The American Agent

January 15, 2019
An intrepid British investigator continues her war efforts.September 1940 finds England nightly suffering the horrors of the Blitz. The morning after volunteer ambulance drivers Maisie Dobbs and her best friend, Priscilla Partridge, spend an evening with Catherine Saxon, an American print reporter who hopes to work for Edward R. Murrow, whose radio reports have done so much to change America's isolationist views, Maisie gets a call from Robbie MacFarlane, whose hush-hush job has required her services before. Acting on the recommendation of American agent Mark Scott, whom Maisie met while spying in Germany, Robbie asks her to investigate a murder--that of Catherine Saxon, whose throat was cut in her own lodgings sometime after her night out with Maisie and Priscilla. Maisie--a widow, nurse, spy, psychologist, and independent enquiry agent--finds Scott strangely uninterested in the case, perhaps because he has his own fish to fry. Maisie's first look at the body reveals marks of a strangulation attempt, a tiny tattoo of the initials JT, and signs of a prior pregnancy. She interviews Cath's best friend, Jennifer Barrington, and also the other women living in the house. Cath comes from a wealthy political family. Her father, an isolationist senator who just wanted her to make an advantageous marriage, had virtually cut her off. Jennifer acknowledges that Cath had a child who died while she was reporting in Spain. She can't name the father, but she does know that Cath has dated an American flying with the RAF and has been visited by other unidentified men. Maisie gets some help from Scott, and their partnership tacks toward romance, but his calculated reserve prevents her from trusting him. After Priscilla is badly burned rescuing several children, Maisie has more time to devote to her investigation, whose disparate clues will lead to a shocking finale.Winspear (To Die but Once, 2018, etc.) advances Maisie's inspiring activities, highlights the bravery of an embattled people during the Second World War, and intimates that lessons from that period have yet to be learned.

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Starred review from March 1, 2019

The Blitz is in full swing in the newest "Maisie Dobbs" mystery by Winspear (To Die but Once). Maisie and best friend Priscilla are driving their ambulance with young American reporter Catherine Saxon, who believes firsthand experience will help her get work with Edward Murrow on BBC radio. The day after this ride-along, Maisie receives a call from Scotland Yard and the American embassy requesting her investigative services for Catherine's murder. Maisie begins this sudden investigation while the stresses of the adoption process for her young ward, Anna, weigh on her mind. Maisie must collaborate closely with Mark Scott, the agent attached to the American embassy, whom she worked with in Berlin before the war. But as the case progresses, she feels romantically drawn to him, all while uncovering secrets about Catherine. VERDICT This is a fantastic read for historical mystery fans who enjoy complex and flawed characters. Highly recommended for all public libraries.--Kristen Stewart, Pearland Lib., Brazoria Cty. Lib. Syst., TX

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2019
The London blitz is the backdrop to Winspear's latest as the inimitable Maisie Dobbs investigates the death of Catherine Saxon, an intrepid American journalist determined to document wartime Britain's hardships for the folks back home. Saxon and Dobbs are kindred spirits?both struggle to make it in a man's world, and both are putting a brave face on their recovery from heartbreak. Dobbs' hunt for the killer, aided by the dashing agent of the book's title, is a lesson in English gentility; Winspear also offers an intriguing view of the WWII propaganda machine that sought to convince Americans to join the fray. The historical descriptions are sometimes stiff, as when characters discuss at length conditions that the other party in the conversation would already know about, but, overall, this is an immersive tale of wartime grit and grief. Fans of the series won't be disappointed; the book can also cross over to historical-mystery buffs and devotees of British detective shows.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)