It's Winspear's command of the period detail of Maisie's Georgian and World War I world, as well as Maisie's own quiet smarts, that make the novel compelling.
Rereading Maisie Dobbs has made me appreciate anew its subtler strengths - the strengths of a mystery that does a really fine job of playing within the traditional boundaries of the genre. Since 2003, over 1 million copies have been sold, nine more novels in the series have been published, and even Hillary Clinton has publicly declared herself a fan. Yep, I remember my cloddish initial reactions to Maisie Dobbs because when I began reading it, I quickly changed my mind and went on to write a rave review. I remember glancing at the back cover plot summary of my review copy of Maisie Dobbs by a then-unknown first-time author named Jacqueline Winspear and thinking, "Eh, this idea seems stale." Maisie herself was introduced as a World War I field nurse turned detective, a conceit that struck me as an unholy grafting of the real-life background of Vera Brittain onto Miss Marple.
Larsson's groundbreaking novel appeared in 2005 and is justifiably hailed as a feminist step forward in mystery fiction but, two years earlier, a female investigator every bit as brainy and battle-hardened as Lisbeth Salander made a more decorous debut in a mystery novel that would become an international best-seller. In fact, Stieg Larsson's complete Millennium series, flanked by hordes of Nordic noirs by the likes of Henning Mankell, Camilla Lackberg and Jo Nesbo, have overrun the ranks of hard-boiled detective fiction, imbuing it with their distinctive strain of brittle dialogue and chill fatalism. If you asked mystery fans to name the most important novel of the past decade, most would say The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - and they'd be right. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title Maisie Dobbs Author Jacqueline Winspear
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