Journey to Munich is Book #12 (of 18) of the Maisie Dobbs series written by Jacqueline Winspear. I am hoping to finish the remaining books in the series in anticipation of the last title to be published in July of 2024.
These titles are a pleasure to read - history, culture, psychology, mystery, suspense, drama, friendship, honor, truth, tragedy - all rolled into one satisfying read.
“Working with the British Secret Service on an undercover mission, Maisie Dobbs is sent to Hitler’s Germany in this thrilling tale of danger and intrigue in Jacqueline Winspear’s bestselling series that seems to get better with each entry.”
Brilliant. ***** ( )

Better than the previous Maisie book. Entertaining enough. ( )

When Maisie Dobbs finally returns to England she is persuaded by Robbie MacFarlane to impersonate Leon Donat's daughter and arrange for his release from Dachau prison camp. The mission doesn't go according to the "simple" plans that were in place but Maisie with her ingenuity prevails.

It's nice to see Maisie back to herself after the troubles that she has endured in past books. ( )

Maisie Dobbs has returned to England from Spain and is staying with her friend, Priscilla, when she is approached by Robbie MacFarlane on behalf of the Secret Service. Leon Donat is a British engineer and businessman who has run afoul of the Nazis in Munich and has been imprisoned at Dachau. The British have arranged for his release, Maisie's assignment is pretend to be his daughter and go to Munich and bring him home. Before long Maisie realizes that not everything is as it seems and that things in Germany are deteriorating as the Nazis prepare for the Anschluss. ( )

Shortly after she finally returns to England, Maisie Dobbs is approached by members of the Special Branch to take on an undercover assignment: a British “boffin” (loosely, someone who invents useful things) has been imprisoned in Hitler’s Germany, having been charged with either undermining or insulting the leader, and Britain badly needs him back. Various diplomatic negotiations have resulted in an agreement for Germany to release the man, but only to a relative, and the man’s only child is very sickly and cannot go. Fortunately, Maisie somewhat resembles the woman and so she is asked to travel to Munich and bring the man home. This being 1938, and Germany being increasingly under the spell of an authoritarian government, this is by no means a simple task; and in the meantime, Maisie has also been asked to find the daughter of her enemy, said to be enjoying herself far too much in Munich…. This is the twelfth Maisie Dobbs story, and I think the series has come to an end for me - not because I didn’t think the book was well-written and the characters deeply engaging, but because I simply can’t stand reading fiction (or, for that matter, non-fiction) about World War II. Obviously, that war hasn’t started yet in this book, but much of Hitler’s apparatus (the brownshirts, SS, Gestapo, Dachau) is in place and that’s too much for me. I felt that the series could have ended with Book 10, which is how I plan to think of it in the future; other readers will of course continue to read and appreciate the later books, but it’s not for me. ( )