A Sunlit Weapon (Maisie Dobbs #17)

A Sunlit Weapon by Jacqueline Winspear is her seventeenth book featuring detective and psychologist Maisie Dobbs. 

October 1942. ATA pilots ferry planes to bases and around the United Kingdom. These female pilots make sure the planes are where they need to be for the male pilots to use on bombing runs.

Jo Hardy is shot at while ferrying a plane to Biggin Hill. A friend a is later shot down in the same location. When Jo drives back to the area to investigate, she finds a US soldier tied up in an old barn. 

Hardy hires Maisie to find out who is shooting at the planes and why. When Maisie needs to interview the US soldier, she runs into both US bureaucracy and racism, as well as her husband's job. 

Maisie Dobbs is probably my favorite fictional character! Winspear is a wonderful writer who fills her books with accurate history, fully formed characters, intrigue and a real sense of being there. If you are a fan of history, mystery or just good writing, buy the first book in series today.

Winspear, Jacqueline. (2022). A Sunlit Weapon. New York: Harper.

Magic for Liars

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey is the story of Ivy Gamble being hired to solve a death at a high school for magic students - the same high school in which her sister teaches.

Ivy and her twin sister kinda went their separate ways when Tabitha started doing magic. You are either born with magic or you are not. Now Tabitha is a teacher at a prestigious magic school and Ivy is a hard-drinking private detective.

Ivy will have to investigate in a setting she does not understand. Her knowledge of magic is better than most, in that she knows it exists. But that is where her knowledge stops. She will have to decide who to trust to teach her as she interviews teachers and students to discover what happened to the woman who was divided in two in the library.

Gailey is a creative storyteller. Their books never go quite where you expect. If you need a book Sarah Gailey is always a great author to pick up.

Gailey, Sarah. (2019). Magic for Lairs. New York: Tor. 

Paradise Valley (Cassie Dewell #3)

Paradise Valley by C.J. Box is the third book in his series featuring Cassie Dewell, a police investigator working (currently) in Bakken County, North Dakota. In this case, two of Cassie’s previous cases will collide, endangering a boy she cares about and involving a man she has been hunting for years.

Dewell, with the aid of an FBI task force and a district attorney from the East Coast, has set a trap for a serial killer who uses the highways as his hiding place. The Lizard King has been at large for years. He has been questioned twice but has not been arrested for the suspected murder of dozens of women across the country. He is a long-haul trucker working on his own and traceable by no one.

Over the years, Dewell has posted jobs on a board for truckers looking to fill empty space as they drive. The only way the independent drivers make money is by hauling a full load. Now, finally, the man for whom she has been searching has agreed to pick up a load. Better yet, they have surveillance of him picking up a woman as a truck stop – a woman who did not leave the truck before the truck drove away. If they time it right, they can catch him and save the woman.

On the same day as the setup, Kyle Westergaard, age 15, disappears along with his best friend. Did they run away like a note says or did something else happen.

Dewell is a character who follows her instincts, even when logic dictates otherwise. Read this series for an enjoyable mystery / suspense series.

Box, C.J. (2017). Paradise Valley. NY: Minotaur.

The Stories You Tell (Roxane Weary #3)

The Stories You Tell by Kristen Lepionka is the third book in her mystery series featuring private detective Roxane Weary.

When Roxane’s brother calls her in the middle of the night, she is not too surprised. They are both night owls. He tells Roxane that an ex-co-worker he has not seen in a couple of years just came to his apartment. She was clearly scared. She borrowed his phone and then ran out the door. He wants to hire Roxane to make sure Addison is okay.

When Roxane starts to look for Addison Stowe, she finds that the place she works – a seedy club called Nightshade – is mysteriously closed. Her roommate has not seen her but thinks she can home after seeing Roxane’s brother, and Addison’s best friends have not heard from her.

Lepionka weaves a mystery about the people we are in real life versus the online presence we present to the world. Her characters are wonderful and flawed. Her storytelling is addictive, and her mysteries are well thought out. These are great summer reads. Readers will follow Weary on all of her future adventures.

Lepionka, Kristen. (2019). The Stories You Tell. New York: Minotaur.

The Last Place You Look (Roxane Weary #1)

The Last Place You Look by Kristen Lepionka is the first book in her mystery series featuring private eye Roxane Weary.

Roxane is a PI whose father was a cop. He died recently and she has not been doing well since. But she is still taking on jobs - she always had a knack for finding things.

Sarah Cook has been missing for years. Her high school boyfriend, Brad Stockton, is on death row for killing her parents and her. He has maintained his innocence.

As Brad is scheduled for execution, his sister is sure she has seen Sarah in Belmont, a neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio. She hires Roxane to find out if the woman was really Sarah.

Lepionka has created a wonderful, flawed character readers will love. They story is well crafted with twists no one will see coming. This is a great series - perfect for a summer read.

Lepionka, Kristen. (2017). The Last Place You Look. New York: Minotaur.

In This Grave Hour (Maisie Dobbs #13)

In This Grave Hour by Jacqueline Winspear is the thirteenth book in her Maisie Dobbs series. Maisie is an investigator and psychologist.  This may be my favorite book series.

September 3rd, 1939 England declared war against Germany. When Maisie returns home from her best friend’s house where they listened to the radio announcement from the king, a Doctor Thomas is waiting for her. Maisie knows her to be a spy. Dr. Thomas wants Maisie to investigate the death of a Belgian. England took in many Belgian refugees during WWI. Some of them stayed. But the attitude toward other cultures within England has changed since the war started. Dr. Thomas is concerned that the police are not looking in the right place, if at all. Maisie takes the case.

At the same time, operation Pied Piper is put into effect. Children in London, a city likely to be bombed by the Nazis, are being evacuated to the countryside. Maisie’s estate has gotten three children. Her father is going to get the two boys working with horses. But the small girl who doesn’t speak is a mystery. She came without any paperwork. None of the other children know where she came from.

Winspear is a brilliant writer. Her books will grab you from the first page. Plus, if you listen to the firstbook on audiobook read by Rita Barrington will put the wonderful accents in your head for the rest of the series!

Winspear, Jacqueline. (2017). In This Grave Hour. New York: Harper.

A Pirate's Heart

A Pirate’s Heart by Catherine Friend is a lesbian romance for fans of both pirates and librarians!

Librarian Emma Boyd works at a rare book library. She is overworked and has little time for a social life but she know just about everything there is to know about the pirate captain Tomasina Farris who disappeared in 1715.  So when a thief steals a map from her collection she wants to help catch the person who did it – someone who may be searching for Tommy Farris’s lost treasure.

Investigator Randi Marx does not want help from any stuffy librarian. She is a map expert in her own right and works for one of the best private investigation firms in the country. When it is suggested that she and Emma go to the other libraries where there have been map thefts, she is less than thrilled.

Friend has combined two stories – one of Tommy Farris in the height of piracy in the Caribbean – and a chase across the US and a search for a lost treasure. This is great romance story.

Friend, Catherine. (2008). A Pirate’s Heart. Valley Falls, NY: Bold Strokes Books.

Journey to Munich (Maisie Dobbs #12)

Journey to Munich by Jacqueline Winspear is the twelfth book in her historical mystery series featuring Maisie Dobbs.

It is 1938. Maisie Dobbs is back in London after time spent in Spain, once again being a nurse in a war. She is still recovering from a personal loss. When she returns to London, she is not sure where she belongs. Her old flat is rented out and her house has too many memories. She finds herself walking toward her old office when she encounters a man with whom she used to work.

Robert MacFarlane is no longer with Scotland Yard. He now works for the Secret Service. And he has a job for which he needs Maisie's help. Having no plans of her own, Maisie agrees to a meeting.

The German government has been holding a British man in one of their prisons - at Dachau. They have agreed to release him, but only to a relative. Unfortunately, the man's only relative - his daughter - is not well enough to travel. And she does (slightly) resemble Maisie. The man is a boffin, or engineer, and England needs him for the likely war with Germany. Luckily, the Germans do not know how valuable an asset they have captured.

Maisie will come in contact with the Nazi machine, in a city cowed by fear. On top of her assignment, she will be asked by a family friend to look in on his daughter who is rumored to be in Munich, and ask her to come home - a request that will put Maisie in more danger as she is going not as herself but as Edwina Donat.

Winspear is an amazing writer. Of the one hundred plus books I read each year, this is one of my favorite series. Maisie Dobbs is one of the best protagonists in fiction. Read this series from the beginning. Read it now! Go on, run to your library or bookstore and get started!

Winspear, Jacqueline. (2016). Journey to Munich. New York: Harper.

A Dangerous Place (Maisie Dobbs #11)

A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear is the eleventh book in her Maisie Dobbs historical mystery series.

Maisie is a psychologist and detective but has taken time off of work to focus on other parts of her life. Continuing the story after four years, Winspear catches up readers with letters describing what Maisie has been doing and leaves us up to date to begin the new mystery.

Returning from India to England at the request of her father's wife, Maisie leaves her ship in Gibraltar - unable to going home. Much has changed in her life in four years and she is not ready to face the memories that await her.

In Gibraltar, Maisie discovers the body of a photographer. As is her nature, she decides to find out what happened to him - was it a senseless killing by a refugee from the Spanish Civil War who fled across the boarder seeking safety? Was he killed because he was Jewish? Or was being silenced?

Maisie is one of the best characters ever written. She is an intelligent woman who found her own place in spite of the societal rules of her time that limited women. In this volume, she confronts much of her past and uses a case to make peace with her past so she can move on. Winspear is a brilliant writer who everyone should read. If you haven't started this series, buy Maisie Dobbs today!

Winspear, Jacqueline. (2015). A Dangerous Place. New York: Harper.

Year of the Demon (Fated Blades #2)

Year of the Demon by Steve Bein is the second book in his Fated Blades series - revolving around ancient Samurai swords created by the Inazuma, who put so much into each blade he created that the blades were though to have magical properties.

Detective Sergeant Oshiro Mariko of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department works in narcotics. She is famous in the papers for a sword fight she had against a yakuza enforcer that ended in his death. In her latest case she is about to join a SWAT raid of a drug buy at a warehouse owned by the Kamaguchi-gumi.

Okuma Diagoro is a Samurai who lives in the late 1500s. He inherited the sword, Divine Victory Unsought, from his father. The sword will help the wielder win every battle - as long as it is an honorable fight and not for glory.

Kaida, an Ama diver who lives in a fishing village in the late 1400s. She is a young girl who spends her days diving for oyster and abalone. But she dreams of getting out of her village where her step-sisters make her life hell. Her only consolation is that she is a better diver than they are, even with only one hand. When outsiders come to her village in search of something lost, she may get her wish.

All three main characters, separated by time, are linked by either Glorious Victory Unsought, or by a demon mask that seems to seek the sword. Each of their lives will be greatly changed by the intention that apparently comes from the mask by altering the desires of its wearer.

Bein has created an amazing series combining mystery, Japanese history, and compelling characters. This series will appeal to many readers and each one will likely wait impatiently for the next installment of the Fated Blades series. This is a read-alike for the Tales of the Otori series by Lian Hern.

Bein, Steve. (2013). Year of the Demon. New York: A Roc Book.

Stealing from the Dead

Stealing from the Dead by A.J. Zerries is a mystery that combines history, terrorism, murder, a great NYPD detective and a retired CIA agent to lead readers through an intricate, thrilling story of a scam to cheat Holocaust survivors of their right to reclaim funds hidden from them by Swiss banks.

Detective Greta Strasser is in her nineteenth year in the NYPD. Her boss is counting down the days and making sure to make each one as bad as he can. So when Strasser finds inconsistencies with a heart attack in an older Jewish woman, she is told to stop seeing what is not there. But Greta does not give up that easily - it is why she is a good cop.

Then, one late night when she gets back to her Brooklyn apartment, she is approached by an older man. At first she is suspicious - she has had a rough week. But soon he convinces her to trust him. He is an ex-CIA agent (though strictly desk work) who has been following a pattern of supposed heart attacks in older Jewish people whose names appear on a list. The list is of people whose parents or grandparents opened a bank account to try to keep their money safe during World War II. At the end of the war, anyone who attempted to reclaim one of these numbered accounts was told it did not exist. But after years of battle, the Swiss banks have to make the funds available to any living relatives of the men who opened them.

It seems that someone is killing the people who appear on the list. Some person or group is filing out the paperwork and then killing the relative so he/they can claim the funds. And the funds have been traced to an account the funds terrorism against Israel.

Zerries has written a fascinating tale that will capture readers of many genres with this great read. Check it out today. Then join me in hoping Greta Strasser has more books in the future.

Zerries, AJ. (2012). Stealing from the Dead. New York: Forge.

Daughter of the Sword (Fated Blades #1)

Daughter of the Sword by Steve Bein is the first book in his Fated Blades series - written around three swords created by Master Inazuma who put so much focus into his work that his swords are said to be cursed / magical.

Mariko Oshiro is a police detective in Toyko. The only female detective in the city. She is surrounded by a tradition and culture that does not have female officers for anything higher than meter maid. Some blame her quest for a man's job on the fact that she lived in the United States as a teen. Either way, she is working in Narcotics on a one year probation during which she has to prove she belongs. And her new lieutenant has promised to make sure she fails.

So instead of working on drug cases, Mariko has been loaned out to a suburb to investigate the attempted theft of an ancient sword. Professor Yasou Yamada is a scholar of all things Samurai. Someone, and Mariko thinks he knows who, has tried to steal a sword created by Master Inazuma and said to have mystical powers over the one who wields it. While Mariko is too modern to believe in the magical legend of the sword, she has a lot to learn from Dr. Yamada.

Bein has created a legend and woven it within a modern mystery. With flash backs highlighting some of the men who have owned Inazuma's swords, this well crafted blend of story types will appeal to a variety of readers. Daughter of the Sword is a beautifully written story. I will be stalking the author until he completes the next installment in the series.

Bein, Steve. (2012). Daughter of the Sword. NY: Penguin.

A Lesson in Secrets (Maisie Dobbs #8)

A Lesson in Secrets is the eighth book in Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series.

It is now 1932 and Maisie's career is taking a turn - she will be asked to work for Special Branch in an investigation. Maisie will go undercover as a lecturer at a private college in Cambridge.

Shortly after she arrives at the college, her assignment takes another turn - the founder and president of the college is murdered. Though it is not part of Maisie's job, she does what she can to find out the circumstance surrounding the death.

Winspear's books are a delight to read. Maisie is a brilliant character in an interesting time in history. Start with the first book and read them all! Or listen to the unabridged audiobook versions read by Kim Hicks.

Winspear, Jacqueline. (2011). A Lesson in Secrets. New York: HarperCollins.

Among the Mad (Maisie Dobbs #6)

Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear is the sixth book featuring Maisie Dobbs - an investigator and psychologist in England in the early 1900s.

Ms. Dobbs has had a successful investigative practice for a time now and is doing well even though England is in an economic depression. As she and her assistant, Billy Beale, are walking to a meeting to close up the paperwork on a case, Maisie sees a war veteran sitting on the walkway. As she approaches she knows something is wrong and sends Billy back. Seconds later the man kills himself using a grenade and Maisie is thrown across the street by the blast.

Later that afternoon she is seconded to Scotland Yard's Special Branch to find a man who may be connected to the death. A man who letter informs the Prime Minister that if the government does not start taking care of the men who risked their lives and sanity to defend England in WWI, he will retaliate. They have 48 hours.

Maisie will need all of her vast powers of deduction and reason to find the man who is so desperately wounded from the war that he would kill others to make a point. In this series that any Agatha Christie fans will adore, Winspear ups the ante with this volume. It is a must read (but start at the first book so you can meet Maisie as a youngster.)

Winspear, Jacqueline. (2009). Among the Mad. New York: Henry Holt Co.

An Incomplete Revenge (Maisie Dobbs #5)

An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear is the fifth Maisie Dobbs book. The series has a similar feel to Agatha Christie mysteries and takes place in England in the early 1900s.

When Maisie is asked to look at the village surrounding a farm that may be purchased by the Compton Corporation, she thinks is will be a fairly straight forward assignment.

It so happens that her assistant, Billy Beale, and his family go to that very village in Kent each hops-picking season. She plans to meet him there and instead of a quiet village, finds a web of lies and arson that seems to encompass the whole town.

The dynamic of the town, changed by the arrival of pickers from London as well as a group of Roma (Gypsies), is private and suspicious of outsiders. It seems the villagers never go over a Zeppelin attack during the war.

Winspear writes a great story that winds its way through layer after layer of mystery as Dobbs reconstructs what happened in the village - something that could make even the vicar lie about the past.

Winspear, Jacqueline. (2008). An Incomplete Revenge. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
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Messenger of Truth (Maisie Dobbs #4)

Messenger of Truth is the fourth Maisie Dobbs book by Jacqueline Winspear.

Maisie Dobbs has been hired to look into the death of the artist Nicholas Bassington-Hope, a well known artist who fell to his death off of scaffolding he was using to set up his latest exhibition.

His sister, Georgina, has hired Maisie to find out if he was murdered. Through her usual careful investigating, Maisie pieces together the last few weeks of Nick's life.

What she finds is a talented and troubled painter who final piece (that is currently missing) may have been his masterpiece and his view of the Great War - a piece that many would not want to be seen.

Maisie Dobbs' books will appeal to any mystery lovers or those who like Agatha Christie or Mrs. Pollifax. Winspear captures early 1900s England and create engaging stories that twist and turn to a satisfying ending.

Winspear, Jacqueline. (2006). Messenger of Truth. New York: Henry Holt and Company.

Pardonable Lies (Maisie Dobbs #3)

Pardonable Lies is the third book featuring Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear.

Maisie has already proven herself as a detective who can find out what others fail to prove and she always does in ways that her clients can live with. She makes sure that her reports have as little negative impact as possible.

Now along with her role as a detective, she is helping out Scotland Yard with a case about a young girl who may have killed her uncle. Maise sees herself in the young girl and is determined that the girl will not spend the rest of life behind bars.

Her current detective case is to find out what happened to a pilot killed in the war (WWI). She has not been back to France since she was wounded during an attack on her medical center. Her trip is sure to drag up the past - a past she has tried to forget.

Winspear, Jacqueline. (2005). Pardonable Lies. New York: Henry Holt and Co.

Birds of a Feather (Maisie Dobbs #2)

Birds of a Feather is the second book in Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs mystery series.

Maisie Dobbs is a classic detective in the early 1900s in London. In this second book, Maisie and her assistant Billy are hired to find a runaway daughter - Charlotte Waite.

Once they start looking for Charlotte, Maisie and Billy notice that three of her friends have recently died - two apparently murdered by the same person.

Ms. Dobbs must find out what the four women have in common other than attending school together before the war. Why after all of these years are they apparently being targeted by someone. And where is Charlotte Waite? Is she in hiding or is she the killer?

For anyone interested, the audio book version read by Kim Hicks in a series of brilliant British accents.

Winspear, Jacqueline. (2004). Birds of a Feather. New York: Pengiun.

Maisie Dobbs (Maisie Dobbs #1)

Maisie Dobbs, created by Jacqueline Winspear, is a detective to rival Agatha Christie!

Maisie, who grew up on the south side of the Thames, has just lost her mother. Her father is consumed with grief and worried about money (the savings for Maisie's schooling spend on trying desperately to save her mother). When he suggests that she take a position in the house of Lord and Lady Compton, Maisie becomes a maid.

Lady Rowan Compton, encouraged by her friend Dr. Maurice Blanche, see that Maisie continues her studies. She learns enough to be accepted at Cambridge. When the Great War begins and England needs more nurses to tend to the injured young soldiers, Maisie volunteers and is sent to France.

Ten years later, in 1929, Maisie has just opened her own detective agency. Her first assignment seems to be an open and shut case of infidelity, but all is not as it seems on the surface. Before the case is solved, other questions will arise that will lead Maisie back to emotions she thought she left behind at the end of the war.

Jacqueline Winspear was awarded or nominated for four awards for Maisie Dobbs - her first novel. She is a writer who captures the interest of readers and doesn't release them until long after the last page.

Winspear, Jacqueline. (2003). Maisie Dobbs. New York: Penguin Books.