Among the Mad

AMONG THE MAD: Jacqueline Winspear: Henry Holt & Co.: Mystery: 306 pgs.

Maisie Dobbs, psychological private investigator, finds herself questioned by Scotland Yard after an anonymous letter they receive mentions her. The writer also threatens the life of Londoners if the government doesn’t comply with his demands for weary and shell-shocked WWI veterans in early 1930s England. After clearing her of any involvement with the writer, the Yard asks for Maisie’s help in their investigation. This leads Maisie to mental institutions and a top-secret government chemical lab in her search of the man who begins poisoning animals and then a junior minister in his quest to help the soldiers. Maisie must also focus her attentions on her assistant’s mentally fragile wife and her good friend, Priscilla, who drowns her worries about the future in alcohol.

I have enjoyed this series (this is the sixth) from the beginning, but am becoming tired of practically perfect Maisie and her somewhat bland personality. I am also weary of the constant preaching Winspear, through Maisie’s voice, does regarding the treatment of returning soldiers after the war. I understand they should have been better treated, but am tired of reading about it on every page (a slight exaggeration, but only just).

MN