To Die but Once (Maisie Dobbs Series #14)

by Jacqueline Winspear

Overview

Finalist for the Inaugural Sue Grafton Memorial Award

Maisie Dobbs—one of the most complex and admirable characters in contemporary fiction (Richmond Times Dispatch)—faces danger and intrigue on the home front during World War II.

During the months following Britain’s declaration of war on Germany, Maisie Dobbs investigates the disappearance of a young apprentice working on a hush-hush government contract. As news of the plight of thousands of soldiers stranded on the beaches of France is gradually revealed to the general public, and the threat of invasion rises, another young man beloved by Maisie makes a terrible decision that will change his life forever.

Maisie’s investigation leads her from the countryside of rural Hampshire to the web of wartime opportunism exploited by one of the London underworld’s most powerful men, in a case that serves as a reminder of the inextricable link between money and war. Yet when a final confrontation approaches, she must acknowledge the potential cost to her future—and the risk of destroying a dream she wants very much to become reality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062436658
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/27/2018
Series:	Maisie Dobbs Series
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	13,231
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

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.

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

Editorial Reviews

History comes alive when a character you think of as a friend is in the thick of the action. That's how Jacqueline Winspear keeps her Maisie Dobbs mysteries so fresh.…

The New York Times Book Review - Marilyn Stasio

01/01/2018
The possible disappearance of a teenage boy drives bestseller Winspear’s so-so novel set in 1940 Britain, her 14th featuring London investigator and psychologist Maisie Dobbs (after 2017’s In This Grave Hour). Before the war, 15-year-old Joe Coombes worked as an apprentice for a painting and decorating company that the British government retained to paint RAF facilities with a new kind of fire-retardant. When Joe’s family doesn’t hear from him for several days, his father, publican Phil Coombes, asks Maisie to trace the boy. His son seemed different during their last visits, Phil tells her. Maisie soon learns that Joe took a fatal fall onto a railway track, but the reader already knows, via the prologue, that he was bludgeoned to death. The whodunit story line is often secondary to the larger historical picture—in particular, the British response to the retreat from Dunkirk and the threat of German invasion—and to developments in Maisie’s private life. A gratuitous closing contrivance doesn’t help. Still, Winspear fans will find much to like. Agent: Amy Rennert, Amy Rennert Agency. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

The wartime details ... transport us with ease to a milieu where danger is omnipresent but—thanks to the presence of steadfast figures like Dobbs and her like-spirited colleagues—so is hope.” — Wall Street Journal

“Maisie Dobbs is always looking for truth and the underlying motives in her cases. Her stories are ones that this reviewer always wants to read because of her character, values and thoughts on life.... A story about WWII and England that is close to the heart.” — Bookreporter.com

“Winspear’s protagonist is indomitable and vulnerable, brilliant and kind.” — Chelsea Clinton in Entertainment Weekly

“A novel that appeals equally to the intellect and the emotions, To Die but Once advances Maisie’s engaging story and reaffirms Winspear’s eminence in her field.... [A] radiant series.” — Richmond Times-Dispatch

“First-rate.” — Booklist

“History comes alive when a character you think of as a friend is in the thick of the action. That’s how Jacqueline Winspear keeps her Maisie Dobbs series so fresh.” — New York Times Book Review

 “The novelist paints a fascinating picture of life in England at the dawn of war.... Resourceful Maisie remains an endearingly complex character.”                                                                                                                                                                    — Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Winspear has created another rich reading experience for Maisie’s many fans, but this title could be seen as entry point for new fans as well. Highly recommended for readers who enjoy a thoughtful mystery.” — Library Journal, starred review

“In addition to providing a very good mystery, Winspear does a smashing job describing the bravery exhibited by everyday Britons as the fear of invasion becomes ever more real.” — Kirkus

From the Publisher

The novelist paints a fascinating picture of life in England at the dawn of war.... Resourceful Maisie remains an endearingly complex character.”                                                                                                                                                                   

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Winspear’s protagonist is indomitable and vulnerable, brilliant and kind.

Chelsea Clinton in Entertainment Weekly

First-rate.

Booklist

History comes alive when a character you think of as a friend is in the thick of the action. That’s how Jacqueline Winspear keeps her Maisie Dobbs series so fresh.

New York Times Book Review

A novel that appeals equally to the intellect and the emotions, To Die but Once advances Maisie’s engaging story and reaffirms Winspear’s eminence in her field.... [A] radiant series.

Richmond Times-Dispatch

The wartime details ... transport us with ease to a milieu where danger is omnipresent but—thanks to the presence of steadfast figures like Dobbs and her like-spirited colleagues—so is hope.

Wall Street Journal

Maisie Dobbs is always looking for truth and the underlying motives in her cases. Her stories are ones that this reviewer always wants to read because of her character, values and thoughts on life.... A story about WWII and England that is close to the heart.

Bookreporter.com

First-rate.

Booklist

The wartime details ... transport us with ease to a milieu where danger is omnipresent but—thanks to the presence of steadfast figures like Dobbs and her like-spirited colleagues—so is hope.

Wall Street Journal

Maisie Dobbs has found herself another war…. Sizzling.

Marilyn Stasio

Paints a keen picture of a woman and a country struggling to remain calm in the face of sweeping changes.... Deftly blending historical detail with taut suspense and her usual thoughtful exploration of Maisie’s inner life, Winspear turns in another satisfying entry in her beloved series.

Shelf Awareness on Journey to Munich

In Winspear’s skilled hands, the storyline shimmers with intelligence, the Third Reich setting simmers with evil, and the author’s silken prose sweeps the reader from page to page. But towering above all the novel’s assets is Maisie herself…. ‘Journey to Munich’ soars with class and courage, heart and humanity.

Richmond Times-Dispatch on Journey to Munich

Once again, narrator Orlagh Cassidy steps into the formidable shoes of Maisie Dobbs, who is asked to look into the disappearance of the son of a local pub owner. Winspear makes palpable the emotional world of 1940s England, where families are still healing the wounds of WWI and now facing the horrors of sending sons off to WWII. Cassidy’s accent, tone, and pace are well tuned to Maisie’s strong and empathetic character. Cassidy draws on her full palette of British accents to differentiate a large cast of secondary characters, male and female, old and young. Listeners new to the series may be challenged to understand the complex relationships but be inspired to go back to the beginning of the series. E.Q. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2018 - AudioFile

Once again, narrator Orlagh Cassidy steps into the formidable shoes of Maisie Dobbs, who is asked to look into the disappearance of the son of a local pub owner. Winspear makes palpable the emotional world of 1940s England, where families are still healing the wounds of WWI and now facing the horrors of sending sons off to WWII. Cassidy’s accent, tone, and pace are well tuned to Maisie’s strong and empathetic character. Cassidy draws on her full palette of British accents to differentiate a large cast of secondary characters, male and female, old and young. Listeners new to the series may be challenged to understand the complex relationships but be inspired to go back to the beginning of the series. E.Q. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2018 - AudioFile

2017-12-24
Britain teeters on the brink as World War II ramps up.In May 1940, Maisie Dobbs—nurse, spy, psychologist, and enquiry agent—is caught up in the strange death of a local lad. Maisie's life has been fraught with difficulty since the death of her husband in a plane crash and her subsequent miscarriage. She's compensated for her anguish by plenty of daring deeds, including working as a nurse in the Spanish Civil War and as a spy in Hitler's Germany. Just as she's seeking to adopt Anna (In This Grave Hour, 2017, etc.), a refugee child living in her home in Kent, Maisie's approached by local publican Phil Coombes, who's desperately worried about his son Joe. Although only 15, he's apprenticed to Yates and Sons, painters and decorators, and has been traveling the country applying a fire-retardant paint to air-base buildings. The paint has apparently given him massive headaches, and now he's vanished. Maisie, who still has enough gas coupons to run her car, agrees to try tracking him down while her assistant, Billy Beale, checks out Yates. When Joe is found dead on the railroad tracks, the police think he probably jumped, but Maisie is suspicious even before the coroner finds a strange lesion in his brain. In truth, there's something a bit off about the whole Coombes family. Their standard of living is a cut above what Maisie would expect their pub to provide. And when she discovers that Mrs. Coombes is the sister of a well-known and dangerous criminal, she becomes convinced that the government paint contract involves a nasty scam and uses all her contacts to search for the truth. Her life is made even more stressful when her godson and a friend steal off to Dunkirk to help rescue the desperate remnants of the British army trapped between the advancing Germans and the English Channel.In addition to providing a very good mystery, Winspear does a smashing job describing the bravery exhibited by everyday Britons as the fear of invasion becomes ever more real.

Kirkus Review