Part of Maisie Dobbs, book 4
First published 2006
Nicholas Bassington-Hope plunges to his death the night before his exhibition opens at a prestigious Mayfair gallery. The police call it an accident and close their investigation. His twin sister Georgina refuses to accept their verdict. A journalist herself, she turns to Maisie Dobbs, her former classmate from Girton College who now works as a psychologist and investigator. Maisie takes the case and discovers it leads beyond London's art galleries to the remote shores of Dungeness in Kent. She must penetrate the aristocratic Bassington-Hope family and their bohemian circle while navigating the corrupt art world that may have killed Nicholas. As Maisie pursues the truth, she also struggles with another family crisis that weighs heavily on her conscience. The investigation exposes how the Great War continues to damage British society in 1931. Maisie faces increasing danger as those responsible for the artist's death emerge to stop her inquiry.
Genres: art, historical-fiction, 20th-century, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Dungeness, Kent, London, Mayfair
Period: 1931
322 pages · Hardcover · Henry Holt and Co.