WWI may have ended over a decade ago, yet the scars linger, often with haunting poignancy. Maisie Dobbs, wartime nurse turned psychologist and investigator, finds her own history plays a role in her latest case. She's sent out to look into a series of petty crimes and fires that plague the Sandermere Estate and the adjacent village of Heronsdene in Kent. Villagers are quick to lay the blame for these crimes on the hop pickers (Londoners and traveling gypsies) that invade the estate's farms each fall for the hop-picking season.
As Maisie and her loyal assistant, Billy Beale, start to investigate their case, they have no idea where this mystery will lead them. Today's events have their roots in WWI and a Zeppelin raid that killed three villagers. Prejudices are exposed as each group shows distrust toward the others, those not their own. The traveling gypsies bear the brunt of suspicion, yet they may be the most compassionate of the lot. Maisie finds an ally in the Roma's elderly woman leader, Beulah. Her own family history has taught her to be most respectful to the gypsy leader and her insights.
Why are the villagers refusing to talk about the Zeppelin raid so long ago? And why do they brush off the fires as inconsequential accidents? Why do the fires seem to occur at the same time each year? What are the hidden agendas of the estate owner and the locals? Will Maisie find herself a victim as she tries to unearth the source of all the unease in the village?
AN INCOMPLETE REVENGE is a very powerful, yet deeply disturbing story. As long-held secrets begin to be revealed, the anguish and sorrow exposed by those secrets are palpable. Readers will find that Ms. Winspear's fifth Maisie Dobbs mystery will linger in their consciousness long after the last page of the book is turned. Although I'm new to this series, I definitely encourage lovers of historical mysteries to give this one a try.
In her fifth outing, Maisie Dobbs, the extraordinary Psychologist and Investigator, delves into a strange series of crimes in a small rural community With the country in the grip of economic malaise, and worried about her business, Maisie Dobbs is relieved to accept an apparently straightforward assignment from an old friend to investigate certain matters concerning a potential land purchase. Her inquiries take her to a picturesque village in Kent during the hop-picking season, but beneath its pastoral surface she finds evidence that something is amiss. Mysterious fires erupt in the village with alarming regularity, and a series of petty crimes suggests a darker criminal element at work. As Maisie discovers, the villagers are bitterly prejudiced against outsiders who flock to Kent at harvest time-even more troubling, they seem possessed by the legacy of a wartime Zeppelin raid. Maisie grows increasingly suspicious of a peculiar secrecy that shrouds the village, and ultimately she must draw on all her finely honed skills of detection to solve one of her most intriguing cases. Rich with Jacqueline Winspear's trademark period detail, this latest installment of the bestselling series is gripping, atmospheric, and utterly enthralling.
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