by Jacqueline Winspear
$15.00
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Penguin Books (May 25, 2004)
ISBN-10: 0142004332
ISBN-13: 978-0142004333
Annotation/Flashtalk:
There is something not right about "The Retreat." Why do former solders, with disfiguring injuries, who have moved there to be better understood by living among their peers, renounce their surnames, give up their assets for the greater good, suddenly end up committing suicide? Can Maisie Dobbs figure it out before it's too late for James, the son of Maisie's wealthy benefactor?
Maisie Dobbs mother died when she was a young girl and her father could not take care of her and, as was the custom of the times, he sent her to work as a maid. It was there in the home of Lady Rowan that she was caught reading in Lady Rowan’s library without permission. Unsure of how to handle the situation, Lady Rowan consulted her long-time friend Dr. Maurice Blanche. Maurice recognizes Maisie’s intelligence and takes her under his wing tutoring her, and teaching her the skills of his trade, private investigation.
Maurice has retired, but still acts as a mentor to Maisie who now runs her own detective agency. Maisie current case was opened by a husband suspicious that his wife may be cheating on him. Through her investigation, Maisie learns of a retirement farm for disfigured war veterans, which sounds a bit suspicious for the veterans sign all of their assets over to the farm which is run like a co-op. It is only when Lady Rowan’s own son, James, is making arrangements to live at “The Retreat” that Maisie pursues her suspicion further. Enlisting the help of Billy Beal, the handyman from her office building, Maisie devises a plan to investigate the goings-on at The Retreat. Can Maisie and Billy figure out what is going on before it gets too dangerous for Billy?
Alternating between the story of the case that Maisie is working on and her time in serving as a nurse for England during WWI, we learn of Maisie’s true love Simon and their fairy-tale romance carried across the French battlefield by ambulance drivers. We also learn of the harsh toll that war can take on the injured and non-injured alike.
Genre/Subgenre: Mystery/Historical Fiction
Evaluation: 3-stars.
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