How do you solve a murder that took place on a battlefield more than a decade earlier? With a little bit of luck and a lot of skill and intuition. When an elderly American couple engaged Maisie Dobbs when their son’s body was uncovered on a French farm, they provided her with many love letters sent to him by an English nurse, as well as his journal. These documents provided elusive clues.
However, more important were the results of an autopsy which indicated that the man was killed by a blow to the head with a blunt instrument, rather than a Boche shell, which buried the dugout with his body and those of his bunkmates inside. Serendipity, of course, plays an important role in solving the murder, and Maisie certainly doesn’t lack for that either.
The seventh novel in the series, which traces the adventures of a young woman from her humble beginnings to serving as a nurse during the First World War to becoming an accomplished investigator, this story demonstrates not only Maisie’s growth as a detective, but also the changes in her life that presumably will become apparent in future installments. They are something to which one can look forward.
Recommended.
