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Friday, November 24, 2006

Birds of a Feather

by Jacqueline Winspear
Rating 4/5
Birds of a Feather is book 2 in the Maisie Dobbs mystery series, which takes place inEngland during the 1930's. Maisie is a shy 30-something private investigator. She was born poor but has been fostered by a wealthy widow whom she used to work for as a maid. Now she has a room 'upstairs' which places a strain on her relationship with the house help. She's not quite a gentlewoman so she feels out of place in that world as well. In the past she has had a close relationship with her father, but as she matures, Maisie reminds him more and more of his dead wife. This has created tension in their relationship. Maisie's 'true love' is in a convalescent home and will never again recognize her, so she is coming to turns with dating. In addition to all this, is the mystery of the story.

I enjoyed book 1 of the series, but thought this one was even better. I'm looking forward to reading the 3rd in the series, Unpardonable Lies.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm a great fan of Maisie Dobbs. She's a bit out of the ordinary and her cases are so interesting.

I'm awaiting her most recent adventure, which I've requested from the library.

md

Anonymous said...

Oh, I'm so glad that you like this one - I read the first in the series and really enjoyed it, so I'll have to put this on my every growing TBR list. I found Maisie a very likable heroine and look forward to reading more about her. Thanks for the recommendation!

Booklogged said...

Welcome, Mary. I think there are four, aren't there?

Jackie, I agree, Maisie is very likeable.

SuziQoregon said...

Oh good - I just read the first one and liked it, but it seemed to be more establishing the characters and their backstories. I'm glad to hear you liked the second one even better.

Anonymous said...

There are four in the series so far, and I'm hopeful there will be many more.

I'm enjoying A Reader's Journal very much. May I post a reference on my blog?

md

Booklogged said...

SuziQ, the first one does set the stage and the second one becomes a bit more involved.

Mary, feel free to. One of these days I'm going to update my links. I've been using my RSS feed, Sage, so I don't even use my links anymore. I still like to have them updated, though. The short of that was I'll add your ink to my blog.

litlove said...

I really loved this novel, and I agree with you - even better than the first. Can't wait to read the third one now!

Les said...

Glad to hear this one is better than the first. I liked the first, but didn't love it as so many of my friends did.

Joy said...

I haven't read the first yet, but I'm looking forward to it. Glad to know the second is better yet. :)

Lotus Reads said...

Hi, booklogged!

I had intended to read the first one in the series for my Stacks challenge, but changed it because I just wasn't getting into it at that time, I will go back to the series though because I'm hearing such nice things about it from you and everyone that has commented here!

nessie said...

One of things i find is so hard to do is rate the book numerically. I can always think of a situation that it CAN BE a 10/10 or a 1/10... how do you calculate it?

Christina said...

This one sounds pretty interesting.

BTW I can't believe how many books you have crossed off your stacks list. I wish that was me but I spend half the time picking up books from the library and rarely getting to my list.

Booklogged said...

Litlove, I'm looking forward to book 3, too. Unfortunately, it will have to wait until after the classics challenge I afraid.

Les, the books are not fast-paced, but there is more of a mystery in the second.

Lotus, this series may not be your cup of tea. Although I think you might enjoy it when you're in the right mood. I wouldn't claim that they are 'must reads' so if you never get in the mood, you'll find other delightful things to read. You always do.

Nessie, that's a very hard question. I'm afraid so much of the rating is subjective. I try to consider if the book is well written, imaginative, uses language beautifully, and makes an impact.
I'm sure that my ratings are influenced by the books I've recently read. Sadly, it's not a science.

Christina, I haven't made much headway with my reading this week, either. Oh well, huh?

Anonymous said...

I'm in the middle of the third one right now and it's so good! I'm already anxious to read 4 and haven't even finished this one :)

Unknown said...

A new mystery series for me to try!!! Sounds like a good one too! Thanks for your review.