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Fiction. Mystery. Historical Fiction. HTML: Four years after she set sail from England, leaving everything she most loved behind, Maisie Dobbs at last returns, only to find herself in a dangerous place . . . In Jacqueline Winspear's powerful story of political intrigue and personal tragedy, a brutal murder in the British garrison town of Gibraltar leads Maisie into a web of lies, deceit, and peril. Spring 1937. In the four years since she left England, Maisie Dobbs has experienced love, contentment, stability�??and the deepest tragedy a woman can endure. Now, all she wants is the peace she believes she might find by returning to India. But her sojourn in the hills of Darjeeling is cut short when her stepmother summons her home to England; her aging father Frankie Dobbs is not getting any younger. But on a ship bound for England, Maisie realizes she isn't ready to return. Against the wishes of the captain who warns her, "You will be alone in a most dangerous place," she disembarks in Gibraltar. Though she is on her own, Maisie is far from alone: the British garrison town is teeming with refugees fleeing a brutal civil war across the border in Spain. Yet the danger is very real. Days after Maisie's arrival, a photographer and member of Gibraltar's Sephardic Jewish community, Sebastian Babayoff, is murdered, and Maisie becomes entangled in the case, drawing the attention of the British Secret Service. Under the suspicious eye of a British agent, Maisie is pulled deeper into political intrigue on "the Rock"�??arguably Britain's most important strategic territory�??and renews an uneasy acquaintance in the process. At a crossroads between her past and her future, Maisie must choose a direction, knowing that England is, for her, an equally dangerous place, but in quite a different… (more)
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Winspear opends this book in 1937, three years after ending Leaving Everything Most Loved and then proceeds to sum up what has happened with Maisie (sou searching in India, marrying James, moving to Canada and finally being happy, becoming pregnant and then losing James in a plane crash and her unborn child as a result of that crash) in 18(!!) pages all related in epistolary fashion through letters, telegrams and newspaper articles. I should have just tossed the book aside at this point, but no, I plowed on.
Maisie then has to go on some kind of grief pilgrimage, cutting off contact with everyone she knows, finally ending up, once again, in india. Maisie has always had an unfortunate habit of naval gazing, but in this book she takes it to the point or narcissism. Finally, a letter from her step-mother, Brenda, reminding her that Frankie, her much beloved father, isn't getting any younger, prods Maisie to book passage back to England.
But wait! The closer she gets to home, the more she's all a-twitter that she just cannot possibly face it, so she jumps ship at Gibralter. There, she literally stumbles over a dead body (there is always one of those, isn't there?) and even though the police tell her that the man has been killed by a refugee (one of many apparently) from the Spanish Civil War, Maisie decides that she must discover THE TRUTH, and in the manner of the best Nosy Parkers, starts to stick her nose in things that certainly are none of her business.
There are pages of ruminations about her old mentor Maurice - ruminations that have all been said in previous books - and for someone who is supposed to be intelligent, Maisie shows a singular lack of knowledge of what was going on in Spain. Perhaps in her self absorption she has neglected to ever read a newspaper?
There are new characters galore, most of whom I didn't care about. Robbie McFarland makes an appearance and if he is really with Special Branch, why doesn't he just arrest her & put her on the next boat home? She is in a British territory after all? But no, he just lets her take a joy ride into Spain where, of course, she meets another sainted nun who is thinking of nothing but helping the poor war torn Spaniards. The end of the book finds her sending messages back to England and going back to Spain to work with the nun.
Enough! At first I thought that Winspear, tired of her character was just fulfilling a book contract, but now I think that she's taking Maisie out of the realm of mystery stories and into the land of spy thrillers just in time for World War II. If that is so, may I suggest that she has her character bone up on world politics and start thinking about someone other than herself because I cannot take another mes of a book like this one.
Now, for a rant and why I doubt I'll read any further in this series (WARNING Spoliers abound!):
What? We don't get to experience the answer to the proposal? The wedding? Some of their happiness? The answer to several books gone by of how she'll handle her work and marriage? Talk about a betrayal of those who have stuck around this long! And now we get more inner angst and navel gazing? Talk about pulling the rug out! I understand killing off major characters. Had we been there for the promised pay off, perhaps we could join more fully in her incredible grief.
On top of which, Maisie has become hideously self indulgent, selfish and petulant. She escapes off the grid, avoiding all contact with her elderly infirm father, whom she hasn't seen since her marriage -- and is clearly worried about her. She refuses to go to England, thus denying her dead husband's parents the chance to even hold a Memorial service as they await her return. They can't have the service without the daughter-in-law widow. And Maisie knows they can't but still doesn't go back. Who does this? And it gets fixed by blithe little letters with no return address assuming their understanding?
I am thoroughly tired of Miss Dobbs and I suspect Ms. Winspear must be as well to have had such an abrupt off-screen deus ex machina veering of plot. I give this two stars -- one for the author writing it and one for me for reading it.
The book is mostly about Maisie, rather than the detective work she does. Indeed, the mystery is rather a hook on which to hang musings about Maisie's struggles, and her continuing life adventures.
Winspear does her usual marvelous job in giving readers a real feel for the setting. With the Spanish Civil War raging just over the border, with the build-up to World War II, Gibraltar's strategic position makes it extremely valuable to many countries, and it seems that they all have representatives in place, lurking around the corners of buildings and following Maisie wherever she goes.
The author has also created a strong secondary cast-- Salazar the café owner, Mrs. Bishop the owner of the guesthouse, and the dead man's sister among them. The more the story unfolds, the more it seems that no one is whom they first appear to be, and with the number of people spying on others it's a miracle they don't start tripping over each other. This is a presentiment of another problem I'm beginning to have with a series I've loved since its inception.
The closer to World War II the series becomes, the more the storylines are delving into the shadowy world of spies and double-dealing. I've never cared for spy novels, so I'm definitely not enjoying this foray into that world. But as a character told Maisie in a previous book, once those spy organizations get their hooks into you, they don't let you go. I really don't want to see Maisie go down that road.
Although the mystery is rather slow to unfold, it does pick up speed and becomes quite intriguing. I enjoyed watching Maisie solve a complex case, just as I enjoyed the author's depiction of Gibraltar at this very tumultuous time. I'm deeply invested in Winspear's character. Maisie's story has grown from being a rags-to-riches tale to something deeper and much more meaningful. But for the past few books, Maisie has seemed to take two steps back to every three steps forward. Her experiences during World War I have left an indelible mark upon her of which she seems unwilling or unable to let go. With her constant musing on the past, I just can't quite see her as a successful spy in the next calamitous war to come. I am at a crossroads, and I am actually wondering if I'll be continuing with this series-- something that would have been completely unthinkable in the past.
That is not what I found when I read this tale. Instead Maisie’s trip and the major life changes that occur are compressed into a few short pages in the beginning and all of the build up from the previous book is basically over and done in two minutes of reading. I again felt betrayed and really didn’t want to continue reading but was committed to this review. So continue I did. Maisie is heading home to England but really doesn’t want to be going home. On the way she disembarks in Gibraltar to settle herself. While there she stumbles on a dead body and decides to find out who killed him and why. Her pursuit of this starts to give her life some substance. She also struggles to sort out the culture of Gibraltar and to try and understand the Civil War going on over the border in Spain.
There is a lot going on in this tale. Where did it leave me regarding Maisie? To be honest – meh. The story didn’t really draw me in. Maisie’s attitude baffled me and the story at times just plain bored me. I really hate to write this because I loved this character so much and I just don’t understand where the author is going with her. Ms. Winspear has a way of setting a scene that is very compelling and that has not been lost, it’s just Maisie that is confusing me right now. I’ll give the series one more chance but if the next book is as confusing I’ll be saying farewell to Maisie Dobbs.
The opening first pages of A Dangerous Place were quite jarring - a great tragedy has befallen Maisie. I won't spoil it for you, but this loss devastates her. (And truly this reader as well - I'm saddened at
I've always enjoyed the slow building and piecing together of clues on the road to the final reveal in Winspear's novels. The path is never a straight line from A to B which is of course what makes a great mystery. In A Dangerous Place the route to the end is quite roundabout and busy - a bit too much in my opinion. Winspear has grown the series - and Maisie - with new directions taken in the past few books.
There is of course a dead body in A Dangerous Place (every mystery needs one!) But, the ensuing investigation is a political cat and mouse game with watchers watching the watched. And sadly, I became tired of it. What I really enjoyed was what I have enjoyed in previous Maisie books - the slow coming to answers with interviews, visits and Maisie's case map. This is still present in A Dangerous Place. But what I didn't like was the political cat and mouse games and the duplicity of almost every character. It was, well, just too much. This may just be my bias - I am not a 'spy novel' fan.
Winspear's descriptions of time and place are excellent. Maisie walks the streets of Gibraltar many times - I could vividly picture the old women mending their nets, Mr. Solomon's haberdashery and Mr. Salazar's cafe, as she visits these locations many times. (And it's always fun to see a mention of a place in Canada that I'm familiar with - however brief!)
It's always interesting to see why or when a title was chosen for a book. This one has a great quote from Albert Einstein in the epigraph....."The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." And this completely defines Maisie - she is one of the people who 'do'. This quality is one of the main reasons I have come to enjoy this character so much - her determination, her intellect, her compassion, her curiosity and her inability to let injustice go unnoticed.
"...he taught me about duty, about doing all in our power to bring a sense of...a sense of rest and calm to those left behind. I was - I am, I suppose - an advocate for the dead."
I found the ending quite satisfying - it was a 'return to roots' for Maisie. I will be very curious to see where Winspear takes her character from here. I will definitely be picking up the next book in the series - this is a character and author that I do quite like. A Dangerous Place is a good read but isn't my favourite in the series. Readers new to this author will want to start at the beginning to fully come to appreciate this character.
I missed Maisie’s circle of friends and family who were only mentioned in letters in this book. I hope she’s not going to turn into Bess Crawford or Maggie Hope.
After a tragedy, Maisie decides to return to India to heal. When her
Maisie discovers the dead body of a photographer, a Sephardic Jew, and feeling that the police aren't interested in finding the killer, Maisie uses her skills to solve the murder, and gets involved in a dangerous political situation.
Winspear always does a great deal of research for her books, and in this one, we learn a great deal about the Spanish Civil War, including the bombing of a marketplace in Guernica, where many women and children were killed by fascist forces. For someone who doesn't know much about the politics in Spain at this time, it is enlightening.
Since Maisie is alone in Gibraltar, we don't see many of our favorite characters from previous books- no Billy, no Priscilla, no Lady Rowan. I have to admit I miss Maisie's interactions with the characters I have grown to like. The only one who makes an appearance is Inspector MacFarlane, Maisie's sometimes nemesis, sometimes reluctant police partner.
At the end of the story, Maisie assists some nurses who are traveling to care for the men fighting the civil war. This part was most interesting for me, as Maisie seemed to come out of her funk, and was at her best organizing the makeshift hospital and helping the nurses care for the men under difficult conditions. It was a welcome callback to Maisie and her nursing days in France.
We'll have to wait until next year's book to find out if Maisie returns home and resumes her life as a private investigator. I can't say that this one was my favorite in the Maisie Dobbs series, but as always, I learned something about a time and place I knew little about, and that is always a good thing.
Well, as the date of James' ultimatum approaches, Maisie sends him her response...and I can't really share any more details without
READ IT IF YOU LOVE MAISIE.
This episode started off a little slowly but built into a good story. I liked reading about Gibraltar, a place I had never thought about before, and the Spanish Civil War provided a suspenseful background for the action, such as it was. And I look forward to her next adventure in Munich.
I had hoped Maisie had left the world of espionage behind in A Lesson in Secrets, but it wasn't to be. I don't think the style of this series is particularly well suited to espionage plots. Even Maisie admitted to another character toward the end of the book that the explanation for the murder had become convoluted. She tried out several explanations of the death in conversations with several different characters, and each successive explanation served more to obfuscate than clarify the circumstances of the murder. The tension peaked too early, and
enjoy this series. The progression of Masie's life and the lives of the ongoing characters are enjoyable to watch. As a stand alone book I am not certain how a first time reader would judge it. The story line is a good one - but may