AMONG THE MAD

TITLE: AMONG THE MAD
AUTHOR: JACQUELINE WINSPEAR
Pages: 278
Date: 23/02/2010
Grade: 5+
Details: no. 6 Maisie Dobbs Mystery
Library

I do love this series. I love the setting, London in between the two World Wars. I love the way it deals with the issues of the time without romanticizing them, showing them in all their ghastly reality while never getting too sentimental. And I love the character of Maisie Dobbs, an independent and self-suffficient woman in a time when those qualities were rare in women, yet a woman with issues of her own which make her more real.
This book starts with Maisie and her assistant Billie Beale witnessing a man, obviously a maimed war veteran, killing himself by blowing himself up. 
The next day the British home secretary receives a letter announcing more deaths to follow unless war veterans receive the pensions and care they need and deserve.
Because Maisie's name is mentioned in the letter, she's invited to join the investigation. It soon becomes clear they're dealing with a desperate man, able and willing to use desperate and devastating means to get his point across. And Maisie finds herself dealing with the effects of WW I again. A war that left so many people, including Maisie herself, damaged.
At the same time Maisie is trying to help both Billie's wife and her friend Priscilla who are both dealing with depression.
A very well written mystery with lots of historical detail and insight into human nature and the emotional struggles people have to face.