Elegy for Eddie: A Maisie Dobbs Novel, Book 9

I recently spent a couple of weeks traveling in Italy with the three most recent Maisie Dobbs mysteries/novels on my Kindle. I enjoyed them. Ms. W. writes clever and cunning plots with satisfying twists and turns. Her basic premises about her heroine are, frankly, not particularly believable, but never mind: suspend disbelief and enjoy the show.However, I have to say that I wish the editor and "first reader" that Ms. W. praises in the notes did their jobs better. I assume that Ms. W. uses words that she assumes are vintage to help create an aura of the past. It doesn't work. It just sounds odd. Dinner becomes a "repast." A book isn't written: a tome is penned. She writes "some ten years ago" rather than "ten years ago" or just "some years ago." She refers to "one John Jones" rather than just John Jones. And so it goes. My particular favorite is "property" used overly often for house or estate. If you read British writers of the 1920s and 1930s who were writing in the language of their own time, you will find that they do not use this type of language. It is a form of "gadzooks" and I wish she would stop doing it.I will add that dialog too is often odd. Nobody speaks the way Maisie sometimes does, even if her speeches do move the plot along. Read it aloud please.What really annoyed me was that I think Ms. W. has the titles of the characters completely screwed up. In one of the most recent books she says that Lord Julian has many titles but uses the one he prefers, so I think that others have told her she has it wrong. Alas, she doubled-down rather than fix the problem. She shouldn't have gotten it wrong in the first place. An aristocratic Englishman of 90 years ago would never have used a title that was not properly his. He might--possibly--not use his title at all, but never would he use one that was not rightfully and precisely his.I am an ordinary American who likes vintage British mysteries and novels. I know nothing about titles first hand, but some years ago I was curious. I purchased a paperback book at Hatchard's in London called "Titles & Forms of Address" which is very useful about these questions. Based on it, this is what I think:In the books, we have Lord Julian Compton and Lady Rowan Compton married to each other. They have a son, James Compton, who is also Viscount Compton. Lord Julian's mother is referred to as the Dowager Lady Jane Compton. According to my research, this is not possible.The title Lord Julian Compton communicates that Lord Julian is a younger son of a Duke or Marquis. Think of Lord Peter Whimsy who was the second son of the Duke of Denver. Lord Julian's wife would be Lady Julian--think of Harriett Vane as Lady Peter--unless she had a courtesy title of her own. If Lady Rowan was herself the daughter of a Duke, Marquis, or Earl, she could be Lady Rowan rather than Lady Julian. Lady First-Name only comes via the Lady's father never her husband. Lady Diana Spencer was Lady Diana because her father was an Earl. She was born the Hon. Diana Spencer because, at her birth, her father was a Viscount because his father was still alive. Lord Julian and Lady Rowan could not have a son who was a hereditary Viscount. It is not possible without torturing the facts. The son of a younger son of a Duke or Marquis has no title and is just-plain Mr. For example, Winston Churchill was the son of a younger son of a Duke and was a Mr. before he earned a knighthood and became Sir Winston. His father was Lord Randolph Churchill. His mother, an American, was Lady Randolph Churchill.We also have the problem of the Dowager Lady Jane Compton. A dowager is the senior living widow of a peer. "Lady Jane" says only she is the daughter of a peer. She can only be a dowager as the widow of a peer in which case she would be using another title. Think of the Dowager Countess of Grantham in "Downton Abbey." Her granddaughters are Lady Mary, Lady Edith, and Lady Sybil, but she and her daughter-in-law are both Lady Grantham.So the plan in the books doesn't work. What might work? Without adding anything, here is a plan that works.Lord Julian and Lady Rowan are actually the Earl and Countess Compton. As such, their son could be Viscount Compton. They would be addressed as Lord and Lady Compton. Lady Rowan might also be Lady Rowan but she wouldn't use that title--perhaps only her old nanny might still call her Lady Rowan--she would be Lady Compton. As the son of an Earl, "Lord Julian" would never, ever, have been Lord Julian since that would communicate that his father was a Duke or Marquis, higher ranks than Earl. It would have been regarded as a pretentious lie in his time and society. While his father was alive, he would have been Viscount Compton if the eldest son, or the Hon. Julian Compton if a younger son. His widowed mother would be the Dowager Countess Compton, called Lady Compton.I have used the structure Earl Compton (like Earl Spencer) but it also could be Earl of Compton (like Earl of Snowdon). It is also unlikely that all forms of the Compton titles would be Compton. In the Spencer family, the family name is Spencer, the main title is Earl Spencer, but the secondary title is Viscount Althrop. However, the husband of the late Princess Margaret, Anthony Armstrong-Jones is the Earl of Snowdon, but his son, David Armstrong-Jones, is Viscount Linley.Having Lord Julian Compton as the father of Viscount Compton doesn't work without torturing the plan too much. One could say that Lord Julian is the second son of the Duke of Compton so was born Lord Julian, that his elder brother, Earl Compton, died, that he became the heir and the new Earl Compton, that therefore his son was Viscount Compton, and that in spite of this, he choose to remain Lord Julian although his son sometimes uses Viscount Compton and sometimes does not. This assumes his father is still alive and the Duke. This doesn't account for either Lady Rowan or Lady Jane. This is too convoluted for 2012 much less for 1926.A fix for this is to drop the Viscount business and let James be Mr. and to drop the Dowager business and let Lord Julian be the younger son of a Duke and Lady Rowan the daughter of an Earl. Another fix would be to turn Julian and Rowan into Lord and Lady Compton (aka the Earl and Countess Compton), then leave James a Viscount, and make Lady Jane into the Dowager Lady Compton.Maisie Dobbs would not have gotten this wrong because she would have gone to the library and researched it. Ms. W. shouldn't have gotten it wrong either. I think that one of the charms of well-done historical novels is that they teach about the past indirectly. While some would say that none of this matters, I think getting it right as often as possible is important.PS: Contrast the relationship of James Compton and Maisie Dobbs with that of Peter Whimsy and Harriett Vane. They are similar, but the first is really of the 21st century and the second is of the 1930s. Which feels true?

Great light read

I love Maisie Dobbs! I’ve read all of the books in this series and liked them, even loved some. This book was of the former. The premise was mildly intriguing - some of Maisie’s father’s old chums hire her to get to the bottom of an accident that killed one of the men from their neighborhood. Maisie was wonderful as always - pretty, wicked smart, kind, and loyal - but she seems to be having a bit of a crisis of confidence. The peripheral characters were just a bit more downtrodden and/or dark than previous books. The storyline was a bit sadder than usual, particularly the foreshadowing of WWII. Overall, a good book but not one of my favorites.

This is an interesting book with excellent writing. Maisie Dobbs is the heroine and she is an interesting character with a number of psychological struggles that are well outlined in the book and cause the reader to think carefully about the nature of mankind and about himself. Maisie is a strong character and an independent woman at a time when such independence would have been quite unusual. I have never quite understood why female feminist authors who portray independent women always make their love lives so uncertain and vexing to the reader. That is the case in this book. Maisie is investigating the death of a childhood friend that seems like an accident but is actually murder. The plot is quite complex and some of the conclusions reached by Maisie seemed a bit of a stretch. however, the dialogue and action make the book hard to put down. The book is written in an innocent way characteristic of an earlier time. There are no steamy sex scenes and one has to read between the lines to understand that Maisie and her boyfriend likely are sleeping together, but this is never stated. A theme underlying the book describes the events taking place in Germany with the early rise of Hitler. It becomes increasingly apparent to Maisie and some of the other characters that another war is coming, and the book has a good sense of the awful feeling of impending doom to a country that has not yet recovered from the first World War. The book is quite complex and is even somewhat painful to read, understanding the troubles that soon will befall these characters and the nation of Great Britain.

Each time I read a new Maisie Dobbs novel I think it's my favorite one yet. They really do just keep getting better and better. They appeal to a wide array of readers too. I love them, my daughter in her 20's loves them, and my mom in her 80's loves them.

This is the most affecting of the Maisie Dobbs novels I have read (all but one). Winspear has by now brought her unusual female investigator and the supporting cast into fulfillment. The Cinderella nature of Maisie's rise from humble to handsome surroundings does not intrude far into this wonderful story of the compassion people of "high" and "low" backgrounds are capable of showing for one another and for humanity. We are shown her personal struggling to accommodate her own good luck but also finding her compass. The Eddie at the center of the plot represents simple genius, recognized by a few people for his special talents,and loved for his innocence. The evil deeds of the suspected villains (for there is more than one) are believably interpreted as results of the environment, economic and political, and of deep yearnings. Winspear is one of a handful of crime/mystery writers capable of guiding us on moral issues that span all time.I first discovered Maisie Dobbs at the store in the Imperial War Museum in London. I had just seen an exhibition on the children of Britain in World War II. Winspear's introduction to the earlier war put the war of my childhood into a larger context, the terrible cloud of arrogance and hatred that continues to hover above us all. I believe I have learned more about Modern history from her than I ever did in school. I wish an American version of this author would come along to help us fathom our own grassroots American experience of war.

In this, the ninth book in the series, Maisie is approached by some old friends of her father's. A friend of theirs has died as a result of an accident at a paper factory. They're not convinced that it was an accident and ask Maisie to investigate. In the course of the investigation Maisie's assistant, Billy, is assaulted and ends up in hospital, straining Maisie's relationship with his wife who blames Maisie for endangering his life.There were multiple strands to the story. Maisie questions her relationship with James and is encouraged by her friend to question her actions towards Billy and his family. There are more deaths and a break-in when someone searches for incriminating papers. Again there is a link to British military intelligence.I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the next one in the series.

Fans of Maisie Dobbs pretty get what they have grown to expect from this volume in the series, though I've got to say it wasn't my favourite.Again the story is set against a backdrop of real historical events. However the various threads of the story didn't really knit together for me and I'm beginning to find the on off romance between Maisie and James a bit tiresome.Nonetheless I'm already looking forward to the next book.

I got this book because it was done as a gay book, and as part of my family tree has Winspear in it.I did read this book and thought most of it was quite good. As to the gayness of Eddie I thought was soowrong, he came across as some-one who was a bit simple, and not gay at all. I have gone back and gotall of the books about Maisie Dobbs. I was slightly not happy with this book, as to the person Eddie wasseen as gay, when he comes across as some-one different. Maybe some people need to read aboutJacqueline Winspear, before they make comments about her. Because she was British and then movedto the USA.

This is an unusual series, Maisie Dobbs works as a private investigator in the period after the first world war and leading up to the second. She is often undecided, particularly about her own path in life and her relationship with James, her long suffering boyfriend. She is a restless spirit and has enough money to indulge her love of travel. Lots more adventures to come hopefully.

I have a fascination with the 1930's. It was a time of hope that could have propelled the world into a prosperous future, had it not been for two megalomaniacs. The authors captures these moods to perfection.