23. Leaving Everything Most Loved

By:  Jacqueline Winspeare

Rated:  5 Stars

Audio Book

Winspeare said that this was book was going to change the entire playing field and boy was she ever right.  She changed almost everything over the course of the book.

I have loved every one of these stories even when I got a little annoyed with the character of Maisie for clinging to tightly to her past and not moving on as fast as I thought she ought to.  I am no longer annoyed.  Plus she managed to change everything while leaving all the bare bones of the series firmly in place.  This book just came out and I am already wishing for the next one.

And as for the mystery, I didn't figure it who-done-it until the very end. I absolutely love twisty mysteries and this was one had a grand twist at the end.  This book lets the reader know that regardless of how much we want to see Masie and James wrapped in each others arms Winspeare is a mystery writer and any romance that floats by is strictly secondary and is meant to advance the plot only.

 I grew up watching Perry Mason mystery in the early days of TV and my brother and I competed every week to see which one of us could figure out the Grand Denouement first.  I'll admit I had an advantage over him for a while because whoever casted the shows had a weakness for weak chins and all I had to do was look to see which character had one and I had the killer. 

And I say this in every review I write for the Maisie books but Winspeare is probably better than any other writer of mysteries set in this era.  She does such a good job of setting the atmosphere of time and place that the reader is left as fly on wall as they experience the story in whatever format they have chosen.

And, as a personal note to whoever reads this comment.  I know I am sounding a little gushy but if you have read any of my journal entries in the past you know that I pretty much call them as I see them.  It has gotten me quite a few negative votes on amazon and a few on audible.  But happily I am not running for election to anything so I will continue always to call them as I see them.    

Publisher's Summary

In Leaving Everything Most Loved by New York Times best-selling author Jacqueline Winspear, Maisie Dobbs investigates the murder of Indian immigrants in London.

The year is 1933. Maisie Dobbs is contacted by an Indian gentleman who has come to England in the hopes of finding out who killed his sister two months ago. Scotland Yard failed to make any arrest in the case, and there is reason to believe they failed to conduct a thorough investigation. The case becomes even more challenging when another Indian woman is murdered just hours before a scheduled interview. Meanwhile, unfinished business from a previous case becomes a distraction, as does a new development in Maisie's personal life.

Bringing a crucial chapter in the life and times of Maisie Dobbs to a close, Leaving Everything Most Loved marks a pivotal moment in this outstanding mystery series.