The White Lady
Winspear has stepped away from her popular Maisie Dobbs historical mystery series to give readers a standalone novel, The White Lady. In 1947, Rose and Jim Mackie and their three-year-old daughter, Susie, have left a London still recovering from WWII for a home in the country, away from Jim’s controlling crime family, to start a new, independent life in Kent – living a law-abiding life with honest work.
Elinor White, the White Lady, is the Mackies’ elusive and aloof neighbor. Greetings from all the villagers are unwelcome, but Elinor is inexplicably affectionate with little Susie. Although Elinor’s strong feelings toward Susie do not match up with the explanation later in the book. We learn that that Elinor’s house is a ‘grace-and-favor’ house – a lifelong home provided for special service to the Crown. A mystery surrounds her: what did she do in the past to earn this special favor? Chronological flashbacks to Elinor’s life as a young girl during WWI and then as a woman in WWII reveal her brave service to the Crown. Now post-war, Elinor’s clandestine activities and her interactions with the local DCI, Stephen Warren, who she knew during the war, keep the plot moving and slowly unravel another mystery.
Her involvement in both wars is the most engaging narrative of the book, whereas the Rose and Jim storyline feels forced and contrived. Jim’s criminal family is trying to force him back to London to assist in a big heist. Elinor comes to Rose’s aid when the Mackie brothers show up to intimidate the family. Elinor inserts herself in this conflict, and now her life is supposedly in grave danger from the Mackies. This conflict, with its abrupt resolution, does not ring true. Unconvincing character motivations and some plot points make this book a disappointment.
