Book Review: Maisie Dobbs

Wilbur enjoying some sun, while the folks in Maisie Dobbs had to deal with London weather. Photo by Kate Ota 2024

After a short hiatus, I am back with a review of Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear. The first book came out in 2003, and now it's an eighteen book series. It won several awards in the category of best first novel (Agatha Award 2003 and Macavity Award 2004) and also several nominations in the same vein. It was recommended to me by a friend and I picked it up at a second hand bookstore.

Maisie Dobbs, the titular character, is a female detective starting her own agency in the years after WWI in London. As a WWI nurse, a former detective's apprentice, and a college-educated woman, she's certainly seasoned and ready for the job. However, when her first mystery comes along, she can't help but keep digging into the past, finding a connection to those closest to her.

This book reminded me a lot of the early seasons of Downton Abbey, since Maisie grew up as a "downstairs" girl. I thought the mystery and the look at the immediate effects of WWI on veterans and citizens was an interesting angle that I hadn't seen before. 

My largest problem with the book was that the mystery was interrupted by a 150 page flashback to Maisie's childhood/youth. It was information that I felt could have been sprinkled in more delicately over time. The entire flashback, I just wanted to get back to the present. Then in the present, the mystery was solved, and Maisie kept looking into it for what seemed like no reason to me. Without understanding why she was doing it, I couldn't root for her to succeed--because I didn't know what success would look like. Eventually, what she was digging into tied back to people she knew, but it took a lot of time to get there. If I was a less patient reader, I don't think I would have gotten that far.


This book is for you if you like WWI books, Downton Abbey, and female detectives. It's not for you if you read mysteries only to solve the mystery, if you dislike historical settings or WWI in particular, or if you are not in the headspace to read about PTSD, major facial wounds, or death in war.



Have you read Maisie Dobbs or the rest of her series? Which book is the best out of all eighteen? Let's discuss in the comments!