We haven't discussed this series on its own, but it has been mentioned under good mystery authors and good historical mysteries. I have really enjoyed the series as it has unfolded, and look forward to number 6.

I am not familiar with Maisie Dobbs so looked up various sites. It seems Winspear's work is more popular in the US than in the UK where she is described as 'twee' and too 'Cockney'. Is there lots of "Lor luv a duck" and 'Up the apples and pears and down the rub-a-dub-dub"?
Thyrkas, where have you been for so long?

Good morning, all! Well, it looks as though I should have been in spelling class! Nothing like spelling the main character's name incorrectly - good grief!

Greetings, vee! I have been working a great deal. Thankful for a position - thanks for asking.

Your comment is exactly where I was going with my question about Maisie Dobbs. One of the supporting characters, Billy Beale, does use quite a few expressions that I assume are meant to be Cockney. Winspear has won the 'Agatha' award once, and has been nominated for an 'Edgar', so she is getting some positive reactions to her work.

The books are well written, engaging and have WWI and after as their time frame. They are without humor, though. Not one character is used for comic relief, as far as I can tell, anyway. But, there is a difference between American and English humor, so maybe I am missing something?

Thyrkas, you've hit exactly what keeps me from enthusiasm about the series. No humor, and very little happiness. Even happy occasions don't feel happy to me. I attributed it to the very depressing times after WWI when so many boys didn't come come. Still, I like them well enough to read them as they come out.

I think humor would be misplaced in the series-it was a depressing, sad time for many and the books reflect that-but they aren't hopeless, either. Maisie is a believable, sympathetic character. I don't dance for joy after reading one, but I'm not depressed for days, either.

I can see the complaint about cockney-she does lay it on a bit thick for atmosphere sometimes. But I'm not sure where the "twee" comes in-I use "twee" to describe the Mrs. Jeffries books-(housekeeper and other loyal staff solves mysteries to help kindly but bumbling employer, who happens to be a Scotland Yard detective promoted beyond his capabilities due to a a lucky crime solution long ago) because they are cozy to the nth degree and a little bit saccharine-my understanding of "twee".

cc - I think you have a very good point; the books do reflect the sorrow that was so widespread in the UK in the years post WWI, but the books themselves are not downers.

Still, couldn't there be one cheerful character in the books? Or a happy little dog to distract us a bit? Perhaps someone like Miss Pringle (from Miss Read's books), or a Tristan or Siegfried Farnon (James Herriot's books)?

I read that Ms Winspear has based her stories on those told to her by her father or grandfather; maybe she has not heard any happy tales from him.

A dog would be good-something to keep her company in the long winter evenings, accompany her to her office, and even on investigations. Either a little terrier or a great hulking Irish Wolfhound.
Don't you find her father positive? I agree there are not bigger-than-life characters like Siegfried or Mrs. Pringle....but on the other hand, there are not any Aunt Agatha characters either, like the Aunt Agatha in Martha Grimes' Jury and Plant series. I loathe that character and resent her every appearance on the page as a waste of my reading time-but I think Grimes has put her in for comic relief and contrast.

Yes, - a dog for company and safety puposes, as well as a being good for little smile now and then at her (the dog's) antics. Is there a proper name for Ms Dobb's pooch?
Also, I agree, that Richard Jury is a rather melancholy fellow, and needs the balance of Melrose Plant and Aunt Agatha. Ususally Grimes has a child as character, too - which adds another perspective to the story line and some color.

Still, I'd rather read Winspear and the hopeful undertone of these books than say, Anne MacDonald (Fall On Your Knees) or McEwan (Atonement), even though both use words beautifully. I just don't like their characters, even the supposed-to-be sympathetic ones, while Maisie chooses her path for positive, generous reasons-she is trying to do good. Unlike characters in the above-mentioned authors' books. Especially MacDonald. Horrible. But she needs a dog. Preferably one she rescues in the midst of an investigation.

Having just taught (and retaught) referrant pronouns to my 4th graders, I should be ashamed...
Make that >Especially MacDonald. Horrible. But Maisie needs a dog. Preferably one she rescues in the midst of an investigation.

cc, it is funny that you mentioned referrant pronouns because I'm having a problem with that very issue while reading Wolf Hall. I am so distracted by the way the pronoun "he" is used -- where I think it is referring to one person and it actually is referring to another person -- that I am not enjoying the book nearly as much as I would like. I think there are others here reading the book now -- has anyone else noticed this?

Well, I definitely posted my message in the wrong thread but I was so excited to see "referrant pronouns" mentioned that I got carried away. I apologize.

Francis, I have never heard of 'referant pronouns' (one 'r'?) so asked the DH who studied lots of English/Latin grammar at school and he hasn't come across the term either (nor has my huge English dictionary and our standard book on grammar) so I suppose it must be a US grammar usage.
I have read Wolf Hall and had the same problem with the various 'he's and she's' and had to remember to go back to the last time someone's name was mentioned.
cece, in 'English' English your first eg was perfectly acceptable. You had just mentioned 'Maisie' and the subject of dogs had been discussed.

But I had last mentioned MacDonald, so by strict pronoun rule, my "she" referred back to MacDonald, not to Maisie. Hence referent. (Next week, possessive pronouns)

And I did spell it wrong....that's what comes of trying to rush a post before leaving for school.
I'm getting a grammar headache.

Maisie can help your grammar headache, cc; she served as a nurse in WWI.

Maisie didn't work for me. I found the writing flat and it alternately depressed and annoyed me.

rosefolly - I find I put the books down frequently, but am curious enough about the characters that I pick them up again a few days later.
What is it that annoys you? I wish she weren't trying to set the world right - wish she would let the simple mystery be solved instead of trying to solve class problems, etc. I like the plot/sub-plots style, but not her 'save the world' themes.

She is definitely a woman of her age-WW I took the flower of young men, but people thought it would allow future generations to avoid facing the same sorrows. Women came into their own in never-before seen ways in large numbers-there were simply not enough men to marry and "take care" of all the women left. Class lines blurred and there was more discontent with the norm of "knowing your station" as determined by birth and accepting it blindly. I agree Maisie is too too earnest, but she personifies the heaviness of the times.
Maybe she'll break out and become a Flapper. After all, the Roaring Twenties were a reaction to the sadness and loss and uncertainties.

Hmm -apparently Maisie Dobbs thinks a dog might be a good addition in her books, too. I don't think it's a spoiler to mention the appearance of a pooch in the fifth book in the MD series, "An Incomplete Revenge", with a carry-over to book six, "Among The Mad". Just starting book six, so we'll see what happens to the story line with the pooch in the mix.