It’s October 1942, and British ferry pilot Jo Hardy is delivering a fighter plane to its intended destination when she realizes that someone with a gun is shooting at her plane from the ground. She manages to evade fire, but --- determined to figure out who had it in for her --- she returns a few days later by car to the scene she witnessed on the ground. There she makes a surprising discovery: an American serviceman (the United States has recently entered the Second World War), bound and gagged in a barn.

When Jo turns the serviceman, who is Black, over to the military police, she quickly realizes that the man is in big trouble --- he’s apparently under suspicion for the disappearance of a fellow serviceman, who is white. When another plane crashes near the site of Jo’s own near-disaster, she grows convinced that these incidents are all connected and calls in her acquaintance, Maisie Dobbs.

"[O]nce the investigation is in full swing, readers can sit back, relax and watch two masters in action: Maisie the detective and psychologist, and Winspear her creator."

Maisie is just settling into married life with her American husband Mark Scott and their adopted daughter Anna, but she is always willing to help, especially at the request of a fellow female service member (Maisie served in World War I). When Maisie visits the scene of the incident and starts asking questions, she notices some mysterious information --- clues that, according to Mark, who works at the American embassy, could spell trouble for the upcoming goodwill visit of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to see the troops in Europe.

Meanwhile, Maisie’s personal life is not simple either. Anna is struggling at her new school, and Maisie has another mystery to solve. Is Anna the victim of schoolyard bullying, or is the headmistress exhibiting a catastrophic failure of leadership?

Astonishingly (or maybe not so much, given that this is Jacqueline Winspear’s 17th Maisie Dobbs novel), the various narrative strands that weave throughout this latest mystery all come together in ways that are both surprising and satisfying. One of the book’s few drawbacks is that it’s probably safe to say that few people are going to pick up a mystery series for the first time and start with book #17. Much of the exposition in the first few dozen pages will be unnecessary for those who have been reuniting with Maisie and her friends and family members more or less annually for nearly 20 years.

However, once the investigation is in full swing, readers can sit back, relax and watch two masters in action: Maisie the detective and psychologist, and Winspear her creator.