A Lesson in Secrets: A Maisie Dobbs Novel

From New York Times bestselling author Jacqueline Winspear, now available in paperback— the latest episode in the New York Times bestselling series, Maisie Dobbs’ first assignment for the British Secret Service takes her undercover to Cambridge as a professor, and leads to the investigation of a web of activities being conducted by the emerging Nazi party.

Private investigator Maisie Dobbs receives her first assignment from the British Secret Service in A Lesson in Secrets, the eighth book in Jacqueline Winspear’s award-winning mystery series. Sent to pose as a junior lecturer at a private college in Cambridge, she will monitor any activities “not in the interests of His Majesty’s government.” When the college’s pacifist founder is murdered, Maisie finds herself in the midst of sinister web of murder, scandal, and conspiracy, activities that point towards members of the ascendant Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei—the Nazi Party—on Britain’s shores. An instant classic, and sure to captivate long-time Maisie Dobbs fans as well as readers of Agatha Christie, Elizabeth George, and Alexander McCall Smith, A Lesson in Secrets is “a powerful and complex novel, one that will linger in memory as a testament to her talent and her humanity” (Richmond Times-Dispatch).

In the summer of 1932, the career of psychologist and investigator Maisie Dobbs takes an exciting new turn when she accepts an undercover assignment from the British Secret Service. Sent to pose as a junior lecturer at a private college in Cambridge, she will monitor any activities “not in the interests of His Majesty’s government.”

When the college’s controversial pacifist founder, Greville Liddicote, is murdered, however, Maisie is directed to stand back as her colleagues in Scotland Yard spearhead the investigation. But she soon discovers that the circumstances of Liddicote’s death appear inextricably linked to the suspicious comings and goings of faculty members and students under her surveillance. To unravel this web, the investigator must overcome a reluctant Secret Service, discover shameful hidden truths about Britain’s conduct during the Great War, and face off against the rising power of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei—the Nazi Party—as the storm clouds of World War II gather on the horizon.

“There’s something exceptionally comforting about becoming enthralled with a new heroine, to whom a reader can return in an ongoing series. But she must be complex. . . . Depth is mandatory. I’ve found this in Maisie Dobbs. . . . For as long as each novel lasts, we live in Maisie’s suspenseful, intelligent world.” - Evelyn Theiss, Cleveland Plain Dealer

“The combination of period detail and intricate storytelling makes A Lesson in Secrets seem distant enough to be romantic but sufficiently modern to engage our sympathies.” - Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal

“With an affecting storyline and graceful prose, Winspear has again created a powerful and complex novel, one that will linger in memory as a testament to her talent and her humanity.” - Richmond Times-Dispatch

“[A] splendid series.” - Wichita Eagle

“Maisie is one of the great fictional heroines, equal parts haunted and haunting.” - Parade