James Compton has returned from Canada to complete a business deal. He
asks Maisie Dobbs to do some investigative work about the business. It
just happens that her assistant, Billy Beale will be in that part of
Kent hop picking for two weeks, so she tasks him with gathering
information. Shortly after he gets there he calls Maisie to ask for her
help for a friend whose sons have been arrested for theft, which they
deny.
Could the thefts be the responsibility of the gypsies camped nearby?
Maisie stays at an inn to do her investigation. The first night there a
fire breaks out in the coal shed behind the inn. Maisie is sure that
she saw a couple of people running away from the shed before she raised
the alarm, yet the innkeeper denies that could be possible.
Also in play is the local lord, who seems to think that feudal life
still exists. He is the one that Compton is negotiating a deal with.
Maisie doesn't feel that he is trustworthy. She and Billy help to save a
gypsy woman from attack by this lord claiming that everything belongs
to him.
All of these threads must be sorted out by Maisie into order and then
back tracked to find the truth. Author Jacqueline Winspear's mystery
novel has treachery throughout and her heroine's resolve leads to
reckoning for many. A good read.
No comments:
Post a Comment