The common characteristics of the Maisie Dobbs series are the growth in the character, developments over time and, of course, current events. In the present novel Maisie, who served as a nurse in France during World War I (after having been a servant girl before), has grown over the years, mentored by Dr. Maurice Blanche. Now, in 1932, she has been made independently wealthy as Blanche’s heir, profitably operating her investigation business, and is ripe for a new adventure.
Before he died, Blanche predicted that intelligence work for the crown was in Maisie’s future. And so, it comes to pass that she is recruited to participate in an investigation being conducted by the joint efforts of Scotland Yard’s Special Branch and the Secret Service. She is to pose as a junior lecturer in philosophy (another of her talents, apparently) at a college in Cambridge founded by Greville Liddicote, a pacifist who has published a number of children’s books, including an anti-war novel that was banned during the Great War. Maisie is to monitor activities at the school.
However, where Maisie is concerned, can various other sub-plots not arise? To begin with, she’s trying to get her father to move from his cottage to the manor she inherited (to no avail), induce her assistant, Billy Beale, to accept a house in which to move his growing family, help a woman whose husband is killed in a questionable accident at work, and, last but not least, help solve the murder of Liddicote (while told specifically her brief is her intelligence assignment and not getting involved in the murder inquiry).
The story progresses in a persuasive manner, smoothly written. It emerges just as Adolph Hitler is rising to lead Germany, giving a hint to the coming of World War II, as Maisie detects Nazi sympathizers in the college, and, indeed in unsuspecting Britain. A welcome addition to the series, this newest entry is recommended.
