The Mapping of Love and Death

From the author’s website: "The Mapping of Love and Death opens in August 1914 in the Santa Ynez Valley in California. Michael Clifton—youngest son of an Englishman who had emigrated to America when he was in his late teens, in search of his fortune—has just purchased a tract of land which he believes is rich with one of the state's most valuable resources—oil. A cartographer and surveyor, Michael is sure of his quest, and anticipates his father's pride in his acquisition. Fate steps in when the young Bostonian begins his journey home, and learns that Britain is going to war in Europe, so in a moment of loyalty to his father's homeland, he decides to travel to England to enlist for service. Michael is listed as "missing" in 1916. "In the spring of 1932, after Michael's remains are discovered in France, along with other members of his cartography unit. His wealthy parents hire Maisie Dobbs to find the woman who wrote a series of love letters discovered among Michael's belongings. The lover identifies herself only as 'The English Nurse.' "While tracking down the elusive woman in an investigation that ventures from London's most exclusive drawing rooms to its most downtrodden neighborhoods, Maisie must also wrestle with memories of serving as a nurse in the Great War—memories that she has tried so hard to conquer—and of the passionate wartime romance that ended in tragedy. But as she delves more deeply into what she discovers to be a long-hidden crime, the investigator realizes that unearthing buried secrets can lead to present-day danger—just as events from the past send her own life in a surprising and not unpleasant direction.”