I began reading the Maisie Dobbs series about 4 years ago. When I began, all I knew was that it was about a young woman detective in the 20's and 30's. With a name like Maisie, I had an impression before reading them, that it was going to be kind of a light, historical Nancy Drew-ish series.
Wow, was I in for a surprise. The Maisie Dobbs books are exquisite. They are mysteries, but they have many other layers that help them rise above that genre into the plain of simply great novels.
Maisie is not a fluffy blonde sleuth as I might have thought originally, but a brilliant psychologist and detective, a former nurse, and a woman who has suffered greatly in her life and risen above adversity in a way that is rare in her time period.
She is the daughter of "below stairs" types in England, a father who is a horse groom and a mother who was a maid. But the wealthy Lady that employed her parents saw a spark in the girl and sent her to a good school after Maisie's mother died. This lead Maisie to make friends in the upper echelons of society, as well as become more refined than her station might have allowed without the patronage of the wealthy friend.
After school, WWI broke out and Maisie served as a nurse in France. The horrors of war came too close at one point, nearly killing Maisie and her fiance, a doctor in the field hospital. Her fiance was left a shell of a man, unable to speak or take care of himself. He eventually passed away in a sanitarium in one of the volumes of the series.
So Maisie, trained by a Sherlock Holmes-like figure, a psychological detective Maurice Blanche. She worked as his apprentice and then began her own business when he retired.
Now that I've given a long background on this character, I am now brought to this newest installment in the series, Among the Mad. Maisie is called in on an important case, a man has threatened the government of England if money and assistance is not given to the WWI vets who are injured in mind and body and cannot find work. Working with Scotland Yard, Maisie follows all manner of leads to track down the madman who wants to unleash nerve gas on London if his demands are not met.
In addition to the general mystery story of finding the bad guy before it is too late, this book explores several interesting aspects of the era in London. Taking place in 1932 and into the New Year holiday of 1933, the Depression and issue of war vets with 'shell shock' are deeply examined. Maisie's psychology and nursing backgrounds lead her to several mental hospitals where former colleagues give her information about the mental injuries suffered by the WWI vets and how the horrors of the war affected them and continue to cause them problems over a decade later.
WWI is often the less written about war, because WWII had a much larger scope, a longer US involvement, and more tragic stories to tell. But WWI caused WWII and the war time trench conditions were very terrifying and horrid for the men who fought there for four long years. In the US, our men were only there about one year, and so we didn't have as many vets, or as many shell shocked victims as in England. The issues of WWI vets are a prevalent theme in the Dobbs series and I find it fascinating that it doesn't really matter what war it is, the horror of it is overall the same no matter what time period, or country of origin for the soldier.
There is also a plot thread in this book about Billy Beale, Maisie's loyal assistant. In a previous book, Billy's toddler daughter died of a childhood disease and in this book, Billy's wife, Doreen, still cannot cope with her grief. She finally becomes a danger to herself and must be put in an asylum. The first place she is sent is the stuff of horror stories, with medieval "treatments" that do more harm than good. Maisie is able to help Doreen get into a more modern facility, where talk therapy and more conventional methods are employed. But this plot adds a richness to the historical setting, showing how the 1930s were very much a time of transition in the field of mental health.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book as I always enjoy a Dobbs story, and I look forward to the next installment, hopefully soon!
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