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The American Agent: Book summary and reviews of The American Agent by Jacqueline Winspear

The American Agent

A Maisie Dobbs Novel

by Jacqueline Winspear

The American Agent by Jacqueline Winspear X
The American Agent by Jacqueline Winspear
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  • Published Mar 2019
    384 pages
    Genre: Mysteries

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Book Summary

Beloved heroine Maisie Dobbs investigates the mysterious murder of an American war correspondent in London during the Blitz in a page-turning tale of love and war, terror and survival.

When Catherine Saxon, an American correspondent reporting on the war in Europe, is found murdered in her London digs, news of her death is concealed by British authorities. Serving as a linchpin between Scotland Yard and the Secret Service, Robert MacFarlane pays a visit to Maisie Dobbs, seeking her help. He is accompanied by an agent from the US Department of Justice - Mark Scott, the American who helped Maisie escape Hitler's Munich in 1938. MacFarlane asks Maisie to work with Scott to uncover the truth about Saxon's death.

As the Germans unleash the full terror of their blitzkrieg upon the British Isles, raining death and destruction from the skies, Maisie must balance the demands of solving this dangerous case with her need to protect Anna, the young evacuee she has grown to love and wants to adopt. Entangled in an investigation linked to the power of wartime propaganda and American political intrigue being played out in Britain, Maisie will face losing her dearest friend - and the possibility that she might be falling in love again.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. Excellent… In Winspear's capable hands, Maisie has evolved into a deeply sympathetic character. Readers will eagerly await her next outing." - Publishers Weekly

"The London blitz is the backdrop to Winspear's latest...An immersive tale of wartime grit and grief." - Booklist

"Advances Maisie's inspiring activities, highlights the bravery of an embattled people during the Second World War, and intimates that lessons from that period have yet to be learned." - Kirkus

This information about The American Agent was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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CarolT

Best of the series
I admit, some of Winspear's early Maisie Dobbs entries were too "preachy" and not enough action. But at 15, she definitely has this one right.

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Author Information

Jacqueline Winspear Author Biography

Photo: Stephanie Mohan

Jacqueline Winspear is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Consequences of Fear, The American Agent, and To Die but Once, as well as thirteen other bestselling Maisie Dobbs novels and The Care and Management of Lies, a Dayton Literary Peace Prize finalist. Jacqueline has also published two nonfiction books, What Would Maisie Do? and a memoir, This Time Next Year We'll Be Laughing. Originally from the United Kingdom, she divides her time between California and the Pacific Northwest.

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