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An Incomplete Revenge (Maisie Dobbs #5)
by
Jacqueline Winspear (Goodreads Author)
Maisie Dobbs travels to Kent to investigate, among other things, a series of fires, a family of Dutch bakers who were killed during WWI in a zeppelin attack and the theft of some silver. Hop-picking has brought everyone to the area, from Londoners to Gypsies. Orlagh Cassidy, who also read Messenger of Truth, not only captures a range of London and Kentish accents, but she
...more
Hardcover, 288 pages
Published
June 5th 2008
by Hodder Murray
(first published 2008)
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I wonder what it is about this series of books that makes me keep on reading even though I am not totally enthusiastic about them! I find Maisie an odd character, not particularly likeable and even a little cold. This book also irritated me with more information than I really needed about gypsies and the author's romanticising of them. Nevertheless the mystery was good, the story was interesting and the post World War One setting was delightful. That may be the secret. I do enjoy all the histori
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My favorite Maisie Dobbs novel yet.
I have a notion that Jacqueline Winspear creates her plots the same way Maisie Dobbs solves her mysteries - by sketching out a map containing each clue onto a large canvas until she can see how all the pieces fit together. What I find wonderful about a Winspear mystery is that her canvas doesn't just include who did it, with what, where and when. I suspect it is painted in colors to reflect the season and the clothes Maisie wears, and I'd guess that the overar ...more
I have a notion that Jacqueline Winspear creates her plots the same way Maisie Dobbs solves her mysteries - by sketching out a map containing each clue onto a large canvas until she can see how all the pieces fit together. What I find wonderful about a Winspear mystery is that her canvas doesn't just include who did it, with what, where and when. I suspect it is painted in colors to reflect the season and the clothes Maisie wears, and I'd guess that the overar ...more
Maisie leaves London and heads to Kent in the middle of hopping season to undertake some investigations into a brickworks and the surrounding village.
While I enjoy the Maisie Dobbs series (if you're completely unfamiliar, think post-WW1 solo female detective, a former nurse with painful history), there are several elements to the series that don't click with me - Maisie's psychic abilities are up there (I like fantasy, I just don't like psychics in historical fiction), as is her overly formal t ...more
While I enjoy the Maisie Dobbs series (if you're completely unfamiliar, think post-WW1 solo female detective, a former nurse with painful history), there are several elements to the series that don't click with me - Maisie's psychic abilities are up there (I like fantasy, I just don't like psychics in historical fiction), as is her overly formal t ...more
An Incomplete Revenge is the fifth book in the Maisie Dobbs series by British-born American author, Jacqueline Winspear. James Compton, son of Maisie’s long-time patron, Lady Compton, is in the process of purchasing a large estate at Heronsdene, Kent for the family company, but some incidents of petty crime, vandalism and small fires in the area are cause for concern, so Maisie is engaged to conduct enquiries. It is early autumn of 1931, and as these cases all seem to occur during the hop harves
...more
Aug 29, 2011
Hannah
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
mysteries,
2011-reads
By far my favorite Maisie Dobbs installment since the very first book.
I was beginning to wonder how much longer I could stomach Maisie with her psychic abilities, her coldness and her all around off-putting-ness. It's very rare that I will continue with a series in which the main character annoys me so very much, but in the case of this series, I'm willing to put up with her because I do like the style of Winspear's writing, the time period, the slow plotting, and the issues that the mysteries b ...more
I was beginning to wonder how much longer I could stomach Maisie with her psychic abilities, her coldness and her all around off-putting-ness. It's very rare that I will continue with a series in which the main character annoys me so very much, but in the case of this series, I'm willing to put up with her because I do like the style of Winspear's writing, the time period, the slow plotting, and the issues that the mysteries b ...more
Mar 17, 2009
Betty
rated it
it was amazing
Recommends it for:
cozy mystery series readers
Recommended to Betty by:
review book
I was very taken with this book I loved the many textures and the fullness of characters, the setting of the late 1930s interspersed with a background story from WWI. I had never read a Maisie Dobbs story before but am fast becoming a new fan! Quite aside from the many mysterious happenings, I enjoyed learning of hop-picking, and the rich fullness of gypsies and gypsy lore.
Jacqueline Winspear has a very fluid voice in telling the story, understands the nuances in people, fear, hope, revenge, for ...more
Jacqueline Winspear has a very fluid voice in telling the story, understands the nuances in people, fear, hope, revenge, for ...more
These aren't bad... after all, I keep reading them! But there are several things about them that I find annoying.
I am uncomfortable with the mixture of "sixth sense" and pretentious academic psychology that Maisie supposedly combines to solve her cases. The review at the end, when she returns to the sites she visited during the case, seems to me a contrived device that is essentially pointless. Perhaps I also prefer my mysteries less cerebral.
In this particular book, a specific annoyed me. App ...more
I am uncomfortable with the mixture of "sixth sense" and pretentious academic psychology that Maisie supposedly combines to solve her cases. The review at the end, when she returns to the sites she visited during the case, seems to me a contrived device that is essentially pointless. Perhaps I also prefer my mysteries less cerebral.
In this particular book, a specific annoyed me. App ...more
I was surprised to see that I only got this book 8 days ago, and I already finished it this afternoon. I really enjoyed it! I believe this is the 4th or 5th book about the same main character, and I read the one previous to this one just a couple weeks ago. I don't know if I enjoyed this one more on its own, or if it's the fact that I care more about the main character by now. Either way, I am looking forward to reading more Maisie Dobbs books!
One thing both the books I've read by Jacqueline Win ...more
One thing both the books I've read by Jacqueline Win ...more
Feb 14, 2015
Charlene Intriago
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
library-book,
books-read-2015
This time Maisie is investigating a land purchase near the village of Heronsdene in Kent for the company of family friend James Compton. There have been some thefts and in particular some fires that need to be explained before the Compton company will buy the estate. Set in the fall of 1931, Londoners and gypsies are descending on the village to work alongside the locals to pick hops. The locals are not the friendliest of folks and Maisie senses something is amiss when she first gets there. They
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Winspear's a standing favorite of mine, and her latest doesn't disappoint. She captures the emotional resonance of the interwar period so perfectly, and Maisie is one of the most fully realized characters in mystery today. There's a thread of sensitivity and grace threaded through this series that makes it one to return to time and again - more than a mystery, it's an exploration into the mental challenges of grief, loss, and finding your way again in "the afterwards."
I really enjoy the character of Maisie Dobbs and find the mysteries that she investigates to be quite interesting, however, as I have noted in other reviews of this series, the author leaves me feeling a little flat. Sometimes I realize the mystery has been resolved well after the resolution because it just happened between breakfast and tea with no outstanding prose. I will keep reading the series, though. Love the character and backdrop of 1930's England.
I usually prefer my mysteries set in the here and now, but Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series, set in post WWI England is an exception. It presents the devastation of war in vivid terms constantly reminding me why I am a pacifist, at the same time giving hope as Maisie keeps growing beyond her terrible war traumas. This is the fifth book in the series, but it gives enough background to understand Maisie so it can be read on its own. Maisie is called to investigate a series of fires in the
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This is the 5th of the Maise Dobbs books and I think it may be the best of the series since the first one. Winspear manages to weave multiple themes, but with so much grace that they never feel forced or crowded. I was particularly impressed with the material about gypsies and the subplot about the effect of war on our humanity. The narrator, Orlagh Cassidy, does a wonderful job. In an interview on one of these audiobooks, Winspear says that she was a nonfiction writer prior to doing the first M
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Thanks to Simply Audio, I have had the chance to catch up even more in this superb series. They continue to send me the BOCDs from my wishlist that includes more time with Maisie Dobbs. I thought October would be my traditional horror and paranormal forays, but not so much this year. I think it was a nice break from my "tradition". The setting for book five is autumn, so I had that.
Maisie is sent to the country to investigate a property that a client wants to purchase, but has heard rumors of ar ...more
Maisie is sent to the country to investigate a property that a client wants to purchase, but has heard rumors of ar ...more
Maisie's latest job should be fairly straightforward: James Compton, the son of Maisie's earliest supporter, is interested in making a large land purchase in Heronsdene. The time is right and the purchase would be very advantageous to Compton Corporation. But James has concerns about the landowner and wants Maisie to do a bit of poking before the deal goes through.
Maisie figures it'll be a quick and easy assignment but when two young boys are arrested for allegedly breaking into the very same l ...more
Maisie figures it'll be a quick and easy assignment but when two young boys are arrested for allegedly breaking into the very same l ...more
4.5 stars
This is the most comfortable series I have ever read. And, "An Incomplete Revenge", so far, tops my list, in this well written collection.
Jacqueline Winspear has created such a wonderful atmosphere within her stories. Each one invites you in and asks you to sit before a cozy fire, with a warm beverage of your choice, while the world revolves slowly outside.
With each new entry into the life of Maisie Dobbs, I fall further and further in love with her and the people she surrounds herse ...more
This is the most comfortable series I have ever read. And, "An Incomplete Revenge", so far, tops my list, in this well written collection.
Jacqueline Winspear has created such a wonderful atmosphere within her stories. Each one invites you in and asks you to sit before a cozy fire, with a warm beverage of your choice, while the world revolves slowly outside.
With each new entry into the life of Maisie Dobbs, I fall further and further in love with her and the people she surrounds herse ...more
I think this is my least favorite in this series, not so much for the writing but for the feeling of dissatisfaction with the ending. As in all the Maisie Dobbs stories, there are a couple of plots going on. In this case, they all converge during hop-picking season in Kent, a time when the poor of London headed for the hop gardens in the country to earn some extra money and get a breath of fresh air. I found the information about this tradition quite interesting and read more about it online. Th
...more
In the series of murder-mystery books featuring sleuth Maisie Dobbs, her personal life progresses from one book to the next, so reading in order is a good idea. This, the fourth book, is the best so far. Winspear focuses on the between-World Wars era in England, the plight of the huge number of bereaved, many multiply-bereaved, and the inadequacy of any government response even before the era of financial collapse. Maisie is a quasi-widow: her fiance came back severely injured, unable to communi
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This is definitely my favorite so far of the series. Especially considering I found the last one to be most depressing. Hope seems to be returning to Maisie's world, despite her suffering one more loss in this book. And the portent of WWII looms in the not so distant future.
Winspear's books are very much a recommended read, and as I have now caught up with the books so far published, I shall sit here and sulk until another comes out...
For those who know a little as I do about the Depression era ...more
Winspear's books are very much a recommended read, and as I have now caught up with the books so far published, I shall sit here and sulk until another comes out...
For those who know a little as I do about the Depression era ...more
3.5 stars, really, because these books are the ultimate "comfort read" for me.
Many of us find comfort in the familiar: meeting a character again and again, and hopefully, if the author gets it right, there is character development along with new plot lines. Winspear does it right.
At the same time, there is always a minor flaw in these novels, in that Winspear always seems to withhold a vital piece of information that helps the reader resolve the mystery. An ideal mystery should offer all the s ...more
Many of us find comfort in the familiar: meeting a character again and again, and hopefully, if the author gets it right, there is character development along with new plot lines. Winspear does it right.
At the same time, there is always a minor flaw in these novels, in that Winspear always seems to withhold a vital piece of information that helps the reader resolve the mystery. An ideal mystery should offer all the s ...more
I know I've said this about the other Maisie Dobbs books but this really is my favorite so far. The mystery was very complex and interesting. We got to know more about Maisie family history. Maisie was able to release some of the pain of her past and embrace her future. And Pris was back.
I always knew there was something in Maisie's past that gave her her gift and sure enough she does. Her gypsy grandmother must have passed on more than just Maisie's jet black hair. It was nice to see Maisie get ...more
I always knew there was something in Maisie's past that gave her her gift and sure enough she does. Her gypsy grandmother must have passed on more than just Maisie's jet black hair. It was nice to see Maisie get ...more
Sep 08, 2011
Donna
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
historical,
mystery-and-crime
Maisie Dobbs is hired to reassure a friend about a land deal, then she investigates a village, uncovers old secrets, and puts a piece of her past to rest.
I enjoyed this one more than the previous book, largely because Maisie's sense of empathy seems to have returned and she's finally branching out personally instead of just professionally. We learn something about Maisie that seems a little tired and stereotypical, but at least she finally shows some signs of a long-awaited healing.
The mystery p ...more
I enjoyed this one more than the previous book, largely because Maisie's sense of empathy seems to have returned and she's finally branching out personally instead of just professionally. We learn something about Maisie that seems a little tired and stereotypical, but at least she finally shows some signs of a long-awaited healing.
The mystery p ...more
I haven't read the first four books in the series; I thought Winspear did a good job of explaining past events and introducing returning characters, although it might be a bit tiresome for someone who was already familiar with the faces and events. There are a lot of threads running throughout the story - petty crimes, small fires, hop-picking, xenophobia, consequences of war, economic downturn, class differences - and, like Maisie, Winspear ties up all of the characters' arcs by the end (while
...more
First Sentence: The old woman rested on the steps of her home, a caravan set apart from those of the rest of her family, her tribe.
An old friend hires investigator Maisie Dobbs to investigate matters relating to a potential land purchase. Petty thefts have been blamed on London boys there to help pick hops, but the residents also distrust the Gypsies who are there. Maisie has discovered small fires which have occurred each year but no one reported them to the fire departments or police. A family ...more
An old friend hires investigator Maisie Dobbs to investigate matters relating to a potential land purchase. Petty thefts have been blamed on London boys there to help pick hops, but the residents also distrust the Gypsies who are there. Maisie has discovered small fires which have occurred each year but no one reported them to the fire departments or police. A family ...more
Lovers of Maisy Dobbs will find all the elements here that make the series so endearing: characters that breathe and feel like old friends, fascinating historical detail about life in England between the great wars, and that tantalizing aura of the preternatural that is somehow never too much to be believed.
In An Incomplete Revenge, as in other books of the series, there are themes as profound and thought provoking as any in literature (one reason I categorize these books as “literature” rather ...more
In An Incomplete Revenge, as in other books of the series, there are themes as profound and thought provoking as any in literature (one reason I categorize these books as “literature” rather ...more
This has been my favorite in the "Maisie Dobbs" series by far, but I can't see my enjoying it so much without having had the foundation lain by the previous four. Jacqueline Winspear demonstrates a bold integrity as a writer in allowing her characters room to develop and to progress. This is essential in a series whose main character is "a wounded healer." Just as Maisie goes about healing others, she herself is allowed the opportunities to heal as well, and not necessarily via the most comforta
...more
Although Winspear’s fifth mystery takes place in 1931, events in the story hark back to World War I, like her other books. James Compton, the son of the family Maisie served as a maid, wants to buy land in the village of Heronsdene. He asks Maisie to investigate the vandalism and arson in the village, and especially at the main house and the brickworks which James wishes to run at a profit. It is August, when many laborers from London go to Kent to pick hops; Billy, Maisie’s assistant, takes two
...more
I've flown through this book and it's not something that has happened with all the Maisie Dobbs books I have read before.
I found the mystery in this one very compelling and intriguing. In this book, Maisie works for James Compton to discover the source of some petty crime that has been happening in a small village near Kent. Of course, nothing is as it seems and Maisie ends up revealing some big things that happened in thet village some years before.
Although I loved the book, I give it 4 stars ...more
I found the mystery in this one very compelling and intriguing. In this book, Maisie works for James Compton to discover the source of some petty crime that has been happening in a small village near Kent. Of course, nothing is as it seems and Maisie ends up revealing some big things that happened in thet village some years before.
Although I loved the book, I give it 4 stars ...more
Mar 08, 2015
Michelle
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
historical-mystery
This is the fifth book in the Maisie Dobbs series. Maisie is asked by James Compton, the son of the family that supported her education and career, to investigate an estate purchase in Kent. This coincides with her employee’s annual trip to pick hops with his family. There is an incident where two of the boys from the hop pickers are accused of theft at the estate, and there are rumors that the local gypsies may be involved. Maisie feels a sense of discontent at the local village and the past de
...more
Maisie Dobbs continues to please the palate of my reading with her fifth book in the series of post World War 1 historical mysteries. The author artfully weaves the plot which involves the interaction among locals, migrant Londoners and gypsies as they pick hops in the fields. Billy, who is usually Maisie's assistant is in the fields with his family. As such he is able to give inside information to Maisie. The prejudice among the different factions is quite apparent. The ongoing history of bully
...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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| Madison Mega-Mara...: "An Incomplete Revenge" (Maisie Dobbs) by Jacqueline Winspear | 1 | 1 | Jul 20, 2013 07:42AM | |
| book signing | 1 | 16 | Feb 13, 2008 12:07PM |
Jacqueline Winspear was born and raised in the county of Kent, England. Following higher education at the University of London’s Institute of Education, Jacqueline worked in academic publishing, in higher education and in marketing communications in the UK.
She emigrated to the United States in 1990, and while working in business and as a personal / professional coach, Jacqueline embarked upon a li ...more
More about Jacqueline Winspear...
She emigrated to the United States in 1990, and while working in business and as a personal / professional coach, Jacqueline embarked upon a li ...more
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“The heart does not know chronos time, Maisie.”
—
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