There’s a world of trouble in five new thrillers, with locations ranging from rural England to blood-spattered Madrid and deceit-filled China. And we begin our tour with an ending . .
. n “The Comfort of Ghosts” by Jacqueline Winspear (SoHo Crime, 360 pages, $29.95) It has already been announced so this is not a spoiler: The 18th Maisie Dobbs adventure is also the last.
In a foreword, Winspear says she’s done everything she intended with the English psychologist/sleuth, whose first appearance was around the time of World War I and whom Winspear has steered through peace time, another world war, two marriages, widowhood, adopting a daughter, coming into a title and inheriting a pile of cash. Give the author credit for knowing it was time to step away from the Mary Poppins-esque Maisie, who has become a little too annoyingly perfect, and for giving her creation a worthy send-off. After the end of World War II, Maisie is trying to solve the murder of a wealthy Nazi sympathizer and figure out how to help four children left homeless by the Blitz who happen to have suspicious knowledge of wartime tactics.
Fans of the series (I’ve read’em all) will have to be patient with Winspear’s frequent recaps, which make “Comfort” work as a stand-alone but occasionally bog it down. Fortunately, fans also can speculate about whether Winspear might change her mind after a few years off, since she drops clues that she may not be as done with Maisie as she claims. n “Look in th.