cbr17bingo Family
Back in the day, I read quite a few Maisie Dobbs books, and thoroughly enjoyed them. The first I read was Birds of a Feather, bought purely because of its wonderfully evocative cover art, and then went back to read the first of the series, and any others I could find in book stores. She went off my radar for awhile, but she is definitely back on again now.
The period is post WWI Britain up until the 1930s. Maisie signed up as a military nurse at a very young age, and lost her sweetheart in the aftermath of the war. He’s not dead, exactly, but even his loved ones tell her she’s got to move on. She’s found a living in London as a private investigator, coached by her mentor, Maurice Blanche, and ably assisted by her devoted right hand man, the cockney Billy Beale. In this case, an old friend asks her to assist a friend of hers, Sir Cecil Lawton. His son, a British officer, was declared dead following his bombing raid in France, but his mother had never believed it. And after her death, Lawton wants her to prove that he is actually dead. Some shady stuff going on, y’all. But Maisie is a meticulous investigator, and follows her mentor’s penchant for always examining the psychological background of all parties involved. Even if Blanche has a few tricks up his sleeve as well.
OK, gotta tell you, the version I was reading has been in my pile of books to read for quite a few years, I think. It was purchased as a used book from Powell’s Books a ways back, so I was quite surprised when all of a sudden, pink highlighter started showing up on the pages. Whaaaat? It didn’t last long, and I suspect it was for someone’s book club. But they were circling the most random stuff. Like Maisie prepared a pot of tea for a guest, and TEA is circled in pink. They are Brits, dude. What do you think they drink? Cracked me up. Fortunately, that nonsense only lasted a few pages, and the Pink Highlighter of Obviousness disappeared.