THE CONSEQUENCES OF FEAR (Maisie Dobbs #16) by Jacqueline Winspear will be published on March 23rd 2021 by Harper.
As if she isn't busy enough with raising her adopted daughter, dodging the bombs that German aircraft are dropping on London, and assessing undercover agents for the Special Operations Executive, Maisie Dobbs takes on a job investigating a murder that a young delivery boy saw late one night. Not long after witnessing the murder, Freddie Hackett came face to face with the murderer. When Scotland Yard fails to take the boy's statement seriously, it falls to Maisie to prove that the boy did indeed witness the crime. As Maisie digs deeper, she gets caught up in a power struggle between British intelligence agents and the Free French who are stationed in England.
I am always excited for a new installment in the Maisie Dobbs historical mystery series. In sixteen books, Maisie has come a long way. And the readers have come a long way with her. England is now fully engulfed in World War II as they hold the line against Germany. Maisie is caught up in important war work—work that she does not enjoy and really does not want to be a part of since it involves sending undercover agents into occupied France where they face almost certain death. Consequences of fear is a very exciting novel. Maisie figures out the identity of the murderer earlier on. The problems she faces is proving that the murder took place and determining the motive behind it. She also has to keep a young boy and his family safe as the Germans drop bombs indiscriminately across London.
I felt like the last few novels in the series were not quite up to par with earlier books—especially THE AMERICAN AGENT. Consequences of fear brings back the excitement and intrigue to the Maisie Dobbs series.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.