Elegy for Eddie

This is an interesting book with excellent writing. Maisie Dobbs is the heroine and she is an interesting character with a number of psychological struggles that are well outlined in the book and cause the reader to think carefully about the nature of mankind and about himself. Maisie is a strong character and an independent woman at a time when such independence would have been quite unusual. I have never quite understood why female feminist authors who portray independent women always make their love lives so uncertain and vexing to the reader. That is the case in this book. Maisie is investigating the death of a childhood friend that seems like an accident but is actually murder. The plot is quite complex and some of the conclusions reached by Maisie seemed a bit of a stretch. however, the dialogue and action make the book hard to put down. The book is written in an innocent way characteristic of an earlier time. There are no steamy sex scenes and one has to read between the lines to understand that Maisie and her boyfriend likely are sleeping together, but this is never stated. A theme underlying the book describes the events taking place in Germany with the early rise of Hitler. It becomes increasingly apparent to Maisie and some of the other characters that another war is coming, and the book has a good sense of the awful feeling of impending doom to a country that has not yet recovered from the first World War. The book is quite complex and is even somewhat painful to read, understanding the troubles that soon will befall these characters and the nation of Great Britain.

This is one of several Maisie Dobbs mysteries I have read and enjoyed. Elegy for Eddie does not disappoint. There were many different stories within in addition to the main mystery of Eddie’s strange death. Maisie’s personal story, her romance, and her dear friends who try to help her see her emotional shackles are interesting and heartwarming additions to the main story of Eddie. Maisie is so very likable for her humanness, courage, loyalty, and desire to help others.

Rather longer than I like, unnecessarily so, I thought, but well-written with a twist to the plot that was interesting. Maisie Dobbs is a well-developed character with personal problems which intertwine with her professional goals. In this book, her past becomes her present and future, as she is brought into the case of the “accidental” death of a man whose family and friends are part of her own childhood. Over time the investigation meshes, rather unbelievably, with world events involving even Winston Churchill. The Amazon blurb is correct in pointing out that the author is more interested in exploring the characters involved in her story than in the ‘who dun it’ aspect but there is enough of each to satisfy many readers. Her heroine is given an interesting persona, some of the peripheral characters have little to do with the mystery aspect but a good deal to with the outlook and emotions of Maisie.
While, as always, allowing a good deal of leeway to the author to be creative in weaving reality with fiction, I just could not, as I pointed out, buy into the deus ex machina leading to the solution of the mystery. Still, many will find it a good read as did I.

Suddenly the protagonist has become a person who is really hard to like; that’s a big disappointment. I won’t be reading any more of this series, even though I enjoyed the previous books.

Love the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear so much that I have managed to purchase the entire collection. I enjoy Ms. Winspear’s development of each story and characters. While I started reading this series with the 12th (which was received as a gift) and then the 10th books before collecting the others, I would suggest that you read the series in order (if you can) as there are references to things that happened in other installments. I am almost up to date as “Elegy for Eddie” is the 9th book in the series. I believe you will enjoy it.

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