Book Review: A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Windspear

 

This dusty book has been on my shelves for quite a while. I was given the ARC of A Lesson in Secrets while volunteering at Left Coast Crime in 2012 and Winspear was one of the guest speakers.  I had so much fun hearing all the different speakers and received a great many books from authors I've never read before.  Don't know why it took me so long to read, but glad I did.  

"In the summer of 1932, Maisie Dobbs’s career takes an exciting new turn when she accepts an undercover assignment directed by Scotland Yard’s Special Branch and the Secret Service. Posing as a junior lecturer, she is sent to a private college in Cambridge to monitor any activities, “not in the interests of His Majesty’s Government. When the college’s controversial pacifist founder and principal, Greville Liddicote, is murdered, Maisie is directed to stand back as Detective Chief Superintendent Robert MacFarlane and Detective Chief Inspector Richard Stratton spearhead the investigation. She soon discovers, however, that the circumstances of Liddicote’s death appear inextricably linked to the suspicious comings and goings of faculty and students under her surveillance."

As a police procedural set in 1932, Maisie is sent to work undercover for a private college and the principal is murdered.  She's told not to investigate the murder, but she spends a good bit of running around the country, doing exactly that and of course, finding out quite a bit more than the Superintendent and Chief Inspector.  She quite daring for the times and has no problem knocking on strangers doors to interview them.  Interestingly enough, there were several red herrings which distracted her from finding the real murderer for quite a while and who turned out to be a surprise. Several times I though I knew but really didn’t.  She has a love interest, but also seems to be attracted to someone else.  Will probably dip back into the series at some point.

Dusty book, England, 1932