Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.

A Lesson in Secrets

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

Maisie Dobbs' first assignment for the British Secret Service takes her undercover to Cambridge as a professor—and leads to the investigation of a web of activities being conducted by the emerging Nazi Party.

In the summer of 1932, Maisie Dobbs' career takes an exciting new turn when she accepts an undercover assignment directed by Scotland Yard's Special Branch and the Secret Service. Posing as a junior lecturer, she is sent to a private college in Cambridge to monitor any activities "not in the interests of His Majesty's government."

When the college's controversial pacifist founder and principal, Greville Liddicote, is murdered, Maisie is directed to stand back as Detective Chief Superintendent Robert MacFarlane and Detective Chief Inspector Richard Stratton spearhead the investigation. She soon discovers, however, that the circumstances of Liddicote's death appear inextricably linked to the suspicious comings and goings of faculty and students under her surveillance.

To unravel this web, Maisie must overcome a reluctant Secret Service, discover shameful hidden truths about Britain's conduct during the Great War, and face off against the rising powers of the "Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei"—the Nazi Party—in Britain.

  • Creators

  • Series

  • Publisher

  • Release date

  • Formats

  • Languages

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      January 31, 2011
      In Winspear's solid eighth Maisie Dobbs novel (after The Mapping of Love and Death), Maisie finds herself financially independent, thanks to a bequest from her late mentor, Dr. Maurice Blanche, and open to new challenges exactly at the moment the British Secret Service seeks to recruit her in 1932. Greville Liddicote, the author of a pacifist children's book that the government went to great pains to suppress during WWI, has founded a college in Cambridge devoted to maintaining peace in Europe. To keep tabs on Liddicote, Maisie infiltrates his school under the guise of a philosophy teacher. When a staff member is murdered, she reverts to her old profession and works to aid the police inquiry from the inside. Maisie's new affluence allows her to intervene benevolently in the lives of those she cares for and her romantic life intensifies, but these positive personal developments end up making her less interesting as a protagonist than formerly. 9-city author tour.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Winspear's mysteries are audiobook territory in which to lose oneself--irrevocably and delightfully. Maisie Dobbs, an unconventional detective/ psychologist who served as a WWI nurse, responds to an appeal from Scotland Yard to go undercover as a Cambridge professor for the purpose of investigating secret political activities and subterfuge on the eve of WWII. Orlagh Cassidy shines as the intrepid Maisie. Her crystal-clear British accent deftly segues into German, French, American, and Scottish accents when needed. All the story's pivotal personas and period authenticity are believable and striking. Masterfully juggling several plot threads, including Maisie's clandestine professorial job, a tumultuous romance, and the suspicious death of her secretary's young husband, Cassidy delivers an engaging listen. A.W. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

Languages

  • English

Loading