A Lesson in Secrets: A Maisie Dobbs Novel [Versión Kindle]

In the previous novel, changes in Maisie Dobbs' personal life have set her on a new course in her investigations. In the newest book, a bridge is beginning to form between repercussions of the Great War and the yet unknown second World War, while Maisie is asked by the British secret service to take a position as philosophy teacher at a new university in Cambridge which preaches a philosophy of peace, to investigate whether any activies taking place there are subversive to the Crown. The head of the university is a man who wrote a children's book about the war so filled with pacifist leanings that it was banned by the government and was rumored to have caused a mutiny at the front lines. Maisie is not there long before the man is murdered. While Scotland Yard investigates, Maisie continues her own inquiries, and, a bit too priescently, I thought, warns the Secret Service about certain of her students with Nazi leanings and the party itself (which, of course, the Government-types ignore). There is much more for Maisie to learn about the man's life and the secretary who disappears following the death, about the German professor that steps into his place and the wealthy man who funds the school.

In the meantime, Billy Beale works on the case brought to them by Sandra, a young woman whose husband died due to an accident at work. As the story progresses, both Maisie and Billy suspect the accident wasn't one at all. Maisie's old friend Priscilla and her family are drawn into this portion of the story.

Maisie's relationship with her new love progresses slowly in this outing, but those who read the Dobbs books know it's in Maisie's nature to take things methodically. Her dad is also making some changes in his life. Readers who like the earlier stories of Maisie dealing with repercussions of the First World War may dislike signs of the next appearing, but Winspear is not allowing Maisie to remain static in a postwar world. Several of the cards are played early in the mystery, but all-in-all I found the story and characters appealing.

To me, one of the attractive aspects of Jacqueline Winspears' Maisie Dobbs series is that it is set in the period between the World Wars. In Britain particularly, the loss of a generation of young men is sorely felt as well as the unemployment among the veterans, many of whom were maimed in the trench warfare.

In this, the seventh book in the series, Maisie temporarily leaves her assistant, Billy Beale in charge of her private detective agency to assist the Special Branch in their observation of a peace movement. While the Special Branch is concentrating on Communism, Maisie is concerned with the enthusiasm of the group for the new National Socialist movement in Germany and their leader, Adolph Hitler. Maisie is virtually undercover, teaching at a new college that brings together students from many countries to pursue peace.

This is a worthy addition to the series and shows other aspects of Maisie's life-a growing love affair, the inheritance from her mentor, her concern for Billy and his family still grieving the loss of a child. And there is a murder to be solved.

This book, as the others, brings alive this period and helps show the steps toward a new conflict that seems only dimly in the future. I think this is a worthy series and one I highly recommend for both entertainment and understanding of a most interesting time.

A series is usually defined by the things that the novels have in common. What's most striking about this series, however, is the element of change -- change in Maisie Dobbs herself, change as other characters die, in Maisie's sense of herself as a professional, the changes in the social and economic laws of gravity in English society, all of these make for an intensely interesting set of books.

And unlike the Charles Todd series with the depressed/dpressing Ian Rutledge, the Maisie Dobbs books give us a character who is forever scarred by the Great War, yes, but who is also capable of moving on.

That said, I have some problems with the direction this move is taking.

Maybe _the_ most fascinating element of these novels has been the tension generated by the English class system. Maisie, who started life as a housemaid, has been extensively sponsored by her employers -- educated, privately at first, then at Cambridge, she is able to start a detective business, to continue her friendship with an upper-class college chum, and to fend off a variety of marriage proposals.

In this novel, however, Maisie seems to be edging into the middle class. Winspeare is British, but she lives in the States now, and I'm wondering if she hasn't caught a bad case of social mobility. Why can Maisie not continue to be an admirable, smart, accomplished working class woman? Why?

Maisie, now a woman of means, has removed herself entirely from any day-to-day problems with money and access, and is beginning to devote herself to philanthropy. If this were linked more to a sense of her own humble beginnings, I'd not object. But when she thinks of herself as as one of a generation of women who inspire the next gen. to seek education and jobs, she fails to mention how fairy-tale fortunate she herself has been. Taking Maisie back to Cambridge as a lecturer is risky on several levels. Even with the strange little made-up college, there's an alarming number of pitfalls here.

This doesn't detract from the 5-star rating, but it does give me pause and makes me concerned about the direction Winspeare is choosing for the series. Maisie seems to have undergone a sea change between this novel and The Mapping of Love and Death. The change is so marked that I looked online to see if I had missed a book.

Change is good, but I'd like to watch it happen.