All 20+ Jacqueline Winspear Books in Order

You’ve likely seen her name attached to a Maisie Dobbs book and now are curious to learn more about all of the Jacqueline Winspear books in order. In this article we’ve compiled all the books Winspear has published throughout her writing career. Keep reading to find out more about the titles to this bestselling mystery author’s name.

Who is Jacqueline Winspear?

Jacqueline Winspear is a New York Times bestselling author. She was born and raised in Kent, England and also attended the University of London. Before becoming an author, she worked in academic publishing, higher education, and marketing communications.

Winspear emigrated to the US in 1990 where she still lives. However, she still regularly returns to England for visits.

She is most well-known for her Maisie Dobbs series. If you would like to learn more, check out our dedicated Maisie Dobbs books in order article.

Winspear’s first novel was Maisie Dobbs, which became a bestseller and won several awards. Awards such as the Agatha Award for Best First Novel and the Macavity award for Best First Novel.

Her inspiration for the Maisie Dobbs series was in part due to her grandfather’s participation in the First World War. He was severely wounded at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, and Winspear’s knowledge of his suffering bled into the setting of her first novel. While the series is not a traditional war novel, with its emphasis on mystery, the war and its social upheaval are a backdrop to the events in Maisie’s life.

Winspear has said that a generation lost its innocence in the First World War; therefore, the mystery genre provides a wonderful vehicle for exploring that time.

In addition to her Maisie Dobbs series, Winspear has written a handful of other works that are standalones, anthologies, or memoirs. As well, she has written articles for publications such as the Washington Post, Huffington Post, Daily Beast, and more. Also, she has written many essays and short stories that have been published in magazines internationally.

Jacqueline Winspear Books in Order

But now let’s now dive into the Jacqueline Winspear books in order. We’ll start with her Maisie Dobbs series as that is the largest body of work in her bibliography. Further on we’ll list the other titles Winspear has published.

Have Any of Jacqueline Winspear’s Books Been Adapted?

The rights to produce a Maisie Dobbs TV series were first acquired in 2015 by SLAM Films, however, they have most recently been acquired by the Clintons. Yes, those Clintons.

Hillary and Chelsea Clinton’s HiddenLight Productions acquired the film and TV rights in September 2021. The announcement said that the Maisie Dobbs series is a favorite of the two Clintons.

Hillary Clinton has put Maisie Dobbs books on many of her reading lists over the years. She has also said the books are something her and her daughter have shared together.

No further information has been released since the announcement.

A Summary of Jacqueline Winspear Books in Order

Since we have a full article dedicated to the Maisie Dobbs books, we’ll only summarize the first book in the series before diving into summaries of the other works Jacqueline Winspear has published. Keep reading to find out more.

Maisie Dobbs

Maisie Dobbs, psychologist and investigator, began her working life at the age of thirteen as a servant in a Belgravia mansion. It was there she was discovered reading in the library by her employer: Lady Rowan Compton. Fearing dismissal, Maisie is shocked when she discovers that her thirst for education is to be supported by Lady Rowan and a family friend: Dr. Maurice Blanche.

But The Great War intervenes in Maisie’s plans, and soon after commencement of her studies at Girton College, Cambridge, Maisie enlists for nursing service overseas.

Years later, in 1929, having apprenticed to the renowned Maurice Blanche, a man revered for his work with Scotland Yard, Maisie sets up her own business. Her first assignment, a seemingly tedious inquiry involving a case of suspected infidelity, takes her not only on the trail of a killer, but back to the war she had tried so hard to forget.

What Would Maisie Do?

This is a one-of-a-kind companion to the best-selling Maisie Dobbs series. It invites readers into the beloved heroine’s world, while sharing her wisdom and inspiration.

The Maisie Dobbs series has had a resounding impact on fans. Readers have shared with author Jacqueline Winspear how Maisie’s stories have resonated with them or helped them through difficult times. Fans have been inspired by the resilience and endurance of the heroine. Repurposing her strength in their own lives in a way perhaps best embodied by the phrase “What Would Maisie Do?”

Anchored by thirty of Maisie’s most timeless quotes and coupled with Jacqueline Winspear’s inspiration for each nugget of wisdom. These reflections offer readers additional insight into the world of Maisie Dobbs and invite them to reflect on favorite moments and memories.

The Care and Management of Lies

By July 1914, the ties between Kezia Marchant and Thea Brissenden, friends since girlhood, have become strained. Both by Thea’s passionate embrace of women’s suffrage, and by the imminent marriage of Kezia to Thea’s brother, Tom, who runs the family farm.

When Kezia and Tom marry just a month before the war, Thea’s gift to Kezia is a book on household management — a veiled criticism of the bride’s prosaic life to come. Yet when Tom enlists to fight for his country and Thea is also drawn onto the battlefield, the farm becomes Kezia’s responsibility. Each must find a way to endure the ensuing cataclysm and turmoil.

As Tom marches to the front lines, and Kezia battles to keep her ordered life from unraveling, they hide their despair in letters and cards filled with stories woven to bring comfort. Even Tom’s fellow soldiers in the trenches enter and find solace in the dream world of Kezia’s mouth-watering, albeit imaginary, meals. But will well-intended lies and self-deception be of use when they come face-to-face with the enemy?

Published to coincide with the centennial of The Great War, The Care and Management of Lies paints a poignant picture of love and friendship strained by the pain of separation and the brutal chaos of battle. Ultimately, it raises profound questions about conflict, belief, and love that echo in our own time.

This Time Next Year We’ll Be Laughing

This is a personal memoir of the resilience of Jacqueline Winspear’s family in the face of war and privation.

Her memoir tackles family issues like her paternal grandfather’s shellshock and her mother’s evacuation from London during the Blitz. Winspear touches on her soft-spoken animal-loving father’s torturous assignment to an explosives team during WWII and her parents’s years living with Romani Gypsies. As well as Jacqueline’s own childhood working on farms in rural Kent, capturing her ties to the land and her dream of being a writer at its very inception.

It received a nomination for an Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical Work in 2021.

A Study in Sherlock

Jacqueline Winspear contributed to this anthology that poses the question: What would happen if you asked 18 writers who don’t normally write about Sherlock Holmes to write about Sherlock Holmes?

What resulted is a variety of short stories that play on some variation of the Sherlock Holmes canon. Winspear spins a story of a plucky boy inspired by the detective to make his own deductions. Her contribution is: “A Spot of Detection.”

Odd Partners

This is an anthology about unlikely duos who join forces to solve beguiling whodunits. Think the likes of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, Nick and Nora Charles, Hercule Poirot and Arthur Hastings, Thomas and Charlotte Pitt.

The stories collected in this anthology are diverse and varied. Jacqueline Winspear’s contribution is “The Wagatha Labsy Secret Dogtective Alliance.” As the name might suggest, it features a talking dog solving mysteries.

Shattering Glass

Shattering Glass is the first in a series of remarkable anthologies by Nasty Woman Press. This publisher is a unique non-profit founded to help fund other organizations threatened by the rise of autocracy and the ongoing war against civil and human rights in the United States. Shattering Glass takes as its theme the empowerment of women, and all profits from the book are donated to Planned Parenthood.

Jacqueline Winspear’s essay is “Women On Fire,” which is about women working in wildfire management.

Final Thoughts

Have you read all of Jacqueline Winspear’s books? We hope this overview of the Jacqueline Winspear books in order has helped you tick off which books you would like to read next by this bestselling author.

Looking for more books in order?

Check out this list of the Louise Penny books in order.

All 20+ Jacqueline Winspear Books in Order | Ultimate Guide