Here’s the blurb;
It is September 1941 and young Freddie Hackett is a message runner – he collects messages from a government office and delivers them to various destinations around London. He sets off one day with a message, along a route of bombed-out houses, and witnesses a murder. Freddie instinctively wants to summon the police, but he has an envelope to deliver first – all communications during wartime could be urgent. When the man who answers the door appears to be the very same person he has just seen kill another, Freddie rushes to the police, but is summarily dismissed. However, he remembers an address in Fitzroy Square, belonging to a private investigator, Maisie Dobbs. Will she believe him and help solve the mystery?
The Consequences of Fear is the first Maisie Dodds book I’ve read (I know, it’s number 16 – but I’ve just ‘got’ into books from this time period). It won’t be the last.
For a first time reader, there were a few stumbling blocks now and then throughout this book, only to be expected, of course. There are clearly well-loved, repeat characters in this book, and the author does a great job of involving as many of Maisie’s friends and allies as possible. This allows the case to be quite complex as she attempts to solve it, running between London and Chelstone.
I really enjoyed how deeply embedded the story is in the history of the period, and I think Maisie will be a fascinating character to uncover in earlier books.
Thoroughly enjoyable, even for a newbie.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my review copy.
The Consequences of Fear is released today, 18th March 2021, in hardback, and on 23rd March in ebook. Get it here.
M J Porter 