A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear

First Line: Arturo Kenyon stood in the shadows of a whitewashed building opposite a small guesthouse known locally as Mrs. Bishop's, though it had no sign to advertise the fact.

Four long eventful years have passed since Maisie Dobbs left England at the end of Leaving Everything Most Loved. Although she's not quite ready, she is finally returning home to all those who love and miss her. 

During a stop in Gibraltar, Maisie finds the body of a murdered Jewish photographer. Against the advice of the ship's captain, Maisie stays. The police have written off the young man's death as being at the hands of one of the desperate refugees who have fled the civil war in Spain. Maisie wants to uncover the truth for his family, believing that a return to work will improve her spirits and make her ready to go home. What she's really done is put herself in the middle of a very dangerous place filled with political intrigue. If Maisie takes a wrong turning at this crossroads in her life, she could very well not return home at all.

Maisie isn't the only person at a crossroads. As concerns this series, I am, too. Longtime fans will probably be as stunned as I over the first few pages of A Dangerous Place. In a series of letters, Winspear deals with four momentous years in Maisie's life with what can only be described as brisk efficiency. I can understand her desire not to bog down the narrative, but since Maisie is already constantly harking back to time spent with her mentor or her service in World War I or her college days or what her best friend would say to her, what's a little more time spent on telling readers about those four years?

Winspear does her usual marvelous job in giving readers a real feel for the setting. With the Spanish Civil War raging just over the border, with the build-up to World War II, Gibraltar's strategic position makes it extremely valuable to many countries, and it seems that they all have representatives in place, lurking around the corners of buildings and following Maisie wherever she goes.

The author has also created a strong secondary cast-- Salazar the café owner, Mrs. Bishop the owner of the guesthouse, and the dead man's sister among them. The more the story unfolds, the more it seems that no one is whom they first appear to be, and with the number of people spying on others it's a miracle they don't start tripping over each other. This is a presentiment of another problem I'm beginning to have with a series I've loved since its inception.

The closer to World War II the series becomes, the more the storylines are delving into the shadowy world of spies and double-dealing. I've never cared for spy novels, so I'm definitely not enjoying this foray into that world. But as a character told Maisie in a previous book, once those spy organizations get their hooks into you, they don't let you go. I really don't want to see Maisie go down that road.

Although the mystery is rather slow to unfold, it does pick up speed and becomes quite intriguing. I enjoyed watching Maisie solve a complex case, just as I enjoyed the author's depiction of Gibraltar at this very tumultuous time. I'm deeply invested in Winspear's character. Maisie's story has grown from being a rags-to-riches tale to something deeper and much more meaningful. But for the past few books, Maisie has seemed to take two steps back to every three steps forward. Her experiences during World War I have left an indelible mark upon her of which she seems unwilling or unable to let go. With her constant musing on the past, I just can't quite see her as a successful spy in the next calamitous war to come. I am at a crossroads, and I am actually wondering if I'll be continuing with this series-- something that would have been completely unthinkable in the past.  

A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear

ISBN: 9780062220554

Harper © 2015

Hardcover, 320 pages

Historical Mystery, #11 Maisie Dobbs mystery

Rating: C+

Source: Amazon Vine 

The Time in Between by María Dueñas

Title: The Time in Between
Author: María Dueñas
Translator: David Hahn
ISBN: 9781451616880
Publisher: Atria Books, 2011
Hardcover, 624 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: C
Source: Publicist

First Line: A typewriter shattered my destiny.

Sira Quiroga is the daughter of a humble seamstress in Madrid, Spain. From sweeping floors and running errands, Sira grows into an apprenticeship. By the time she's twenty, she's learned her trade and is looking forward to marriage to a government clerk. However, she hasn't learned to resist charismatic men. The father she never knew and a handsome salesman turn her world upside down.

Abandoned in Morocco by the man she loves, the only way Sira can survive is by using her needle. Through hours of hard work and determination, she becomes a respected modiste in Morocco. Catering to the collection of European expatriates trapped there by the war in Spain and the worsening political situation in the rest of Europe lays the groundwork for the next stage in Sira's life. She returns to Madrid, opens an exclusive couturier for Nazi officers' wives, and becomes an undercover agent for the Allies.

This was a very uneven reading experience for me. Its length (624 pages) is not for the weak of heart (or for those with weak wrists). If a story holds my interest, I don't care how long the book is, but this one only held it sporadically.

In many ways, I enjoyed the first section of the book the most. My interest was fully engaged as I learned how Sira grew up, how she fell in love, and how she had to fight hard to make a living after being abandoned in Morocco. The reader's opinion of Sira will make or break this book since she is the narrator. At times I found that her naivete and impulsiveness made me want to slap some sense into her. However, she is honest about how she abandoned a good man for a bad one, and her friendships with Rosalinda and Candelaria as well as her descriptions of starting out in business definitely strengthen the narrative.

But Sira tells us something very important: she is carefully picking and choosing each fact in her story. Some of her choices weaken the book for me. When she becomes couturier for the Nazi officers' wives, it is a case of too much reporting and not enough doing. We're told more about the days the coded messages are delivered and very little about how the information was gathered. It would have added so much to the story to have a scene at the shop when the wives were gathered, relaxed and being served tea, gossiping away, with Sira working-- and listening-- diligently. I wanted to see it happen, not be told about it later.

It also came to the point where the political segments made my eyes glaze over. Sira purposely avoided many areas of Madrid because she didn't want to see what had happened to the city of her birth. There was too much in this book that Sira didn't wish to see, and I didn't appreciate being forced to wear blinders. Moreover, it felt as though Sira kept me at a distance-- as if she didn't really trust me. Granted, being a spy would make a person extremely distrustful, but when that spy is the narrator of a huge novel, distancing the reader can be very off-putting.

When all is said and done, your reaction to the main character of this sweeping historical novel will determine how much you enjoy it. I found much in the book to admire, but in the end, I felt as though Sira had led me down the garden path.

The Time in Between at Amazon.

The Time in Between at The Book Depository.

The Time in Between at Your Favorite Indie Bookseller.