It is Christmas Eve, 1931 and while walking on a street in London,
Maisie Dobbs is witness to a man committing suicide using a hand
grenade. Concussed by the explosion, Maisie takes the train down to
visit her father in Chelstone. However on Boxing Day DI Jack Stratton
comes down to pick her up. A threatening letter has been received in
which the writer uses her name. She finds herself helping the Special
Branch in the investigation.
The following day six dogs in a kennel are found dead with symptoms that
point to them having been poisoned with chlorine gas. Is this what is
being threatened upon a wider group of humans? Which group is behind
the letter? The IRA, the unions a radical women's group or maybe
Mosley's New Party? Special Branch arrests a group, but Maisie is sure
that they are not responsible. Not long after that another deadly
attack occurs. This time a junior minister is killed with some new
substance. How far will the escalation go?
Feeling that a foundling hospital might be where the person threatening
London might be from, Maisie checks the records there to no avail.
However, the senior doctor there remembers someone who she might be
looking for, but unfortunately he was killed in the war. Maisie has
some doubts. As she gains more information things fall into place, but
can she stop the killer before he commits a wholesale massacre?
Although author Jacqueline Winspear has her heroine, Maisie Dobbs solve
the mystery in a timely manner, Winspear keeps one tiny piece of the
puzzle back and then surprises the reader with a more complex picture
than the reader was anticipating. All-in-all, a good read.
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