Mannerly Murder Mystery

My niece gave me Birds of a Feather for Christmas. She picked it up off the sale table at Books A Million. She chose it because it had a picture of three women on the front and it reminded her of me and my two sisters. I started reading it to make her happy, then got so involved in it I carried it with me every day this week to the courthouse (I was on jury duty and spent most of the time waiting in the jury room).

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I plan to go back to Books A Million to find the first Maisie Dobbs book written by Jacqueline Winspear.

Birds of a Feather: The Story

The main character in the book is Maisie Dobbs, private detective. She lives in London, England and runs her own private investigation agency, employing one assistant - Billy Beale. The time is in the spring of 1930.

A wealthy citizen, Mr. Waites, employs Maisie to track down his daughter who has disappeared from home. The daughter’s name is Charlotte, she is in her 30’s, and has a history of leaving home - always found and brought back by her father.

Charlotte had come downstairs for breakfast, picked up the newspaper to read, burst out crying and ran back up to her room. She left the house shortly after that and did not return. Two days have gone by and Mr. Waites wants his daughter found and returned.

Maisie begins her investigation by reading the headlines that were in the newspaper that day. The main story on the front page was about a woman who had been murdered in her home. The story must be the one that upset Charlotte, there must be a connection between the murdered woman and Charlotte.

Maisie and her assistant search Charlottes room, find an address book, and begin visiting the friends Charlotte had listed in her book.

The day after Billy Beale had met with one of Charlotte’s friends, that friend also winds up murdered - in the same manner as the woman in the newspaper was murdered.

Maisie also learns that a third friend of Charlottes had recently committed suicide. Maisie travels to the town where she lived and talked with the housemaid. The housemaid revealed that she did not believe at all that her employer had killed herself, she believed that she was murdered.

Inquiries reveal that Charlotte and all three of these women had once attended a private school together, a school for affluent young women. They were all friends. However, this was many years ago. They rarely kept in touch with one another these days.

Maisie believed that if Charlotte was not the killer, then her life was in danger.

The search for Charlotte continues.

In time, Detective Stratton of Scotland Yard contacts Maisie to inform her that they have made an arrest for the murder of the woman in the newspaper. Maisie believes they have arrested the wrong man.

Whodunit?

That was a quick summary of the plot. There are many details that I have left out that are very intriguing. As I was reading along the way, there were several characters introduced that made me think “this could be the killer!” A husband, an old boyfriend, Mr. Waites, and even one of the main characters ….. Billy Beale …..was a possible suspect in my mind.

It made the book fun to read. It kept me turning the pages to see if I was right in my assumption.

Subplots

As in most stories there are subplots in the book: Maisie’s strained relationship with her father; Billy’s cocaine addiction; Maisie’s lessons from her mentor; and of course, Maisie’s inner longing for love.

The subplots were all interesting. Jacqueline just made all these subplots flow together very smoothly and easily showed how they all tied in with the story. There was no jumping around from future to past then back to future again (oh how I hate when they do that). We merely followed the lives of Maisie Dobbs and Billy Beale as the days progressed during their investigation.

Every now and then there would be a paragraph describing the time when Maisie was a nurse during the Great War. But the description was short, to the point, and was helpful in understanding why Maisie did certain things.

Summary

Birds of a Feather has become one of my favorite mystery books. One of the things that I really like about it is that it tells the story without the use of profanity nor does it go into gory details that I do not like picturing in my mind’s eye. Some murder mysteries that I have read I would have to skip paragraphs because of the gruesome details that made me rather sick to read. Birds of a Feather does not do this. It gives just enough of the murder details for me to understand what happened, but it omits the gore. I like that.

Her descriptions in the book are just the right length. Some books go on, and on, and ON describing a scene or a setting. I find myself thinking “All RIGHT All ready!” wishing they would get on with the story. Jacqueline gives enough description that gives me the picture I need, then moves on with her story.

It is a very well written, absorbing book. I plan to purchase her first book, Maisie Dobbs: Private Investigator next time I am at Books A Million.

I highly recommend Birds of a Feather to all the mystery novel fans.

Thank you Sara for buying me this book.


About the Author

Jacqueline Winspear was born and raised in England but now lives in California. The book jacket flap says that her first novel, Maisie Dobbs was published in 2003 and was nominated for the Agatha Award for Best First Novel. Her third book, Pardonable Lies will be published later in 2005.

Ms. Winspear’s first two books have become so popular that a production company in the UK has purchased the rights to develop a Maisie Dobbs television series. I hope it gets shown in the States too.

If you live in or near Fort Lauderdale, be on the lookout for Ms. Winspear at the 2005 Fort Lauderdale Literary Feast. She will be there signing her books.






Thank yall for reading.

Patricia