Maisie Dobbs

Economic times are bad. People are out of work and tensions are rising. Government resources are stretched to the max. War veterans, suffering from injuries, both physical and mental, struggle to fit back into a society on the edge of collapse. No, its not the twenty-first century, its the 1930s when Maisie Dobbs, trained in psychology and investigation, opens her London detective agency.

Maisie personifies the post-World War One era. She was born to service, hired as young girl to be a maid in a great house, but rose above her station when her progressive, suffragist employer discovered her remarkable intellect. Tutored and eventually admitted to university, she gave up her studies when the war broke out, determined to do her bit. As a nurse on the fields of France, she did more than her bit, and came back scarred, like so many of her generation. Her new business signifiies her first attempt to really move past the war. Unfortunately, the war won't let her, or anyone else who experienced it, go. From her assistant Billy, to the cases they cover, often focused on the displaced and neglected veterans, the war is omnipresent, its tragedies only compounded by the harsh economic times.

Among the Mad, the sixth installment of the series, begins explosively, when Maisie and Billy leave the office on Christmas Eve and an itinerant man, maimed in the war, decides to end his life with a hand grenade. The blast has dire ripples as a series of threatening letters are sent to the government. Unless they do something about the plight of the veterans, something terrible will happen in London. The threats become more pressing as murdered animals turn up all over the city, all killed with poisonous chemicals. Maisie works with Scotland Yard to find the killer, but she's all too familiar with the chemicals used in the war and their devasting consequences. If they can't unravel the mystery before New Years, the terrorist could unleash his poisons on an unsuspecting populace.

Meticulous pacing and rich historical details make these books a joy to read, even if their overall tone is somber and often melancholy. Maisie slowly emerges from her past, but is constantly haunted by it. Each mystery compells her a step further on her road. The first book in the series is Maisie Dobbs, followed by Birds of a Feather, Pardonable Lies, Messenger of Truth and An Incomplete Revenge.