A Dangerous Place: A Maisie Dobbs Novel

I must admit, at first, I was a bit put off--and appropriately shocked--by the summation of events that unfolded in a series of letters and telegrams early in the novel, but as I let it settle in, I liked employment of the technique. I found that Winspear effectively moved Maisie's story forward and let me in on the previous four years simultaneously. After all, I'm reading to see Maisie doin' some sleuthing'--which she does, and the novel sets up what's to come in the next phase of Maisie's life. I took a bit of time to read this one because I stopped to do some research on the historical setting from time to time. Really great read!

It is 1937 and Europe is on the inexorable path that will lead to World War II. Maisie Dobbs is in Gibraltar, the strategic position of which makes it invaluable as a listening post for many countries. Spies seem to be lurking around every corner and some of them are inordinately interested in what Maisie is doing. And what is Maisie doing? Well, she is trying to come to terms with a recent double tragedy in her life. She had married her lover, James Compton, and moved with him to Canada where he was employed testing aircraft that would play an integral part in any war to come. It was a happy time for her. She was eight months pregnant with their first child. Then catastrophe struck. The plane that James was testing went down in a fiery crash and James was killed. This all happened as Maisie watched. She started running toward the crash site, tripped and fell. Her child was delivered early and was dead. On one momentous day, she lost the two loves of her life. After she was sufficiently recovered physically, she sailed for England by way of India. She spent some quiet and peaceful time in India and then continued on, but when she got to Gibraltar, she found herself not ready to face her friends' and family's sympathy and the familiar surroundings that she had shared with James, so she disembarked and decided to spend some time there and wait for a later ship to take her home. Placing Maisie in Gibraltar gives Jacqueline Winspear an opportunity to explore some of the events leading up to the world war, as well as some of the tangled relationships between various countries and political groups. Nearby, the civil war in Spain is raging and both the communists and the fascists are present and attempting to further their cause in Gibraltar. A Dangerous Place indeed. Maisie soon becomes embroiled in the efforts of a group of people supporting the Republican cause in Spain. She does this by stumbling over a dead body on a dark path near her hotel one night. Having found the body, she feels a responsibility to find out what happened to the man and how he came to be struck down. This leads her down some dangerous paths as she gets to know his family and associates and tries to learn what he was doing that might have led someone to want him dead. I felt that Winspear did a very good job of describing the setting and developing a real feel for what must have been the fraught atmosphere of those times. Moreover, since Maisie is adrift without her usual cast of secondary characters, the author introduced several strong and sympathetic new characters. Many of these characters have secrets and are not what they first appear to be. They add complexity and a new element of suspense to the story. This was quite different from the usual Maisie Dobbs tale that we've come to know. But, again, Winspear does a good job of weaving Maisie's backstory into the plot, so she is able to recount her rags-to-riches narrative, her tragic experience as a nurse in World War I, and her time as an independent businesswoman in London and make it all come together in a coherent account. Even if one had not read the earlier books in this series, this book could easily be read as a standalone. So, where is Maisie to go from here? She and the series are at a crossroads it seems, even as the world itself reaches a crossroads. Will she follow the world into war once again? Will she become a spy? Winspear has given us quite a lot to think about here and it will be interesting to see where she takes her character next.

Maisie is still in mourning but healing. After a time in India and now returning to England, she realizes she is not ready to go home. A stop in Gibraltar uncovers the beginnings of another time of war. Agents and factions from many countries are converging there as they watch and manipulate the civil war in Spain. Power, money and a ruthless disregard of innocent lives brings unlikely people together. An intriguing read.

Good series

A Dangerous Place: This Maisie Dobbs novel finds Maisie a young widow. Her husband James Compton was killed when the plane he piloted crashed. The shock of losing him caused her to also lose her unborn child. Maisie’s parents, her friend Pricilla and the Comptons want her to come back to England, but Maisie goes to India instead, and then sails for England, but first she stops in Gibraltar. The Spanish civil war rages, and Gibraltar is a very dangerous place to be. Maisie finds herself trailed by Scotland Yard, the local police and by a strange local carpenter whose motives are unclear. She stumbles over the battered body of a photographer, and Maisie, being the professional detective that she is, decides to solve his murder. This is far from the best Maisie Dobbs mystery. The solution is twisted and satisfying, and the political commentary is as useful and as true today as much as it was back in the days when Hitler rose to power and socialists fought Fascists in Spain, but as Maisie wanders the maze of war and political intrigue, the reader sometimes gets lost. Descriptions of the dead, the maimed and the real cost of war will haunt the reader The essence of this wonderful character, Maisie Dobbs is lost is lost in this novel. her fans expect her to be a detective, not a nurse. The next book in the series, where Maisie goes to Munich, looks more interesting. But remember that Maisie the spy and Maisie the nurse are much different from Maisie the detective. Perhaps the author, as she takes the character through interesting historical times, is losing the original intent which was to write detective stories featuring an investigator psychologist.

I am very pleased to share some thoughts on Jacqueline Winspear’s twelfth novel, A Dangerous Place, the eleventh cozy mystery featuring investigator and psychologist Maisie Dobbs. I will give very little away in this review, as I would not appreciate as a reader critical revelations in the events in Maisie’s life since the last novel entitled Leaving Everything Most Loved. Maisie has made a stop in Gibraltar in her travels and the time is now the spring of 1937, four years since we left her last. Gibraltar is on the southern end of Spain at the entrance to the Mediterranean. Going for a walk as she was accustomed to doing in Belgravia, Maisie literally stumbles upon a dead body, that of a young Gibraltarian photographer named Sebastian Babayoff. Instead of continuing to England as originally intended, Maisie decides to stay on the island and solve the murder of young Babayoff. There’s much going on in the world in 1937. Nearby, Spain is engaged in its Civil War, that war that is still so confusing to decipher who were the good guys and who were the bad and who and why certain factions were on certain sides. Nationalists, republicans, communists, and capitalists—all vying for the Spanish soil as the people perished. Fascism and Nazi regimes were taking control in other areas of Europe. Maisie settles in a guest house for the duration of the case, but finds out she cannot really trust anyone in this dangerous place. Maisie does meet some strong women and interesting characters on this case. To put the pieces of the puzzle together, Maisie travels to Madrid amidst all the turmoil of the war, and I found this section of the book exciting and the most interesting. Throughout A Dangerous Place, Maisie faces her fears, meets another student of her beloved mentor, volunteers her nursing skills, encounters another mystery solver from the old days, and comes to conclusions about the murder and of her circumstances. As always, I will patiently await the next in the series.

True to form, Maisie takes the reader down and around twists and turns in pursuit of Truth midst the fog of war. The characters form up quite quickly in the mind's eye; the story weaves a tapestry of pain and survival. About Maisie, once a nurse, always a nurse.

The letters at the beginning and end of the book are packed with information while leaving the reader to supply imagination and pathos.

Quel dommage que Jacqueline Winspear ait achevé ce cycle de romans dont l’héroïne est si attachante et si humaine. Si vous ne connaissez pas, lisez vite ces intrigues policières assez subtiles, pas trop violentes, addictives.

I won't give any spoilers but the story was too dramatic at the beginning and I thought the detective plot was very weak, so much conjecture, too much cloak and dagger. And no clear conclusion to it. Changed too much from the earlier books, and I should have seen that coming after reading book 9. It's just not an entertaining detective mistery series anymore. And honestly, I got tired of how Masie keeps veneering Dr Maurice Blanche like some cult leader.

I have read most of the Maisie Dobbs books and liked them very much. This one was good on atmosphere and characterization, as usual. However, I found the plot just plain unbelievable in many places. Here's the unknown Maisie, who walks into Gibralter, nobody knows her, she just settles in, stumbles over a body and begins to investigate a murder and the locals open up to her. Why should they? She knows nothing about the victim, she just pokes her nose in. Then she decides to go to Spain, which is in the middle of a messy civil war for very nebulous reasons, and finds someone to take her. It all tries one's credulity, frankly, and I expected more of the author. I think this happens when authors stray out of the places they really know and start writing about places they don't really know, but have merely seen and experienced on holiday. I hope the author sticks to what she knows from now on.

Good reading

[email protected] an excellent writer. And an excellent character. I've loved following Maisie's growth and learning the history of her time