Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear (2003)

A very interesting take on the private-eye genre, lent to me by a colleague. Maisie Dobbs opens up her own investigative office in 1929 London - obviously quite an accomplishment. We see her investigating a possibly wandering wife, which leads to some questions about recently deceased WW I vets. Then the middle of the book takes us back to Maisie's childhood, where she starts working as a maid in a house of aristocrats, when he mother dies and her father can no longer take care of her. Her bright mind is noticed and she is sent to Cambridge, but she feels an obligation to help in the war effort and works as a nurse in France. This was the most intense part for me - seeing the war from a woman's point of view, sort of like a female shorter version of All Quiet on the Western Front by Remarque. Then we return to London in 1929 and now we see how her war experiences have affected her life, and the mystery is strongly tied to the aftermath of the war. So in a sense, this was a historical novel. Plus I loved the London and Cambridge settings, both places I have been.