Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The Hardest Loss of All

Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear

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In this book, the fourth in the Maisie Dobbs series, Maisie is asked to investigate the death of an old school acquaintance’s twin brother.  Nick Basington-Hope was a controversial artist and a veteran of the recent Great War, as is Maisie.  He had been keeping his work from the view of others due to its controversial content, but had just arranged for a grand showing.  Some of the pieces were quite large, and apparently, as he was installing them on his own on a landing, […]

“Every war is a war against the child.”

The White Lady by Jacqueline Winspear

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CBR17 Bingo: White – Behold, the cover. Also, a bonus! The title. Elinor is a veteran of two world wars and a trained killer, but all she wants now is to retreat into a peaceful, solitary existence in the English countryside. But when a violent past comes back to haunt her neighbors, she cannot help but become drawn in. I’m sure I’ll eventually get around to checking out Winspear’s long-running Maisie Dobbs series, but in the meanwhile I figured I’d pick up the standalone The […]

My Favorite Maisie Dobbs So Far

An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear

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The story: Maisie Dobbs is a private investigator in London in the time period between the world wars. In An Incomplete Revenge, an acquaintance hoping to buy some property in a small village asks her to investigate a series of mysterious fires in the village. The mystery is complicated by the fact that the town is full of non-residents who are there for hop-picking season–Londoners like Maisie’s assistant Billy and his family, as well as a group of Roma (be warned that in the book, Roma […]

Another dose of comfort reading

A Sunlit Weapon by Jacqueline Winspear

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“You only have to visit a battlefield long after a war has ended, to know that places are never quite the same following a tragedy.” I got seriously into Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs books during the darkest days of lockdown, and now, alas, I am hooked, even though at 17 installments in the series, it’s not quite as fresh as it was. But I like Maisie and her desire to do right by the survivors as she investigates the murders: this series takes seriously the […]

“The mountain is there to be crossed.”

Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear

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This is third in the Maisie Dobbs series. It was my favorite so far, so I’m looking forward to continuing this series. In Pardonable Lies, Maisie is working on three separate cases: helping 14-year-old Avril Jarvis, who’s been accused of murdering her stepfather, finding out more about her friend Priscilla’s brother, who disappeared during World War I, and working for Sir Cecil Lawton, who promised his wife on her deathbed that he would search for their son, who was also reported dead during WWI. At the […]

Pretty Enjoyable

Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear

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Series: Maisie Dobbs. I read Book 1 in 2016 (and reviewed it). What I remembered about this series prior to reading this book: Absolutely nothing. I thought I remembered that these took place after World War II, but that was actually incorrect–so, nothing. Why I stopped reading the series: Clearly, the first book didn’t make much of an impression on me. I thought that was the only reason, but then halfway through Birds of a Feather I went back and read my review of the […]



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