JACQUELINE WINSPEAR

Like many contemporary novelists, Jacqueline Winspear came to writing novels after a successful first career. Winspear worked first in publishing, then moved to international education, communications for marketing and finally became a creativity coach. But it's her love of history which makes Winspear's books so rich with detail and thick with plot turns that they transcend the mystery category. In 2003 Winspear introduced us to Maisie Dobbs, and 2004 saw the publication of the second book in the series featuring the female sleuth: Birds of a Feather.

We meet Maisie Dobbs, Psychologist and Investigator, in 1929 as she takes possession of her new London office. Maisie's former tutor and mentor has retired, leaving her his business and with it the legacy of his considerable reputation in discreet private investigations. It's not long before Maisie's first client comes along, concerned that his wife's affections are engaged elsewhere. What follows is an intriguing tale of the emotional fallout from World War I, including the story of Maisie's education and wartime romance and an intriguing psychological mystery which unravels from the single thread of suspected infidelity.

From the outset, Maisie's story is a memoir of early 20th Century social change. She grows up in a Bellgravia mansion as a tweeny maid (responsible for laying and starting fires and taking out the trash) whose intellectual pursuits are indulged by her mistress after she discovers Maisie sneaking a read in the mansion library. Eventually Maisie enters Griton College of Cambridge University and settles into a life of serious study. When World War I breaks out, Maisie abandons her studies to nurse soldiers on the battlefields of France.

In Birds of a Feather, Maisie is hired by grocery magnate Joseph Waite to find his missing daughter, Charlotte. Maisie takes the case with much trepidation, assuring the wealthy merchant that he must confront his daughter's discontent before Maisie can ensure Charlotte's return to his household. It turns out that Charlotte has taken refuge from a murderer who's taken the lives of three of her friends. As the truth is unveiled, we find that Joseph Waite knows much more about his daughter's disappearance than he tells Maisie at the outset of her investigation.

Winspear's novels cover plenty of ground considering their classification as mystery novels. Maisie comes of age during World War I, a period of British history which saw social change forced upon a nation under fire. Because of the sheer scale and advanced technology of the Great War, women found themselves working outside the home in numbers never before seen. They commanded more economic power and expertise than they were ever allowed under the strict mores of the Victorian era. Maureen Corrigan called Maisie Dobbs "a class-conscious feminist fairy tale" on National Public Radio's Fresh Air, but Maisie's experience mirrors those of many women breaking out of traditional roles and into professional success between the world wars.

Another clear consequence of the war which features prominently in Maisie's life was the rise of the professional class and of class mobility in general. The war and Maisie's magnanimous mistress conspire to lift her from housemaid to nurse to professional. Winspear details Maisie's class transition with care, illuminating the internal conflicts as well as social ones.