Another review from my Goodreads profile. New reviews coming soon. Two of the novels are being released next week!

A Lesson in Secrets, by Jacqueline Winspear

Summary:

Maisie Dobbs, private investigator and careful observer of people, returns in the 8th novel of this series. It’s 1932, and the growing tensions in Europe have cast shadows over England. Dobbs is asked to take a teaching position at the College of St. Francis, devoted to the study of peace, and observe the comings and goings of its students and professors. Is there anything that is not in the best interests of the Crown?

No sooner has Maisie arrived than the founder of the college is murdered. Though Maisie is ordered not to investigate, she does.

My thoughts:

I have heard good things about this series. This is the 8th book in the series, and I enjoyed it. Maisie is compassionate, observant and wise. The Crown and the chief investigators may dismiss the growing Nazi movement, but Maisie doesn’t.

My problem was this: there were numerous people and relationships that have obviously been explored in the previous novels. Unfortunately, I had no idea who was who, so I often flipped back and forth trying to discern what Maisie’s relationship with the Comptons was. In all fairness, Winspear tries to explain, but I think it would’ve been easier if I had read the first seven novels.

Also, there were lots of characters, especially once Maisie arrives at the college. It became hard for me to keep track of them all. There were also some subplots that I thought might have tied more directly to the main plot, but didn’t seem to.

Still, an enjoyable book. I’ll read some of the earlier books and learn what has happened to Maisie in previous novels.

Update, 3/27/19

I did read several other books in the Maisie Dobbs series. Unfortunately, I stopped liking the books because I stopped liking Maisie herself.

She’s presented with a dilemma that many women would identify with: the choice to be a career woman (a private investigator) or to be a wife. In her case, being a wife to her lover involves social obligations; he’s wealthy and aristocratic, and wives in those social classes have obligations. Being a private investigator would not only be frowned upon, it would reflect badly on the husband and affect his social standing.

Unfortunately, Maisie is unable to choose, even when she’s constantly (as in, every single book that I read) being told that she must choose. That subplot got old. It also made her seem selfish that she kept hanging on to her lover even when she refused to marry him. Then, just when it seems that she does make a choice, disaster happens. (Spoiler alert. The lover-now-husband dies–between novels! We don’t even get to be there when it happens. We find out through telegrams/letters in a first chapter of the next book.)

It’s as if Winspear didn’t know how to resolve Maisie’s dilemma nor how to make it fresh and interesting as the series progressed, so she resorted to a melodramatic (and unsatisfying) solution. After that, I gave up on the series. I felt cheated.

Has anyone else ever had this happen? Did you read a series and feel cheated by the ending?