Messenger of Truth
From AwardAnnals
| Book: | Messenger of Truth: A Maisie Dobbs Novel |
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| Author: | Jacqueline Winspear |
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| Publisher: | Henry Holt and Co. |
London, 1931. The night before an exhibition of his artwork opens at a famed Mayfair gallery, the controversial artist Nick Bassington-Hope falls to his death. The police rule it an accident, but Nick’s twin sister, Georgina, a wartime journalist and a infamous figure in her own right, isn’t convinced.
When the authorities refuse to consider her theory that Nick was murdered, Georgina seeks out a fellow graduate from Girton College, Maisie Dobbs, psychologist and investigator, for help. Nick was a veteran of World War I, and before long the case leads Maisie to the desolate beaches of Dungeness in Kent, and into the sinister underbelly of the city’s art world.
In Messenger of Truth, Maisie once again uncovers the perilous legacy of the Great War in a society struggling to recollect itself. But to solve the mystery of Nick’s death, Maisie will have to keep her head as the forces behind the artist’s fall come out of the shadows to silence her.
Following on the bestselling Pardonable Lies, Jacqueline Winspear delivers another vivid, thrilling, and utterly unique episode in the life of Maisie Dobbs.
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Reviews
Barnes and Noble
Set in 1931 London, Jacqueline Winspear’s fourth mystery featuring Maisie Dobbs (Pardonable Lies et al.) finds the intrepid psychologist and investigator up against her most baffling case yet—the allegedly accidental death of a controversial artist.
Just hours before celebrated British painter Nick Bassington-Hope is scheduled to open a much-anticipated exhibit of his latest work at the renowned Mayfair gallery, he’s found dead. The local police rule the death accidental, as all the evidence points to a fall from a scaffold. But Bassington-Hope’s twin sister, Georgina, isn’t so sure—in fact, she’s certain that someone killed her brother. After being recommended by a Scotland Yard inspector, Dobbs is hired to get to the bottom of the artist’s untimely death. But even as her personal life suffers tragedy after tragedy—her longtime potential beau abruptly ends their “courtship,” and her trusted assistant’s young child dies of diphtheria—Dobbs perseveres on and eventually uncovers disturbing secrets surrounding the brilliantly talented artist who could “touch the truth,” secrets that some people would kill to keep from being revealed
Fans who enjoy meticulously researched historical mystery sagas like Sandra Scoppettone’s Faye Quick novels (set in 1943 New York City) and Philip Kerr’s Berlin Noir trilogy (taking place in 1937 Berlin) will absolutely devour Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs novels, which immerse readers in a richly described post-WWI England struggling with widespread unemployment, poverty, and political upheaval. Featuring an intuitive, compassionate, and downright endearing protagonist, these historical whodunits are simply irresistible. Paul Goat Allen
