Maisie Dobbs

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear, 294 pages

Set primarily in 1929 with flashbacks to World War I, Maisie Dobbs follows the titular character as she sets out to become a private detective. The fact that Maisie is a woman detective is enough of an anomaly for the time period, but she's also got a therapeutic approach to her profession and a background that takes her from a job in service at a stately manor (think Downton Abbey) to attendance at Oxford's college for women to nursing wounded soldiers in the Somme.

There is a mystery in this book (a client seeks her help to prove that his wife is cheating on him, which eventually leads Maisie to another, bigger mystery), but that doesn't seem to be the main point in Winspear's novel. Rather, the goal of this gentle mystery seems to be the introduction of Maisie as a character, and Winspear does that well. Maisie comes to life as someone who defies stereotypes, both by forging ahead in a "man's" career choice and by still being unsure enough of herself that she doesn't know how to describe her job on the metal plate outside her office. The other characters don't seem nearly so three-dimensional, though one would hope that they continue to develop as Winspear's Maisie series continues. Recommended for readers who enjoy historical fiction and a gentle mystery.