return to home  
Join   |  Gift   |  Member Login   |  Library Login
BookBrowse Mobile
Follow Us: 
   First Impressions: Book Reviews

Member Reviews of forthcoming books.

Book Jacket

An Incomplete Revenge:
A Maisie Dobbs Mystery
by Jacqueline Winspear

Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Publication date: 02/07/2008.
Mysteries, 320 pp.

Number of reader reviews: 17
Readers' Consensus: 4.5
More information
Buy This Book
First Impressions: Page 3 of 3
Rated 4 of 5 of 5 by Karen (Great Falls VA)

An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear
I kept humming "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves" as I read this very fun, light and satisfying mystery from the Maisie Dobbs series--for these are the suspect groups in murder and theft. In fact, I was reading three books at the same time and was always a bit sad that I had to pick up the other two. The author has won many awards for the second book in the Maisie Dobbs' series, "Birds of a Feather" and I enjoyed this one just as much.

A detective and psychologist in a post WW I era, Winspear gives us lots of insight into the sense of loss, confusion and fear after the Great War as she investigates this cozy English town of people. Without angst, the theme of letting go and holding on to a more naive time and its people, runs throughout the book for many of its characters without being the book's focus. The resemblence to our own post-9/11 fears, regrets and losses is part of its dignity. And figuring out "who done it" still felt like a great mini-adventure.

I'm a real bibliofile and reserve a "5" for a select few. I'm sure for many others this book would have been a "5."

Rated 3 of 5 of 5 by Anne (Byram MS)

An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear
In September, 1931, thirty-three years old Maisie Dobbs accepts an assignment to investigate a potential estate purchase. Over the years there have been a series of mysterious fires which the villagers refuse to discuss. Overshadowing all is the Zeppelin raid during World War I that killed a local family. Maisie solves one of her most challenging cases by traveling through the lazy countryside of Kent in post World War I and interviewing villagers, a band of local gypsies, and some of the Londoners who go down to Kent every summer to pick hops. Good period details.

Rated 3 of 5 of 5 by Patty (Kennett Square PA)

An Incomplete Revenge
I found this book to be mildly interesting, just a bit odd and full of quirky characters. I am quite certain that you have to love an old fashioned English mystery to thoroughly enjoy this book. The pastimes, habits, and conversations were sometimes a bit confusing and made the reading of this book quite slow. Hop picking, gypsies and living in tents and caravans all sort of added to the "other worldliness" of this novel. I think this is the first and last Maisie Dobbs book that I will attempt...not enough excitement for this mystery lover.

« prev   1 2 3

Become a Member
Click Here
Editor's Choice
  •  May 21 
  •  May 20 
  •  May 18 
Helga's Diary
Helga Weiss

Helga's Diary Jacket

The remarkable diary of a young girl who survived the Holocaust—appearing in English for the first time.
Fever
Mary Beth Keane

Fever Jacket

A bold, mesmerizing novel about the woman known as "Typhoid Mary," the first known healthy carrier of typhoid fever in the burgeoning metropolis of early twentieth century New York.
The Woman Upstairs
Claire Messud

The Woman Upstairs Jacket

The riveting confession of a woman awakened, transformed, and betrayed by passion and desire for a world beyond her own.
Click Here
   Most Recent Blog Entries
Movies Based on Books: Summer 2013 (May - August)
Jewish Young Adult Books That Are Not About The Holocaust
Books to Give This Mother's Day
rss  RSS   rss  subscribe
Recent Reader Reviews
Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Fowler
Z, the novel about the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is at points charming and; like another reviewer, I kept thinking of the movie, "Midnight... read more
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
Although heavy on the scientific details, which slowed down the story for me (OK, I admit, I was one of those liberal arts majors who skipped out on... read more
The House at the End of Hope Street by Menna van Praag
Loved this book. Magical, quirky, enchanting I could go on. All books do not have to be literary fiction, sometimes it is just so comforting to read... read more
RSS RSS feed More...  
Most Viewed This Week
1. Half the Sky
Nicholas D. Kristof, Sheryl WuDunn
2. A Child Called It
Dave Pelzer
3. And the Mountains Echoed
Khaled Hosseini
4. Defending Jacob
William Landay
5. Into The Wild
Jon Krakauer
More...
Book Club Recommendations
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
by Jeanette Winterson
Paperback (Mar/13)
Eleanor & Park
by Rainbow Rowell
Hardback (Feb/13)
The House Girl
by Tara Conklin
Paperback (Oct/13)
The Painted Girls
by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Hardback (Jan/13)
More...
First Impressions
Members read and review books often months before they're published. See what they think in First Impressions!
Golden Boy
by Abigail Tarttelin
4.5 Stars            (May/13)
The Caretaker
by A .X. Ahmad
Four Stars            (May/13)
The Last Girl
by Jane Casey
Four Stars            (May/13)
The Sisterhood
by Helen Bryan
Four Stars            (Apr/13)
More...
  Latest BookBrowse News
British Parliament asks Amazon to clarify why it pays $9 million in income tax on $23 billion of UK sales. (May 20 2013)
Amazon will be called back to give further evidence to members of the British Parliament "to clarify how its activities in the U.K. justify its low corporate... Full Story
rss RSS feed More...
 
BookBrowse Poll
Q: Which of these Summer movies based on books would you like to see? (Info on each movie here)
The Great Gatsby
Epic
Man of Steel
World War Z
The Lone Ranger
The Wolverine
R.I.P.D.
Percy Jackson
Paranoia
The Mortal Instruments
Select Any That Apply
Search: Title or Author
Free Newsletters
The Light Between Oceans

Online Book Club
More about
The Comfort of Lies
Join the discussion!


Win This Book!
On Sal Mal Lane


"Piercingly intelligent and shatter-your-heart profound."

Enter To Win Now!

wordplay
Solve this clue:
"I Y N P O T Solution, Y P O T P"

and be entered
to win....
frame top
New Author
Interviews
Menna van Praag
Erica Brown
Helga Weiss
Kate Morton
frame bottom
HOME Book Submissions | Advertising | Library Subscriptions | Reviewing for BookBrowse | Contact Us