The charmingly loopy setup of this amateur detective’s intuition based approach supported by her all-knowing mentor comes unglued in this more loopy than charming plot. Many too many coincidences and fortuitous events. I gagged on lines like "It seemed that, in more ways than one, she was going in the right direction, her intuition at play with the hand of Fate, though at times she felt as if she were being moved through the past like a pawn in a game of chess." p.221

I just can't get behind these books. I keep reading them because I am a sucker for mysteries set in England between the two wars, and because Maisie is definitely a lovable character. I also enjoy them because Winspear has the good sense to describe in detail all the beautiful period clothing. The mysteries themselves, however, are thoroughly unsatisfying. I don't like Maisie's empathy method, where merely by mimicking people's posture, she suddenly knows their innermost thoughts. I don't like that Winspear doesn't play fair and give us the facts to toy with ourselves, like a confident mystery writer would, but instead holds them to her heart because she assumes that's the only way she can surprise us. And last but not least I don't like the sort of new agey, feel-goody, meditation and spiritualism angle of the books, which is especially bad here. Early on in the book Maisie leaves a spiritualist acknowledging that the woman has a "true gift" and I just... can't get behind that nonsense.

Sherlock Holmes would never have stood for it. Neither would Mary Russell, even though she does believe in God.

I will, however, probably keep reading these books when I encounter them in libraries, because I am dying to see the inevitable relationship between Maisie and Inspector Stratton.

Third in the Maisie Dobbs historical mystery series revolving around Maisie, a detective using meditation and psychology to solve her cases. This story takes place over the summer of 1930 in England and France.

My Take
Another pip from Winspear. It's hard to believe that Winspear is a contemporary author writing today as she really brings this period to life. She really knows how to dig in and write so that I felt as though I was there in 1930 England. The evolution of the telephone. The manners, dress, and mores of the time period. All involving an independent woman who defied the odds and achieved an education and a career in a depressed economy.

Maisie has high standards and while she is disinclined to cut corners or do less than her best, she also knows when it's best to present the truth that people want to hear. But the two cases involving soldiers in this story bring too much of her own war experience to mind. Traumas she would prefer to avoid, to leave in the past. Although, she does intensely grieve her mother's death.

World War I was a horrible war from a soldier's perspective and we're already hearing the rumblings that will lead to World War II in this story.

Thank god, Avril has Maisie in her corner! The police have her convicted of murder and ignore the physical evidence under their noses.

While Maisie does employ her psychological observations, it seems less overt than in the earlier two stories. I'm not sure if it was because Maisie's emotional state was overwrought with her remembrances of France or if Winspear was simply off her game.

The negatives...how could Stratton and the doctors who examined Avril have missed something so obvious? Maurice would know how dogged Maisie is. Heck, he taught her. So why not just come clean? Then there's Maisie's discoveries in France. A little too easy. I'd also like to know how someone, or who, managed to get to Maisie's brake lines.

Side Note: There's a mention of Conan Doyle dying a few months ago. I had no idea he had lived that long into the twentieth century!!

The Story
It's three different cases that Maisie obsesses over: Avril's pimp's murder; proving Captain Ralph Lawton's death; and, a favor to Priscilla to verify her brother's death.

Maisie has been doing well in her business and it's just when one is doing well, that the body, the mind, let down their guard, forcing one to deal with emotional issues of the past. It doesn't help that friends have been keeping secrets.

Nor does it help when enemies rise up, seeking revenge.

The Characters
Maisie Dobbs is doing well with her detective agency. One in which she incorporates the meditative benefits of yoga and the psychology taught her by Maurice Blanche. She's still living in the Comptons' Belgravia mansion and still driving her little red MG.

Dr. Andrew Dene is the orthopedist at the hospital in Hastings whom Maisie is seeing. He's serious about her, but also smart enough not to push and to give her lots of leeway.

Frankie Dobbs, her father, is doing fine after his scare in n  Birds of a Feathern, raising Derby winners in Kent with Lady Rowena Compton. She and her husband, Lord Julian, spend most of their time on their estate in Kent. Their son, James Compton, is overseeing family business in Toronto. George is the family chauffeur; Eric is the London footman who cares for the cars when George is in the country; Sandra is the most senior below-stairs employee with Carter, the butler, down at Chelstone; and, Teresa is the servant who was poisoned.

Billy Beale is Maisie's assistant. He's married to Doreen and they have their sons. Dr. Maurice Blanche is the man who took her under his wing at the behest of Lady Rowena. Basil Khan is the Ceylonese wise man who taught her all about meditation and yoga.

Priscilla Evernden, now Partridge, was and is Maisie's best friend from college. She went off the deep end into a bottle of alcohol with all her losses just after the war, but then she met Douglas Partridge, a famous author and poet whom she married. They have three boys---Timothy Peter, Thomas Philip, and Tarquin Patrick---and live in Biarritz. Her boys sound so lively. Her parents died of flu and her brothers all died in the war. But Pris has no idea where her brother, Captain Peter Evernden's body was buried or if he is missing in action. She does know where Patrick and Philip are buried. How horrible war is. Losing one's entire family like this...

Detective Inspector Richard Stratton hasn't quite given up asking Maisie out. Detective Sergeant Caldwell would prefer to shoot her.

Avril Jarvis is a thirteen-year-old girl accused of murdering her "uncle".

Sir Cecil Lawton is a QC and a friend of Lord Julian's. He's made his wife a deathbed promise to prove one way or another that their only surviving son is dead or alive. Brayley is Lawton's fiercely loyal manservant. Captain Ralph Lawton's plane crashed in France and it burned to ashes. But there's more to it than that. The Hon. Jeremy Hazelton is an MP and a childhood friend of Ralph's. He came back from the war in a wheelchair and is ably supported by his wife, Charlaine. He does seem to be a politician with a heart. Even if he does cheat.

Mrs. Browning, Miss Darby, and Miss Hartnell are all psychics pandering to those who are grieving. It's only with Madeleine Hartnell that Maisie feels a chill down her spine. Harry Price is head of the Laboratory of Psychical Research; his assistant Archibald Simpson is quite helpful.

André Vernier is the Parisian concierge who still remembers his clientele from thirteen years before. Madame Eva is a Vietnamese woman who runs Café Druk, a club that caters to a particular clientele; Captain Henri Desvignes is in charge of the police in Sainte-Marie just outside Reims; Madame Thierry runs the pension in Sainte-Marie; Madame Chantal Clement and her thirteen-year-old granddaughter, Pascale Clement are the village's first family. Suzanne was Madame's daughter who was executed by the Germans. Patrice was their crippled gardener. Daniel Roberts is an excellent mechanic. Brian Huntley is an Englishman involved in the secret service. Ted Tavistock, an Australian, and his French wife Josette run a pension near Bailleul where Maisie was stationed during the war.

The Cover
The cover is in Art Deco style with Maisie in a dark blue cloche and coat, perched at the rail of a ship, its yellow funnel highlighted against the subdued, yet brilliant blue sky.

The title refers to those Pardonable Lies told us by friends who believe they have good reason to withhold the truth.

What I enjoy most about these books is the way Winspear brings the period to life, especially through the characters. Though I've lived through the Vietnam war and aftermath, that experience has little in common with the British during and after The Great War. This one brought home the pain of loss, the constant grief, the depth of post traumatic stress, the difficulty - even almost 20 years later of being genuinely joyful.

I am really enjoying this series and I want to thank Lisa Vegan for encouraging me to read it.

Maisie has to solve several cases in this volume. One of them kind of broke my heart from the start, making this a book that didn’t always call me back to it. But I’m really enjoying getting to know Maisie and the other main characters (got to know a lot more about Priscilla in this one, and liking her more as a result), and also post-WWI Britain, where this is set. The author’s grandfather was wounded in the war and she speaks to it with great heart.

I’m enjoying the audiobook narration straight through the series so far as well. I’ll be starting the fourth book, Messenger of Truth, straight after, although I have more pressing hold list books with imminent due dates at the moment.

I highly recommend this book and this series for anyone interested in the period who enjoys a dash of romance thrown in to their crime novels. If you’re like me and prefer less violence and more heart in your mysteries, you’ll appreciate this series as well. Thanks again, Lisa ❤️

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh......booooooooooooook hangover. Massive. Book. Hangover.
Wow.

Maisie, in doing a job she is retained to do, has to deal with many ghosts of the past, some that do not want to be found, including many of her own all while trying to stay alive and keep her friendships from breaking.
The scenes of remembrance of the Great War are heartbreaking and I spent much of this book in tears - these characters are so real and if you read enough Historical Fiction, you *KNOW* that there was someone somewhere that experienced what is talked about in this book. And that makes it even sadder.

Maisie is one of my favorite characters right now - I cannot seem to get enough of these books. I like her so much and I love her relationship with her helper Billy and those who flit around her and the stories.

Very good read.

Stunning in its breadth of post WW1 years. Those who haven’t healed, haven’t forgotten, are hiding secrets. Maisie runs the gauntlet of those feelings, of betrayal and redemption. Found myself a little choked up towards the end.

People in the reviews for these books keep complaining about how cheesy the 'woo woo mysticism' stuff in these books is, but idk I love how cheesy they are

This was an excellent book. I enjoy visiting England during this time frame. I felt like I was there in France with Maisie when she was out and about looking for clues. I see that Maisie still has some issues from World War I and that makes her more human to me.

This book had me laughing and crying, especially at the loss. What a great find this author is and I am giving this 5 out of 5 stars.

My fifth Masie Dobbs novel and the best so far containing some fantastic and intricate plotting as Masie investigates two cases at the same time, with red herrings, secrets and intrigue. (I don’t want to say too much about the actual story as it would spoil the experience of it unravelling as you read.)

Although I can’t confirm the veracity of the historical context and information, Jacqueline Winspear, as always, seems to do a fantastic job of creating 1930’s England, with references not only to WWI, the fashions of the time and the look and feel of London, but to the political and cultural events of the time - here there are some poignant references to a guy called Adolf.

This novel in the series becomes very personal to Masie as she returns to France where she was stationed as a nurse and the scene in the graveyard is especially emotive. The role of psychics after the First World War is also part of the novel and brings up an element of all that death that I hadn’t given much prior thought to. I seem to never tire of reading about the fictional experiences of the major wars as a way of gaining insight into individual experiences, as I believe we should never forget those same, very real individuals, who lived through that time.

Many of the usual suspects are featured in this book; Maurice, Billy, Priscilla but others such as Masie’s father and Inspector Stratton play a more minor role. This is very much Masie’s book, opening up old wounds, testing friendships and providing a thrilling read.

3 stars

I was not impressed with this book of the series. I think the writing was probably as strong as the other books, but the story just seemed to be too full. There was just too much put into this book. Cut in about half would have been more pleasurable for me.

I did not like how part of the problems were brought to a close. I did not feel that enough time was given to each - they just seemed to be clipped short and closed. Other problems were well developed and kinda brought to close, but maybe left with strings dangling to be brought back in future books - which is always appreciated.

I will read the next book in the series, Messenger of Truth, but I believe more for Billy than for Maisie.

See my review here. http://oldoriginalthoughts.blogspot.c...