Book: Among the Mad

Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There something comforting about reading a series of books with the same characters. And it's even better when it's British period drama, it involves mystery, and there's a strong female lead. Among the Mad is Jacqueline Winspear's sixth Masie Dobbs novel, and it was on par with the first five.

The series takes place just after the end of WWI, when a country, it's soldiers, and it's civilians are reeling and recovering from the physical, emotional, and mental damages of war. Maisie is a trained nurse who served in the war, but she now works as a private investigator with unusual methods of investigation. All of Maisie's cases have some connection to the hurt of war and the subsequent attempts at healing and moving on. She also has a plucky, lovable assistant named Billy and a slew of regular characters that pop up in every novel.

In the case of Among the Mad, Masie delves into a world of chemical warfare and the inevitable psychological damages of war. Maisie is temporarily recruited by Scotland Yard to find a once brilliant scientist who has lost his psychological battle and is threatening to release a chemical weapon on the masses of London.

Of course there are paralel's in the case to Maisie's personal life. Maisie did not escape psychological and physical repercussions on her return from war, and this book becomes Winspear's vehicle to push Maisie over the hump of emotional recovery. In fact, I have high hopes that Maisie will finally have a real romance in the next novel. (The funny thing is, Maisie doesn't really need a romance, but I like to read of dreamy men who respect verve and intelligence. I'm looking at you, Mr. Darcy and Gilbert Blithe.)

I can't say that the Masie Dobbs novels are sparkling brilliance, but they certainly provide quick-read entertainment that isn't inane. And despite the potentially heavy topics, the novels aren't generally heavy, even if they are a little heavy on the social messages.

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