5 New Coming-of-Age Novels

I'm never sure what to say when someone asks me to name my favorite type of book because I like to read across the genres, I love literary fiction, and I don't hesitate to read middle grade books. Of course, I find often myself drawn to specific settings and themes, and one of those is the coming-of-age story. The five novels featured today all involve the loss of innocence, as the main characters contend with secrets, love, family, and a variety of pivotal life moments.

• All the Castles Burned by Michael Nye (Turner, Feb. 13): This novel is set in 1990s Cincinnati. Owen, 14 years old, has won a basketball scholarship to a local private day school, where he befriends an Uber-rich older teammate. Owen's freshman year includes more than book learning, as he realizes money doesn't make you a good person and one's parents are not infallible.
• Things to Do When It's Raining Marissa Stapley (Graydon House, Feb. 6): I may be stretching the coming-of-age theme, but this is the story of a young woman, who returns to her home town after things go wrong in New York. While figuring out what to do next, she learns the true meaning of love, not only in romantic relationships but also in families and the strength it gives her to make difficult decisions on behalf of her grandparents.
• Where the Dead Sit Talking by Brandon Hobson (Soho, Feb. 20): In 1980s Oklahoma, Sequoyah, a teenager, is put in foster care after his mother is arrested on drug charges. Dreams of freedom, a taste of young love, coming to terms with his Cherokee background, and the lure of easy money draw the boy--and his foster siblings--into a dark and dangerous place.
• The Calculus of Change by Jessie Hilb (Clarion, Feb. 27): Despite being smart and talented, teenage Aden suffers from insecurities related to being overweight and unresolved issues stemming from her mother's death, a decade earlier. When she's tapped to tutor Tate, cute, cool, and Jewish, she is forced to make decisions that will ultimate determine the type of person she really wants to be.
• Rosie Colored Glasses by Brianna Wolfson (Mira, Feb. 20): After her parents divorce, 11-year-old Willow has trouble adjusting to joint custody; she wants to live full-time with her fun-loving mother, Rosie. But without the buffer of her more-aloof father, Willow begins to question her mother's choices, finally realizing that love and parenting are more complex and difficult than she had ever imagined.

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12 New Crime Fiction Books Written by Women

There's something about long winter nights that say crime fiction to me. Maybe it's because these books tend to draw me in completely and beg to be read in one long go, testing my solving abilities and sometimes making me get up to double-check that the doors are locked. This week I'm featuring 12 mysteries and thrillers, all written by women and published this month, to get you through snowy evenings. You'll recognize some of the titles, but I hope you find a few new books too.

• Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan (Atria/Emily Bestler Books): When a high-profile British politician and family man is accused of rape, the ensuing trial pits two women lawyers, each determined to win the case. This very timely story, told from three view points, will have you adding up the evidence to make your own guilty or not guilty declaration.
• Best Friends Forever by Margot Hunt (MIRA): When two Florida women, Kat and Alice, meet by chance while flying home, they form a tight, trusting friendship, despite their lifestyle differences. But when Kat's husband dies under questionable circumstances, Alice is forced to reassess what she really knows about her friend, especially when Kat stops answering her texts.
• Blood Sisters by Jane Corry (Pamela Dorman Books): Alison, an art teacher, still suffers from survivor's guilt after a childhood car accident left her sister brain damaged and institutionalized and their young friend dead. The women's lives are good as can be expected, until Alison starts to find notes implicating she had a role in the tragedy and someone is out for vengeance. Secrets and twists.

• The Burial Society by Nina Sadowsky (Ballantine): An American businessman is murdered in Paris, setting off a chain of events that threatens to expose his grown children's secrets. When the siblings meet a mysterious woman who heads a dark net organization that helps people disappear, they discover their family may be the target of a dangerous killer.
• In a Cottage in a Wood by Cass Green (HarperCollins): An escape to the country is just what Neve needs to set her life back on course. But the little country cottage she unexpectedly inherited isn't at all what she had envisioned. Is the house haunted or is someone playing mind games and watching her every move? What exactly drove the previous owner to suicide? A creepy psychological thriller.
• Need to Know by Karen Cleveland (Ballantine): A CIA analyst is hot on the trail of a Russian sleeper cell embedded firmly on American soil. She's about to celebrate her successful mission when she discovers one of the enemy agents is someone she knows very well: her husband. Now she must weigh family, country, and loyalties and decide on her next move without tipping her hand to anyone.

• The Other Side of Everything by Lauren Doyle Owens (Touchstone): A serial killer is targeting elderly women in a small Florida town, bringing three generations of townspeople together in unexpected ways. For the survivors, the past doesn't seem to want to stay in the past, and the prime suspect begins to worm his way into the heart of a local lonely teenager. Kirkus calls this a slow-burning thriller.
• Scones and Scoundrels by Molly MacRae (Pegasus): A killer is afoot in the small Scottish town of Inversgail, and the owners of the bookstore / tea room are among the prime suspects because the victims were patrons of their establishments. Janet and her partners must find the villain before he (or she) strikes again. This is the second installment in a twisty cozy mystery series.
• Sunday Silence by Nicci French (William Morrow): London psychologist Frieda is no stranger to crime, as she often works with the police, but this time murder and danger are hitting too close to home. While she works to keep herself and her loved ones safe, she must also try to figure out if the killer is a nemesis returned from a faked suicide or a copycat killer--or maybe there're are two men out to get her.

• The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime): Set in 1920s Bombay, this first in series introduces Perveen Mistry, one of the first woman lawyers in India. While doing the paperwork for three Muslim widows who are donating their shared inheritance to charity, Perveen smells a rat. Why would the women give up their future security and who is encouraging them to do so? Great period details.
• The Wife by Alafair Burke (Harper): This domestic thriller set in New York City has all the elements of a great read: a whirlwind romance, a wife with secrets, a husband with even more secrets, a crime, and a possible coverup. Can Angela trust her new husband and just how much is she willing to risk to insist on his innocence after one of his female interns goes missing? Solid plotting and plenty of twists.
• The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen (St. Martin's Press): Newly divorced from her controlling husband, Vanessa is out to prevent his remarriage to a much younger preschool teacher. Meanwhile Nellie might be having second thoughts on giving up her freewheeling party life to settle down as the perfect businessman's wife. Everyone has secrets, everyone has a story, but who is telling the truth? Read this thriller all in one go.

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Stacked-Up Book Thoughts: Books I Loved, Books I Didn't

For everyone who lives in Florida or the Caribbean, my thoughts are with you. I hope your homes, your family, and your pets are safe and sound. The photos and videos look so scary. I can't imagine what you all are going through.

Some of you know that I've been on a great organize my books project. My ultimate goal is to put all my unread books--print, e, and audio--into a single database. I've been keeping up with my print books for months now, and as of Sunday morning, I'm totally up to date with my audiobooks. My big stall is the eBooks. I'm not sure why, but I just haven't gotten a handle on them. I'll figure it out one of these days (I hope).

I had an "interesting" workweek getting used to my new computer and Windows 10, but I love my new machine and my productivity is speeding up.

What I Read Last Week

Leigh Bardugo's The Language of Thorns (Macmillan, Sept. 26) is a collection of three dark fairy tales or fables that involve trickery and magic. I loved the stories, the haunting world, and the beautiful illustrations that accompany the text. One story involves a clever fox, another a witch in the woods and a mystery, and the final story is about rich man and his daughter. As all good tales, each one teaches a life lesson. I read a review copy from the publicist and am a little confused because the back cover mentions six stories, although my advanced reader copy contains only three. Regardless, I always like Bardugo's work and can highly recommend this collection to her fans and fans of newly minted fairy tales.

Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere (Penguin Press, Sept. 12) is going to be on everyone's best of 2017 list. Set in the Cleveland-area community of Shaker Heights, the novel exposes the glossed-over underbelly of a small upper-middle-class neighborhood of privilege and expectations. Ng nails the dialogue, the sociocultural mores, and the consequences of meddling in other people's business. Race, class, education, family, dreams, life choices -- so many fires with such far-reaching destruction. A starkly truthful story that grabs you by the collar and pulls you in close. Run out tomorrow and buy this book. I listened to the unabridged audiobook (Penguin Audio, 11 hr, 27 min) read brilliantly by Jennifer Lim, who erased the wall between listener and earbuds. It was near-impossible for me to hit that stop button. (audio review copy from the publisher)

Marta McDowell's The World of Laura Ingalls Wilder (Timber Press, Sept. 20) should be on your holiday gift list for Little House fans of all ages. There is so much to love about McDowell's examination of Wilder's connection to the natural environment. Wilder fills her work with references to the flowers, wild fruits, garden produce, and cash crops that sustained her family on their journeys back and forth across the Great Plains. It's a delight to see the links between episodes in the beloved books with the realities of farming or buying seed or foraging that the Wilders and other families like them contended with. The style is down to earth and respectful and the full-color illustrations (some from various editions of Wilder's novels), maps, and photographs really bring the text to life. Biographical and historical details inform the botanical information, helping us see a fuller picture of Laura Ingalls Wilder's universe. The last part of the book includes information for visiting places where Laura lived, seeing period gardens, and for creating your own little prairie. Plant lists and resources round out the book. I picked up an advanced reader copy at BEA but have preordered a finished copy because this is a book to treasure.

Books I Broke Up With

I had high hopes for Solar Bones by Mike McCormick (Soho, Sept. 12), but the one long mostly unpunctuated sentence was just too much for my editor's brain. I may give it a second try, but I kind of doubt it. Everyone else seems to love this Irish story, and the novel was long-listed for the Booker Prize. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercombie (Orbit, Sept. 2015) has been on my audiobook list for a couple of years. It's billed as epic fantasy with plots of war, politics, and conspiracies. I wanted to love this, but I just didn't. I'm not sure if the issue was Steven Pacey's performance or the book. Or maybe it just suffered from being next after Little Fires Everywhere. I plan to try again in a few months. (both books were provided to me by the publishers)


What I'm Reading Now

I'm currently listening to Ken Follett's newest entry in his Kingsbridge series, A Column of Fire (Penguin Audio; 30 hr, 19 min). I adore this series, which is set in a cathedral town in England. This installment takes place during Mary Tudor's reign, and religious turmoil is coloring our favorite characters' everyday life. Thank goodness the wonderful John Lee has returned to perform the audiobook. I love his characterizations, accents, pacing, and level of expression. I can tell already that this long audio is going to be worth every minute of your time. It comes out tomorrow.

I'm in between print books as I write this post, and I'm not exactly sure what I'll read next. I think I'll pick either a contemporary thriller or a contemporary middle grade novel. I have several books in mind in each category, and I think either would provide a good contrast to Follett's historical fiction.

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8 Books from Smaller Presses (BookExpo 2017: Part 2)

One of the things I look forward to when I plan my annual trip to Book Expo (formally BEA), is getting a chance to learn about books from some of the smaller presses. Although the publishers featured today are hardly obscure, they are independent from the giant houses that seem to get all the buzz.

Instead of featuring the big-name authors and titles you'll hear about everywhere (including here on Beth Fish Reads), today I want to introduce you to a handful of books that may have slipped by your radar. All but one is fiction, and most take us outside the United States and/or to different times, providing a broad perspective on life and humanity.

• Solar Bones by Mike McCormack (Soho, September): Set in rural Ireland, this novel is told by a spirit who returns to his home and recalls his life in all his roles, from son to father and everything in between and beyond. This award-winning novel gives us a feel for a generation of changes and challenges.
• The Widows of Malabar Hill (Soho Crime, January 2018): The protagonist of this first in a new series is loosely based on India's first woman lawyer. Set about 100 years ago in Bombay, this crime novel concerns a case of potential fraud against three traditional, sheltered widows of the same man. The case also involves lost inheritances and the threat of murder.
• The Extra Woman by Joanna Scutts (Liveright, November): For most of history, Western culture has pitied or scorned the woman who chooses to remain single. Yet almost 90 years ago, Marjorie Hillis, who wrote for Vogue magazine, helped make the "Live-Aloners" fashionable. This book explores the rise and fall of the glory days of the independent woman over the course of the twentieth century and into our own times.
• Across the China Sea by Gaute Heivoll (Graywolf Press, September): In the post-World War II years, a Norwegian family opens their home to the lost and broken, forging bonds that hold an unlikely group of adults and children together to face a changing world. The novel is told in retrospect as the son cleans out the house after his parents' deaths.

• Reign the Earth by A. C. Gaughen (Bloomsbury, January 2018): This first in a four-part young adult fantasy series features a young woman who agrees to a marriage in return for the promise of peace between two rival lands. Her sacrifice is made all the harder when she must hide her elemental powers from her husband while trying to stay loyal to her own heritage. The novel promises battles, betrayal, politics, and magic.
• Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak (Bloomsbury, December): This novel takes place in the course of a single evening in modern-day Istanbul. A woman who survives a mugging on her way to an opulent dinner party tries to balance her present circumstances with her college years abroad. Meanwhile the city erupts in violence caused by a series of terrorist attacks. Literary fiction that examines feminism in the context of Islam.
• Leona: The Die Is Cast by Jenny Rogneby (Other Press, August): this gritty Scandinavian crime novel features a flawed female detective who is barely able to hold herself together long enough to solve a bizarre bank robbery, allegedly pulled off by a seven-year-old girl. The author is both a former Stockholm cop and a former pop singer.
• To the Back of Beyond by Peter Stamm (Other Press, October): One night after a women goes inside to check on her child, her husband leaves the back garden and starts walking through the Swiss countryside. This slip of a novel explores the couple's now separate lives--one seemingly aimless, the other tied to home--and how life can change in a single moment.

Next week I'll feature picks from the big publishing houses. In case you missed it, yesterday I featured 5 Book Expo picks, also from small publishers.

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12 Novels to Read in January; Or What's on My eReader

It's a new month (and a new year), and I'm in the mood to look forward. Although I still have plenty of backlist books that live near the top of my reading list, today I'm all about what's coming out in January. I was just looking at my ebooks for my next read, and found 12 novels that caught my eye.

Thrills and Chills

• Different Class by Joanne Harris (Touchstone): Harris's newest novel is a thriller set in a British prep school and involves a Latin teacher, a new headmaster, and a past scandal.
• Containment by Hank Parker (Touchstone): The first sign of trouble is seen in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in this bioterrorism thriller that pits a mad scientist against the good ones.
• My Husband's Wife by Jane Corry (Pamela Dorman): A newly married London lawyer makes some questionable friends who, years later, threaten to turn her world and marriage upside down.

Leave the USA Behind

• Savage Theories by Pola Oloixarac (Soho): Set in Argentina, this novel in translation tells the story of a student gone slightly off-kilter and explores humanity: past, present, and future.
• Dance on the Volcano by Marie Vieux-Chauvet (Archipelago): Newly translated into English this story about sisters is set during the Haitian revolution and looks at racial and economic divides.
• A Word for Love by Emily Robbins (Riverhead): An American exchange student in Syria gets caught up in the life, loves, and secrets of her host family.

Past Wars

• Days without End by Sebastian Barry (Viking): In the mid-1800s, a young man, newly arrived from Ireland, joins the U.S. Army to fight first the western Indians and then the southern Rebels.
• The Signal Flame by Andrew Krivak (Scribner): Set in the Vietnam War era in a small town in Pennsylvania, this novel focuses on the effects of war on three generations of men and their families.
• The Echo of Twilight by Judith Kinghorn (Berkley): In 1914 England, a young woman accepts a position as lady's maid for a Northumberland family, unprepared for how war would affect her relationship with the family.

Contemporary Life

• The Antiques by Kris D'Agostino (Scribner): Set in upstate New York, this book is about a dysfunctional family reunited as their father lies dying during a hurricane; humor lightens the mood.
• Traveling Light by Lynne Branard (Berkley): This road trip story is about a woman who decides to leave North Carolina for the west after inadvertently becoming the caretaker of a stranger's ashes.
• Perfect Little World by Kevin Wilson (Ecco): In a psych experiment / utopia gone wrong, can a young mother and an idealistic child psychologist find a brighter future?

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Review: What We Lost in the Dark by Jacquelyn Mitchard

I discovered Jacquelyn Mitchard way back in 1996, when I read her debut novel, The Deep End of the Ocean, a powerful book that has stayed with me all these years. Since then, she has continued to write in a range of genres and for a wide audience, from adult fiction to picture books.

Last year, I featured Mitchard's What We Saw at Night, the first in planned duo about teens who suffer from xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), a rare genetic disorder that makes them fatally allergic to the sun. Told from the first-person perspective of Allie Kim, who can leave the house only after sunset, that book introduced us to the extreme sport of parkour and ended with a major cliffhanger.

What We Lost in the Dark picks up right where the previous installment ended. This bullet review assumes you've read the first book.

• Basic plot: Allie and Rob are still stunned over Juliet's apparent suicide, although Allie is convinced that foul play was involved. With their hearts no longer in parkour because it reminds them of their friend, the two teens take up deep-water free diving (without oxygen tanks) while trying to gather evidence against the man they believe killed their friend.
• What works: Allie and Rob's relationship, which would seem too intense for most YA books, is made believable when you consider that people with XP die young. The two are determined to get as much out of life as they can, while remaining hopeful that genetic engineering may eventually offer a cure for their condition. In addition, there is plenty of thriller action and some seriously creepy scenes.
• What doesn't: I found the number of coincidences needed to pull off the plot to be a bit hard to take. For example, while on her initial dive in Lake Superior, Allie just happens to discover a prime piece of evidence against the bad guy. There is also strong foreshadowing, which meant I was able to guess some of the surprises revealed at the novel's conclusion.
• Recommendation: If you've read the first book, you'll want to read What We Lost in the Dark to see what happens. If you keep your expectations in check, you'll enjoy this novel more than I did.
• Audiobook: My full review will be published by AudioFile magazine, but in a nutshell, narrator Rebecca Gibel didn't hold my attention. I was not a fan of the tone of her performance, although other listeners thought her voice was perfect for Allie. (Blackstone Audio; 8 hr 12 min)

Soho Press / Soho Teen, 2013
ISBN-13: 9781616951436
Source: Audio: review (see review policy)
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy)

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Imprint Friday: The Sweet Dead Life by Joy Preble

Welcome to Imprint Friday and today's featured imprint: Soho Teen. Stop by each week to be introduced to a must-read title from one of my favorite imprints. I know you'll be adding many of these books to your wish list.

To round out my celebration of Children's Book Week, I'm featuring a book from the relatively new Soho Teen imprint. When I read the premise of Joy Preble's new novel, The Sweet Dead Life, I knew it was a young adult novel for me. I liked that it had a contemporary setting and I was curious about how it was going to address the business of angels.

Here's the publisher's summary:

"I found out two things today: One, I think I'm dying. And two, my brother is a perv."

So begins the diary of Jenna Samuels, who is having a very bad year. Her mother spends all day in bed. Dad vanished when she was eight. Her older brother, Casey, tries to hold together what’s left of the family by working two after-school jobs—difficult, as he’s stoned all the time. To make matters worse, Jenna is sick. Really sick. When she collapses one day, Casey tries to race her to the hospital in their beat-up Prius and crashes instead.

Jenna wakes up in the ER to find Casey beside her, looking pretty good. Better than ever, in fact. Downright . . . angelic. The flab and zits? Gone. Before long, Jenna figures out that her brother didn’t survive the accident at all, and she isn’t just sick; she’s being poisoned. Casey has been sent back to help Jenna find out who’s got it out for her, a mystery that leads to more questions about their mother’s depression and their father’s disappearance.

Right off the bat I want to note that although The Sweet Dead Life does indeed have angels, Preble has taken a fresh approach. Yes, Casey is looking pretty good, but he's living at home, and he himself isn't quite sure what to make of those strange feathery nubs that are beginning to form on his back. Death may have made him clean up his act, but he's still a teenager and has the attitude to match.

It's fourteen-year-old Jenna, however, who steals the show. The novel is told through her journal entries, which allows us to see her unguarded thoughts. She may swear a bit more than the average young teen, but she's full of spunk and has a resilient spirit.

Two other aspects of The Sweet Dead Life are worth noting. First, the mystery of what happened to Mr. Samuels and why Jenna was poisoned is very well set up. There are several possibilities and a few red herrings to throw us off track, but the plot is not so twisty that we can't have fun trying to figure it out all on our own.

Second, I liked the fact that this young adult paranormal novel does not involve an all-consuming love story. In fact, the book focuses on family, especially bothers and sisters. Preble must have an older brother because Jenna and Casey's relationship is incredibly realistic. The Samuels household is absolutely not The Waltons, which makes it easy to care about Jenna's future.

If you're looking for a contemporary young adult novel with believable characters (never mind the angels) and an engaging plot, then be sure to pick up The Sweet Dead Life by Joy Preble. The balanced mix of mystery and light paranormal elements give the book a broad appeal, and the deeper issues of family, depression, drugs, and abandonment give the story some meat.

Soho Teen, an imprint of Soho Press, released its first book in January 2013. Its debut catalog offers a strong lineup covering a variety of genres. To learn more about the imprint, visit the website, like the Facebook page, and follow them on Twitter.

Buy The Sweet Dead Life at an indie or other bookstore near you.
Published by Soho Press / Soho Teen, May 2013
ISBN-13: 9781616951504
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy).

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Today's Read & Giveaway: What We Saw at Night by Jacquelyn Mitchard

What would you do if you couldn't go outside when it was light out? No, you're not a vampire, you're an ordinary teenager who was born with a rare genetic disorder that makes you essentially allergic to the sun. Now let's say you and your friends were out one night and saw something you shouldn't have . . . and the bad guy knows you were a witness.

Allie Kim isn't exactly sure what she saw, but she knows it wasn't good, and she's starting to get paranoid. Here she is talking to her best friend, who was one of the witnesses.

"I want to talk to your dad [a policeman]. We could call in a sketch artist. Someone could draw her, from what I saw."

"But my dad was actually in [the apartment], Allie. He didn't see anything."

I stared at her, pleading with my eyes, my belly filled with rage, my heart breaking. "You don't believe me. You really don't."

She shook her head. At the time, I was certain she truly doubted me. But she didn't doubt me at all.

—What We Saw at Night by Jacquelyn Mitchard (Soho Press / Soho Teen, 2013, p. 72; uncorrected proof)

Quick Facts

• Setting: Iron Harbor, Minnesota, and surrounding area
• Circumstances: three teens with xeroderma pigmentosum witness something strange through the windows of a penthouse
• Characters: Allie, Rob, and Juliet; their parents and siblings; doctors & nurses at the clinic; the bad man with the blond streak in his hair
• Genre: mystery, thriller, adventure  
• Interesting extra: the teens are learning parkour, an extreme sport made more extreme by their nighttime participation
• Miscellaneous: the initial publication of a new imprint from Soho Press; Jacquelyn Mitchard also wrote The Deep End of the Ocean (a book I loved)

For more on the imprint and the first season of Soho Teen books, watch the following short video.

The Giveaway

Thanks to Soho Teen, I am pleased to be able to offer one of my readers a copy of Jacquelyn Mitchard's new novel, What We Saw at Night. Here's how to enter for a chance to win: Just fill out the following form, and I will pick a winner, using a random number generator, on January 25. Because the publishing company will be mailing out the book, the giveaway is limited to readers with a U.S./Canada mailing address. I'll delete the data in this form once a winner has been selected and confirmed. Good luck.



Buy What We Saw at Night at an indie or at a bookstore near you. (Link leads to an affiliate program.)
Published by Soho Press / Soho Teen, 2013
ISBN-13: 9781616951412
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy).

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Review: Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

Maisie Dobbs did something few women in the early 20th century were ever able to do. She rose from tradesman's daughter to Cambridge student to self-employed businesswoman. Thanks to pluck, determination, and smarts mixed with a bit of luck and years of hard work, Maisie is ready to rent an office in London and set up her practice as a professional investigator.

For her first solo case, Maisie agrees to help a man who is sure his wife has been unfaithful to him. Despite all her careful planning, Maisie is unprepared for the long-reaching effects this case will have on her own life, dredging up memories of her field nursing days in war-torn France and her own set of might-have-beens.

In Maisie Dobbs, Jacqueline Winspear introduces readers to one of the most endearing heroines to star in a cozy mystery series and sets the stage for more adventures to come. The mystery itself is less important in this first novel than is getting to know Maisie: how she came to be an investigator, the people who helped her along the way, her personality, and her own life experiences.

In 1929, the Great War is long over but not everyone has found peace: soldiers, medics, and other military personnel had few resources for dealing with shell-shock, disfigurement, and the loss of loved ones. Maisie and her acquaintances are not immune, and the shadow of the war permeates the novel. But Maisie is a practical young lady, and although she hasn't faced all of her demons, she is forward looking and resourceful and tries to stay positive.

Winspear has created a set of characters that will find a place in your heart, and you'll be reaching for the second Maisie Dobbs novel almost immediately. Maisie Dobbs will appeal to readers who like cozy mysteries, great characters, England between the wars, and strong female protagonists.

I listened to the unabridged audiobook (BBC America; 10 hr) read by Rita Barrington who did a great job keeping my attention and bringing the proper British flair to the novel. Barrington's pacing and subtle characterizations add to the enjoyment of the novel. A recommended audio.

Give it to me quickly: Travel to 1920s London to meet Maisie Dobbs, a resourceful, spunky, no-nonsense private investigator who solves her first professional case and comes to terms with her wartime experiences; moving yet fun and completely engaging.

Maisie Dobbs won multiple awards, including the Agatha Award for Best First Novel in 2003. For more on Jacqueline Winspear, visit her website.

Maisie Dobbs at an Indie

Maisie Dobbs at Powell's

Maisie Dobbs at Book Depository
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Published by Soho Press, 2003 / Penguin, 2004
ISBN-13: 9780142004333
YTD: 44
Source: Bought (see review policy)
Rating: B+
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy)

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