Seconds Challenge - Birds of a Feather - Jacqueline Winspear

I stayed up past my bedtime last night to finish Birds of a Feather - Jacqueline Winspear (hey, it wasn't a school night). I chose it for my list of Seconds Challenge and was very glad I did. I loved Maisie Dobbs, the first in the series. That one was billed as a mystery, but it was more of a character development study with a tinge of mystery in that Maisie is a private investigator. Throughout that book it shows how she came to choose that path and all of the people along that path and showing the way, however inadvertantly. I should have been disappointed with Ms Winspear for misleading me somewhat, but I wasn't. I adored Maisie and enjoyed the other characters in that first book of her life.
Birds of a Feather continues the story and is actually a mystery. Women are being murdered and only Maisie sees the connection, however tenuous.
This is only a part of the book, though. It continues to be a character study of everyone in Maisie's life. I love Billy, Maisie's assistant, and all that they discuss and go through. He is a wounded soldier from WWI and is fighting his personal demons. I think he is my favorite character in the series, besides Maisie.
There are several things going on at once and I do not know how Maisie continues to carry on as she does, but she is described as showing signs of wear and concern for her well-being after the concern for her father and Billy. She wonders at her life and if she is capable of love again after Simon (read the first book).
With all that is occurring in her life, she never wavers from her self-assurance of her chosen path as a private investigator. I love how she calms and centers herself with meditation.

It is good, but it was early this morning when I chose it. All of my challenge choices were in the master bedroom and I was in the spare, Candy Room, and choices were limited to quietly choosing something from those shelves on the landing or in the Candy Room. Ann Rinaldi's young reader book An Acquaintance With Darkness looked intriguing enough. It is during the time of Lincoln, Civil War and a young girl's life at this time. So far, there has been mention of John Wilkes Booth, Dr Mudd, and body snatching. This will be a book for my Unread Author challenge, if I continue.