I love this book. I listened to the audiobook. It's beautifully done. I am going right into book 2. I'm already attached to the characters.

In many ways, this book was a delightful blend of "Brideshead Revisited" and an Agatha Christie mystery. Maisie Dobbs is a terrific character. She is complex without ever being pompous and Winspear throws her into a difficult social conundrum that she may never escape from. The book's moments of levity are balanced by some bleak truths about war, and I admire the depth that these darker passages brought to the narrative as a whole. I plan to read the rest of the books in this series.

Book on CD narrated by Rita Barrington

This is the first in a series featuring a former housemaid and Army Nurse. The book begins in 1929, and Maisie Dobbs has opened her own private investigation agency. Her first case is a man who believes his wife is unfaithful. Maisie gets to the truth quickly, but it leads to some painful memories.

I like Maisie and the supporting characters who will, no doubt, make appearances in subsequent books in this cozy mystery series. But this first book spent way too much time in the past, and not nearly enough time on the actual mystery. And I don’t mean the man who suspects his wife; the real mystery doesn’t come up until Chapter 21!

I can see why so many people like the series. The setting, the period, and the characters lend a feeling of the wonderful black-and-white movies of the ‘30s. While I was disappointed in this book – I read mysteries, even cozy mysteries, for the plots – I think I’d be willing to try another because of the characters, setting and period.

Rita Barrington does a very good job voicing the audio version of this book. Her pacing is good and her skill as a voice artist breathes life into Winspear’s characters.

I enjoyed this book and found it to be completely unique. Unlike other mysteries with a neatly wrapped conclusion, this ending lingers. The depth of human complexity given to each character makes it nigh impossible not to rehash the story, and particularly its conclusion, over and over, long after the last page is turned.

Cleanliness:

Profanity
Mild Obscenities & Substitutions - 4 Incidents: h*ll, poppycock, d*mn
Anatomical Terms - 2 Incidents: b*ggers, bl**din' b*gger
Scatological Terms - 18 Incidents: bl**dy, bl**din', bl**dy h*ll (bl**dy - as in lots of blood - 3 times)
Religious Profanities - 47 Incidents: Lord, God, Gawd, Lord knows, thank God, my goodness, Gawd's sake, heaven's sake, gosh, gaw, golly, heavens
Derogatory Terms - 1 Incident: B*st*rds

Violence - None

Sexual Content
Lust - 1 Incident: “One thing you have to admit about war, darling - there’s nothing quite like a man in uniform.”

Making Out/Sex - 11 Incidents: “The problem was that the man Christopher Davenham thought was cuckolding him was dead.” A man and a woman are in love. A roommate observes that the woman is not often in her bed before midnight. It does not say but one can guess some sleeping together may be implied. A couple dance and then the man kisses the lady’s hand. A couple kiss. A lady remembers the kiss on her hand. A man kisses a girl’s hand at the end of each day. A man and woman kiss. A man and woman kiss. A couple kiss and embrace. A man kisses a girl’s hand. A man and woman kiss.

Sexual Miscellaneous - 7 Incidents: A guy has taken a shine to a girl. She says she doesn’t like him because he’s “all mouth and trousers.” She’s in love with someone else. “I’m not just sitting on my bum…” Mentions a girl’s “behind forming a mound in the bed.” Some nurses don’t have a bathroom and tease one of the girl’s about using her beau’s bathroom. A father tells his daughter to mind herself. She replies that she won’t be out all night with a guy, she’ll be on the train. He clarifies that he meant minding her heart. The word “breast” is used - non-sexual. The word “breast” is used - non-sexual.

Conversation Topics - 4 Incidents: Mentions someone who commit suicide. Mentions a pub, sherry, cigarette, pipe and tobacco. Mentions a girl needed to pee. Mentions an occult.

**Like my reviews? Then you should follow me! Because I have hundreds more just like this one. With each review, I provide a Cleanliness Report, mentioning any objectionable content I come across so that parents and/or conscientious readers (like me) can determine beforehand whether they want to read a book or not. Content surprises are super annoying, especially when you’re 100+ pages in, so here’s my attempt to help you avoid that!

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Review written August 2, 2017

3 1/2 Stars - Nice start. The story and crime case hooked me and I'm convinced to continue with these (audio)books

Maisie Dobbs was a pretty nice and interesting audiobook listening to a historical crime fiction in the easy "Cozy Mystery" genre. This book is also the first part and serial starter with a lot of Maise-books to catch up with.

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England, 1929 — 10 years after WWI

Maisie Dobbs is a bright and clever woman who just started her own private investigation practice in London.

• The crime case was nicely solved and told. This heroine is maybe too good, too angel like... and to be honest a little bit plain and boring, but I liked most of the cast and second characters.

• A big part of this first book was also about old childhood memories, Maisie's years as a young housmaid and later a WWI war nurse. I must admit I nearly enjoyed those more historical parts most. (... A horrible war and a lot of young soldiers lost their life there.)

All in all a good start. I'm looking forward to continue with book #2, Birds Of A Feather (Med lätta bevis)

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I listened to the 9:52 hours audiobook (the translated Swedish edition Maisie Dobbs very well narrated by a splendid terrific voice in Mirja Turestedt).

I LIKE - mystery solving in past days

I think this book is good enough to re-read. I will then provide a proper review while I drink a nice cuppa!!

I have finished for the second time... I hope I don't disappoint; I am drinking a cuppa wine, not tea!!

I have many favorite male heroes. Maisie Dobbs is my first female heroine... at least in recent memory **. Jacqueline Winspear has crafted a character, who, when she dies, will go to heaven and be declared a saint. As you can tell, I LOVE Maisie Dobbs. Her mentor, Maurice Blanche, comes in a very close second.

The story starts with Maisie as an adult. We don't know much about her background yet, but she is opening an office to be a private detective, of sorts. She has been taught the trade by Maurice, who is giving up his business. Her first client is a man who thinks his wife is cheating on him. I'll let you read how this story unfolds and what the real story is.

We then revert to Maisie's childhood. Her mother dies young, and Frankie her father, sends her to a home to be a maid. Kind of an upstairs/downstairs situation. Her mistress finds Maisie reading one day and sees how bright she is. Enter Maurice who teaches her and prepares her for an education at Cambridge.

There are so many elements of this story: love, compassion, and pure unadulterated SMARTS.

There are 14 books in the Maisie Dobbs series. Over the next 13 months I will continue to read one per month with the group Retro Chapter Chicks.

Loved, loved, loved this book.

5 stars

** OK, I have to say before Maisie, I revered one female heroine: Jane Eyre.

I was so so so looking forward to reading this series but man it was so boring. No murder the MC can’t do any wrong and it just didn’t fit the time period. I might try a book further in this series since maybe it gets better but maybe not

The book description led me to believe the Maisie Dobbs character was a female Poirot or Holmes. There is not much mystery here at all. This really is a WW1 1920s historical fiction. This just is not what I thought it would be. Plus, at only 259 pages, it is highly descriptive and needlessly wordy and rambling, to the point of being aggravating.

Maisie Dobbs is a joy to read, and author Jacqueline Winspear is an expert storyteller. Set in England just following World War I, it’s a captivating historical cozy mystery. However, some people would perhaps take issue with its inclusion on cozy mystery lists because the subject is moderately heavy.

Maisie’s life is a story of right place, right time and the power of connections. Her father sells vegetables, called being a costermonger, to the Compton household in London. When his wife dies and he can no longer offer Maisie the opportunities they planned, he asks the Compton household to take Maisie on as a maid. So she goes into service as the lowliest of the low, rising early to start the great house’s fires.

Lady Rowan Compton takes an interest in Maisie after discovering her in the library reading at 3am. Thus, the downstairs maid has the financial support to make the most of her life. We catch up with Maisie when she’s in her twenties, and is starting her own investigations business. Winspear tells both the back story and current events, moving effortlessly between the two.

In Maisie’s present day, she’s been asked to determine whether a wife is faithful to her husband. In the process. Maisie discovers a secretive and suspicious place caring for veterans. This ties into Maisie’s time as an army nurse, as well as into the Compton family itself. Winspear weaves all the story lines together quite seamlessly, while transporting readers to various times and locales in England and France.

Maisie’s particular method of investigation is rather interesting. She uses her intuition and consciously aims to reach others in a deeper way. It’s a very modern approach, blending Sherlockian deduction with something almost New Age.

Winspear’s writing style is lighter on research and description than some historical fiction. Nevertheless, she evokes the era effectively. This made it possible for me to speed through the first in this series of 13+ books.

Maisie is never whiny or difficult, she’s a tough cookie while still being a woman of her time. The supporting characters are fleshed out just enough to broaden the story and bring depth to the mystery. The pace moves along quickly and Winspear stays decidedly on track, even when the reader isn’t sure how the pieces fit together. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Rita Barrington, who voices each character with distinct creativity.

This is a series I’ll continue as an alternative to the heavier books I choose. I definitely recommend it.

More reviews at TheBibliophage.com.

When I first heard of "Maisie Dobbs" from other Goodreaders I thought; they made a new book about the movie character from the 40s? The street-smart character from Brooklyn that keeps turning up on TCM played by the zaftig Ann Southern? That Maisie? Nope, different Maisie. This one's from England after the Great War and plenty smart herself. In fact, so smart that as a lowly serving girl to a wealthy family she attracts the eye of the lady of the house who arranges for her to study with a progressive friend of the family, while minding her chores of course, so that she can go on to study at University. But all that's in the past. When we meet her she is opening an investigative agency in 1929. No Jack-the-Rippers cases mind, just missing persons and following suspects. That sort of thing. This particular case involves a wife whom her husband suspects is having an affair. She has become distant and her husband wonders where she goes each day. Maisie's investigation and what she discovers brings back memories of her studies and the war that interrupted them. She had joined a group of volunteer nurses who were doing their part to assist the battlefield medical staff dealing with the carnage of war. The doctors, one in particular, could only do so much. The casualties were many and the wounds horrific. But while they lost many patients, they saved many too. Unfortunately sometimes the physical scars of the wounded are nothing compared to their mental scars, even 10 years after. For them the war has never ended.
Maisie Dobbs is a wonderful character with enormous emphathy based on her modest upbringing and the scars, physical and mental, that she carries as well. Although I liked this book and there are others in the series I'm going to take my time reading another. Nothing wrong with "Maisie Dobbs" but a little too tame. I don't think I'm good enough for her.

A neighbor recommended Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs as one of the best books she’s read. The book cover boasts quotes from The New York Times (“Be prepared to be astonished”), NPR (“A quirky literary creation”), and Alexander McCall Smith (“[A:] real gift”). Naturally, I had high expectations.

Maisie Dobbs is a detective and self-proclaimed psychologist in post-WWI London, and the novel splits its time between a case and detailing Maisie’s background. Only half the book is a mystery as Maisie investigates “The Retreat” where injured soldiers escape the stares of society.

In the other half, Winspear recounts Maisie’s past. She moves from being a greengrocer’s daughter to an aristocrat’s protégé to a WWI nurse to a private investigator. Maisie Dobbs is almost too good to be true: brilliant and dedicated, moving seamlessly between all ranks in society.

The book is well written, but the split-nature of its format backfires. Maisie is too perfect to be an appealing heroine (although a disturbing scene at the end of the book belies Maisie’s perfection). And Winspear does not fully develop the mystery, so its climax borders on the ridiculous.

Winspear has written several more books in the Maisie Dobbs series. Though I haven’t read them, they are apparently more consistent with the genre and concentrate more on mysteries and less on Maisie’s history. I will have to invest in the second novel before dismissing the series completely.

A university scholar, a nurse, a psychologist, a private investigator, a survivor, a romantic, but even so a very classy feminist

Jacqueline Winspear’s historical mystery series MAISIE DOBBS opens with a whimsical search for the wording and location of the sign that Ms Dobbs will use to advertise her new business to potential clients. The winning entrant proves to be a brass plate with the words “M Dobbs. Trade and Personal Investigations” situated at eye level to the right of the door. The reader is then treated to Ms Dobb’s inquiry into what ultimately proves to be a fraudulent scam perpetrated against veterans from WW I, seriously wounded and suffering from what we now call PTSD. This succulent literary treat reaches right back to Maisie Dobb’s childhood and traces her personal history from service below stairs to a wealthy but exceptionally open-minded and generous family to a university education, military service, romance, and the opening of her investigation business.

Like television’s long-running popular series UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS and DOWNTON ABBEY, Winspears treats her readers to a brilliant and completely compelling portrayal of class distinctions and daily life in post-Victorian life in England and Europe during and immediately following WW I. MAISIE DOBBS, in effect, is two stories for the price of one. The first is the story of Maisie’s childhood and growth to a business woman and professional private investigator. The second, of course, is her puzzling out of the solution to her first case and the novel, considered in its entirety, is thoroughly enjoyable from first page to last.

The second in the series, BIRDS OF A FEATHER, awaits my attention and I must say I’m looking forward to it.

Paul Weiss