An Incomplete Revenge

I have read all of the Maisie Dobbs books and love them all, some a bit more than others. This one I love most of all. I have just re-read it and once again was moved to tears by a sense of loss, place, and time gone by. These books take place during and after the Great War (WWI) in England for the most part. It is not a time that I know of. Except for these books, and Foyle’s War, and a few other books. But mostly the Masie Dobbs books. The way Winspear describes the settings, the clothes, the characters, the times, places the reader right there on the pages and invokes experiences we would never had had. I believe everyone should read at lease the first book, “Maisie Dobbs” before reading any of the other books in the series. The best way would be to work one’s way through the series since there are always references to what came before. However, Winspear is very considerate of her readers and makes certain that no matter which book in the series you are reading, you will understand how Maisie has come to the place she has come to in each book. In this book, the references to the gypsies and their way of life and their language and customs is fascinating. And, of course, the secrets held by all of the predominant characters. Maisie can bring you into her life and sometimes hold you at bay, not letting you in at all as she strubbles with her own misfortunes. But Maisie is a character one can love and engage with as you go through her life and experiences in these books. Most, Most, Most especially THIS one.

This series only gets better. Maisie Dobbs is a fascinating character and each book a revelation of how she has faced and over come tragedy and loss. The layers of her life, the cases she solves and the woman she has become are interwoven and spellbinding. I buy these books because they are worth rereading and this author is a superb storyteller. We have revenge, death, friendship and a look into the Gypsy culture that is a small but significant part of Maisie’s heritage. One of the best reads of the year.

Jacqueline Winspears Maisie Dobbs series is always a refreshing change from the blood and guts that are common fare in most other detective fiction. Maisie, who bills herself as a Psychologist and Investigator, is unlike any other protagonist in crime fiction. Theres nothing the least bit hard-boiled about her. Operating in London and points south, Maisie works under the ever-present pall of World War I. Though its now the 1930s, Maisies service as a nurse at a casualty clearing station near the front line in France was the dominant experience in her otherwise very eventful life. Her fiance, Captain Simon Lynch, lies in a vegetative state in a convalescent home. They had worked together in France and were wounded by the same German artillery shell.

Maisie Dobbs and the legacy of war

In An Incomplete Revenge, the fifth book in the series, Maisie is forced to face the lasting pain of her earlier years: the backstory of her familys life, the class resentment she continues to bear as a child of poverty, the tension between her and her brilliant mentor, Dr. Maurice Blanche, and her lovers worsening condition. In the face of all this stress, Maisie takes on what proves to be a challenging case on behalf of her dear friend, James Compton, the son of the aristocratic couple that sponsored her education.

A village where strange things happen

The action centers on the village of Heronsdene in Southeast England. The village lies not far from the estate where she once served as a maid and her father still lives, tending the horses. Its hop-picking season. The fields are crowded with Londoners, a small tribe of Gypsies, and villagers, all seeking to supplement their meager income. Its 1931, and the Depression is well underway. All the land nearby, and the brickworks located on it, are the property of a single owner, who is universally despised in the area. Alfred Sandermere is a bully, a drunkard, and a wastrel.

Maisie has come to Heronsdene because James wants her to look into the strange circumstances there, as he is interested in buying the estate. These circumstances include a series of suspicious fires, a rash of thefts at the Sandermere mansion and elsewhere, and the villagers mysterious refusal to talk about the Zeppelin attack that killed the local baker and his family in 1916. With mystery piled on mystery, this is a case tailor-made for Maisie Dobbs.

Naturally, Maisie triumphs in the end, having disentangled the threads of this complicated story and given her friend the green light to proceed with the purchase. But the fun, after all, is in the telling.

An Incomplete Revenge is another outstanding Maisie Dobbs novel by Jacqueline Winspear. The author is adept at telling a good mystery devoid of the overt sex, dirty language and gruesome murder scenes so often seen in novels in the detective genre. Each of the Dobbs novels stands on its own without the reader having to have read other stories in the series to know what is going on! It helps, though, that as one reads through the series the enjoyment at meeting old characters and the depth of characterization of Maisie and her friends is endearing and addictive1
The Plot: The year is 1931,. Maisie Dobbs, a former nurse on the World War I Western Front, has set up a one woman detective agency. She is assisted by the Cockney Billy Beale. In this novel they travel from London to the County of Kent to hop picking in the September of that year. A case develops as a fellow hop picker’s two boys are arrested for theft of items belonging to the wealthy Alfred Sandemere. The villagers also distrust the gypsies who are camping nearby. The author gives us good information on the lives of gypsies. One of these gypsies is Aunt Beulah Webb. She is a wise old woman who is important in the plot. The town of Heronsdene is close knit. The villagers do not like to talk about the zeppelin raid on their town in 2016 which killed three in a Dutch family. Maisie will eventually solve the mystery revolving around this raid and the secrets about the town it reveals. This novel also deals with Maisie’s grief as her wartime doctor lover Dr. Simon Lynch is a vegetable dying in a nursing home. Her friend Priscilla provides humor and good cheer while her mentor Dr. Maurice Blanch helps her solve the case.
Winspear is good at evoking Depression era Britain and does good in describing the clothes and customs of that bygone era. An excellent book!

Maisie Dobbs is working for James Compton son of Lord Julian and Lady Rowan, Maisies former employers when she was a servant. She has been asked to find out background information on an estate in Kent that the Compton Company wants to buy.

It is hop picking season and Billy Beale, Maisies assistant, takes his family into Kent to take part in the picking while he is sleuthing for Maisie. The villagers seem to be very close knit and they dont want to talk about past events and they wont report crimes which seem to happen at the same time each year.

This is a very dark mystery where the shadows of World War I still hang heavy over the villagers and are still affecting events in the nineteen thirties. Maisie also has to face up to her own past and try to understand her mothers family background. The story shows the best of human nature and the worst. The book could be read as a standalone novel but is probably better read as part of a series. This is number five.

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