The Centennial Ticker

All of the other seven persons sleeping at the residence that night escaped from the fire. Later it was established that the four had been killed by suffocation. Nearly all the rest suffered from shock and minor injuries. An investigation disclosed that the fire was caused by live coals dropping from an open grate upon the floor. It fell upon Pershing friend Major James Harbord, who was on the post commanding a ceremonial cavalry detachment supporting the nearby World's Fair, to notify Pershing of the terrible event. Thinking perhaps to save the general some shock, Harbord addressed the telegram to Pershing's aide. The aide, however, was absent, and the El Paso operator read the telegram to Pershing himself. The general had been expecting his family to visit El Paso only a few days away.

Pershing rushed to San Francisco, arriving Sunday August 29. Mrs. Pershing's parents, U.S. Senator and Mrs. Francis E. Warren arrived that same day. Pershing first visited the funeral home then went to the burned-out residence and finally to see his son who had been taken to Letterman General Hospital. Twenty-four Presidio sergeants accompanied the cortege to the train that afternoon and the mourners departed for Cheyenne, Wyoming.

From: Defender of the Gate: The Presidio of San Francisco, 1846 to 1995

Maisie Dobbs (Original Cover Art, MD #1)

Maisie Dobbs, a private investigator, is the creation of English-born Jacqueline Winspear, who immigrated to the USA in 1990. The eleven Maisie Dobbs novels are set in the aftermath of World War One and have been written over a period of twelve years, starting with Maisie Dobbs (2003), and concluding with A Dangerous Place (2015). Winspear has also written a standalone novel on the war, The Care and Management of Lies (2014), which focuses on the home front during the first couple of years of the war. The Dobbs novels cover the time span 1929 to 1937 and, with the exception of the most recent novel, which is set in Gibraltar, they are set in England. Winspear's investigator learns to come to terms with her experiences as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse on the western front and puts these to good use in tracking down criminals. The crimes investigated often have a direct connection with the war. How has the war shaped Dobbs as a woman and as an investigator, and how does she develop during the eleven novels? The woman and the investigator in the most recent novel have learned to cope with loss, have slain the dragon of memory, are stronger and more rounded and ready to take up the old life but with new and important insights.

Winspear's novels are based on the idea that "stories . . . are never just stories. They contain fundamental truths about the human condition" (Birds 264). They are composed of "layers of truth" and "webs of lies" (Revenge 219). As such, the novels are powerful illustrations of what a war can do to the individual and to society at large. They are also excellent sources of knowledge about how the English nation struggled to come to terms with the effects of World War One socially, economically and psychologically. Dobbs is on a pilgrimage in which, as her mentor Maurice Blanche explains, "we are forced to shed the layers upon layers we have carried for so long. Then we find that our load is lighter and we have come to know something of ourselves in the perilous climb" (Pardonable Lies 66). This important lesson is accentuated in the ninth novel, where Blanche tells Dobbs that "in delving into the secrets held by the dead, by the living, and by those who have come to harm and caused harm, you will learn much about yourself. You will be challenged by this knowledge, and will be drawn to self-examination and - perhaps - recrimination" (Elegy 138-9). Towards the end of the most recent novel, Dobbs acknowledges that "I will prevail. I am resilient" (Dangerous Place 272). This is not only evidence of Dobbs' development but, hopefully, a promise to the reader that there are more Maisie Dobbs novels to come.

Dobbs the woman is overshadowed by Dobbs the detective. In the first two novels, Maisie Dobbs and Birds of a Feather, she is troubled by memories of the war and of her lover, Simon Lynch, an army doctor who was wounded while conducting an operation and whose personality was changed forever. The war is depicted as a monster which tightens its grip on Dobbs so that by the ninth novel in the series the narrator comments that "war was more than a place; it was a monster, a thing at once alive and dead and predatory, and it could be the root of a newfound hell anywhere. Like a new island born of a volcanic eruption, it could even create havoc before fully formed. Yes, war was a country, and (Dobbs) had been there" (Elegy 252). The young investigator carries the monster with her everywhere. It is clear that it is her work that enables her to come to terms with her experiences at the front. This is implied throughout the series but clearly stated in the tenth novel, Leaving Everything Most Loved, where it is compared to "a steadfast rock that had grounded her through the journey of recovery from the wounds of war, especially those lingering in her soul" (88).

Author Jacqueline Winspear

Despite her struggles, or perhaps because of them, Dobbs is known for her compassion. This is seen over and over again in the novels, in, for example, her efforts to save her assistant's daughter, Lizzie, who has diphtheria, in her generosity to the poor and unemployed, and in her dislike of prejudice, which is particularly pronounced in Leaving Everything Most Loved, in which she investigates the murder of a beautiful Indian lady in London. Dobbs consistently reflects on her integrity, always questioning her "moral compass" to ensure that she upholds her "truth north", that is, her belief that "all would be well and good if she acted with compassion and a sense of the right thing to do" (Leaving 288). This compass is not only an integral part of her nature but also a vital ingredient in her work as a private investigator.

Dobbs is by nature and ambition well-suited to the work of a private investigator. She is also naturally curious, constantly seeking answers to her questions. She learns her most important lessons from Blanche. These are clearly outlined in the very first novel, Maisie Dobbs, and include: writing down and preserving everything, (10), making connections (49), leaving the door open for truth (53), and allowing questions to trouble her (104). She must also spend time with the dead: "the dead [have] secrets to reveal, if only one has the vision to see them" (Elegy 81), of which more below.

Some of Dobbs's most important techniques are rather unusual, including her use of silence and meditation, which she has learned from Basil Khan, a Ceylonese mystic. This technique becomes particularly prominent in the third novel, Pardonable Lies. Here the narrator describes how Dobbs sits on a cushion, stills her mind, asks questions silently - questions that she does not attempt to answer because she knows that "insights and responses would come to her in the hours and days ahead, as long as she went forward with an openness of heart" (29). Another unusual but often used and very successful technique is to imitate the posture of those she interviews in order to understand their feelings, hopes and fears.

Dobbs is not a perfect student, however, because the first lesson she learns from Blanche, namely the above-mentioned spending time with the dead, is forgotten during her period of mourning in Gibraltar (she has lost both her husband and child). The importance of this lesson is clearly emphasized in A Dangerous Place. As Dobbs investigates the death of the Jewish photographer she realizes that she has forgotten to investigate the details of the victim's early life, his relations with his family, friends and the local community, and the events of the last few days of his life. Only when she remedies this omission is she able to find the trail that leads to the killer.

It is in the most recent novel that Dobbs most clearly and most successfully combines the lessons learned from Blanche with revelations of her own born of suffering and loss. She recognizes that "the only way that she could fight her way out of the abyss was to prove something to herself - she could be brave, she could survive and she could be strong. She had looked in the mirror so many times, hoping to see something of her former self" (Dangerous Place 219). By the end of the novel, the former self is visible but it has become modified, rounded and considerably stronger. It is in A Dangerous Place that Dobbs returns to war, though this time it is the Spanish Civil War. It is here that she takes up nursing again to remind herself of what she has achieved and who she is. And it is here that she finally acknowledges to herself that she must accept the events of her life in order to move on: "she had learnt how to shoulder grief, and knew that she would see a clear path ahead, in time" (304). On the penultimate page of the novel, the reader is given the promise she has been waiting for, that Dobbs will return to England and that "she might even feel compelled to go back to her old business" (316). Anyone who has followed Dobbs's progress from 1929 to 1937 feels sure that she will do just that - and that she will be successful in whatever she undertakes because the woman and detective who return to England are even stronger, even more compassionate and even more determined to restore order to a damaged world. It is indeed no coincidence that the final word of the novel is "hope". The Maisie Dobbs novels offer hope to a world still struggling to understand how World War One has influenced and continues to influence us today. The series is a journey of self-discovery not only for the woman and investigator but also for the reader. As such, it is a wonderful example of the special ability of stories to explore the human condition, understand the past and come to terms with the present.

Here are four of Jacqueline Winspear's works we recommend for a starter set: her first two Maisie Novels (on the left), her most recent Maisie at the end, and her stand alone work, The Care and Management of Lies, in between.