The Mapping of Love and Death (Maisie Dobbs, #7) in Ask Jacqueline Winspear

Jul 22, 2012 Lis Carey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, mystery, fiction, historical-fiction

Maisie Dobbs is once again working on a mystery with potentially explosive consequences for a family. Dr. Charles Hayden, the American doctor she met during the war and has continued to correspond with, has referred to her some Boston friends who want to know what happened to their son. Edward Clifton, the son of a major British shoe manufacturer, left England for America as a young man, and made his own fortune in America. In 1914, his youngest son, Michael, a cartographer, bought some land in Maisie Dobbs is once again working on a mystery with potentially explosive consequences for a family. Dr. Charles Hayden, the American doctor she met during the war and has continued to correspond with, has referred to her some Boston friends who want to know what happened to their son. Edward Clifton, the son of a major British shoe manufacturer, left England for America as a young man, and made his own fortune in America. In 1914, his youngest son, Michael, a cartographer, bought some land in California and then, hearing of the start of World War I, travels to England to enlist in the British army. He never returns, and his body, along with the rest of his cartography unit, has just been found now, twelve years after the end of the war. Because he was "missing," the family has been unable to resolve his estate; more importantly, Michael's journals and letters he had received and saved show that he had met and fallen in love with a young woman. His parents would like to find her, to close the circle on their son's life.

What Dr. Hayden and Mr. Clifton know from the French autopsy, but Mrs. Clifton hasn't been told, is that Michael didn't die from the shelling that killed the rest of his unit. His skull was crushed by a blow from behind, before the shelling.

As Maisie works through the evidence, looking for Michael's killer and his lost love, she quickly learns that the killer may be nearby. The Cliftons are attacked, Maisie is knocked down and her document case stolen. This isn't just a dozen-year-old crime; the danger is real and present.

Meanwhile, Maisie's personal life is getting complicated. Maurice is very ill. Billy Beal's wife Doreen is home from the hospital (due to events in prior books), but still very shaky. Andrew Deane is married, but her friend Priscilla introduces her to a jourmalist friend of her husband's, who is very interested. And James Compton is back from Canada to stay, and inviting her to go to a car race with him.

Maisie is juggling a lot here, but she does it with charm, grace, and intelligence as usual. Another worthy entry in the serious.

Recommended. ...more

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Jul 12, 2011 Ariel rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery-maisie-dobbs

So glad to see Maisie's personal life taking a giant leap forward in this book. It's about time. It seems more effort was put in to developing the characters personal lives than in the mystery. This was for me the weakest mystery in the series so far. In this book Maisie is charged with determining the death of an American cartographer named Michael Clifton during World War I. Was he killed by enemy fire as was the rest of his unit or was it murder? To complicate matters the parents of Clifton a ...more

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Jul 24, 2011 Jan Rice rated it really liked it

Maisie Dobbs, psychologist and detective, 1932, Britain, upwardly mobile before it was done--from the servant class into society, and all-round good lady. Cross-over mysteries that give a window into her time and place. These are just great. Have read 'em all. Recommended! ...more

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Apr 28, 2012 Sue rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery, england, wwi

Maisie's latest case begins when an older couple comes to her wanting assistance in finding a woman who had loved their son. Their son, Michael, had been part of a cartography unit during the War. He'd been listed as missing and his remains had recently been unearthed. In the possessions with his body were his journal along with love letters. They want her to find the woman because they'd like to talk with her and learn more about Michael's experiences. Maisie has access to the autopsy report a ...more

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