An Incomplete Revenge (Maisie Dobbs Book 5)
In her fifth outing, Maisie Dobbs, the extraordinary Psychologist and Investigator, delves into a strange series of crimes in a small rural community
With the country in the grip of economic malaise, and worried about her business, Maisie Dobbs is relieved to accept an apparently straightforward assignment from an old friend to investigate certain matters concerning a potential land purchase. Her inquiries take her to a picturesque village in Kent during the hop-picking season, but beneath its pastoral surface she finds evidence that something is amiss. Mysterious fires erupt in the village with alarming regularity, and a series of petty crimes suggests a darker criminal element at work. As Maisie discovers, the villagers are bitterly prejudiced against outsiders who flock to Kent at harvest time—even more troubling, they seem possessed by the legacy of a wartime Zeppelin raid. Maisie grows increasingly suspicious of a peculiar secrecy that shrouds the village, and ultimately she must draw on all her finely honed skills of detection to solve one of her most intriguing cases.
Rich with Jacqueline Winspear's trademark period detail, this installment of the bestselling series, An Incomplete Revenge, is gripping, atmospheric, and utterly enthralling.
Reviews (180)
An Incomplete Revenge is the fifth installment of the popular Maisie Dobbs detective series
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!
Love the Maisie Dobbs books...espcially this one!
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.
A keeper
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.
Detective fiction without blood, guts, and gore!
Jacqueline Winspear’s 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. There’s 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 it’s now the 1930s, Maisie’s 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 family’s 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 lover’s 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. It’s hop-picking season. The fields are crowded with Londoners, a small tribe of Gypsies, and villagers, all seeking to supplement their meager income. It’s 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.
Another Worthy Read!
Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs series is wonderful! They all occur durin WWI and we not only get the taste of what it was like in England at that time, but you have to fall in love with Maisie who becomes a clever detective and ultimately solves the many issues put in front of her. She’s genuine and realistic. I eagerly await each novel Winspear puts out, the most recent of which is The Consequences of Fear. Don’t miss her books, none of which have to be read sequentially. She has a way of filling the reader in on whatever might be relevant to the current story.
#5 in a Great British Mystery Series
This is a really good series of mysteries that starts on the eve of WW1 in Britain. The lead character is a young girl who comes from the mean streets of London, is placed into domestic service in a wealthy manor home. She discovers a love of books and is in turn discovered by the homeowner as not only an avid reader but someone with an unusually analytic mind. Maisie Dobbs acquires a mentor, a psychologist and investigator who teaches and develops her into an investigator. In An Incomplete Revenge, she is called in to research a possible land and building purchase. The case soon involves a town experiencing strange fires, a zeppelin air strike, and gypsies. I HIGHLY recommend you start with the very first novel, though, since references and characters are mentioned in subsequent books and it will all make more sense.
Hooked on Maisie
If you've read one of the books in this series, then you know that while you were unaware, Maisie hooked you. Just as she hooked Billy and her friend Priscilla, she has hooked me. The thing is; each of the books in this series not only reminds me of things I once knew, but also endears me to this character. She's a bit headstrong, very detailed in her work, and she's a risk taker. I love all of that. I feel like I'm with her every step of the way, and that's what a good book does; it takes you away on a journey.
Not my favorite
I’ve listened to or read all the books up to this point in the series. They are good mysteries that involve plot lines and sub plots, which all eventually tie together. This one, Maisie learns to use a divining rod. That strained credibility too much for me. All the books have Maisie sussing out the mystery with unconventional means, but this one was too much for me to believe. Hope the next one is better. I like the mystery, not the witch craft.
Maisie Dobbs helps James Compton discover the cause of mysterious fires . . .
In this book, Maisie Dobbs helps James Compton discover the cause of mysterious fires set on some property he wants to purchase outside of London. Why did I like this Maisie novel so much? * I found out that Maisie's mother was a gypsy, shining light on issues still relevant today. * Maisie and her mentor Maurice Blanche's rift is somewhat lessened (even if their relationship will never be the same). * A strange Twilight Zone-like town and people are involved in the story and they have much to hide. * I learned a little bit about a jazz musician who was popular in Paris. I was excited and surprised to learn that Maisie was part gypsy, giving her a different history than just daughter of a costermonger. Of course, this revelation gave Maisie an "in" to the gypsy clan around the town of Heronsdene, especially with the matriarch of the clan, Beulah. The prejudices and discriminating behavior towards the gypsies by the villagers and others were brought forth by Ms. Winspear during the course of the novel. Fear of those a little different and fear of the unknown always bring out the worst in people. Maisie's abilities to intuit in a different way from most and her openness to new methods and ideas make Maisie such a great character. Maisie is someone who is so self-assured she can get along with anyone, be it those in high government office or a traveling band of gypsies. Maisie taking up weaving at this point in the novels was a very good thing for her to do. She needed something to do with her hands that is repetitive and frees her mind (besides her normal meditation), yet also has a purpose in creating something beautiful and useful. I think she learned how an artistic outlet can be very therapeutic, as it was for Nicolas Bassington-Hope in Messenger of Truth. I enjoyed how Maisie helped enlighten Marta, her weaving teacher, to be proud of her own heritage. Beattie Drummond was a new character introduced in this novel and she is a journalist turned novelist. Where have I seen that story before? I enjoyed having Beattie in the story, but really wish she had been even more involved and that she and Maisie had interacted even more and become closer friends. She could always figure into another story later. Her name kind of bugged me, though, as I always said in my head "beat the drum." Maybe that is intentional? Trying not to spoil the book, the plight of the van Maarten family was a major story line in this novel. Even though their story is quite different from the family in Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," that is what I kept thinking of as I read about this family and the mysterious ways of the townspeople of the village. Of course this story is a harbinger of what is to happen in Europe in a few more years from this time period. Mob mentality, collective guilt, and attempts at atonement made An Incomplete Revenge so much more interesting. Simon's death was quite sad, but I think it was time for Ms. Winspear to free Maisie of Simon so that she can move on. I thought it was odd that Maisie deliberately avoided Simon's mother for years and years, as it is not like Maisie to be so rigid (as I probably would be in the same situation). Maisie visited Maurice, her mentor, to discuss Simon's death. I liked how Maisie sought out Maurice again after their rift and their relationship seems to be a bit more back to normal. From what I remember from the previous and most recent novels, Maisie is always a very good dancer and enjoys dancing very much, even if she feels coerced into a dance. Usually someone as cerebral as Maisie does not like and is not comfortable with something as base as dancing. Maybe this is where Maisie's gypsy heritage is allowed to come out. Also, a party or a dance always provides a good backdrop for story development. I guess Ms. Winspear is trying to tell readers that there are numerous facets to a character and not to rule out any aspect of someone's personality. At the end of An Incomplete Revenge, Maisie takes out "her one record, by a gypsy now famous in Paris, a man who had blended French passion with the spark of the Roma." I think this man might be Django Reinhardt, but I could be mistaken. I found a link to some of his music. I also enjoyed learning about Denmark Street in London.
One reader's opinion on whether and why newcomers to this series should or should not start with this one.
It's only been a few weeks since I belatedly discovered Jacqueline Winspear's "Maisie Dobbs" series and it's been great fun playing catch-up. I don't want to waste space here repeating what so many other 5-star reviewers have already said so well. But I did want to jump in and say why I can't agree with the Newsday blurb at the top of the paperback jacket which advises newbies to start with this fifth novel in the series and work their way back...because this one "shows Maisie at the top of her detecting form." No question about it, Maisie is definitely "at the top of her detecting form" in "An Incomplete Revenge." But I'd recommend starting with book one, "Maisie Dobbs." Why? Because this series concerns itself at least as much with the connectedness and personal trajectories of its continuing characters--Maisie, Frankie, the Beals, the Comptons, Simon, Priscilla, Maurice, Stratton et al--and its setting (England itself in the years between the wars) as it does with the case at hand and the detective work involved. If, after sampling book one, you find that you're more interested in the cases than the characters, then fine, bypass books 2-4, "Birds of a Feather," "Pardonable Lies" and "Messenger of Truth" and jump straight into this one; it's a great read indeed. But if it's Winspear's marvelous mix of characters, casework and wonderfully well crafted sense of time and place that grabs you, then chronological order is definitely the way to go, in this reader's opinion.
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