CAST OF CONTINUING CHARACTERS
Maisie Dobbs
In 1929 Maisie Dobbs moves into a small office in Warren Street from which she intends to conduct her business as a psychologist and investigator. She had previously been working with her long-time teacher and mentor, Dr. Maurice Blanche, but upon his retirement took on the business, but had to move to a cheaper area. Maisie is haunted by her experiences as a nurse in the Great War.
Billy Beale
Formerly caretaker at the Warren Street office, Billy Beale becomes Maisie’s assistant after helping her with an important case. Billy’s unfailing loyalty has its roots in the war, when he was a young soldier brought into the casualty clearing station where she was working.
Dr. Maurice Blanche
Blanche – a doctor of legal medicine, psychologist and philosopher – has directed Maisie’s education and training from her girlhood. The bond between them is almost like that of a father and daughter.
Frankie Dobbs
Adored father of Maisie Dobbs and former costermonger (a man who sells vegetables and fruit from a barrow on the streets of London), Frankie moves to Chelstone Manor in Kent (the country home of the Comptons) during the war, when the grooms enlist in the army. He lives in a cottage on the estate, which becomes a refuge for Maisie when she needs to leave London and get away into the country.
Lady Rowan Compton
Maisie’s former employer and sponsor of her education. Lady Rowan – a one-time suffragette and social reformer – is an enthusiastic supporter of Maisie and her work. Indeed, it many ways she lives vicariously through Maisie
Priscilla Partridge
Maisie’s old friend from Girton College. Priscilla abandoned her studies to become an ambulance driver in France in the Great War. Following the Armistice, Priscilla – who lost all three brothers to war, and then her parents to the flu epidemic – escaped to Biarritz on the Atlantic coast of France, where she drowned her intense grief in a round of parties and drinking. Marriage to the very solid Douglas Partridge changed her life, and she is now the mother of three boys.
Detective Inspector Richard Stratton
Maisie often crosses paths with Stratton, a widower with a young son. Stratton admires Maisie, but Maisie has deflected any attempts on his part to extend the bounds of their acquaintance.
Simon Lynch
Once a brilliant doctor during the Great War and Maisie’s first love, Captain Simon Lynch fell victim to the battlefield and was rendered incapacitated, both in body and mind. |
