A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny – Audiobook Spotlight

Sep 022011

A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny, narrated by Ralph Cosham
Published in audio by Macmillan Audio, published in print by Minotaur Books, both imprints of Macmillan

In the fall of 2009, I discovered the amazing crime fiction blog, Jen’s Book Thoughts. If you don’t know Jen’s blog and you ever read (or listen to) crime fiction, you must hie yourself over there immediately, er, as soon as you finish reading this post. One of Jen’s recent posts in particular caught my eye, her effusive review of Louise Penny’s The Brutal Telling. She sold me on it, and a few months later I read the first book in Penny’s Inspector Gamache series, Still Life and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Unfortunately, those were the days before I had FictFact to manage my series intake, and I managed to more or less forget about the Gamache series for some time, until this latest book, A Trick of the Light was released. Suddenly I find myself in possession of the most recent audiobook, after hearing over and over again from Jen and other bloggers I trust how fantastic the audiobooks are, but at the same time being told that I really should read at least the two previous books before getting to this one. Here’s a description of A Trick of the Light I found on Indiebound:

“Hearts are broken,” Lillian Dyson carefully underlined in a book. “Sweet relationships are dead.”
But now Lillian herself is dead. Found among the bleeding hearts and lilacs of Clara Morrow’s garden in Three Pines, shattering the celebrations of Clara’s solo show at the famed Musée in Montreal. Chief Inspector Gamache, the head of homicide at the Sûreté du Québec, is called to the tiny Quebec village and there he finds the art world gathered, and with it a world of shading and nuance, a world of shadow and light. Where nothing is as it seems. Behind every smile there lurks a sneer. Inside every sweet relationship there hides a broken heart. And even when facts are slowly exposed, it is no longer clear to Gamache and his team if what they’ve found is the truth, or simply a trick of the light.

soundbytes picture If you suddenly see an influx of Louise Penny reviews on this blog, you’ll know why. It is me, desperately trying to catch up so I can listen to A Trick of the Light. If you’re curious, you can listen to a clip and see why I’m so looking forward to it.

Buy this book from:
Powells: Audio/Print*
Indiebound: Audio/Print*

I’m launching a brand-new meme every Friday! I encourage you to review any audiobooks you review on Fridays and include the link here. If you have reviewed an audiobook earlier in the week, please feel free to link that review as well. Thanks to Pam for creating the button.

Source: Publisher.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear – Book Review

Apr 142011

A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear
Published by Harper Books, an imprint of Harper Collins

My reviews of the first seven books in the series: Maisie Dobbs, Birds of a Feather, Pardonable Lies, Messenger of Truth, An Incomplete Revenge, Among the Mad, The Mapping of Love and Death.

It is the summer of 1932, and Maisie has entered a new phase of her professional life, working her first case for the British Secret Service undercover as a professor at a small private college in Cambridge.

Please pardon me while I cry for a minute about the fact that now, after having read the first eight books in three months, I have to actually wait for more Maisie Dobbs books. I mean, for goodness sake, I couldn’t even wait until after the discussion of The Mapping of Love and Death in order to read this one, I started it almost immediately after finishing that book.

Once again, Winspear manages to keep her series remarkably fresh without it seeming contrived. Teaching at a small college is vastly different from anything that she has done before, but at the same time it seems completely natural for her. The most interesting part of the case, however, was how much it foreshadowed what was to come in the lead up to World War II.

Another fabulous entry into the Maisie Dobbs series! If you haven’t started this series yet, what are you waiting for?

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher via NetGalley.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

The Mapping of Love and Death by Jaqueline Winspear – Book Review

Apr 012011

The Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear Published by Harper Perennial, an imprint of Harper Collins

My reviews of the first six books in the series: Maisie Dobbs, Birds of a Feather, Pardonable Lies, Messenger of Truth, An Incomplete Revenge, Among the Mad.

The son of an American mother and a British father raised in the United States, Michael Clifton feels the need to fight for his father’s country as soon as he hears about the outbreak of World War I. As a mapmaker, he has skills that are invaluable to the war effort. Unfortunately, Michael goes missing during the war with his entire company. When they are discovered, dead in a bunker, Michael’s family is able to retain his personal letters and journal and discover that he was involved with a nurse during the war. Hoping for someone who can serve as a connection to their son, the Clifton’s engage Maisie’s services to find the girl, but looking over the autopsy, Maisie can see that there is a bigger mystery: Michael was murdered before the bunker was bombed.

This was another well-put together case and mystery for Maisie, Winspear is doing a fabulous job keeping the mysteries fresh and the cases unique. However, in this case, I barely paid attention to Maisie’s case because of some interesting personal developments. Maisie’s personal emotional growth has been happening slowly over the past few books, ever since a case took her to France in Messenger of Truth, first as she came to terms with her psychological scars from the war, then as she began to try to live a richer life in the present. Without being too specific or introducing spoilers, The Mapping of Love and Death holds some progress in this area, a means of progress that had not occurred to me, but which make me incredibly happy.

I’m not sure what higher praise I can give to this series than to say that I’ve been reading one of Winspear’s books every two weeks for the last two and a half months, and I cannot wait to read the next book, and I have no idea what I’m going to do when I do, because then I’ll have to wait an entire year for the next book.

Highly recommended.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Personal copy.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear – Book Review

Mar 222011

Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear
Published by Picador, an imprint of Macmillan

My reviews of the first five books in the series: Maisie Dobbs, Birds of a Feather, Pardonable Lies, Messenger of Truth, An Incomplete Revenge.

Christmas, 1931. Not the happiest of holidays. Doreen, the wife of Maisie’s assistant Billy Beale, is still suffering severe mental anguish about the death of their daughter a year ago, to the point where she can barely care for their two boys. And yet, the Beales are in a better position than many in London. There are men everywhere with war injuries both physical and psychological. This is something Maisie knows all too well after her own wartime injuries and the psychological scar that is only just now healing. The pain of so many, though, is brought into stark relief when a man commits suicide with a grenade on a busy street right in front of Maisie, knocking her unconscious. As if a concussion wasn’t bad enough, an anonymous letter writer threatening the lives of Members of Parliament if something is not done to draw attention to the plight of the invisible veterans. Now Maisie must give up her solitary ways and work with Scotland Yard in order to find this man before he unleashes havoc on all of London.

This is the part where I start to get all gushy about this series. I said in my review of An Incomplete Revenge that I really, really liked it, and that it was the best of the series so far. Well, Among the Mad blew An Incomplete Revenge out of the water. Part of the appeal of Among the Mad was the necessary immediacy, the initial note giving them only two days before the writer began taking unspecified action. Unlike the other Maisie Dobbs books, it had elements of a police procedural, but it also got even deeper into the psychological ramifications of the war on the British people than any of the previous books.

Between the focus on shell shock and psychological affects of warfare and the increased sense of danger and anticipation, I could simply not put Among the Mad down and I absolutely cannot wait to pick up the next book in the series.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Personal copy.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear – Book Review

Mar 172011

An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear
Published by Picador, an imprint of Macmillan

My reviews of the first four books in the series: Maisie Dobbs, Birds of a Feather, Pardonable Lies, Messenger of Truth.

Whether the problem is summer or simply the increasingly dire economic depression, business is tough for Maisie. So tough that she is quite happy that her employee, Billy, will be off picking hops in Kent for a week with his family, because it relieves her from having to pay his salary when there is no work coming in. Coincidentally enough, when work does come in, in the form of James Compton, son of Maisie’s benefactor Lady Compton, Maisie finds herself heading for Kent as well. Compton’s company is interested in a brickworks, but is concerned about the small fires that occur in the town yearly, as well as the acts of petty vandalism. Eventually, the mystery traces back to what happened during the war, both in France and at home, as all of Maisie’s cases do.

This is probably my favorite Maisie Dobbs book so far, which is a relief since the fourth book, Messenger of Truth, was probably my least favorite. My love of this one is a combination of a couple factors. First was the exploration of community and how small towns dealt with losing most of their young men in the war, and what that left them in the aftermath. Secondly, we were able to explore more of Maisie’s past and her family history. It is revealed relatively early on in this book that Maisie’s grandmother was a gypsy, which accounts for her gift of something that is a little more than intuition. I was happy to finally have an explanation of that, because Maisie’s occasional near clairvoyance has always bothered me just a bit.

The most captivating and moving of the Maisie Dobbs book yet. Bring on book five! If you haven’t started this series yet, what are you waiting for?

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Personal copy.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear – Book Review

Mar 072011

Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear
Published by Picador, an imprint of Macmillan

My reviews of the first three books in the series: Maisie Dobbs, Birds of a Feather, Pardonable Lies.

When Nick, an up-and-coming young artist, falls to his death while setting up a gallery for his much buzzed exhibition, the police are quick to rule it an accident and to rule his sister Georgiana, who believes that Nick was murdered, a meddlesome pain. Georgiana is not content to merely accept either of these rulings, however, and enlists the help of Maisie Dobbs, psychologist and investigator, to prove that Nick’s death was no accident. In investigating the case, Maisie finds herself pulled into the world of art and wealthy art collectors, watching people spend obscene amounts of money on paintings while her assistant cannot even find the money to take his very sick little girl to the doctor. At the same time, Maisie finds herself pulling farther and farther away from her beau, Dr. Andrew Dene.

There has been a lot of upheaval in Maisie’s life over the course of the books three and four. First she breaks away from her mentor Maurice, then from her boyfriend Andrew. Both rifts are based partly in Maisie’s need to establish her own independence, but I cannot help but wonder if her new problems with Maurice contributed to her problems with Andrew, as he was a mentee of Maurice’s as well. Although at times all of this made me very frustrated on Maisie’s behalf, these difficulties about what it means to be an independent working woman in the 1930s help truly bring Winspear’s setting and characters to life.

This mystery was a little more obvious and less compelling than the others I have read so far, but the book was still very engaging overall, and we got a glimpse of Maisie actually acting as a therapist for some clients, which was surprising and will possibly offer some interesting plot points in the future. Considering this is the 4th book in this series I have read since the beginning of the year and I am still excited to read the next one, I am continuing to recommend this series.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound |Amazon*

Source: Personal copy.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear – Book Review

Mar 012011

Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear
Published by Picador, an imprint of Macmillan
Book 3 in the Maisie Dobbs series.

My reviews of the first two books in the series: Maisie Dobbs, Birds of a Feather

One of the defining characteristics of Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs is the setting between World War I and World War II. In the first two books particularly, the Great War and its ramifications are hugely important to the story, crucial to the plot, even. Now, in Pardonable Lies, Maisie is forced to confront her time in France, in the war while trying to find out whether a lost aviator truly died in the war and trying to track down the true fate of the brother of her best friend, Priscilla.

More than ever in the past two books, Maisie is intensely vulnerable in Pardonable Lies. She has to face her demons head on, and has a crisis of confidence in some of the most foundational aspects of her life. At the same time, she is being challenged by Priscilla to become more her own person, defined not entirely by her work.

This is a good continuation to the series. I liked that Winspear changed the scenery by taking Maisie to France, it helped keep the series fresh. After three books, I still recommend the series.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound | Amazon*

Source: Personal copy.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear – Book Review

Feb 112011

Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear
Published by Penguin
Book 2 in the Maisie Dobbs series

My review of the first book in the series: Maisie Dobbs

At the opening of Birds of a Feather, Maisie is becoming pretty well established in her business. She has even been contacted by Joseph Waite, one of the richest men in England and a one-time client of her mentor, Maurice. Waite’s daughter has gone missing – again – and as Maisie begins to investigate, she discovers that there may be a connection to a series of dead women.

Birds of a Feather is precisely the book I was hoping for after Maisie Dobbs. In this second book in the series, Maisie truly comes into her own, and the reader is finally able to address her on her own terms, instead of dwelling extensively on her past through the copious backstory that comprised Maisie Dobbs. Here the reader gets to follow Maisie through a full and well-developed case. She has a great process and watching her work a case is fascinating.

I also appreciated that Maisie continued to develop as a character in Birds of a Feather. Since the action rested primarily in the present, Maisie was able to indulge in some introspection without losing the reader.

Based on my experience with the first two books, I think I would classify the Maisie Dobbs series as smart cozies. Not that other cozies aren’t smart, but there is an extra intelligence and class to Maisie Dobbs that makes the series particularly enjoyable. The great development of story and character, along with the somewhat more genteel inter-war time period make this a series that is suitable for and could appeal to a wide range of readers.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound | Amazon*

Source: Library.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear – Book Review

Jan 312011

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
Published by Penguin Books
Book 1 in the series

What do you get when you take one very bright housemaid in early 20th century England, educate her within an inch of her life, and give her some Sherlock Holmes-style training in solving crimes? Why Maisie Dobbs, of course!

Respectful and polite, Maisie is very much a product of her time. Winspear balances very well the line of having an independent heroine who is not overly modern. We begin the book with Maisie setting up shop with her own agency, but the majority of action in this first book in the series is actually comprised of backstory, ranging from the time she first began to work for Lady Rowan Compton, to her time at university, finally to her time as a nurse during World War I.

I must say, there was a bit too much backstory for me. I would have preferred to either start the series when Maisie was just 13 or 14 and gaining employment, or to have the backstory spread out over more books. Particularly because the backstory in which I was most interested – that of her apprenticeship with her mentor Maurice Blanche – was not covered in this book.

Still, Maisie was an engaging and charming character. I have every intention of continuing the series, I just hope that the next books have more action in Maisie’s present.

Buy this book from:
Powells.*
A local independent bookstore via Indiebound.*
Amazon.*

Source: library.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Devourer of Books

A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny – Audiobook Spotlight

A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear – Book Review

The Mapping of Love and Death by Jaqueline Winspear – Book Review

Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear – Book Review

An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear – Book Review

Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear – Book Review

Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear – Book Review

Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear – Book Review

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear – Book Review

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Sponsors:

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