by Jacqueline Winspear
Practically Perfect in Every Way. No--remove the adjective--
Perfect in Every Way.
Maisie Dobbs is a detective, by trade, but she's also a bit of witch doctor a psychologist a counselor and just all-around nice person. I want her on my case when my body ends up dead in the library. But there's a funny thing about this book, the fifth in the series--there aren't any dead bodies. Or at least, none that need detecting--they died in a chance Zeppelin raid on the English countryside way back during the war. (First world war, of course--the book is set in the 1930's.)
Instead Maisie undertakes to make sure an investor's planned purchase of a property in the hop-picking area of where-ever-it-is-in-England (sorry, not an Anglophile) will be able to go ahead without problems. There had been reports of some mysterious fires in the area and some incidents of criminal mischief, and she gets to job to poke around.
And she's soon in the thick of it. It's superb writing, superb characterization, and just plain whole lot of fun.
If you're fortunate enough to get the audiobook, that's really good too. But not necessary. I ended up doing a half-and-half on it--half on paper and half audio. I loved them both but I have to admit, I liked the audio better because it forced me to slow down and not race through the story in one big gulp.
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