I found that some of the things in the first book that were on the edge of believable have slipped into hokey territory with this one, like Maisie’s feelings about spaces. The themes of war trauma re repeated but also further explored. I found the historical aspects interesting, some of which I didn’t know about. However much of this reads like an overly lengthy therapy session. It was just a meh, but I am still interested in seeing where she goes next.

I've read a few of these books in this series. They have mostly been a solid 3 stars. I thought the title of this one was clever. It was worked right into the story.

I like Maisie, the MC. She is methodical in her search for truth. I like that. She also doesn't let others push her around. She is no shrinking violet. I thought there were a few too many characters in this one, but overall, I liked the story line...... so 3 stars.

I really enjoyed this! It's a murder mystery set between WWI and WWII in England. Maisie is a self employed PI. She's been hired by a very wealthy man to find his adult daughter, who was single and lived at home. Maisie discovers this woman has had several friends who have been murdered.

Reading this reminded me of watching a Masterpiece Mystery on PBS. It has no bloody violence or gore. Just a good old fashioned murder mystery.

I bought this book many years ago and did not realize it is #2 in a series but the author did fill in a bit that is probably in the first book. I will definitely keep any eye out for the 3rd book.

When I was recently invited to join a small book club under the auspices of something of a celebrity librarian where I live--she organizes successful events and authors readings, many of which I have attended over the years--I couldn't resist accepting. What kind of books might this small and intimate grouping of admirers of fine literature read? A list of books covering the next few months to come was intriguingly diverse in style, genre, time period. This would be an interesting exploration, no doubt pushing me to read books I might never have otherwise read.

Including the first book on the list: Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear. Two of this series, in fact. The first one, then a second of our own choosing. I headed for the library, but the first book was off the shelf. Perhaps another book club member. So I chose another in the series, skimming through several. I was not familiar with the author or the series, as mysteries, admittedly, are not a genre I favor. As soon as I opened the book to read, I was reminded why. They all seem painfully alike. The only difference here is that Maisie Dobbs, detective-psychologist, was female rather than the tiresome Bogey-type that seems to keep popping up in other detective novels. And you know that "Girl Friday"? The fawning, too-sexy-for-her-own-good type who is doggedly devoted to Bogey to the point of being codependent? In this book, Maisie's sidekick would be a cockney called Billy Beale, a retired vet with a bum leg. Yes, he's doggedly devoted if blessedly married. I rolled my eyes. I had to wonder, why do readers so enjoy these types of series, alike as a stack of pancakes, with characters all cast from the same mold, predictable as formula? I don't get it.

And then, of course, I got immersed in the book.

It took a while. And I did roll my eyes once more as I read an editorial miss, where a main character, Joseph Waite, a wealthy man who hires Maisie to find and bring home his missing daughter (32 years old! I'd be missing, too!) grinds out his cigar after enjoying his smoke. Grinds? Mind you, as editor-in-chief of a literary ezine called The Smoking Poet, featuring an extensive page on cigars called Cigar Lounge, I know a thing or three about cigars. You never grind out a cigar. Cigarettes, yes, but cigars give out toxic, bitter fumes when so ground. Any cigar smoker worth her ash knows this. Adding insult to cigar injury, Mr. Waite has the seemingly same cigar magically reappear in his fingers a page later as he and Maisie stroll the gardens. Oops.

Yet once the smoke had cleared, I found myself reading the book more and more often, each time for a longer sit. The British author, Jacqueline Winspear, knows her twists and turns. She also does her homework well, if not particularly on the grinding of a stogie, because the story is rich with historical detail and color. It is set in London, spring of 1930. There are scenes in city and outlying areas, flashbacks to The Great War, and doings and ongoings with coppers in Scotland Yard's Murder Squad. Keeping this time period in mind, the accomplishments of Maisie Dobbs are very respectable. Once a battlefield nurse, she has now made her place in a male-dominated field of private investigators, so not only does she need to solve her case, she must solve it with more finesse than any male counterpart.

I'm liking this.

Unlike most detective novels, this detective is also, happily, no womanizer. What a relief. A woman herself, she deals with the opposite sex respectfully, even while demanding respect. Yet, just like a woman, when she is dealing with a heartbroken victim, of whatever gender, she is compassionate and kind, gathering her information even while soothing the broken and setting things right. No damsel in distress she! Indeed, Maisie's great love is a soldier who is so wounded in war that she now visits him regularly in a home, even though he cannot any longer respond to her presence. An under story here is that Maisie is struggling to find the right place for her heart: to remain faithful to her love, a physically and mentally broken man, yet open it to a future possibility of happiness. She is not without her suitors, including a detective inspector at Scotland Yard, who is at times ego-wounded when Maisie solves cases that leave him floundering and accusing an innocent man. And Doctor Dene, a kinder and more considerate sort, who seems to be something of a kindred spirit. Yet these hinting-of-future-romance characters never become more than passing background to the story--a wise choice on the author's part, or this would move too far into another, cheaper genre. (Hurrah for books about women that aren't always centered around romance!)

Maisie pursues her clues with dogged determination yet light touch. Adding to that feminine approach, she seems to use intuition as much as logic to solve her case, and is quite comfortable doing so. Sidekick, Billy Beale, the limping veteran, is a good help to her, but she notices his quiet struggle with an addiction often seen in veterans at that time, too--cocaine. A history lesson woven into the story tells us soldiers were given morphine and other painkillers in unmeasured doses on the battlefield, often leading to addiction. Maisie helps Billy get back on the straight and narrow perhaps a little too easily, and without interrupting her pursuit of the missing heiress, now joined in a tightening circle of two other women, found murdered.

The book title comes from the link between all three women: white feathers. Another fascinating historical sidenote, but one I won't here reveal. Maisie notes this tiny detail and eventually catches the bird, so to speak. It is a pretty remarkable scene when she does. Masterful, even. One very much, I think, requiring a female author.

Judge for yourself. As for me, I'm pleased to have been nudged into reading this detective novel, even as I continue to be less than a fan of the genre, but a fan won over by Maisie Dobbs.

הספר השני בסדרת מייזי דובס, ולטעמי טוב יותר מהראשון, שהשאיר עליי רושם עצום. ספר מאוד מותח ומצמרר. מכמיר לב. העלילה הבלשית כאן יותר משמעותית ונוכחת, כשהרקע הוא עדיין בריטניה שאחרי מלחמת העולם הראשונה. הסופרת שוב נוגעת בהשפעות של המלחמה על החברה הבריטית, וזה מרתק ומטלטל. לא חיבבתי את דמותה של מייזי בספר הקודם, אך בספר הזה התחלתי להרגיש כלפיה יותר חמימות. בסך הכל ספר ממש מצוין.

I really like the way this author presents her stories and characters. Her characters drew me into the story and I felt like I was right there with Maisie Dobbs ferreting out the clues and coming up with answers. The use of mental, emotional and spiritual (though not on the conventional sense) tools in solving seemingly unrelated events.

This is a good mystery series that takes place after WWI in England. Maisie Dobbs is the private detective who is hired by a wealthy man to find his daughter. Dobbs discovers that several of the daughter’s friends have been murdered.
Dobbs races to find out who wants to kill these women. The answers are found in the agony of the Great War from people lives torn apart and clues of a feather left at the murder scenes.
This is an enjoyable mystery series.

Another good Maisie Dobbs story. Maisie's character develops beautifully in this second installment. She is a strong woman who is determined to put her brokenness behind her. She is compassionate, intelligent, independent, and clearly her own woman at a time in history when women were struggling for a foothold in a man's world. I like Maisie. She reminds me of a British and a little older Nancy Drew. She pushes the envelope to find answers and get the job done. She isn't afraid to do the right thing, even if it means getting her hands dirty or asking difficult questions.

I certainly like the historical aspects of this novel: the White Feather Girls and the mention of Joseph Pilate and his successful physical fitness routines that are still popular today.

Many reviewers are put off by Maisie's methods of "feeling" the crime and using all of her senses. But this is part of Maisie's training with her mentor, Maurice. I actually like the idea of being present in mind and body and not relying on sight alone. It is in no way supernatural or weird. It's refreshing and believable.

This particular story touches on some sensitive and important topics: drug addiction, damaged war heroes and their care, aging parents, and acknowledging and accepting the value of women.

The ending leaves us with a bit of a mystery. Maisie has decided to make changes in her personal life, to move on from her past. I'm interested to find out where she is headed in the next book, Pardonable Lies.

***
"Wisdom comes when we acknowledge what we can never know." ~ chapter 23

I really wanted to like Maisie Dobbs. A new mystery solver for me, based in the London of 1930. What I found was a mixture of Agatha Christie and Nancy Drew, with a hint of No 1 Ladies.
Maisie is a Nancy who grew up in London, and like Nancy, is described flawless. She drives in her fancy car around the city resolving mysteries her police friend can't solve without her help, yet she does not want to become a full policewoman or investigator. Instead of a Ned Nickerson she has a helper called Billy, a morphine addict since the war, who is great to his family, and who has a South London accent. Maisie shows her above the other-ness by not using an accent.
I haven't read the fist book, but this one is the second one in the series. Nancy Maisie's new gig is finding a missing woman in her 30s, whose father is worried about her. When she investigates where Charlotte is, suddenly a lot of her friends are killed or have committed suicides. Maisie finds something in all the "suicide" scenes, but the clue is never revealed in the story. (spoiler: think about the title!) Until the end when the murderer is caught.

Well, it's a classically built mystery. If you like Agatha Christie and want a grown-up Nancy Drew in year 1930, here you go.
But I need way more action, and I've grown to like characters with flaws. Other than how little the heroin eats while picking the fish on her plate. Real flaws in their character, things that might explain how they have become what they are, and stronger motives. Also I like way more action and things to be more outrageous in some way.

I read this aloud to/with a friend who has cancer. We’d read book one and moved on to book two. This series is delightful and clever.It takes us a long time to get through these books but we both love them. They’re so much fun. Great humor. Great pathos. Great psychological insight. Absolutely wonderful, lovable, captivating and memorable characters and interesting relationships. Good mysteries too. This series reminds me a bit of the Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths and that is high praise. I do appreciate how all of the recurring characters are basically good and that even the villains are humanized and shown sympathetically. Read 2020/05/25-2020/07/04. The author does a good enough job with her characters that it was rare I got confused despite taking so long to read this book. It’s an enjoyable read aloud book. I know I would like it anyway but it’s even more entertaining to read it aloud/read it with someone else. Very sweet acknowledgments page at the end of the book where her dog and her cat are mentioned. Read a borrowed e-copy from my public library due to the pandemic. 4-1/2 stars

Second in the Maisie Dobbs historical mystery series which takes place in England just after World War I.

My Take
It's fascinating to watch Dr. Blanche's psych techniques in action. Mimicking body postures and movements to understand the underlying thoughts of another. The playacting in character roles. A bit of introspection, an understanding of human nature, and a knowledge of a person's back history is enough to yield many ideas.

How Maisie uses open areas and walks, body positions and movements to open up any person or know when questioning is futile. She opens her mind to sense the atmosphere, spirits, tension left behind at crime scenes.

You can't help but like Maisie Dobbs—the character and the concept. As a detective, her use of a more spiritual and observant approach is a fascinating twist on the usual. As the character, she is beautifully strong-willed and compassionate.

Winspear takes you back in time as she captures the nuances of that era. Its manners, its dress, and the interactions of the different classes whether in the heights, the gutters, or the pub.

Be warned, you will cry.

The Story
Maisie's detective agency is doing well and, at first glance, the commission from Mr. Waite doesn't appear all that out of the ordinary. It's that notation on the card from Maurice that has her wondering. When she and Billie meet with Mr. Waite in his home, interact with the staff, and sees Charlotte's bedroom is when the first whiff of curiosity arises.

It's the small things that lead to bigger that causes Maisie to begin to see strands tying together seemingly disparate deaths that leads to the truth behind Miss Waite's running, running, and running.

She has cause. Both good and bad. A father's preference over another can result in very bad reactions.

The Characters
We meet Maisie Dobbs living in a second floor suite at Ebury Place and using yoga. She rose above her working class roots, starting as a thirteen-year-old tweeny, and gained a formal education at Cambridge. Her practical psychological education was with Dr. Blanche and Khan. Successful at a time when most of the world is in breadlines, she's on her own now as a detective with Billie Beale as her faithful sidekick (Doreen is his very worried wife—Billie's leg is acting up and he's taking cocaine). She's now moved her office to Fitzroy Square and she still has Lady Rowan's little MG; Lady Rowan's fall during a hunt precludes her driving herself.

Maisie is welcome upstairs and downstairs but is having trouble connecting with her dad Frankie who is running the stables down in Kent for Lord and Lady Compton. It takes a nasty accident to pull father and daughter back together. Frankie and Lady Rowan have plans to raise Derby winners. Mrs. Crawford, the cook, keeps saying one more year.

Dr. Maurice Blanche has retired and bought the Dower House from the Comptons. Khan is a blind Ceylonese mystic who taught Maisie to see without her eyes. Detective Inspector Stratton is more interested in Maisie as a woman than as a detective. Sergeant Caldwell is a pricker in Stratton's backside.

Joseph Waite is a self-made man who rose up from being the sole support of his mother and siblings as a butcher's boy to a man with a string of successful grocery stores—Waite's International Stores. He's generous with those he feels deserve it and he must be in control at all times. Mr. Harris is his butler; Mrs. Willis is the housekeeper with her own burden; Miss Arthur is his secretary; and, every one of his employees respects him. It doesn't mean that they like him.

Charlotte Waite is Joseph's daughter with her own shameful secrets. Ones she won't face. Perkins acts as Charlotte's maid. Gerald Bartrup is Charlotte's former fiancé and happy to be out of it. Joe, Junior died in 1916 in the war along with a lot of Waite's Boys. Mr. Jempson at Waite's warehouse remembers all the boys from there who enlisted. As well as the why.

Lydia Fisher drinks and Magnum married her for her money. Phillipa Sedgewick seeks solace in her garden and her poor hubbie John is distraught. Maisie suggests opening windows and walking in Phillipa's garden. Dame Constance Charteris is a Benedictine nun whom Maisie knew at college. She is now the abbess at Camden Abbey in Romney Marsh.

Rosamunde Thorpe reads to battered vets. Mrs. Hicks was Mrs. Thorpe's housekeeper. She doesn't believe it was suicide. It also seems that Mr. Waite paid Mrs. Thorpe a visit. Dr. Andrew Dene is a Bermondsey boy and a student of Dr. Blanche's and attracted to Maisie. He's the physician in charge at All Saints' Convalescent Hospital in Hastings and he knew Rosie Thorpe from her visits there. He doesn't believe it was suicide either. Maisie consults him regarding Billie's problem and later her father's.

Gideon Brown, formerly Günther Brown, uses exercises devised by an American, Joseph Pilates, to help the wounded. I just thought this was an interesting bit of trivia.

For the past six months, Maisie has been visiting Simon at the nursing home.

The Cover
A very 1920s cover with the style of the design, Maisie's hat and coat, and the grille of the car behind her. The greyed-out colors are perfect for the depressing times along with the idle cranes. White birds flit through the sky. Just another reminder.

The title is so appropriate for Birds of a Feather did once hang together. And they die together.

This book combines Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie, taking the annoyances of both and the interest of neither.
I practically had to force my way through the book. The writing didn't flow and I felt like I was swimming against a tidal wave while I read it.
Maisie Dobbs is a bland, detached woman. I got so sick of her meditating and communing with the spirits of rooms and people. I think it was somehow supposed to show you her own inner turmoil, but, to be honest, I frankly didn't care about her turmoil or see how it was really anything to be so concerned about. She showed no emotion and any emotion that was inserted was just that...inserted. There's a difference between saying a character is crying and miserable and showing why that character is crying and miserable. Mrs. Winspear tells us that Maisie is sad and thus we are supposed to take it on blind faith, because Maisie herself is not convincingly miserable. Miss Dobbs seemed incapable of showing feeling or extending warmth to anyone.
The plot was thick and almost impenetrable. It focused on everything but the mystery. Maisie was constantly driving here and there and doing this and that but nothing seemed to pertain to anything. There is almost a lack of continuity. I almost had to use a bookmark in this book because I would open the book to a driving scene (of which there are many...) and not even realize it wasn't the one I had left off on.
I also had difficulty remembering the names of characters she introduced and often had to stop reading and recall who was who and what they were.
As for the culprit, it wasn't very ingenious at all. We were hardly introduced to the culprit in the first place (to the point where you practically forgot the person existed) and in the second place every clue as to who it was was cut out of the book. You couldn't figure out who the culprit was until the end of the book because the author practically hid the culprit from view. The person hardly existed. (I did figure it out before the climax, which probably isn't a difficult maneuver). Very ingenious, Mrs. Winspear. Very ingenious.
In a nutshell, this book is heavy, boring and absolutely uninspired.