An Incomplete Revenge

Jacqueline Winspear

12/27/2007

Maisie Dobbs is unusual - she's a psychologist and private investigator in early 1930's London. The son of a woman she once worked for contacts her with a straightforward job. The family business is looking at a property purchase in Kent. Could Maisie check out the area and the land to see if they are making a sound purchase? Maisie agrees.

There have been problems in the township there with petty vandalism and fires for the past ten years or so, especially in September when Londoners and gypsies come to town to help harvest the hops. Maisie starts asking questions in her quiet way, trying to discover what has been happening. The citizens of the small village of Heronsdene tend to stick to themselves. Neither the police nor the fire department have been called in for the incidents. When the inn where Maisie is staying catches fire, they put it out themselves rather than calling the fire department in the nearby township. While they call it an accident, Maisie is sure someone set the fire.

Also, someone has broken into the local landowner's home and stolen family heirlooms and silver. Two boys from London have been arrested for the theft, but they and their family proclaim their innocence. Maisie is inclined to believe them. She keeps asking questions of the people around, including the gypsies and Londoners who return every year to help with the hop gathering. Something has been festering since the zeppelin bombed the small village in 1917 and three people died. Can Maisie discover what it is?

Jacqueline Winspear writes quiet detective novels in this Maisie Dobbs series. There isn't lots of action, but plenty is happening. Maisie's old love from the war, injured and hospitalized since that time, appears to be dying. She is beginning to mend the relationship with her former mentor. And she is tied up with the happenings in Heronsdene.

An Incomplete Revenge started slowly. But about half way through it started pulling at me. Then I couldn't put it down. Once again World War I makes its ugliness known. World War II is looming, although the hope is that another war won't happen. Parts of the solution I guessed, other parts surprised me. Winspear gives another detective novel to make us think about our world and the people in it. This is a worthy addition to the Maisie Dobbs series.

You can find more about this book at .

Maisie Dobbs
Birds of a Feather
Pardonable Lies
Messenger of Truth
An Incomplete Revenge