I hated this book so much. And whenever I hate an audiobook I have to wonder how much of that is due to the narrator and how much blame should be placed on the text. I'm not sure it matters in this case.

Maisie Dobbs is flawless. Jaqueline Winspear should have just called her Mary Sue. She's born into the lower class but has excelled despite her humble upbringing. She has extraordinary talents to get people to open up to and trust her. It's in her eyes, you see. And even as a baby there was something in her eyes that was powerful and unnerving for people to see. When she leaves her father to take residence and work into the house of a great lady, she's instantly likable to everyone she meets. She finishes all her housework and then wakes at 3 in the morning to sneak into the library and read books. When she can't understand the books in Latin, she is able to teach herself Latin! Magically! All by herself! Of course, she's caught in the library and should be dismissed for such a presumptuous act, but instead she's given private lessons at the lady's expense, while also being able to finish all her work. People start to get jealous of our heroine, because of course they do, but as luck would have it there's an opening at another good home, where she can work and study. She then gets into Cambridge and her benefactress, Lady Rowen, is happy to pay. But war is a reality even Maisie Dobbs cannot escape, so after a brief and unnerving run-in with a former co-worker (who, SPOILER ALERT, dies that night making bombs for the war) who basically guilts her into service, she puts Cambridge on hiatus to serve her country as a nurse... Blah, blah, blah. But the problem with Maisie Dobbs is she's so unlikable. Like, she's actually the worst. And there's no escaping her.

But the protagonist is not the only issue with this work. The dialogue is clunky and stilted, the narrative is clogged down with unnecessary and cumbersome details (do I really need a full explanation on how to use the car?), there's way too much forced sentimentality (I kept rolling my eyes at these, particularly when Frank Dobbs, Maisie's father, is praying to his dead wife about meeting Maisie's boyfriend). Also, this book is not really a mystery. Two-thirds of the book deal with the history of the unlikable Maisie Dobbs.

There have not been too many books I've hated to this extent. I won't be reading the rest of the series.

Is there anything more controversial at Goodreads than star rating? I think not (and yes, I think it's more controversial than porn or V-blogs). People have opinions on whether or not one should star books that weren't finished, whether one can star unread books by authors they don't like--or even do like--and then there are those that will actually argue a reviewer's rating based on the reviewer's interpretation, the infamous 'you read it wrong' offense.

Here I am, deciding to stretch my reading boundaries a little by giving Miss Maisie Dobbs a try: I enjoy mysteries, I love a good female lead and--hey--I'm a nurse, so why not? Well, because I am generally bored by historical fiction. But you know--stretch, right? I discovered Maisie Dobbs was both better and worse than I expected. Better, because I generally enjoyed it until the 'worse' part--a deep immersion into Maisie's past from ages thirteen to twenty-ish.

Remember how I mentioned recently that there is a shortage of niceness? Not in Maisie's world. Maisie is Little Women, Nancy Drew and the intuition of Claire DeWitt wrapped up into one self-assured bottle of plucky, industrious kindness. Maisie has a benefactor who has encouraged her to set up a little detective shop, and so she rents a room and makes friends with Billy, veteran and odd-jobsman. A man makes an appointment to ask M. Dobbs to discover if his wife is cheating on him, and much like Claire DeWitt, Maisie tells him that she may not like the answers she finds--and so he must trust her to do what's right. Maise gets close to the wife, discovers the mystery of her visiting the grave of a recently deceased veteran, and uses her skills to 'accidentally' encounter the wife and forge a connection. She discovers the mystery of the veterans' home for the disfigured, coincidentally the same place her benefactor's son is planning to retreat to. Before too much more progress is made, we journey back to Maisie's youth when she first encountered her benefactor.

So here's the deal: I actually liked the absolutely tropey Maisie--intelligent, book-smart, industrious, honest, and attractive--who, much like Nancy Drew, is practically perfect as well as the apple of her daddy's eye. I was vaguely interested in the obvious non-mystery, a home for disfigured veterans where men are mysteriously dying. The writing is decent, with solid character-building. But the transition to the past was awkward and continued for far, far too long to maintain any sense of suspense (perhaps helping the reader forget the solution?) and basically had little to do with anything except to build character background and show Maisie's own role in the war. I almost quit; I loaned the book to my mom in the meantime, until self-flagellation led me to finishing. It remained rather boring, in an insipid, historically romantic kind of way, using one of my absolute, very least favorite excuses for a criminal behavior and laughable denouement (and not in a good way). There was a bonus character twist that really made little to no sense.

On my personal scale of enjoyment, it was a solid 'meh'--I'm just not interested in historical fiction as a rule, so you have to be an ah-maz-ing writer for me to enjoy it (hello, Connie Willis!). In my world, it's about two stars for enjoyment, veering uncomfortably close to a Did Not Finish. Yet the writing skill--if not plotting--is actually much higher. On the niceness scale, it's a solid five, and on the Mom's Scale, it was good enough to warrant checking out the next book from the library. I might even skim the next one, to see if Winspear learned some plotting. So there you go: unrated because of niceness.

4.5 / 5 ⭐

I really enjoyed the writing in this book, and how it could have been a formulaic mystery, but instead added so much more depth and emotional background to the story. I also enjoyed the characters and the time period, and although I might not get around to the rest of the series anytime soon, I know I would definitely like to at some point! It did get a bit explainy at the end, adding lots of words to what I already knew/had figured out, so it’s not quite five stars for me.

3.5 stars.

Set in the years in and around WWI, this engaging Agatha-Award winner for Best First Novel is also part historical novel and part romance.

Of the three genre elements, the mystery is the least convincingly developed, though certainly interesting in its way as Maissie investigates a mysterious, possibly dangerous rest home for severely wounded soldiers.

There’s also a lengthy flashback/ origin story where we learn of Maissie’s unusual education (from a Hero’s Journey mentor/Yoda/Dumbledore/Gandolf-type, minus the magical skills) and burgeoning romantic interest, as well as her time as a nurse on the front in France.

Because of some of her training in Far Eastern mysticism, Maissie approaches cases and people in a very psychically aware way, and even has developed a preternatural and somewhat unbelievable ability to sense the future. She also is able to adopt the body posture of someone she is trying to understand and by doing determine what they are feeling and thinking, a skill I found alternately interesting and annoying.

The writing and characterizations sometimes feel a bit serviceable, though overall the story is enjoyable and even moving at times, especially with its historical setting.

The author’s second book won the Agatha Award for Best Novel, and I would definitely read it to find out more about this intriguing detective and her friends/ colleagues who will clearly be repeating characters, too.

Мога само да кажа, че нямам търпение за следваща среща с Мейзи!

MAISIE DOBBS (Historical Novel/Mystery) – Okay
Jacqueline Winspear – 1st book
Penguin Books, 2003 – Trade Paperback
Set in England between 1910 and 1929 is the story of Maisie who goes from being the daughter of a fruit-and-vegetable man, to the in-between maid of wealthy aristocrats where she receives special tutoring, on to college and then serving as a Nurse in France during WWI and, finally, setting up an investigative service where she is asked to find out about “The Retreat,” a home for young men severely injured during the War.
*** This is primarily a background novel about Maisie who is, by the way, precognitive. She is also very taken with herself and, to me, cruel to one she says she loves. The far more interesting character is Billy, who plays a secondary role. The story of the men who fought in WWI is, by far, the strongest and most poignant part of the story. The actual mystery is almost incidental to the story and relies on information you are unaware she obtained through Billy’s willingness to be the legman, and Maisie’s intuitive powers. Although there were parts of the book by which I was moved, I was disappointed overall. I’ve ordered the next book but It will need to be significantly stronger for me to continue with this series.

A beautifully written story of a young girl's rise from household servant to her own successful career as a private investigator during WWI-era England. This novel is so much more than just an historical mystery with a clever female sleuth. Winspear creates Maisie's story of her first professional case in such a way that with flashbacks we understand the physical and psychological scars of those who served during wartime...the sacrifices of the body, mind and heart....which has made Maisie develop a sense of purpose in life that goes beyond just solving mysteries. She has empathy for those who suffer or are in need, and this first installment of Maisie Dobbs will reveal the path that has brought her from servant to beginning her own professional business. A great beginning to a series that I can't wait to continue.
4.5 stars

I wanted to like this, because I found the premise and the setting very interesting. These mysteries feature a female private detective, a veteran WWI nurse working in London in 1929. This first book is heavily concerned with the first World War and its veterans.

But the writing, while I can't point to any specific problem, left me a bit cold. The protagonist Maisie also rubbed me the wrong way. I don't like that she feels it mandatory to provide psychological counseling to her clients, or the way she repeatedly recalls precious bits of wisdom from her mentor ("Allow grief room to air itself... be judicious in using the body to comfort another, for you may extinguish the freedom that the person feels to be able to share a sadness"). I also didn't buy the way Maisie can figure out what another person is feeling by mimicking his body posture.

I didn't find this compelling enough to continue with the series.

***Second read***

4.5 stars. I enjoyed this much more the second time through. Maisie is an interesting character and I love her spunk and smarts. I really like Billy, too. There is a certain other character who shall remain nameless that I would truly like to know more about and I’m hoping the second book will answer all questions in that regard.

Thanks to Lisa for writing such great reviews praising this series, which inspired me to try it again.


***First read***

The beginning was between a 4 and a 5, the middle 3 to 4, and a perfect ending. So a 4 it gets. Will definitely continue on with the series, esp since they all seem to be downloadable from the library!

Members of my book club are always so enthusiastic about the Maisie Dobbs series that I finally decided to read one. Winspear's writing is very good, the story was engaging, at times even exciting, and (this being the beginning book in the series) the backstory was moving and provided a solid base and characters the reader can care about heading into subsequent books.

First book in a mystery series featuring a female detective and set in 1920s England. There were alot of chapters devoted to Masie's background story, with the mysteries placed at the begining and end parts of the book. The sections about Maisie's time as a field nurse during World War I were especially well-written. Great character development, but a bit weak on the mystery parts. Hopefully the next book will show improvement there.