So Among the Mad is the fifth in the increasingly excellent Maisie Dobbs series, and finds our heroine in London on Christmas Eve 1931, where she and her faithful right-hand man witness what we would call now a suicide bomber blow himself up in a busy street.
Although she doesn’t know the man involved, Maisie is soon drawn into the case when she is named in a letter which follows the bombing and it becomes clear that some sort of campaign is afoot. Maisie finds herself trying to apply her unique methods of working while assigned to Scotland Yard, and with all of the cases she has been involved in before now, the shadow of the First World War is never too far away.
I really like Maisie as a character and was pleased to see that this story matched up to the previous volumes. The psychological impact of the war on all of those involved in whatever capacity comes across very strongly in the novel, and it’s worth remembering that returning soldiers were not always treated as well as they deserved given what they had suffered, as much because the rest of the population wanted to move on, and of course the Depression also had an effect. The author manages to get this detail into the story without being too heavy handed and I thought it worked very well.
It’s also nice to see Maisie’s own personal story develop, not just in relation to her family and friends but with the people who have become her colleagues in investigating this case, whether she has chosen them or not.
A good solid read for a warm and humid summer.
6 comments
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August 15, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Carl V.
I was so glad that I discovered this series on Danielle’s site (A Work in Progress) because I’ve bought all of these for my wife for various reasons and she is just in love with them. Another that she likes that is similar that you might want to check out is the Rosie Winter series (3 out so far) by Kathryn Miller Haines.
August 16, 2009 at 6:11 am
Susan
i just picked up book one of this series! I haven’t read it yet, but I am so pleased to see the series is so very good further on, too.
August 16, 2009 at 11:29 am
Court
I don’t normally read mystery, but this sounds like fun. And I love love LOVE the cover art! It’s very retro. 🙂
August 23, 2009 at 3:33 am
Danielle
This is one of my very favorite mystery series and i’m glad to see Winspear is expanding on Maisie’s personal life more as well. I think it’s my favorite instalment so far.
August 23, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Nan
I just wrote a ‘book report’ on Among the Mad and did a blog search to see if anyone else had read it. I’ll put a link on my entry to yours, if that’s okay.
August 23, 2009 at 3:53 pm
brideofthebookgod
Course you can!