“In This Grave Hour” by Jacqueline Winspear – The Nation's Crossroads
Jacqueline Winspear Launches the Wartime Murders
The beginning of the Second World War marked a drastic change in British society (among many other countries, of course), one which lasted a few years as bombings and threats of invasion loomed large over the lives of all. In the thirteenth book of The Maisie Dobbs series, titled In This Grave Hour, Jacqueline Winspear puts her beloved detective at work right in the middle of it all.
If you're unfamiliar with Winspear's long-standing series, don't despair for every single novel in it works as a standalone. Though I would recommend you have a look at the previous novel as well as the ones which came before it, if you're solely interested in this one, you may bravely proceed with zero foreknowledge.
Taking us to the very beginning of the Great Britain's war declaration on Germany, the story doesn't take long to begin as a senior Secret Service agent breaks into Maisie Dobbs' flat in the hope of hiring her services for an extremely sensitive matter. She must find the killer of a man who escaped occupied Belgium just over two decades ago.
Despite news of the war and very real dangers coming down from the sky on a daily basis, Maisie proceeds to do what she does best, embarking on a mysterious case which only becomes increasingly puzzling as additional victims appear, all of them dispossessed from the last war.
To throw yet another wrench into her life, a little girl evacuated from London during Operation Pied Piper is billeted at Maisie's home in Kent. However, she doesn't speak, and nobody knows anything about her other than her name: Anna. Life truly works in mysterious ways, something Maisie is about to find out for herself soon enough.
In This Grave Hour: The Ordinary War Days
While The Maisie Dobbs series has primarily been about murder investigations (at least, it's the driving force behind the plots), I think the historical fiction element is something which deserves just as much attention and praise, if not more.
Up until now, Jacqueline Winspear has explored Great Britain in the 1930s via the previous novels in the series, and she did some amazing work, fuelled by diligent research, in portraying the lives of various people from all walks of life. In this novel, the setting does change a fair bit in a certain sense, and I believe she succeeds no less in bringing it to life.
Without getting into a debate of who suffered more or less during the Second World War, it is undeniable the situation in Britain became rather frightening and alien to most of its inhabitants, especially at the very start when it all felt so new and utterly unpredictable. Winspear manages to capture this atmosphere with absolutely masterful strokes and descriptions.
We are consistently treated to the new realities of British life during World War II through all sorts of channels, ranging from descriptions of events witnessed by the protagonist to small conversations taking place between nearly-unimportant people. Thus, their exposition feels completely natural and never overabundant.
Perhaps even more interesting, we are also given a fairly large window into the efforts people put into maintaining the normalcy in their lives, how they dealt with the psychological pressure and readjusted their mentalities to properly address the reality they were facing. Many are those who could learn from their example.
Murder and Parenting
As praise-worthy as the historical side of this book might be, in the end, it's not the main attraction, always surpassed by Maisie Dobbs' investigation as well as the developments in her private life. As usual, it doesn't take too long for the gears to start turning, and the mystery is unravelled at a fairly even pace, consistently feeding us select answers while throwing new questions at us.
Speaking strictly of the case Dobbs is investigating, I found it to be intriguing in and of itself, constantly pushing me to come up with my own theories on the subject. There are a few red herrings and twists I didn't see coming, and while the resolution does require a tiny suspension of disbelief, it is nevertheless satisfying and answers all the necessary questions.
For me, I found the plot particularly appealing because it sheds a bit of light on what it's like to lead a criminal investigation during times of war. There are challenges particular to this sort of setting, and seeing Maisie overcome new and unexpected obstacles does add a bit of welcome insight and excitement in equal measures.
If the novel didn't touch on Maisie's personal life, it probably wouldn't have been fit for the series. The secondary mystery surrounding Anna's identity and origins is compelling in its own right, carrying with it truths about the fates suffered by many in those times.
We witness Maisie growing her inner world slowly but surely from the moment she arranges to be the little lost girl's caretaker. Along the way, she finds the strength to face memories she would have preferred to leave behind, and among all the darkness finds hope for a new and better tomorrow.
The Final Verdict
In This Grave Hour by Jacqueline Winspear is a powerful entry in the Maisie Dobbs series, unravelling a complex and intriguing murder mystery set during a fascinatingly terrifying time period in British history.
If you're a fan of the series or are looking for a book mixing murder mystery and historical fiction like few others can, I highly recommend you have a look at this book as well as the rest of the series.
 | Jacqueline WinspearPersonal site Jacqueline Winspear is a mystery author hailing from the United Kingdom, best-known for writing the Maisie Dobbs Series, taking place after WWI and following the titular inspector's investigations across over fourteen books at this point. The first novel in the series, Maisie Dobbs, earned her numerous award nominations, Such as the Edgar Award for Best Novel and the Agatha Award for Best First Novel. Additionally, she was also a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize in 2015. |
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