An Incomplete Revenge: A Maisie Dobbs Novel

by Jacqueline Winspear

Overview

In her fifth outing, Maisie Dobbs, the extraordinary Psychologist and Investigator, delves into a strange series of crimes in a small rural community

With the country in the grip of economic malaise, and worried about her business, Maisie Dobbs is relieved to accept an apparently straightforward assignment from an old friend to investigate certain matters concerning a potential land purchase. Her inquiries take her to a picturesque village in Kent during the hop-picking season, but beneath its pastoral surface she finds evidence that something is amiss. Mysterious fires erupt in the village with alarming regularity, and a series of petty crimes suggests a darker criminal element at work. As Maisie discovers, the villagers are bitterly prejudiced against outsiders who flock to Kent at harvest time—even more troubling, they seem possessed by the legacy of a wartime Zeppelin raid. Maisie grows increasingly suspicious of a peculiar secrecy that shrouds the village, and ultimately she must draw on all her finely honed skills of detection to solve one of her most intriguing cases.

Rich with Jacqueline Winspear's trademark period detail, this installment of the bestselling series, An Incomplete Revenge, is gripping, atmospheric, and utterly enthralling.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312428181
Publisher:	Picador
Publication date:	11/25/2008
Series:	Maisie Dobbs Series
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	17,036
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Jacqueline Winspear is the author of the Maisie Dobbs novels, Maisie Dobbs, Birds of a Feather, Pardonable Lies, and Messenger of Truth. Maisie Dobbs won the Agatha, Alex and Macavity Awards; Birds of a Feather won the Agatha Award; and Pardonable Lies won the Sue-Feder/Macavity Award for Best Historical Mystery. Originally from the UK, Winspear now lives in California.

Hometown:

Ojai, California

Date of Birth:

April 30, 1955

Place of Birth:

Weald of Kent, England

Education:

The University of London¿s Institute of Education

Website:

http://www.jacquelinewinspear.com

Reading Group Guide

About this Guide

The following author biography and list of questions about An Incomplete Revenge are intended as resources to aid individual readers and book groups who would like to learn more about the author and this book. We hope that this guide will provide you a starting place for discussion, and suggest a variety of perspectives from which you might approach An Incomplete Revenge.

Discussion Questions

1. Divided between past and present, between her female gender and her male-dominated profession, and between her British identity and part-gypsy ancestry, Maisie Dobbs is a character of intense inward divisions. How do these divisions both complicate and strengthen Maisie as a character?

2. A variety of pivotal scenes in An Incomplete Revenge involve dramatic uses of fire. What range of moods, feelings, or symbolic meanings does fire represent in the novel?

3. Although several of the residents of Heronsdene are developed individually as characters, the townspeople are also dominated by an ominous group psychology. What might Winspear be suggesting through her portrayal of this town about the limits of people's abilities to think or choose for themselves?

4. Maisie is freer from class prejudice than most of the other characters in Winspear's novel. Nevertheless, does an awareness of class difference influence her relationships with people like Billy Beale and Priscilla Evernden? How?

5. Animals, especially dogs and horses, appear prominently in An Incomplete Revenge. How do their presence and the way they are treated help us to better understand Winspear's human characters?

6. Followers of the Maisie Dobbs series have shared the heroine's dread anticipation of the death of her long-incapacitated friend Simon Lynch. Does his death in An Incomplete Revenge affect Maisie (or you) in the ways that you anticipated? What choices does Winspear make in describing Maisie's emotional response, and do you agree with them?

7. A character from a previous Maisie Dobbs mystery observed that war is despicable because it is "not over when it ends." How might this seeming paradox be applied to An Incomplete Revenge? Through the death of Simon Lynch and the group confession that marks a climax in the novel, do you think Maisie and the townspeople of Heronsdene are moving toward a long-awaited closure, or do you think they will continue to be trapped and haunted by the memories of the Great War? On what do you base your judgment?

8. What is Maisie's attitude toward the gypsy elements in her ancestry? In a novel that counsels the acceptance and understanding of different ethnicities, is Maisie sufficiently accepting of her own mixed heritage?

9. At the end of the novel, Maisie dances alone in her apartment. Discuss the significance of this gesture.

Editorial Reviews

“Maisie Dobbs is a revelation.” —Alexander McCall Smith, Author of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency

“Those unfamiliar with the Maisie Dobbs series are best advised to start here and work their way backward. . . . An Incomplete Revenge shows Maisie at the top of her detecting form.” —Newsday

“A smart, pragmatic private investigator and psychologist with extraordinary empathic sensitivity . . . Every page of this novel is dense with affectionately rendered period detail. Winspear deftly intertwines multiple story lines. The tale becomes increasingly gripping as the novel progresses toward a truly moving ending.” —The Boston Globe

“Winspear's lively and graceful prose, strong sense of time and place, and her ability to create believable and sympathetic characters make the book a joy to read.” —The Denver Post

“A pleasure . . . This nuanced series explores England in the aftermath of World War I, when millions of women who lost their husbands, lovers, and sons were left to make their own ways. Maisie is one of that group, and her way is an appealing one.” —The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)

“A compelling and intriguing puzzle . . . Winspear infuses this moving novel with wisdom, restrained emotion and, as is her custom, issues of morality.” —Richmond Times-Dispatch

“Intriguing . . . Fascinating . . . Skillfully drawn.” —The Washington Times

“One of the more robust entries in the historical mystery category.” —The Seattle Times

“Often eloquent and deeply human.” —The Providence Journal

From the Publisher