Although this is the third audiobook in the Maisie Dobbs series that I have listened to, I was truly captured by this one! I learned a great deal about the history and the personal anguish of WWI on those that lived on. The character development kept me engaged and eager for a safe conclusion. I found the last scene a tribute to the lessons of endless wars.

The third book in the series continues to flesh out Maisie Dobbs as a person and an investigator. Somehow though, I find I’m really not that interested. I think that’s because I really don’t believe the characters or the storyline - they feel too manufactured. I really enjoy the setting and time period but found myself annoyed with the description of what everyone was wearing and the coincidences that strained credulity. So, nice to meet you, Maisie, but I think I’ll move on.

maisie struggles with so much in this one. my heart both went out to her and i felt like part of the chorus yelling at her to rest. she is such a strong character & overcomes a lot of unique obstacles in the pursuit of truth.

Still hanging in with Maisie and the others. I am always surprised by how little I know about this time in history. I am always propelled by the mystery presented and usually surprised by an element or two. Here it happened again. No spoilers! On to the 4th in the series!

Onvan : Pardonable Lies (Maisie Dobbs, #3) - Nevisande : Jacqueline Winspear - ISBN : 312426216 - ISBN13 : 9780312426217 - Dar 359 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 2005

It did take me a while to read this one as it’s chock a block full of information. Once again I thank you Karen for giving me this author to read. I never get bored with her novels so far which often happens with me then I often chop and change but not with Maisie Dobbs. She’s a force to be reckoned with but in this one it shows she’s only human and the efforts of finding out the truth of what happened to Sir Cecil’s son and the threats on her life do catch up eventually. I had no idea who the culprit was and I’m so glad it wasn’t the person I began to suspect and all ends well. The Great War was an awful war which I do not know much about but these novels although fiction have given me a bit of an insight about how truly awful it was. But then no war is a good war and I still cannot comprehend why they are still going on?!? “Man’s Inhumanity to Man” still resonates from all those years ago in my high school English class.

I absolutely loved this book as this author actually manages to take you to wherever Maisie goes. Her description of the beautiful countryside in England and the hustle and bustle of London then over to France. The clothes Maisie wears to the food, it’s all there for you to SEE!

I have one chapter left and I literally don't care how it ends.

I meant to give up after the second book but thought the series would make a tolerable audiobook.

Except I can't stand Maisie.

The motivations for her behaviors make no sense in the context of her character; meanwhile she manages to always, always say and do the exact right thing.

I'm sick of hearing about how she folded her hands in her lap or picked up a cup with one hand and laid the other hand flat on the table or brushed her left hand slowly along her forehead and then leaned back…

I'm sick of "Maisie shook her head"—Google it, it's like 30 times per book.

And obviously the unexplained, even in the context of the world of the book, woo-woo is laughable.

#abandoned

I really like this mystery series. Love the setting and sense of place. Characters are well rounded and I like the way the author tells a story. This time we get to see Maisie grow as she confronts some ghosts from the past while on a visit to France. I had part of the mystery figured out but that didn't stop me from enjoying the story.

That being said, I didn't quite understand the psychic resolution. Did that come out of the blue or did I miss something at the beginning of the story? I went back in my mind to see if I had heard mention of that particular character and came up blank. For this reason I cannot give it a 5-star rating. If it was my own fault because I was woolgathering instead of paying attention to the narrator, I apologize and I'll give it a 5, but so far I haven't been able to remember any previous reference to this character.

Este tercer libro de la serie me ha gustado más que el anterior de las plumas.
Sigue gustandome el contexto histórico y la trama me ha parecido buena también.

I listened to this and enjoyed it a great deal. I usually like to start a series from the first book but after listening to a sample of this story, I borrowed it from my library and jumped right it. I now will dutifully go back to the beginning and read (listen) to the first book. (although I think it's a different reader... ). As I am writing this I am recovering from Covid and my brain is a bit foggy. I finished this book weeks ago but am just now getting to the review.

I liked the characters, I liked the story line, but I did think the story dragged toward the end. This is the perfect type of audio book for listening on my morning walks (which I hope to resume when I am not so weak from this virus). It's always great to discover a new series and I am grateful that my library carries these audio books.

I loved this book, I love the series can't wait to get into the next one.

I have had a love hate relationship with the Maisie Dobbs books over the years. I read the first one and just wasn’t overly impressed but I pressed on and read the second and again felt like I wasn’t connecting with the series in the way that I had hoped.

But I keep pushing myself to read them because not only do I love the covers but I love the time period! I love books set either during the Great War or in the years immediately following in England.

This should be a series that I fell in love with based on the setting but I struggled to really connect with Maisie as a character so I just haven’t loved this series in the way that I hoped. But I am all for foraging through….not indefinitely mind you but I decided that if I read the third book and still didn’t enjoy it then I was going to give up.

I recently binge watched the Miss Fisher Mysteries on Netflix and I was feeling like I wanted to read a mystery with a female detective, maybe a little romance, and set after the Great War…..so rather than read an actual Miss Fisher novel, I settled on the third Maisie Dobbs book….mostly because I was so in love with the Miss Fisher TV series that I didn’t want to change anything by reading one of the books so…..here we are!

I was so pleased that this book sucked me in right away!

I don’t know if it was the ‘missing person’ case or the fact that Maisie herself became more ‘real’ to me in this book but I liked this one much better than the others. In the early books I felt like I never connected with Maisie…..she always seemed like she was avoiding what happened to her in the War and kept herself busy with her job so that she didn’t have to directly deal with her feelings. But in this book she is forced to slow down and start looking back on the past and getting to a place of acceptance which I admired.

The other thing that I liked was that there were almost two mysteries happening….Sir Cecil’s son and the brother of Maisie’s friend. Both cases were connected in a round about way and I loved seeing how they came together. This book put the War into a new perspective for me and I really enjoyed watching that unfold on the pages. I also liked seeing the change in relationship between Maisie’s mentor, Maurice, and Maisie herself. I think that has great potential for future books!

I think this series still has some bumps to work out but I am at least willing to continue with the series and I look forward to seeing how Maisie moves forward with Maurice and how her ‘coming to terms’ with the War will change her character in future books. The one thing I felt like I wanted more of though was romance. I realize Maisie is struggling to define her role as a new woman in the ‘modern age’ and trying to sort out how she feels about Andrew Dene but I basically want more romance….please! I think that is the one thing majorly lacking in this series and it’s something I would LOVE to see more of!

See my full review here