However, when Maisie follows the wife in question, she discovers a much sadder situation – the young woman is mourning at the grave of a soldier killed in the war, identified on the tombstone by the single name “Vincent.” Intrigued by the unusual tombstone, Maisie investigates further and discovers that although the Armistice is nearly ten years old, for some the war is far from over.

The case strikes close to home for Maisie and forces her to reflect back on her past, both the good memories and the pain she struggles to forget. The precocious child of a widowed grocer, Maisie quickly demonstrates that she is meant for far more than the narrow confines of her world. Eager to give his child everything he can’t provide himself, Maisie’s father Frankie gets thirteen-year-old Maisie a servant’s job in the home of Lord Julian Compton and Lady Rowan.

During her time with Lady Rowan, Maisie struggles to balance her intellectual ability with her role as a servant. But under the tutelage of Maurice Blanche, Maisie grows into an excellent student and swiftly earns herself a place at Cambridge. However, her education there is cut short by the war, as she feels compelled to do her duty by enlisting as a nurse. The horrors she witnessed in the field hospital forever changed Maisie, and her first investigation refuses to let her ignore her past for a moment longer.

Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs kicks off a new historical mystery series, and if this first entry is any indication, the series is destined for great success. The setting is beautifully drawn in vivid detail; when Winspear describes the sounds and sights of a World War I battlefield, the reader can imagine the scene and relate to the characters’ reactions with incredible ease.

Winspear devotes similar attention to her characters, and as a result they seem so real that they practically jump off the page. Even characters that play a relatively small role in the action leave an indelible impression on the reader. By creating such endearing characters, Winspear quickly gets readers invested in what happens to them and how they got to be what they are.

This strength of characterization allows Maisie Dobbs to use to great effect what would have been a fatal flaw in a lesser mystery writer’s hands: a lengthy middle section devoted to Maisie’s past. The central mystery of the book plays almost no part in the middle of the novel, but the absence is barely noticeable because the back story is so engaging and essential to understanding why Maisie decided to become an investigator. As a result, the eventual resolution of the mystery is doubly satisfying as Maisie both solves the mystery and gains a greater understanding of herself and her world.

By devoting so much attention to her main character while still giving depth to other characters and weaving an intriguing story in the bargain, Winspear has written a fantastic first entry into what will hopefully be a long and successful series. The world Winspear creates with her words is full of intriguing possibilities for further stories, and this reviewer will be eagerly awaiting each and every one.

--Jessica Plonka