A regular contributor to journals covering international education, Jacqueline has published articles in women’s magazines and has also recorded her essays for KQED radio in San Francisco. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and is a regular visitor to the United Kingdom and Europe.
Jacqueline’s first novel, Maisie Dobbs, was a National Bestseller and received an array of accolades, including New York Times Notable Book 2003, a Publishers Weekly Top Ten Mystery 2003, and a BookSense Top Ten selection. In addition, the novel was nominated for 7 awards, including the Edgar for Best Novel—only the second time a first novel was nominated in this category. She subsequently won the prestigious Agatha Award for Best First novel, the Macavity Award for Best First Novel; and the Alex Award, which is presented annually by the American Library Association in conjunction with the Margaret Alexander Edwards Trust. Maisie Dobbs was published by Soho Press in hardcover and by Penguin in paperback, an edition that spent almost four months on the Independent Mystery Booksellers Bestseller list in 2004.
Book six of the Maisie Dobbs series opens with a “bang”! Literally. Maisie is injured as she witnesses a man’s suicide on a busy London street. Perplexed by the suicide, Maisie “presence” is requested by Scotland Yard’s Elite Special Branch to ferret out the writer of a threatening letter to a high government official who is suspected of instigating the suicide-bombing, and is determined to pursue the investigation using her skills and wits without the interference of the male detectives assigned to the same case. Her assistant Billie Beale proves once again to be a valuable asset to the case, despite the fact that his family life is going through a distressing emotional upheaval.
Having followed Maisie Dobb’s story from the previous six books in the series I was curious to see how the explosion from the suicide would affect her. As a nurse who suffered from PTSD (war neurosis as it was termed after the war) Maisie has had to learn to identify the source of the mental anguish she suffers from and come to terms with the loss of the love of her life. Maisie is a strong, intelligent and compassionate woman who works constantly to keep the past at bay. She’s human and we can feel her struggle.
This book can be read as a “stand-alone” novel however, Maisie Dobbs’ character has been developed quite nicely through the previous six books and it would be a shame not to have read them first.
An entertaining and informative segment in this series that a reader of historical fiction would enjoy. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series “The Mapping of Love and Death”.
I love to read books with strong female characters, and it seems like Maisie is one of those!