Review: Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear

Title: Birds of a Feather
Author: Jacqueline Winspear 
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Penguin
Publish Date: 2005
Source: Library

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "It is the spring of 1930, and Maisie has been hired to find a runaway heiress. When three of the heiress's old friends are found dead, Maisie must race to find out who would want to kill these seemingly respectable young women before it's too late. As Maisie investigates, she discovers that the answers lie in the unforgettable agony of the Great War."

My Two Cents:

"Birds of a Feather" is the second book in the Maisie Dobbs series. These books can be read out of order. The mysteries at the center of the book are very much standalone but the personal story of Maisie works best as you read in order. In this book, Maisie takes on the mystery of an heiress that has disappeared. What she will find out as she tries to solve the mystery is that looks can be deceiving and the mystery is much deeper and perhaps darker than she thought in the beginning.

In this book, you get a little more of a sense of Maisie and how she uses her intuition to solve crimes. This is ladled on a little heavy-handedly in this particular book, which lends the book a sense of mysticism that I did not totally buy.

While this mystery was not my favorite, I did like getting to know the characters better. Maisie is such an interesting character. We know a little bit more about her background now and I loved seeing what made her tick. The mystery at the center of the book makes Maisie recall her time as a nurse during WWI where she faced a lot of hardship and heartbreak with everything that she faced. I liked delving into that a little bit more. I'm looking forward to the next installation of this series!