Leaving Everything Most Loved

Book 10

London, 1933. Two months after the body of Usha Pramal is found in the brackish water of a South London canal, her brother, newly arrived in England from India, turns to Maisie Dobbs to find the truth about her death. Not only has Scotland Yard made no arrests, evidence indicates that they failed to conduct a full and thorough investigation.

Before her death, Usha was living at an ayah’s hostel, alongside Indian women whose British employers turned them out into the street—penniless and far from their homeland—when their services were no longer needed. As Maisie soon learns, Usha was different from the hostel’s other lodgers. But with this discovery comes new danger—another Indian woman who had information about Usha is found murdered before she can talk to Maisie.

As Maisie is pulled deeper into a vibrant culture she finds fascinating, her investigation becomes clouded by the “unfinished business” of a previous case, and by a growing desire to see more of the world—to follow in the footsteps of her former mentor, Maurice Blanche. And there is her lover, James Compton, who gives her an ultimatum she cannot ignore.

Bringing a crucial chapter in the life and times of Maisie Dobbs to a close, Leaving Everything Most Loved marks a pivotal moment in this “outstanding” series (Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review).

Bruce Alexander Award Finalist

…continues the series’ high quality, capturing a time and place and featuring a protagonist as compassionate as she is intuitive. A fine historical mystery with broad appeal.
Booklist
Winspear adroitly weaves a mystery involving tensions with race, class, and even love.
Library Journal
Psychology and private investigation: an unlikely combination of professions, especially for a woman in the 1930s. And yet Maisie Dobbs does both, brilliantly.
Seattle Times Book Review
To remain connected to life’s possibilities, one’s mind must be open to change….It’s a concept that Winspear explores with grace and generosity.
Richmond Times-Dispatch

The Maisie Dobbs Series