The Mapping of Love and Death LP: A Maisie Dobbs Novel
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Product Description
In the latest mystery in the New York Times bestselling series, Maisie Dobbs must unravel a case of wartime like and death—an investigation that leads her to a long-hidden affair between a young cartographer and a mysterious nurse.
August 1914. Michael Clifton is mapping the land he has just bought in California’s gorgeous Santa Ynez Valley, certain that oil lies beneath its surface. But as the young cartographer prepares to return home to Boston, war is confirmed in Europe. Michael—the youngest son of an expatriate Englishman—puts duty first and sails for his father’s native country to serve in the British army. Three years later, he is listed among persons missing in action.
April 1932. London psychologist and investigator Maisie Dobbs is retained by Michael’s parents, who have recently learned that their son’s remains have been unearthed in France. They want Maisie to find the unnamed nurse whose like letters were among Michael’s personal effects—a quest that takes Maisie back to her own bittersweet wartime like. Her inquiries, and the stunning discovery that Michael Clifton was murdered in his drain, unleash a web of intrigue and violence that threatens to engulf the soldier’s family tree and even Maisie herself. Over the course of her investigation, Maisie must cope with the approaching loss of her mentor, Maurice Blanche, and her growing awareness that she is once again falling in like.
Following the critically acclaimed bestseller Among the Mad, The Mapping of Like and Death delivers the most gripping and satisfying chapter yet in the life of Maisie Dobbs.
Amazon.com Review
Alexander McCall Smith Talks with Jacqueline Winspear
Alexander McCall Smith: Characters, once made, have a way of staying on. Maisie is an attractive character–when did she say to you: “I want a series?”
Jacqueline Winspear: As I was writing the first novel in the series, Maisie Dobbs, I realized that scenes and thoughts were coming to me that were not part of the book. I ongoing keeping notes on persons additional scenes, passages of dialogue and so on, and when I had finished Maisie Dobbs, I went through persons notes and realized I had rough plans for another five or six books. Indeed, as I was writing the second book in the series, Birds of a Spine, I really had to push any thoughts of the proposed third novel from my mind, so strong were the images for Pardonable Lies that kept popping into my mind’s eye. I had to be very disciplined not to be distracted by persons images–it was rather like being nagged by one’s own characters.
Smith: Maisie Dobbs is firmly placed in the past. Would you be comfortable writing about contemporary Britain?
Winspear: That’s a very excellent question, and indeed, I have a more contemporary novel on the proverbial “back-burner.” But, although I visit my parents in Sussex many several times each year, for me there is a certain detachment from everyday life in the UK. I am not as familiar with various aspects of life there, so it might be hard to get that ring of authenticity. On the additional hand, one could argue that the lack of transparency could act in my favor, because I now take notice of so many things that might have passed me by. I judge one of the reasons I am so comfortable writing about the past is that when I was a child we lived in a tiny hamlet with very few children, so it was a world of adults, many of them elderly, and all of them ready to tell a tale of their own youth.
I have permanently been drawn to the past through family tree history, a curiosity that has its roots in my grandfather’s experience in the Fantastic War–he was wounded and shell-shocked at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Even as a very young child I understood the extent of his suffering and struggled to fathom how something so terrible could take place to a beloved forerunner. And I am sure my interest in the women of that generation–the first generation of women to go to war in modern times–is rooted in memories of the ladies of a certain age who lived in our neighborhood as I was growing up. They were predictable of that generation, very independent women who had remained single due to circumstance, for the men they might have married had been lost to war.
So, to the question of writing about contemporary Britain–I reflect I’ll find out more about my level of comfort with modern times when I pull that contemporary novel off the back burner. In the meantime, there’s so much that I want to explore from the past, though when I immerse myself in the preparatory research for my books, I am permanently reminded of the ancient maxim: “history repeats itself.”
Smith: You and I both ongoing as novelists rather later than is perhaps usual. Is that a excellent thing or a terrible thing?
Winspear: When I was sixteen I rather precociously announced that I would write my first novel by the time I was thirty–it seemed such a formidable age of adulthood, I suppose. Of course, thirty came and went with no novel to show for it, and in the meantime I was apt more and more interested in nonfiction writing. I was in my late thirties by the time I made a real commitment to getting my work published, and I concentrated more on essays, articles and additional creative nonfiction. I judge my writing at that time represented something of an apprenticeship in that I was really effective at the craft of writing, of building my understanding of framing a scene, of bringing the reader along with metaphor, and with developing scenes that were something like the literary equivalent of a zoom lens on the camera; I was trying to find out what worked in terms of drawing the reader in and placing them at the center of the action. Though I had no plans to write a novel until the thought for Maisie Dobbs really came to me, upon reflection it seems as if I had been preparing for the task with my literary cross-training in the same way that an athlete prepares for the huge event.
I judge the journey to apt a writer is one that is very personal to the individual and is neither excellent or terrible–it’s just what it is. There are times when I reflect it would have been so much more fun to have ongoing writing fiction earlier, but had that happened, the stars might not have aligned to bring the character of Maisie Dobbs into my life. And I reflect that in embarking upon being novelists in our middle years, we’ve probably both brought something to our work that we might not have been able to offer in younger days, either due to additional responsibilities, or simply who we were at the time (though having said that, I am sure your readers wish the wonderful Precious Ramotswe had been made many years before you chose to write The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency!)
Smith: Have you written anything about Maisie that you want to unwrite?
Winspear: No, not at all, although I should add that I have never gone back and re-read any of my books, a prospect I find rather daunting. Of course, I dip back into the books to check a point here and there, but I have never read the books from beginning to end–if I had done so, I might have a whole list of things that cause me to quiver.
Smith: Do you reflect that transplanting oneself–in your case from the UK to California–helps one as a writer?
Winspear: Another very excellent question! Many years ago, during a visit to New York, I went along to an exhibit at the main branch of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue–it was called “Writers in Exile.” The focus was on writers who lived in a place additional than the land of their birth, “by will, or by compunction.” I spent ages going around the exhibit taking copious notes, and remember it left me with a real sense of the power of being transplanted, whether by one’s own choice, or by circumstance; and I have to say, I regularly reflect of it when people question me if being here in California contributes to my work as a writer–and it does. To give an example, I can immerse myself in the time and place about which I write–Britain from the Fantastic War on up to the 1930s–and I am not distracted by British life as it is today. Yes, of course, there is contemporary life here in California, but it is different (the way people speak, interact, shop, travel, work, etc.) so I can draw a firm line between life here and the world about which I write. I should confess that one of my recent challenges came when I ongoing writing The Mapping of Like and Death. The opening is set in California in 1914, so I had to ensure that my knowledge of that region today did not seep into the tale. To that end I immersed myself in ancient books about the region, and managed to procure some vintage photographs to pin on the wall so that the past was very much with me as I wrote.
When I write, the time and place of my imagination becomes very distilled, very sharp in my mind’s eye. In terms of the series featuring Maisie Dobbs, it has certainly helped to be living here; when I sit down at my desk to write, I step from my world into her world, and I’m aware of nothing else until I stop writing. And when I drag myself back from a morning spent in the smog-enveloped London of the 1930s, it’s not terrible to be able to walk outside into the garden and warm my bones in the California sun for a while.
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What a disappointment! As a character, Maisie Dobbs is just unadorned dull. It is 1932, and Maisie owns her own sleuthing business (with one male employee), yet she constantly thinks about what the various men in her life have told her to do, whenever she considers what she should investigate next. As she herself clarifies, to a man who is above her in social rank but who wants to “walk out” with her: “I do care what people reflect, what they say, when it’s about me.” Happily, a series of events at the end of the book unexpectedly resolve Maisie’s conflicts about her social status. Reasonably possibly, this will be the final book in the series, because Maisie’s Cinderella-like transformation at the end seems incompatible with her nonstop operation of an investigations agency.
The plot is also dull. An idealistic young man, a U.S. citizen trained as a cartographer, is killed in 1916 while serving with the British armed forces during World War I. When his body is unearthed some 16 years later, along with some letters and a diary, his parents hire Maisie to locate the woman he fell in like with while overseas. But, a medical post-mortem suggests that the young man was murdered–and this transforms Maisie’s missing-person investigation into a murder investigation. The young man’s tale unfolds slowly over the course of the book through quoted passages from his letters and diary, as Maisie separates and reads the fused pages of his long-buried documents.
Maisie has truly incredible contacts with Scotland Yard, highly placed medical experts, and the local gentry, and each person that she interviews gives her exactly what she needs in order to continue with the next stage of her investigation. Because Maisie drives an MG to many of her interviews, the narrative is padded with tedious descriptions of the landmarks located along the highways that Maisie travels. The narrative also includes clumsily inserted background explanations regarding (1) the role of cartographers in WWI, (2) the various tools used by cartographers, and (3) the philosophical views of Maisie’s mentors, who include a Yoga master and several physicians. Predictably, in accordance with the Patricia Cornwell model, Maisie herself is attacked and injured during the course of her investigation, because of her involvement.
Although the writing is polished, it is hard for me to judge that this leader has produced two New York Times bestsellers. At many points, I questioned myself whether this book would be best classified as a romance or as young adult fiction, rather than as a mystery. The early chapters, especially, are confusing to a reader new to the series, because of the multitude of marginally-clarified characters from earlier books (e.g., Billy, Simon, Maurice, Lord Julian, James). Perhaps I just arrived too late to the Maisie Dobbs series, but this is the first, and last, Maisie Dobbs book that I will ever read.
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
I have read nearly all of the Maisie Dobbs novels. This novel is one of the better ones. It takes place in 1914 and 1932, and Winspear does a nice job of building the tale compelling. There aren’t a lot of surprises, and it might be more intricate than it needs to be, but it’s reasonably readable.
I have three problems with Winspear and the Dobbs novels. First, Winspear has a trend to over-write. It’s as though she’s getting paid by the word. I marvel, in fact, if her publisher hasn’t place in the contract that each novel has to have a set amount of words. She does go on.
Second, Winspear has a trend to be maudlin. I despise maudlin. Several passages are overly sentimental. It’s a terrible habit, and one I hope she gives up in future books.
Finally, the largest problem I have with these novels is the main character. Maisie is flat and humorless. I suspect she’s based on Winspear, at least in some ways, and that usually results in a weak character. Hopefully in future novels Maisie will become more complex and appealing.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
The book is a fascinating picture of England in 1932, and the impact that WW1 had on England. I
recommend it highly.
This novel, like the others in the series, is intriguing, moving, and past. Maisie Dobbs is an inquiry agent and receives a letter from a friend telling her that he had suggested that an American couple hire her. They are trying to find a woman their son had been corresponding with during WW1. It’s now 1932, and his body and personal effects, including her letters, had just been establish by a farmer, who was plowing.
She and her assistant, Billy Beale, start effective on the case, only to learn that Michael Clifton, the son, had been murdered, not killed in the attack. Michael, a cartographer,although American, had gone to England to enlist. As his father was English, and cartographers were direly needed, he was accepted.
The tale covers betrayals during the war and betrayals going on now. You meet people who’d served with Michael but denied knowing him.
Michael had bought a large tract of land around Santa Barbara, CA, before he enlisted, and there is a lot of arguing about that – who gets it and where is the red tape?
The tale ends satisfactorily. Maisie does find the murderer and the elusive woman.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
I have been following this series since the first, Maisie Dobbs, which utterly charmed me.
Each book in the series has followed the career of this very appealing character and each has filled out the tale to increased reader interest in the future of Maisie.
This tale not only does not disappoint, it surpasses expectations, taking the tale further and into new territory. The hints of an even more appealing and challenging future for Maisie Dobbs makes a desire to see the next tale as soon as possible.
I recommend this tale to anyone who likes a odd mystery, likes romance, likes tales dealing with the early part of the twentieth century and with WWI. It should be especially appealing to women who like tales with a strong female protagonist who stands on her own feet and takes responsibility for her own actions.
Did I like the book? Yes, emphatically. I loved it. And this is one that will be read again.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
Dear Readers:
A new novel starring the beloved investigator Maisie Dobbs has arrived. And, I can tell you, if you haven’t read her incredible sleuth tales in the past, than you should start as soon as possible.
In this wonderful mystery, we are first introduced to Michael Clifton. Michael is a fantastic young man whose special skill is the in-depth mapping of regions across the globe. He’s the youngest son of a man who stepped into America from a boat docked on Ellis Island. He’d come from a very wealthy family tree in Britain who owned a large corporation called Clifton Shoes. But when he was young, he chose to ditch it all and come to America for a better life. And a better life he establish, as well as a “Mrs.” He loved, from Boston. Michael is a lot like his adventurous father; he wants nothing more than to shy away from the family tree money and embark on his own life to make his own millions. This very smart cartographer finds the perfect land in 1914 – which is where our tale starts. Michael can sense the black gold that’s buried bottom the incredible piece of property and immediately buys it. When the headline of the newspaper meets his eyes, Michael wants to go home and fight for his ancient country. So, locking up his new treasures, Michael becomes a cartographer for the military in WWI.
Quick forwards to England. It’s April, 1932, and Maisie Dobbs has visitors to her door from the United States. The Clifton’s bring to the investigator a pile of letters from a like interest of their sons, signed only as “The English Nurse.” Not only that, Mr. Clifton gives Maisie a postmortem report of a body establish in an ancient cave – the body of his beloved Michael who was not only the victim of war shelling, but was also the victim of cold-blooded murder.
With the help of Billy, Maisie’s assistant, she must start to walk a trail that will lead her through a romance that was kept hidden from prying eyes for a long time; illegitimate heirs of a family tree chance; legitimate, mad, heirs of a family tree chance; and, a mysterious “Lady” who was in charge of her own nursing squad in WWI.
Not only is the mystery extremely well-written and near impossible to guess until the finale, the side “lines” that are introduced make the tale even more rich in content and enjoyment. James Compton is a man who has permanently been seen by Maisie as a rich flyboy with nothing of substance to his name…until she really sits down and listens to what he has to say. Her assistant’s wife Doreen, who has been through one heck of a struggle, has come home to start her life again with her spouse, and Maisie aches to be there for the family tree. And, finally, Maurice – Maisie’s mentor and friend for all these years – has taken a turn for the worse and is battling an illness that may take him out of her world.
These extra characters are colorful and extremely appealing, and so is the past British backdrop that’s trying to forget about one war, while hearing the muffled footsteps of yet another legion of soldiers readying themselves for WWII.
I, for one, can’t wait for the next time I get to “meet up” with Maisie Dobbs.
Until Next Time,
Amy Lignor, [...] Reviewer
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5