Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Sixth Maisie Dobbs Mystery Just Released



The "Maisie Dobbs" series, by Jacqueline Winspear, has proved to be one of the most popular mystery series we sell at Broadway Books. The series is based in Post-World-War I England and features psychologist and detective Maisie Dobbs. The newest book in the series, Among the Mad, is now available -- we have it both in hardback and on CD (Henry Holt). The book opens in London on Christmas Eve in 1931, where threats to the prime minister have Maisie partnering with Scotland Yard to find the man who threatens to inflict death and destruction on thousands of innocent people. As with the other books in the series, Among the Mad explores the damage that war inflicts on one's soul. It also delves into the things the hopeless and mentally unstable will do to be heard.

Ms. Winspear was born and raised in the county of Kent, England, and moved to the United States in 1990. Her grandfather was severely wounded and shell-shocked at the Battle of the Somme in 1916 -- which first set her to thinking about the effects of war. Maisie Dobbs came of age at a time when women had taken on many roles previously reserved for men, to free the men for the war efforts. When the war ended, they were reluctant to relinquish their newly found independence. This time of social upheaval and dealing with the aftereffects of "the war to end all wars" provides fertile ground in which to base a series -- as the popularity of this series proves.

The first book in the series, Maisie Dobbs, was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Novel -- only the second time a first novel has been nominated in this category -- and won numerous other prestigious awards. If you're an avid Maisie Dobbs fan, you have a treat in store with Among the Mad. If you haven't yet become a fan, you have an even bigger treat in store: six wonderful mystery novels await you.

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