Skip to main content

Messenger of Truth (Maisie Dobbs #4) by Jacqueline Winspear: A Book Review

Messenger of Truth (Maisie Dobbs #4)
Author: Jacqueline Winspear
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Release Date: 2010
Pages: 337
Source: My State Public Library
 Synopsis: Maisie Dobbs investigates the mysterious death of a controversial artist—and World War I veteran—in the fourth entry in the bestselling series.

London, 1931. The night before an exhibition of his artwork opens at a famed Mayfair gallery, the controversial artist Nick Bassington-Hope falls to his death. The police rule it an accident, but Nick's twin sister, Georgina, a wartime journalist and a infamous figure in her own right, isn't convinced.

When the authorities refuse to consider her theory that Nick was murdered, Georgina seeks out a fellow graduate from Girton College, Maisie Dobbs, psychologist and investigator, for help. Nick was a veteran of World War I, and before long the case leads Maisie to the desolate beaches of Dungeness in Kent, and into the sinister underbelly of the city's art world.

In Messenger of Truth, Maisie once again uncovers the perilous legacy of the Great War in a society struggling to recollect itself. But to solve the mystery of Nick's death, Maisie will have to keep her head as the forces behind the artist's fall come out of the shadows to silence her.

Following on the bestselling Pardonable Lies, Jacqueline Winspear delivers another vivid, thrilling, and utterly unique episode in the life of Maisie Dobbs.

     My Review: Nick, a new artist, falls to his death on the night before his opening exhibition. His sister believes that his death is not an accident and hires Maisie to investigate. She quickly learns that Nick's painting revealed a secret that someone wants to remain hidden. The clue to the secret lies in the events of WWI. Maisie also enters the art world and see the darkness that surrounds the glamouring facade. She also awakens her own interest in art.

     In my review of Pardonable Lies, I praised Maisie for being very relatable. In this novel, it was the opposite. I did not sympathise with her during her drama and thought that she deserved the consequences that came to her. She gives her mentor the cold shoulder. She also avoids her boyfriend without a reason to do so. She is very cold and distant, and I couldn’t fully understand her. I did not buy into the idea that Maisie is an independent woman. Instead, I saw her as a selfish woman who does not care about other people’s feelings. Thus, in Messenger of Truth, Maisie frustrated me the most of the series’ novels.

     Overall, this book is about secrets, art, and truth. The supporting characters in this novel did not seem very well developed and were very one-dimensional. The mystery was mostly in the background as it focused on Maisie’s drama. Personally, Messenger of Truth would have been much better if we took her drama out completely. The mystery itself was very compelling until it revealed who the killer was. The identity of the killer disappointed me and made the mystery fall flat. While this is not my favorite in the series, I’m eager to read the next novel, An Incomplete Revenge to see how she develops. Thus, this novel was not her best, but it was a very quick read. So far, reading the Maisie Dobbs series has been a fun, light time to spend an afternoon.

Rating: 2½  out of 5 stars

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts: The True Story of The Bondwoman's Narrative by Gregg Hecimovich: A Book Review

  The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts: The True Story of the Bondwoman’s Narrative Author: Gregg Hecimovich Genre: History, Nonfiction, Biography  Publisher: Ecco Release Date: 2023 Pages: 430 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: A groundbreaking study of the first Black female novelist and her life as an enslaved woman, from the biographer who solved the mystery of her identity, with a foreword by Henry Louis Gates Jr.       In 1857, a woman escaped enslavement on a North Carolina plantation and fled to a farm in New York. In hiding, she worked on a manuscript that would make her famous long after her death. The novel, The Bondwoman’s Narrative, was first published in 2002 to great acclaim, but the author’s identity remained unknown. Over a decade later, Professor Gregg Hecimovich unraveled the mystery of the author’s name and, in The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts, hefinally tells her story.   ...

The King's Jewel by Elizabeth Chadwick: A Book Review

The King’s Jewel Author: Elizabeth Chadwick Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance Publisher: Sphere Release Date: 2023 Pages: 456 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Wales, 1093.      The warm, comfortable family life of young Nesta, daughter of Prince Rhys of Deheubarth, is destroyed when her father is killed and she is taken hostage. Her honour is further tarnished when she is taken as an unwilling concubine by King William's ruthless younger brother Henry, who later ascends the throne under suspicious circumstances.      But it is Nesta's marriage that will really change the course of her life. Gerald FitzWalter, an ambitious young knight, is rewarded for his unwavering loyalty to his new King with Nesta's hand. He is delighted, having always admired her from afar, but Nesta's only comfort is her return to her beloved Wales. There, she cannot help but be tempted by the handsome, charismatic and danger...

Nell: Marshal of Bodie (The Nell Doherty Mysteries #1) by John Edward Mullen: A Book Review

Nell: Marshal of Bodie (The Nell Doherty Mysteries #1) Author: John Edward Mullen Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery & Suspense, Western  Publisher: Murders in Time Press Release Date: 2022 Pages: 300 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: In the winter of 1892, the once-vibrant gold-mining town of Bodie, California is in serious decline.        Nell Doherty, an 18-year-old young woman with a wooden leg, dreams of leaving and becoming a Pinkerton detective.       When a tragic shooting presents her with an opportunity to prove she has the skills needed to work for the Pinkertons, Bodie’s justice of the peace deputizes Nell — over the loud objections of the majority of the town’s residents.      Can she prove them all wrong?       Nell digs in and investigates the shooting, with the help of Rags, her half-Irish, half-Chinese be...