So long, Maisie | The Comfort of Ghosts | Jacqueline Winspear

I guess it had to end. Jacqueline Winspear has published her last Maisie Dobbs novel, The Comfort of Ghosts. A friend told me about this series some years ago and I have read all 17 of them. Or is it 18? Anyway..I liked them all--Nancy Drew for grownups. If you haven't read any of these, you really should read them in order. You'll follow Maisie's life and career as a psychologist/investigator, from when she returns from doing her bit during the Great War until the end of WWII, and you'll get her whole backstory about how this all came to be.

Forewarned, the writing is just OK, but clearly not the best I've ever read. Winspear is from Kent, England, so she undoubtedly has a good feel for how people spoke during the period, but it can come off a bit stiff at times. She also recaps and summarizes some points from earlier stories, I suppose for the people who haven't read them in order, which can feel a bit redundant. All that said, reading these stories is like cuddling up in a wool blanket, next to a fire, with a cup of tea. Everything comes out in the end, and even if people are damaged Maisie sets things up for them so they're loved and cared for. If only we all had a Maisie, right? So in this "final accounting," I'd say Maisie made the world a better place. And if you want to know what "final accounting" means, you'll have to read the books. It's not as ominous as it sounds!