Review: The American Agent (Maisie Dobbs)
Gaby Meares
Fans of the Maisie Dobbs series will not be disappointed in this latest book. Set during the German blitzkrieg upon Britain during WW2 all the action is affected by these relentless attacks. Reading this novel in the midst of our pandemic, it was easy to relate to Maisie’s world, where there is constant threat, but yet life continues. Maisie ‘admonishes herself for selfishly considering a dilemma of a personal nature when so many civilians had been killed and injured’.
Maisie and her dearest friend Priscilla are volunteer ambulance drivers in London and are accompanied one night by an American war correspondent, Catherine Saxon, who is determined to tell the American people what is really happening in Britain. America had not yet jointed the allied forces, and many Americans, included their high profile ambassador Joseph Kennedy, believe that it is not their war to fight.
When Catherine is brutally murdered, Maisie is asked by her old Scotland Yard colleague, Robbie MacFarlane to investigate, together with an agent from the US Department of Justice. Mark Scott helped Maisie escape Munich in 1938, and Maisie in unsure of her feelings towards him.
As Maisie tries to uncover the truth behind Saxon’s murder, she is also applying to adopt Anna, a young evacuee who has come under her care, and whom she has grown to love as her own.
Winspear has again skilfully balanced Maisie’s investigation with her personal life. Real historic events and people add an authenticity to all her books. I loved the quotes from Edward R. Murrow’s reports from London. Murrow has always been a hero of mine (anyone who has seen the film, Goodnight and Good Luck will understand why). Like the character Catherine Saxon, he was determined to make sure Americans were made aware of the daily horror that the British were facing.
The American Agent is historic crime fiction at its best. By writing about characters that we care about, in a historic context, Winspear makes the history resonate with meaning.