This is the most recent (published in 2018) installment in the Maisie Dobbs series of books. The timing of the murder here is right before the evacuation of Dunkirk. Maisie's friend's son is involved in that to tragic end and there is lots of drama about a boy being harmed by the paint he was using in his work. He ended up being murdered because he didn't keep quiet about the headaches he was suffering due to the fumes. Money, corruption and family are the themes.

My only problem with this book was that Maisie does not seem to want to be with Anna, although she does want to adopt her to sort of replace the child she lost and help Anna in the bargain by giving her a family. This is noble, but her avoidance of spending time with the child is problematic at best. I suppose some people adopt and get nannies to raise the kids when they have demanding jobs, but it seems kind of nonsensical to me. She's adopting and going to put it off on her aging father and stepmother in the end.

One of the stories (about the spy) ended very abruptly and took a twist I wasn't expecting. I thought this book was a bit disjointed, but I enjoyed having Billy back in the mix with his common sense thinking.

I have read every book so far and the setting (time wise) and the characters have made it a very enjoyable reading experience. This book was good, not the best, but entertaining nonetheless.

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Created Nov 20, 2018 at 8:25am • Submit your own review...