In this latest entry in Jacqueline Winspear’s acclaimed, bestselling mystery series—“less whodunits than why-dunits, more P.D. James than Agatha Christie” (USA Today)—Maisie Dobbs takes on her most personal case yet, a twisting investigation into the brutal killing of a street peddler that will take her from the working-class neighborhoods of her childhood into London’s highest circles of power. Perfect for fans of A Lesson in Secrets, The Mapping of Love and Death, or other Maisie Dobbs mysteries—and an ideal place for new readers to enter the series—Elegy for Eddie is an incomparable work of intrigue and ingenuity, full of intimate descriptions and beautifully painted scenes from between the World Wars, from one of the most highly acclaimed masters of mystery, Jacqueline Winspear.
Elegy for Eddie: A Maisie Dobbs Novel
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Long before the Downton Abbey craze, Jacqueline Winspear was writing remarkable mysteries about life in England circa WWI.” (New York Journal of Books )
“Compelling.” (People (3 ½ out of 4 stars) )
“A detective series to savor.” (Johanna McGeary, Time )
“A series that seems to get better with every entry.” (Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal )
“When people ask me to recommend an author, one name consistently comes to mind: Jacqueline Winspear...Winspear chronicles the uncharted, sometimes rocky path chosen by her protagonist and delivers results that are educational, unique, and wonderful.” (Deirdre Donahue, USA Today )
“For as long as each novel lasts, we live in Maisie’s suspenseful, intelligent world.” (Evelyn Theiss, Cleveland Plain Dealer )
“[Catches] the sorrow of a lost generation in the character of one exceptional woman.” (Chicago Tribune )
“Engages the mind and enriches the heart.” (Jay Strafford, Richmond Times-Dispatch )
“A heroine to cherish.” (Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review )
“Terrific....Maisie is one of the great fictional heroines, equal parts haunted and haunting.” (Parade )
“For readers yearning for the calm and insightful intelligence of a main character like P.D. James’s Cordelia Gray, Maisie Dobbs is spot on.” (Hallie Ephron, Boston Globe )
“Maisie Dobbs is a revelation.” (Alexander McCall Smith )
“Excellent….The involved plot is as good as any in the series, and the resolution is intelligently complex.” (Publishers Weekly )
“Like any typical PI, Maisie is preternaturally acute and given to noticing tiny details, but it’s her compassion that allows her to illuminate some of the most pressing and staggeringly painful issues of her day, delivering unexpected answers and sense of peace to her clients-and her readers.” (Nathalie Gorman, O, the Oprah Magazine )
“Reading Jacqueline Winspear’s Elegy for Eddie, the solid-gold ninth installment in a wonderful mystery series that shows no signs of flagging, you can’t help thinking that her nurse-turned psychologist-turned sleuth would make an ideal PBS heroine.” (Robert Bianco, USA Today )
“A work of great humanity and a stellar entry in a superb series.” (Jay Strafford, Richmond Times-Dispatch )
“Compelling.” (People (3 ½ out of 4 stars) )
“A detective series to savor.” (Johanna McGeary, Time )
“A series that seems to get better with every entry.” (Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal )
“When people ask me to recommend an author, one name consistently comes to mind: Jacqueline Winspear...Winspear chronicles the uncharted, sometimes rocky path chosen by her protagonist and delivers results that are educational, unique, and wonderful.” (Deirdre Donahue, USA Today )
“For as long as each novel lasts, we live in Maisie’s suspenseful, intelligent world.” (Evelyn Theiss, Cleveland Plain Dealer )
“[Catches] the sorrow of a lost generation in the character of one exceptional woman.” (Chicago Tribune )
“Engages the mind and enriches the heart.” (Jay Strafford, Richmond Times-Dispatch )
“A heroine to cherish.” (Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review )
“Terrific....Maisie is one of the great fictional heroines, equal parts haunted and haunting.” (Parade )
“For readers yearning for the calm and insightful intelligence of a main character like P.D. James’s Cordelia Gray, Maisie Dobbs is spot on.” (Hallie Ephron, Boston Globe )
“Maisie Dobbs is a revelation.” (Alexander McCall Smith )
“Excellent….The involved plot is as good as any in the series, and the resolution is intelligently complex.” (Publishers Weekly )
“Like any typical PI, Maisie is preternaturally acute and given to noticing tiny details, but it’s her compassion that allows her to illuminate some of the most pressing and staggeringly painful issues of her day, delivering unexpected answers and sense of peace to her clients-and her readers.” (Nathalie Gorman, O, the Oprah Magazine )
“Reading Jacqueline Winspear’s Elegy for Eddie, the solid-gold ninth installment in a wonderful mystery series that shows no signs of flagging, you can’t help thinking that her nurse-turned psychologist-turned sleuth would make an ideal PBS heroine.” (Robert Bianco, USA Today )
“A work of great humanity and a stellar entry in a superb series.” (Jay Strafford, Richmond Times-Dispatch )
From the Back Cover
Maisie Dobbs—psychologist, investigator, and "one of the great fictional heroines, equal parts haunted and haunting" (Parade)—returns in a chilling adventure, the latest chapter in Jacqueline Winspear's bestselling series.
Early April 1933. To the costermongers of Covent Garden—sellers of fruit and vegetables on the streets of London—Eddie Pettit was a gentle soul with a near-magical gift for working with horses. When Eddie is killed in a violent accident, the grieving costers are deeply skeptical about the cause of his death. Who would want to kill Eddie—and why?
Maisie Dobbs' father, Frankie, had been a costermonger, so she had known the men since childhood. She remembers Eddie fondly and is determined to offer her help. But it soon becomes clear that powerful political and financial forces are equally determined to prevent her from learning the truth behind Eddie's death. Plunging into the investigation, Maisie begins her search for answers on the working-class streets of Lambeth where Eddie had lived and where she had grown up. The inquiry quickly leads her to a callous press baron; a has-been politician named Winston Churchill, lingering in the hinterlands of power; and, most surprisingly, to Douglas Partridge, the husband of her dearest friend, Priscilla. As Maisie uncovers lies and manipulation on a national scale, she must decide whether to risk it all to see justice done.
The story of a London affected by the march to another war years before the first shot is fired and of an innocent victim caught in the crossfire, Elegy for Eddie is Jacqueline Winspear's most poignant and powerful novel yet.
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More About the Author
Jacqueline Winspear is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Among the Mad and An Incomplete Revenge, as well as four other Maisie Dobbs novels. She has won numerous awards for her work, including the Agatha, Alex, and Macavity awards for the first book in the series, Maisie Dobbs. Originally from the United Kingdom, she now lives in California.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
213 of 219 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
In which Maisie goes back to Lambeth and reconnects with her roots
January 28, 2012
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
In several years of browsing these pages, I've discovered that when Amazon reviewer/English professor Julia M. Walker recommends something in the mystery genre, it's worth looking into. Which is how I became belatedly acquainted some six or seven months ago with Maisie Dobbs, the Lambeth costermonger's daughter. Over the course of the eight novels that precede this one, Maisie has gone from teenage housemaid, to student at Cambridge, to World War I battlefield nurse, to owner of her own London practice as a psychologist and investigator and--most recently--heir to her mentor's fortune and lover of an heir to another fortune. Lately, I've noticed, Ms. Walker has been worrying that as Maisie's success grows, she's seemed to be losing touch with her humble beginnings. Looks like author Winspear's been on the same wavelength.
In book #9, set in 1933, a contingent of her father's old pals come to Maisie seeking help finding the truth behind the violent "accident" that killed their slow-but-gentle mutual friend Eddie. Maisie and her assistant Billy Beale will barely have begun looking into the matter when two others connected to Eddie - a bully who'd taunted him since childhood and a journalist--also turn up dead, and Billy will be found beaten to within an inch of his life on a sidewalk near a pub where he'd been chatting up some of Eddie's co-workers.
Meanwhile, an increasingly restless Maisie will be wrestling mightily with trying to find a comfortable fit for herself within the rags-to-riches life she's so recently and unexpectedly been dealt. And a guy named Churchill, who's been turning up at social events on James and Maisie's calendar, is getting more and more worried about what that guy named Hitler is up to.... Read more ›
In book #9, set in 1933, a contingent of her father's old pals come to Maisie seeking help finding the truth behind the violent "accident" that killed their slow-but-gentle mutual friend Eddie. Maisie and her assistant Billy Beale will barely have begun looking into the matter when two others connected to Eddie - a bully who'd taunted him since childhood and a journalist--also turn up dead, and Billy will be found beaten to within an inch of his life on a sidewalk near a pub where he'd been chatting up some of Eddie's co-workers.
Meanwhile, an increasingly restless Maisie will be wrestling mightily with trying to find a comfortable fit for herself within the rags-to-riches life she's so recently and unexpectedly been dealt. And a guy named Churchill, who's been turning up at social events on James and Maisie's calendar, is getting more and more worried about what that guy named Hitler is up to.... Read more ›
44 of 47 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you read Maisie you'll enjoy this one, if you don't and like historical fiction try this series
February 6, 2012
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
In this ninth novel of the series we find Maisie working to solve the mystery of the death of a boy from her childhood community, Eddie Pettit. Maisie is petitioned by friends of her father who are costermongers (great word!) working the Covet Garden area in London to look into the circumstances around his death. The investigation takes her from the lowest to the highest classes in British society and expands beyond the scope of the death of a simple working class boy to matters that deal with national security.
The Maisie Dobbs books are really not mysteries in the true who dunnit sense. They are more about the life and customs of Londoners in the time between the World Wars. For those who haven't read any of this series Maisie is a rags to riches character. She was born in Lambeth the daughter of a costermonger, sent into service as a house maid, mentored by the lord and lady of the house and allowed an education. She was a nurse in WWI and like so many women lost her fiancée in the war. She studies with a famous psychological detective and upon his death inherits his fortune. She struggles with her place in society, never totally comfortable with those she grew up with nor totally at ease with the upper classes she now socializes with. She has an active love life but can never seem to settle for the somewhat restricted life of a married woman in the 1930s.
I think I like these books so well for their historical setting. The time period between the wars saw major changes in British society. The always rigid class system was breaking down, women were joining the workforce, and the transition from horses to automobiles was taking place.... Read more ›
The Maisie Dobbs books are really not mysteries in the true who dunnit sense. They are more about the life and customs of Londoners in the time between the World Wars. For those who haven't read any of this series Maisie is a rags to riches character. She was born in Lambeth the daughter of a costermonger, sent into service as a house maid, mentored by the lord and lady of the house and allowed an education. She was a nurse in WWI and like so many women lost her fiancée in the war. She studies with a famous psychological detective and upon his death inherits his fortune. She struggles with her place in society, never totally comfortable with those she grew up with nor totally at ease with the upper classes she now socializes with. She has an active love life but can never seem to settle for the somewhat restricted life of a married woman in the 1930s.
I think I like these books so well for their historical setting. The time period between the wars saw major changes in British society. The always rigid class system was breaking down, women were joining the workforce, and the transition from horses to automobiles was taking place.... Read more ›
41 of 45 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Everyone in the costermonger community knows Eddie Pettit, a slightly "slow" man (today we would say he was autistic) who was born in a stable and has an uncanny way with horses. So when Eddie dies under unexpected circumstances at a paper-mill, the costermongers hire Maisie Dobbs, whose father was once one of their number, to look into Eddie's death. They fear the killer was a young man who "had it in" for Eddie and want him brought to justice.
Once again Winspear is allowing Maisie to progress with the times. Her previous World War I-related investigations have given way to those which touch upon the tenuous times of the 1930s, with Adolf Hitler coming into power and the fears of perceptive politicians and those alert enough to read the signs of approaching trouble. Innocent Eddie, his last weeks troubled by a new friendship, had gotten himself involved in something much bigger than horses and the costermongers, and Maisie will need all her wits to follow the threads of the mystery.
In addition, she is still reluctant to commit to her relationship to James Compton, and, when one of her employees is attacked, must come to terms with her tendency to meddle in people's lives for her own comfort. This was a page-turner from the prologue, where we learn of Eddie's origins, and, although the three-page wrap-up of world events in chapter one is a bit awkward in getting us up to speed, the rest progresses at a quick clip, not allowing Maisie's self-doubts to slow down the continuing riddle of Eddie's death. Winspear's chronicles of Maisie continue to please. Once I started reading I could not put it down, except to get a night's sleep.
Once again Winspear is allowing Maisie to progress with the times. Her previous World War I-related investigations have given way to those which touch upon the tenuous times of the 1930s, with Adolf Hitler coming into power and the fears of perceptive politicians and those alert enough to read the signs of approaching trouble. Innocent Eddie, his last weeks troubled by a new friendship, had gotten himself involved in something much bigger than horses and the costermongers, and Maisie will need all her wits to follow the threads of the mystery.
In addition, she is still reluctant to commit to her relationship to James Compton, and, when one of her employees is attacked, must come to terms with her tendency to meddle in people's lives for her own comfort. This was a page-turner from the prologue, where we learn of Eddie's origins, and, although the three-page wrap-up of world events in chapter one is a bit awkward in getting us up to speed, the rest progresses at a quick clip, not allowing Maisie's self-doubts to slow down the continuing riddle of Eddie's death. Winspear's chronicles of Maisie continue to please. Once I started reading I could not put it down, except to get a night's sleep.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Elegy for Eddie
I love the Maisie Dobbs novels!. They are a fun mystery with a glimps at a very interesting time in history. Read more
Published 3 days ago by Carol S. Burke
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best so Far
This series has been a real pleasure to read especially as Ms Winespear seems to be growing as an author. Read more
Published 9 days ago by TerrBear
3.0 out of 5 stars
Ho Hum
This is my first Maisie Dobbs' book so perhaps I am not giving the book a fair shake as other reviewers love this series. A bit ho hum and monotonous. Read more
Published 14 days ago by P. Burton
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sad happenings
Love Masie, some plots sadder more heart wrenching. Had I hard time with this one. But those years were difficult . Read more
Published 18 days ago by Pauline M. Sacchetti
5.0 out of 5 stars
another novel very well done
Jacqueline Winspear always combines a well researched storyline, great story telling and a very unique way of blending in her very high level way of perceiving things. Read more
Published 20 days ago by Ken
4.0 out of 5 stars
Read it~! You will LOVE it.
I felt this novel was quite up to the standard set by Winspear in earlier ones. Her characters are engaging and development of the main character, Maisie, continues in unexpected... Read more
Published 22 days ago by Mary K Bucher
4.0 out of 5 stars
as good as expected
I really enjoy the Maisie Dobbs books. I like the main characters and how their relationships evolve and I like reading about England at that time in history. Read more
Published 24 days ago by A. Sweet
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful!
So sad, but so well enveloped the state of the human race, where many injustices occur for some, with the excuse of doing good for others. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Janis V. Kiesel
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another great book in this series.
Massive is a mature woman in a serious relationship with James Compton and is asked to investigate the death of Eddie. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Smalls
5.0 out of 5 stars
Terrific story
Another great book from Jacqueline Winspear -- look forward to more of the same. Maisie is a great character way before her time.
Published 1 month ago by G Nicol
