Birds of a Feather (Maisie Dobbs #2) by Jacqueline Winspear: A Book Review

Birds of a Feather (Maisie Dobbs #2)
Author: Jacqueline Winspear
Genre: Historical Mystery
Publisher: Soho Crime
Release Date: 2004
Pages: 321
Source: My State Public Library
Synopsis: The second Maisie Dobbs mystery

Jacqueline Winspear’s marvelous debut, Maisie Dobbs, won her fans from around the world and raised her intuitive, intelligent, and resourceful heroine to the ranks of literature’s favorite sleuths. Birds of a Feather, its follow-up, finds psychologist and private investigator Maisie Dobbs on another dangerously intriguing adventure in London “between the wars.” It is the spring of 1930, and Maisie has been hired to find a runaway heiress. But what seems a simple case at the outset soon becomes increasingly complicated when three of the heiress’s old friends are found dead. Is there a connection between the woman’s mysterious disappearance and the murders? Who would want to kill three seemingly respectable young women? As Maisie investigates, she discovers that the answers lie in the unforgettable agony of the Great War.

My Review: Maisie has been hired by a rich man to bring his daughter, Charlotte home. What seems to be a straightforward case seems to take a crooked turn when Charlotte’s friends turn up dead. Could Charlotte be connected to the murders? What is the real reason she ran away? As Maisie digs for the truth, she learns that the real answer lies in the Great War.

Maisie is really a likable heroine. She is flawed and vulnerable, which makes her more appealing to the reader. This novel details her struggles with her wounded fiance. She knows that she must let go of the past and start thinking about the future in order for her to be happy. She also has a rocky relationship with her father. She realizes that she must forgive her father if she wants to continue having a loving relationship with him. Thus, Maisie is a strong and clever woman who must make tough choices for her happiness.

Overall, this is a story about loss, father-daughter relationships, and forgiveness. I really like how the story portrays the consequences of WWI. The mystery was very predictable, but it was interesting because the murderer was a tragic figure. The other characters could have been more developed, and the ending was a bit anti-climatic. Still, I thought that it was a worthy follow-up to Maisie Dobbs, and it reminded me why I love this series so much! Maisie is a compelling heroine and her personal struggles are what makes the Maisie Dobbs series unique. It is not the mystery aspect but the characters that appeal to me. Thus, I look forward to reading Pardonable Lies. Simply because of Maisie, I am determined to finish the fourteenth book in the series. This is a series you do not want to miss out on.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Interview with Meihan Boey

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing author, Meihan Boey. She is the author of The Formidable Miss Cassidy , which is the first novel in the Miss Cassidy trilogy. The first novel is about how a Scottish governess helps her employer's family who is haunted by a malevolent spirit. She has recently released, The Enigmatic Madam Ingram , which is the second novel in the trilogy. In this interview, we discussed not only her latest novel, but also Singaporean mythology. Thank you, Mrs. Boey! What inspired you to write The Formidable Miss Cassidy ? Did you know it would be a trilogy before you started writing or did it form while you were writing it? Yes, I did know I wanted to create a trilogy - I just didn’t know at the start whether or not I would be able to get there! The Formidable Miss Cassidy started life as a COVID project, sent as a short story to a little Canadian indie press. Because I didn’t think a typical Canadian audience was go...

Eleanor of Castile: Queen and Society in Thirteenth Century England by John Carmi Parsons: A Book Review

Eleanor of Castile: Queen and Society in Thirteenth Century England Author: John Carmi Parsons Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Book Release Date: 1998 Pages: 388 Source: Personal Collection Synopsis: Medievalist feminist studies' early concentration on the lives of prominent women has more recently given way to an interest in their less exalted sisters. Historians have seemingly avoided the careers of medieval queens, creatures of romance and legend, women who enjoyed rank and wealth merely as a consequence of birth or marriage. A renewed interest in such women has, however, followed the opening of new avenues to the study of women and power in the Middle Ages. That the lives of these women will reward reconsideration has been amply proven in the works of such historians as Pauline Stafford and Janet Nelson. Eleanor of Castile studies the wife of Edward I of England, a woman eulogized since the sixteenth century as a model of ...

The Enigmatic Madam Ingram (Miss Cassidy #2) by Meihan Boey: A Book Review

The Enigmatic Madam Ingram (Miss Cassidy #2) Author: Meihan Boey Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal Publisher: Harper Perennial Book Release Date: September 8, 2026 Pages: 512 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Miss Cassidy returns to nineteenth-century Singapore to help solve another dazzling supernatural mystery in this follow-up to the award-winning novel that The Guardian called a “classic-in-waiting.” When Letty Ingram arrives in Singapore in 1906, she is an enigma even unto herself. To the residents of the small Scottish village where she lives, she is a wealthy, half-Malay recluse who emerges from her home only for walks with her great beast of a hound. To Letty, she is a woman trying to lift a curse that causes her lose consciousness and wake up in strange places—sometimes, with blood on her hands—and no memory of what occurred. Letty ...

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