The Mapping of Love and Death (Maisie Dobbs, #7)

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The Mapping of Love and Death (Maisie Dobbs #7)

by Jacqueline Winspear (Goodreads Author)

4.16 of 5 stars 4.16 · rating details · 6,392 ratings · 757 reviews

In the latest mystery in the New York Times bestselling series, Maisie Dobbs must unravel a case of wartime love and death—an investigation that leads her to a long-hidden affair between a young cartographer and a mysterious nurse.

August 1914. Michael Clifton is mapping the land he has just purchased in California's beautiful Santa Ynez Valley, certain that oil lies beneat...more

Hardcover, 338 pages

Published March 23rd 2010 by Harper

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Oct 02, 2011 Hannah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-reads, mysteries

Rating Clarification: 4.5 Stars

This installment in the Maisie Dobbs mystery series was good. Seriously good. Easily my new favorite after the debut novel. I enjoyed the mystery, the direction Maisie is taking in her life, and the surprising twist that happened at the book's end. I cannot wait to find out how Maisie (and Billy Beal's) professional and personal lives will be changed by this twist. And for the first time, Maisie didn't grate on my nerves. Has Winspear written her more sympathetical...more

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May 13, 2011 Sue rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: mysyery lovers, historical mystery readers

Shelves: favorite-authors, historical-fiction, mystery, read-in-2011, british-britain

Another enjoyable entry in the Maisie Dobbs series. Rather than enumerate the plot details which are available above, let me say that this novel brings Maisie to a new point in her life. It closes out all aspects of her youth and allows her to move fully into adulthood. At last she knows her place in the world. That brings with it more concerns and questions to be answered in later sequels.

While some of the plot issues may have been solved a bit easily and obviously, I found I didn't mind at all...more

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Oct 27, 2011 Donna rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, mystery

The seventh Maisie Dobbs book is an investigation into the wartime death of an American cartographer. It's an improvement over the last few books in this series, but that's thanks more to movement in her ongoing story than the central mystery.

Maisie's glacially-paced personal life finally begins to thaw, and there's another sad event for her to face. Something comes as a complete surprise to her that really shouldn't, but Maisie often fails to apply her insight to her own situation.

The mystery h...more

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Mar 07, 2013 Carol rated it 5 of 5 stars

The best yet of this series! Why PBS doesn't make this into a series is beyond me. The writing is tight, the period detail authentic and the stories always compelling.

In this book (number 7 in the series, Maisie Dobbs is on the trail of an what happened to an American cartographer who joined British forces in World War I. He was declared MIA but recently his remains were found... but war wounds were not the cause of his death. Maisie is hired by his family to get to the bottom of the mystery an...more

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Feb 05, 2013 Gwen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I picked up a Kindle version of this book when Amazon had it on sale, and I'm glad I did--now I have a portable copy of what remains my favorite book in this series.

Looking back on last year's review, I'm a little surprised at how upbeat I was about the book. While the case was still solid (if a bit implausible with some of the details--what are the odds that Priscilla would know just the right person who had just the right evidence to help Maisie solve the case?), Maisie's intense loneliness s...more I picked up a Kindle version of this book when Amazon had it on sale, and I'm glad I did--now I have a portable copy of what remains my favorite book in this series.

Looking back on last year's review, I'm a little surprised at how upbeat I was about the book. While the case was still solid (if a bit implausible with some of the details--what are the odds that Priscilla would know just the right person who had just the right evidence to help Maisie solve the case?), Maisie's intense loneliness stuck out to me this time.

Maisie has long been alone, even when surrounded by people (college, the war, etc.), but she's never seemed lonely before...and this transition from 'alone' to 'lonely' grows throughout the book.

But now, looking at the tight-knit Clifton family, even in the wake of Michael Clifton's murder; the Beale family, dealing with the effects of Lizzie's death but looking to the future with a new child; and even the Compton family, hiding the secret of Emily's death and coping with James' post-war trauma, Maisie feels...lonely.

"It was at those times [having guests over to her flat], when her aloneness took on a darker hue, that she almost wished there would be no more guests, for then there would be no chasm of emptiness for her to negotiate when they were gone." (pg. 269/Loc. 2633-2634)

[Walking by houses lit up at night and glimpsing the scenes inside] "Each of the people had a life and, if they were fortunate, family who loved them and who they loved in return--perhaps a wife at home, a babe in the nursery, an aging parent who needed help, brothers and sisters. It was as if she had been looking down upon a landscape of human activity, a charting of everyday endeavor. As she considered, not for the first time, the part she played in the grand scheme, a question came to mind, almost as if Maurice had prompted her. Was she forging ahead in a stream of her own making, or was she allowing herself to be carried out by a riptide, ever onward towards...what?" (pg. 276/Loc. 2710-2714)

[Visiting a (female, roughly Maisie's age) person of interest] "Maisie cast her eyes around the aching loneliness of the bed-sitting room, a cocoon of solitary existence in a building of such rooms where women of a certain age--of her age--tried to fashion their lives to meet a circumstance never imagined in their earlier years." (pg. 355/Loc. 3494-3495)

New relationship at the end notwithstanding, these feelings of aloneness and loneliness aren't going to disappear overnight, and it will be interesting to reread the books after this (A Lesson in Secrets and Elegy for Eddie) to see how Maisie handles this, now that I'm looking for it. (less)

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Feb 01, 2013 Sheri rated it 4 of 5 stars

A cartographer is a map person. They make maps, they study maps, they know maps. "You always know where you are with a map.", he told his parents. He had just purchased a piece of land in California, following his father's advice that land was a solid investment with which to use some of the monies left him by his grandfather, when he heard that England had gone to war. As a cartographer, his services would be greatly beneficial and he decided to join the Brits, even though he was an American....more

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Dec 21, 2012 Kara Jorges rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the first book in this series that I have read, and I must say I wish I had read the others first. There are a lot of back stories among the characters that have developed throughout, and for a newbie, they were somewhat confusing. That said, though, I did find this a pretty decent read.

Maisie Dobbs is a single woman living in London after the close of World War I. She had worked as a nurse in the war, and now has her own detective agency. She works with an assistant, Billy Beale, and th...more

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Sep 13, 2012 Debbie rated it 3 of 5 stars

I love Maisie Dobbs. And, until this book, I’d loved all the stories in this mystery series. The book wasn’t bad, mind you, and provided lots of interesting details about the mapping of war.

The Mapping of Love & DeathBut there were just a couple too many coincidences that advanced the solving of the mystery to suit me: Maisie’s friend just happened to try to match-make her at dinner with a man who just happened to know a guy who made films of the troops in WWI and who just happened to have f...more

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Jun 07, 2012 Debbie rated it 3 of 5 stars

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Oct 21, 2011 Marleen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Michael Clifton was a young American cartographer with an English father who had just finished surveying and buying a plot of land in California when he read about World War 1 breaking out in Europe and decided to sail to Britain to offer his services. Three years later Michael and others on his team were listed as missing.
In 1932 Maisie Dobbs is hired by Michael’s parents. Their son’s body has finally been discovered and with it a bunch of love letters from a British nurse as well as other pers...more Michael Clifton was a young American cartographer with an English father who had just finished surveying and buying a plot of land in California when he read about World War 1 breaking out in Europe and decided to sail to Britain to offer his services. Three years later Michael and others on his team were listed as missing.
In 1932 Maisie Dobbs is hired by Michael’s parents. Their son’s body has finally been discovered and with it a bunch of love letters from a British nurse as well as other personal papers. They hope Maisie will be able to discover who the nurse was and find out more about those final years of their son’s life.
Reading the post mortem report proves to Maisie that Michael was murdered rather than a victim of the war and when soon
after talking to Maisie and giving her the letters, the elderly couple is attacked in their hotel room and left for dead it becomes very clear that the investigation is about more than just finding the young but elusive nurse.
Maisie finds herself once again looking at the events of the First World War and her own painful memories of that time. But at the same time her own life is going through drastic changes. Her mentor, Maurice is very ill and Maisie has to prepare herself for life without the man who taught her everything she knows about investigating. She also finds herself taking tentative steps towards loving again. This investigation will be an emotional rollercoaster for a lot of the characters in this book.

I’m not quite sure what exactly it is about these Maisie Dobbs stories, but I love them. I adore the gentle pace in which the stories are told. I’m in awe of Maisie’s way of approaching the people she deals with and feel inspired by the philosophies which underlie her investigative methods.
The book also gives a great and realistic view of life in Britain in the 1930’s as well as the horrors of World War One.
These stories flow softly even though they are murder mysteries and don’t shy away from the horrors of war and death and the pain people will cause each other. And the mysteries are well plotted with solutions that make sense without being obvious.
I can only hope that Mrs. Winspear will continue writing these books for a long time.

(less)

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Oct 15, 2011 Rebecca rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: family-story, historical, mystery, romance

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I actually enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. I read one Maisie Dobbs book long ago and didn't care for it, I think because I found it depressing, but so many people have recommended the series that I thought I should try it again.

Overall, I had mixed feelings, but not about the writing or plotting, just the feel of the book. Especially the first part was overlain with a pervasive feeling of sadness, like a tombstone perpetually in the rain, carved with a flowery and melodramatic Vic...more I actually enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. I read one Maisie Dobbs book long ago and didn't care for it, I think because I found it depressing, but so many people have recommended the series that I thought I should try it again.

Overall, I had mixed feelings, but not about the writing or plotting, just the feel of the book. Especially the first part was overlain with a pervasive feeling of sadness, like a tombstone perpetually in the rain, carved with a flowery and melodramatic Victorian poem about the vale of tears that is life (well, maybe not quite that bad). I understand that it comes from the fact that wars have long tails and that Maisie and the other characters have not yet recovered from WWI, but it's just not a mood I enjoy in books. I can depress myself just fine; I'd rather have a book cheer me up!

Regarding the mystery, I thought it worked well and certainly held my interest. I enjoyed how Maisie followed the clues, though I wish the author had at times given the reader a bit more information about the clues, such as when Maisie sees a film clip and thinks she recognizes someone in it. I don't mean that the author should have given away the person's identity, but just given a few more clues as to which set of people we should suspect. I did think that part of the end fell flat--the involvement of a character related to Maisie's clients--because I didn't see how it really related to the overall plot. Red herrings are fine, but trying to show that the red herring was part of the plot when in fact he really wasn't just didn't work for me.

I both liked and didn't like that the unveiling of the murderer went according to plan, with the police present; Maisie didn't do something stupid like keep her knowledge to herself and then confront the person alone. I much prefer that type of ending because I don't like violence and hostages and so forth. However, I felt perversely cheated because that didn't happen, because it's such a convention in this type of book. If I could know for sure that that is how it happens in these books, I would enjoy them more. I was just expecting something I didn't get, so felt a bit let down even though I much prefer the quieter ending.(less)

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Aug 15, 2011 Lizz rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm reading the series bc they are just so addicting and while the past few have not been stellar, I wanna stick with Miss Dobbs. Thankfully, this one reignited my excitement for Maisie and her cases, both personal and professional.

Much happens here and all of it satisfying. From the case itself to Maisie's personal life, change abounds. And while change hurts, a lot of shaking up makes for great reading and reconnecting to characters.

Not to spoil anything, but look for Maisie to experience gre...more

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Jul 31, 2011 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-cruisin-thru-the-cozies-chall, 2011-historical-fiction-challenge, maisie-dobbs-mystery-series

7th in the Maisie Dobbs series based in post-WWI London. Maisie Dobbs is a sensitive and intuitive judge of character, as well as a brave and self-reliant woman. Her WWI nursing experience, along with extensive training from her beloved mentor Maurice Blanche, have well equipped her as a private inquiry agent. She understands a wide range of human feelings and motivation, and feels compassion and empathy where others would judge and discard. By this point in the series, after many successful inv...more

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Jun 12, 2011 John rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, library_books, mystery

Apparently, once an author has made enough money for a publisher, her final drafts go straight-to-publication. This one's a great example as it opens with a whopper of a factual error: British emigrant to America arrives "40 years earlier (than 1914) at Ellis Island" ... well ... surprise -- that facility didn't exist until 1892!

The mystery angle in this one seemed secondary here to developments in Maisie's personal life. I'm not too keen on the way that was handled, but am not singling out Wins...more

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Apr 18, 2011 Monica rated it 4 of 5 stars

I am with those who believe that the PBS Masterpiece series would do well to create a new series based on the Maisie Dobbs novels, of which this is one of the latest. These are historical fiction, excellently written, that happen in the time between the world wars in and around London, England. They address with deep compassion many of the faults of human beings and our societies, while along the way telling a wonderful and often suspenseful mystery story with an intriguing main character who is...more I am with those who believe that the PBS Masterpiece series would do well to create a new series based on the Maisie Dobbs novels, of which this is one of the latest. These are historical fiction, excellently written, that happen in the time between the world wars in and around London, England. They address with deep compassion many of the faults of human beings and our societies, while along the way telling a wonderful and often suspenseful mystery story with an intriguing main character who is an excellent example of being "other." She is from the lower classes, but has, from sheer ability and with the help of a generous upper-class lady, managed to get an Oxford education, private tutoring in her profession from a man who is not only her mentor but also very much a father figure, and has, all by herself, managed to become successful and prosperous as a single working woman who owns and runs her own business in a time and a place where such things were simply not done. In this particular episode of the series, our heroine investigates the death of an American cartographer, who because his father was British, worked with a British unit in the trenches of WWI, mapping the battlefields. The American was murdered on the battlefield in WWI and his body has just been uncovered by a French farmer. His wealthy American parents are seeking information about him: who killed him, and whether or not he might have left important papers in the hands of an unnamed girl he was seeing in Paris during his wartime leaves. There are numerous side plots as well, all of them of interest to long-time readers of the series, such as myself. A major character dies near the end, resulting in radical changes to the life of the main character. I love an author who does not fear letting her main character grow and change - the alternative is the all-too-common cardboard-cutout detective novel. And Maisie Dobbs has a new boyfriend. The only reason I did not give this novel five stars was due to the new boyfriend - the relationship struck me as fast and shallow, as though the author did not quite know how to bring it to life in a real-seeming way in the time she had. We are told that Maisie Dobbs is serious about him - but this does not come through as sincere for some reason, and I felt that this was a lack on the author's part and not an intended plot feature.(less)

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Apr 01, 2011 Zina rated it 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this as reading for a rest, like watching something light on TV when you're tired. But I found it had problems. The end was predictable - to a degree (not in all its details), and the writing itself was clodhopping. Sentence for sentence I think she doesn't write well, and her ear for dialogue is painful. I gather she's a Brit who has lived in California for some time, and I think it shows. Maybe her publishers don't want the Britishness to show through too much because it would confus...more

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Mar 28, 2011 Kate rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: received-for-review

This is my first time diving into the world of Maisie Dobbs. Why haven't I picked up this series before?

The Mapping of Love and Death is the seventh book in the Maisie Dobbs series. At first I was a little bit disoriented by what I didn't know about Maisie because I haven't read any of the other books in the series. I still only have a basic knowledge of Maisie's past after finishing the book, but the way that Ms. Winspear incorporated Maisie's past adventures (which would be familiar to fans of...more This is my first time diving into the world of Maisie Dobbs. Why haven't I picked up this series before?

The Mapping of Love and Death is the seventh book in the Maisie Dobbs series. At first I was a little bit disoriented by what I didn't know about Maisie because I haven't read any of the other books in the series. I still only have a basic knowledge of Maisie's past after finishing the book, but the way that Ms. Winspear incorporated Maisie's past adventures (which would be familiar to fans of the series) was just enough that I could follow along with the story without too much confusion and still want to read the series from the beginning.

What initially pulled me into this story was the prologue, which features the subject of Maisie's investigation, Michael Clifton, as he admires the land he had just purchased in the Santa Ynez Valley of California in 1914. His plans for the property focused on drilling for oil, which fascinated me because I have lived in a region of California that is known for oil production (feeling a personal connection to a story always excites me). That aspect of the story provides the background for why someone might have wanted to kill Michael, but doesn't figure prominently into the story. Michael is also a compelling character--a young man on the verge of success who joins the war effort as soon as England declares war.

What really got me addicted to the novel was Maisie Dobbs herself. She is intelligent, independent, reflective, and sensitive. The people in her life are interesting and care deeply for her, and she clearly cares deeply for them. She seemed to have a particularly close relationship with her mentor, who was in poor health, and she was struggling with the possibility that he was dying. I really liked her as a character, and that made me so much more involved and interested in her story.

The complexity and believability of the mystery is always important to me, and The Mapping of Love and Death did not disappoint. I was never quite sure of the murderer's identity and motive until Maisie finally laid it all out. The path to the truth twisted and turned with each suspect and clue in a realistic way, and I love realistic twisty paths to the truth! By the time I reached the end of the book, I was flipping the pages with excitement.

But the book wasn't just about the murder mystery; it was also about love and loss. Michael's parents were still struggling with the loss of their son, while hopeful that they could connect with the woman he had exchanged love letters with before his death. The investigation into that romance brings up memories of Maisie's own wartime romance. The theme of love and loss is further connected to Maisie through the failing health of her beloved mentor and friend, Maurice Blanche, while at the same time she is embarking on a new relationship with friend James Compton. This theme brought a lot of heart to the story that I wasn't expecting.

This was a fabulous read. I am pretty excited to have found a new mystery series to get wrapped up in. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series! The next Maisie Dobbs novel, A Lesson in Secrets, will be released in hardcover from Harper on March 22, 2011.(less)

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Mar 24, 2011 Pam rated it 4 of 5 stars

http://iwriteinbooks.wordpress.com/20...
Maisie is headed back in time, Bones style, when an assignment arrives from an elderly American couple regarding their son.

Back in the summer of 1914, dear young Michael Clifton had gone west, as young men are prone to do, his goal, mapping land in California for liquid gold. When war breaks out, abroad, Michael jumps ship in the states and heads home to his parents’ stomping grounds to enlist in the British service, mapping battle grounds instead of oil w...more

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Mar 21, 2011 Luanne Ollivier added it · review of another edition

The Mapping of Love and Death is the 7th book in Jacqueline Winspear's series featuring Maisie Dobbs.

This wonderful series is set in the past in England. The first novel began in the 1920's and this seventh offering is set in 1932. Maisie Dobbs is a unique creation. She began as a servant in a mansion at age thirteen. When her employer took an interest in Maisie and her intelligent, inquisitive nature, she sponsored her education. Fast forward to 1932. Maisie has had psychological training, serv...more The Mapping of Love and Death is the 7th book in Jacqueline Winspear's series featuring Maisie Dobbs.

This wonderful series is set in the past in England. The first novel began in the 1920's and this seventh offering is set in 1932. Maisie Dobbs is a unique creation. She began as a servant in a mansion at age thirteen. When her employer took an interest in Maisie and her intelligent, inquisitive nature, she sponsored her education. Fast forward to 1932. Maisie has had psychological training, served as a nurse in the war and now owns and runs an Investigative Agency.

"The path from there to here had been far from straight, had looped back and forth, yet always with an imagined place ahead - that she would be a woman of independent means would rise above her circumstances."
This latest outing finds Maisie employed by the Clifton family. Their son Michael's body has just been recovered - he was killed during the war. With his body were unsigned letters from a nurse he seems to have fallen in love with. The family would like to connect with her. Maisie is hired to track her down. But examination of Michael Clifton's body reveals that he was murdered before his unit was bombed and killed. Could his mapping skills and land purchase just before the war have something to do with his death? The case involves much more than first thought.

The Maisie Dobbs series are such a comfortable, almost genteel read, if you will. The social customs, manners and mores of the times are all faithfully observed in Winspear's writing. I enjoy being transported to this time period. The Great War brought many changes to England. Class and gender lines are changing. It has been interesting to watch Maisie's growth as she acquires knowledge, confidence and skills over the last 6 books. Of course, detection methods during this time are greatly different from the modern day detective novel. It is refreshing to see crimes solved the 'old fashioned' way, with a lots of legwork, questions and thought. I admire Maisie's quiet intelligence and her calm demeanor.

Winspear also includes an ongoing secondary storyline in addition to the mystery of every book. Maisie's personal life - her search for love and happiness- is just as interesting.

The 8th book in this series - A Lesson in Secrets- releases this week.

Maisie Dobbs is perfect for curling up under a quilt with a pot of tea - just a great historical mystery series with an intriguing protagonist(less)

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Mar 09, 2011 Carolynne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-fiction, historical-fiction, mysteries, england

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 07, 2011 Chandler rated it 4 of 5 stars

Searching for a mysterious woman linked to a young cartographer who died (or was her MURDERED?) during WWI, keeps Maisy Dobbs relying on her impressive brainpower and determination. Maisy Dobb is an adult Nancy Drew but without the secret passageways and kidnappings. It has been enjoyable to watch Maisy grow from a servant girl to an accomplished professional in a world that did not empower women to succeed.

Now sometimes I get tired of how bossy Maisy can be and how she mulls over interpersonal...more

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Mar 01, 2011 Nancy rated it 5 of 5 stars

In the latest mystery in the New York Times bestselling series, Maisie Dobbs must unravel a case of wartime love and death an investigation that leads her to a long-hidden affair between a young cartographer and a mysterious nurse.

August 1914. Michael Clifton is mapping the land he has just purchased in California's beautiful Santa Ynez Valley, certain that oil lies beneath its surface. But as the young cartographer prepares to return home to Boston, war is declared in Europe. Michael the younge...more In the latest mystery in the New York Times bestselling series, Maisie Dobbs must unravel a case of wartime love and death an investigation that leads her to a long-hidden affair between a young cartographer and a mysterious nurse.

August 1914. Michael Clifton is mapping the land he has just purchased in California's beautiful Santa Ynez Valley, certain that oil lies beneath its surface. But as the young cartographer prepares to return home to Boston, war is declared in Europe. Michael the youngest son of an expatriate Englishman puts duty first and sails for his father's native country to serve in the British army. Three years later, he is listed among those missing in action.

April 1932. London psychologist and investigator Maisie Dobbs is retained by Michael's parents, who have recently learned that their son's remains have been unearthed in France. They want Maisie to find the unnamed nurse whose love letters were among Michael's belongings a quest that takes Maisie back to her own bittersweet wartime love. Her inquiries, and the stunning discovery that Michael Clifton was murdered in his trench, unleash a web of intrigue and violence that threatens to engulf the soldier's family and even Maisie herself. Over the course of her investigation, Maisie must cope with the approaching loss of her mentor, Maurice Blanche, and her growing awareness that she is once again falling in love.

Following the critically acclaimed bestseller Among the Mad, The Mapping of Love and Death delivers the most gripping and satisfying chapter yet in the life of Maisie Dobbs.

My Take: This is my first Maisie Dobbs book. Winspear is an amazingingly talented author. Maisie has been around for a number of previous books, developing her own character as well as a number of others that are well loved. Oddly enough, I didn't feel lost at all. I felt a little left out that I didn't know the back story for all of the characters, like Billy's wife who is just coming home from an insane asylum. On the other hand, this does not interfere with the mystery at hand.

The story itself moves along without the choppiness that sometimes accompanies a mystery with a back story. Maisie is simply in her office when she receives the call giving her a heads-up about her next clients who promptly arrive. The couple are quickly described, characters developed, objective provided and they leave. Maisie jumps right on it and begins her sleuthing by making telephone calls, visits, setting appointments and driving to see her dad and her mentor. These relationships are easily assessed by the reader as is the possible love interest of Maisie. Before you can lay the book down for the night, the couple who hired Maisie is brutally attacked and hospitalized in seriously dire condition. That's a real hospital word. Okay, it's not but it should be.

That's the way the book progresses. For a time without internet and cell phones, Maisie is able to use her time to gather clues, establish her own case map, continue with her personal life, make connections, and eventually solve the mystery. It is a much better developed cozy read than I've ever read. The end result is slightly disappointing to me. I don't want to give anything away but the actual murderer's motive was a little flimsy. On the other hand, the identity of the nurse was exceptionally pleasing to me as was the result.

I will definitely read Maisie Dobbs again and again. As long as Winspear writes, I will continue to read. Excellent!(less)

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Nov 24, 2010 Cornerofmadness rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is another Maisie Dobbs mystery that honestly felt like it could be the end of the series if it wanted to be but I doubt it is. Set after the Great War, the series follows Maisie and her helper Billy. Long story short, Maisie was a war nurse, had issues with PTSD and was helped then trained by Maurice Blanche, a psychiatrist. Billy was a sapper in the war and in the last book his wife was committed for depression after losing a child. Billy wants to emigrate to Canada.

At the start of this m...more

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Sep 28, 2010 marymurtz rated it 4 of 5 stars

Solid fiction from an author who has mastered the art of taking a character, placing her in a series of books, and evolving the character over years into a sympathetic and brilliantly realized heroine. The earliest books in the series set the tone for the development of this character, her story arc and the stories of the peripheral characters.

Taking place in the 1920s and 1930s, the story revolves around Maisie Dobbs, a girl who works "below stairs" for an aristocratic British family but who i...more

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Sep 18, 2010 ICPL Staff Picks added it

Shelves: audio, fiction, kara, staff-picks-blog, mysteries

I just finished Jacqueline Winspear’s new Maisie Dobbs mystery and absolutely loved it. And as much as I enjoyed this book, I’m equally delighted about how I discovered it. Recently I was in Ames for the day, had a lot of down time between appointments, and was not enjoying the book that I took with me. I had my laptop so I navigated to ICPL’s eBook offerings and settled on this book. I was immediately drawn into the story and the world of Maisie Dobbs (and delighted to be reading an eBook so ea...more

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Sep 01, 2010 Mary Lou rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is the sixth in the Maisie Dobbs series and quite up to the previous standard. The books are set in England in the inter-war period. Maisie is a remarkable young woman, born into the servant classes, whose talent, intelligence, and lucky associations have pushed her farther up the social and working ladder. She was a nurse on the front lines during the war and is now a private investigator with unusual methods and excellent contacts. The books interweave her cases and her personal life. In...more

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Aug 13, 2010 Carolyn Hill rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have read all the installments in the Maisie Dobbs series and find them compelling but weighed down by the sad, grim, heavy atmosphere of the events and repercussions of World War I. Though in this book an American man dies in the trenches with the Brits, his death, proved to be by murder rather than a casualty of the fighting, has less to do with the war than with personal resentment and greed. I found the motivation of the murderer (did he or didn't he intend to kill the victim?) to be a lit...more

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Jun 19, 2010 Leslie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Leslie by: Judy

This is a very classy addition to the Maisie Dobbs series, but it smacked of being the last of the series. Everything tied up neatly, so that I don't see any place for her to move on to. Maizie is hired by a wealthy American family to find a former nurse in France in WWI with whom their son had fallen in love before he was killed. And killed had more than one meaning, since it developed that he was murdered before his bunker was attacked and everyone else died, too. Not only did we find out all...more

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May 07, 2010 Judy rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the 7th book in the Maisie Dobbs series and my recommendation is that the books are best enjoyed when read in order because of plot and character development. In this latest addition, it is 1932 and Maisie has new clients. An wealthy couple from Boston, Massachusetts comes to London to ask Maisie to find the young English nurse that their late son, Michael, fell in love with during the first World War. Michael's remains were found years after the war in a field in France along with his c...more

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Apr 20, 2010 Tony rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction-crime-detection

Winspear, Jacqueline. THE MAPPING OF LOVE AND DEATH. (2010). *****. This is the seventh novel in the Maisie Dobbs series by this author, and I always look forward to the next one. Ms. Winspear has an incomparable gift of infusing the period of time during which Maisie works her cases with a feeling of immediancy. She allows you to travel back in time and live among Maisie’s friends, co-workers and clients. In this novel, we meet Michael Clifton, a young man from a well-to-do family in Boston who...more Winspear, Jacqueline. THE MAPPING OF LOVE AND DEATH. (2010). *****. This is the seventh novel in the Maisie Dobbs series by this author, and I always look forward to the next one. Ms. Winspear has an incomparable gift of infusing the period of time during which Maisie works her cases with a feeling of immediancy. She allows you to travel back in time and live among Maisie’s friends, co-workers and clients. In this novel, we meet Michael Clifton, a young man from a well-to-do family in Boston who has traveled to California on a quest to buy land. His family was originally from England, and emigrated to America to strike out on its own and not have to follow the family shoe business as Michael’s grandparents would have desired. His father has done very well for himself in Boston and has encouraged his children to seek their own careers – to follow their loves. Michael buys a tract of land in the Santa Ynez Valley for both its beauty and his knowledge that there is oil beneath it. The time is August, 1914. On his way back to Boston on the train, he learns that England has declared war on Germany and decides that he will join up – even though he was born in America, he felt that he owed his father’s country a debt. Although not English, he talks his way into the British army because of his unique skills as a cartographer, a much needed skill since the French maps were inadequate for the purposes of war. He was sent off to France with a company of mapmakers and was subsequently killed, along with the rest of his company, when an artillery barrage buried them in their trenches. In April of 1932, his body, and those of his comrades, was found when a farmer was plowing his field. A subsequent autopsy showed that although Michael was hit by much shrapnel, he was killed by a blow to the back of his head. In addition to his body, his personal effects were also found on him, wrapped in cloth and oilcloth. In this package, he kept a series of letters exchanged with an English nurse at the front, who, because of the censors, never identified herself. In the letters, Michael and his nurse made it clear that they were in love and that they planned to move on with the relationship after the war was over. Michael’s parents arrive in England from Boston and engage Maisie Dobbs to see if she can find out who that nurse was so that the family could meet her. Although Maisie ultimately finds the nurse, she also uncovers a series of family plots laden with greed and jealosy and a group of men who will stop at nothing to protect their activities during the war. This is an excellent addition to the Dobbs canon. Highly recommended.(less)

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About Jacqueline Winspear

Jacqueline Winspear was born and raised in the county of Kent, England. Following higher education at the University of London’s Institute of Education, Jacqueline worked in academic publishing, in higher education and in marketing communications in the UK.

She emigrated to the United States in 1990, and while working in business and as a personal / professional coach, Jacqueline embarked upon a li...more

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An Incomplete Revenge (Maisie Dobbs, #5)

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“. . . if the way ahead is not clear, time is often the best editor of one's intentions.” — 6 people liked it

“... the vacuum left by the departing visitor seemed to echo along the hallway and into the walls. It was at those times, when her aloneness took on a darker hue, that she almost wished there would be no more guess, for then there would be no chasm of emptiness for her to negotiate when they were gone.” — 3 people liked it

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The Mapping of Love and Death (Maisie Dobbs #7)

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