes with the aftermath of the war and it's traumatic grip on those who experienced it.

The next installment is Birds of a Feather.

PERFECT AS GUNS OF AUGUST
The first chapter of this book is perfect, just as the first paragraph of Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of August is considered by some the finest in the English language.

CAME IN A DAYDREAM
The rest of Maisie Dobbs is magical too. Unlike anything I had ever read, and I was already a veteran of historical fiction reads when I opened the first pages, which came to the author in a daydream when she was sitting at a stoplight in a storm in California.

NONPAREIL
The unique characterization of Maisie, Winspear’s gorgeous writing and the emotional access to WWI through fiction make this a cherished read. I’ve read the entire series, yet nothing will match the wonder of meeting Maisie for the first time.

MERCI!
Thank you, Jacqueline Winspear, for writing that daydream down!

Definitely a 3.5 rounded up.

I loved the detail, the characters and the whole set up but it just meandered a bit too much for me! Too much deviation from the mystery? Maybe.

I loved the characters even if they all came across sometimes as a bit twee.

Now the back story is set I think I'll enjoy the next one in the series more though. A good read but a bit plodding

1st read
Read 4.5 - 4.9.2018
Kindle [OverDrive]
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh I have book hangover. M A S S I V E book hangover.

I loved this book so very much - even the parts that made me cry [I have such a problem with books that deal with war in general {as anyone with a soul would}, but books that deal with WW1 in particular are very distressing to me]. I loved the characters and I adored Maisie and all she was determined to do regardless of the fact that she was a woman. This was a lovely story - a full on mystery with no murder [to speak of] and genuine intrigue. I am so looking forward to the second one.

***The Narrator was simply delightful - it is so lovely to finally have a fantastic narrator after so many bad ones of late***
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2nd read
12.14 - 12.18.2020
Paperback
WOW. It is odd to go back and revisit the first book in a large series. Even though I thought I remembered the story, there was stuff I didn't remember and I probably cried just as much the second time around as I did the first time. The end of this book is just heartbreaking. It just stays in my heart for a long time.

2019 reread/relisten: no change to my original opinion below...

2.5 stars for the book; 3 stars for this audiobook edition
This really wasn't a mystery although an investigation was involved. That would have been okay but over half the book is an extended flashback to Maisie's background -- it does loosely tie in but wasn't really necessary (except to turn a short story/novella into a full book). I liked the way the situation at the veteran's Retreat was resolved. Although it was obvious that the guy running it was responsible for the death of Vincent & others, I had thought that the guy doing it to scam the money.

Things that bugged me:
-Maisie's reliance on her intuition/paranormal ESP
-her ability to be able to completely understand the emotional state of others by mimicking their body language
-the fact that her father is constantly referred to by his full name (was Winspear afraid we would forget who he was? It was always "Frankie Dobbs came to the door," never "Her father came to the door" or "Frankie came to the door.")

Things I liked:
-the historical fiction (both the "present" of 1929 and the WW1 parts)
-Maisie's caretaker & former patient Billy Beale
-Rita Barrington's narration, especially when she sang!

I would say it is a good historical fiction story but not a good mystery. Hopefully, now that all this background has been covered, the other books in the series will be more mystery-oriented.