An Incomplete Revenge

Jacqueline Winspear

★ ★ ★

Maisie is on a case for James Compston (her mentor's son) who is about to purchase a large estate & brickworks....

While investigating the estate & brickworks during Hops picking season; a fire breaks out in the pub Maisie's staying in and thanks to her quick thinking the pub is saved before any major damage is done.... The fire is obviously arson (Maisie sees someone running from the fire) but the publican adamantly insists he accidentally set the fire and insists that Maisie forget that it happened......

The fire is not the first to have occurred in the village... for years since the war, in fact every year on the same date a fire has been set..... The date of the Zeppelin raid when the smithy was bombed and a local family was killed in a mysterious fire......

Maisie is drawn to the Hops pickers, one of the families is that of her assistant, Billy Beal. Billy's wife has been spending time w/ the Romas, who are also picking, as they have a baby girl who helps her fulfill the loss of her baby daughter. When Maisie encounters the Romas, whose matriarch has seen her coming and knows that Maisie is the one who can heal the scars of the past, the past begins to unravel and the healing begins.

There was so very much going on, here, there, everywhere that it was difficult to keep the story all together. I did not like the characters, the back story was tragic and ugly..... In fact I found this to be a bit boring and I just wanted to find out what was going on....