Among my discoveries this year, this is one that I think will enjoy during my hectic times ahead. Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs mysteries have all the ingredients to make for a wonderful reading, without asking for too much effort. Great for the beach, perfect for chilly nights by the fire...
My friend Anna introduced me to these novels and by introducing I mean she handed me 6 logs all at once. If there was ever a danger of overindulging, this would have been it - but no. Little by little I will savour these books, starting (obviously) with the third book in the series. I found Maisie to be an Agatha Christie reincarnation - and I mean the real Agatha, not one of the characters she wrote about. Maisie is a girl of humble beginnings who, by virtue alone, manages to climb high up the ladder, make herself useful as a nurse during the 1st World War and excel afterwards when we find her in 1929's London as a psychologist and investigator. Her insight into the harshness of the war, the difficulty to adjust to "normal" life by many of those implicated in it, make Maisie the ideal person to go to lengths in order to solve a mystery.
