3.75/5 stars. I've enjoyed these books for the most part, but I'm not sure if I'll be looking for more of them... we'll see... You can read my full review of this book here. https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2023/03/1...

DNF
After this thrid attempt to get into this series via audiobook; I can't do it. I'm not connecting with the character and the slowness of these books. I could see this as stand along Master Piece movies that could have the same time period nuance but move a little faster.

I'm so glad i finally had a chance to get back to this series after reading book 2 many months ago.

In this thrid book, Maisie is hired to help a woman prove that her son wa skilled in the war, as she doesn't quite belive that he's dead.

I loved watching Maisie go on her quest to prove the son dead. The mmost interesting part was when she went to the cemetery to find the grave.

I also enjoyed Billy. He's a real great partner for Maisie.

I'm a little bit sad at how Maisie's romantic life went. Hope it's better in furture installments.

I'm going to move right into book 4 now.

Boa trama,bem escrito,fecomendavel para os que curtem o genero policial noir

I am really enjoying this series. This has been my favorite so far.

“Mentiras piadosas” es el tercer libro de la serie protagonizada por la psicóloga e investigadora Maisie Dobbs, serie que mejora con cada una de sus entregas y que resulta perfecta para los amantes de los cozy mysteries históricos.

En esta ocasión, Maisie recibe el encargo de investigar un caso para un amigo de Lord Compton, su benefactor. Ralph Lawton murió en Francia durante la Primera Guerra Mundial después de que su avión se estrellase, pero diversas médiums convencieron a su madre de que seguía vivo. Cuando esta se encuentra en su lecho de muerte, su marido le promete que averiguará qué le ocurrió a Ralph, para lo cual recurrirá a la ayuda de Maisie, en un caso que la obligará a combatir sus propios demonios.

La autora conoce ya a sus personajes a la perfección. La evolución que ha experimentado el personaje de Maisie en estas tres entregas es más que notable. El desapego y frialdad que mostró anteriormente es ya cosa del pasado, y esta vez conoceremos su lado más vulnerable, lo que hace que el personaje resulte más complejo, a la vez que consigue generar más simpatía en el lector. Poco a poco también vamos conociendo más detalles acerca de los secundarios, desde Billy, que resulta el partenaire perfecto en sus investigaciones, pasando por Andrew y esa relación que la tiene en un mar de dudas, hasta el inspector Stratton, cuya tensa relación con Maisie resulta creíble y llena de matices.

El contexto histórico es una vez más uno de los puntos fuertes de la novela. La acción se sitúa en 1930 y, aunque la guerra parece ya cosa del pasado, las consecuencias de la misma siguen estando muy presentes. Las secuelas que dejó en la sociedad están fantásticamente reflejadas, centrándose en esta ocasión en señalar el deplorable comportamiento de aquellos que aprovecharon el dolor y sufrimiento de la gente para su propio beneficio.

Otros de los temas que trata son las dificultades a las que se enfrentaban las mujeres solteras en esa época, y los prejuicios que la sociedad mostraba hacia algunos, hasta el punto de que se alejaban de todo y arriesgaban su vida para tratar de obtener aprobación por parte de los demás. Me gusta cómo la autora aprovecha siempre las tramas de misterio para hacer crítica a la sociedad de la época.

Maisie se enfrenta aquí a su caso más complejo, con tres investigaciones que discurren de forma paralela a lo largo de la novela, y que la obligarán a mirar hacia dentro, enfrentándose a su doloroso pasado.

Lectura que resulta absorbente gracias a su magnífica ambientación y unos personajes entrañables a los que, después de tres novelas, ya tengo cariño.

A bit of intrigue and personal danger and growth for Maisie in this book. I enjoyed it.

I think this was maybe my most favorite Maise Dobbs to date (though I really loved the back story of the first book.) This one pulled together much more thoroughly for me, offering different threads of interest, though not necessarily surprising. The ending did seem a little sudden with it's change of thread, but still carried on. Winspear writes a nice cozy mystery.

2.5 stars. In some ways, I enjoyed this book more than the first two, but in other ways, it frustrated me a lot!

The good: Maisie shows a lot more personality. She laughs, she's sad, she's irritable, she stands up for herself. It was refreshing.

The bad: This book emphasizes Maisie's PTSD and survivor's guilt from WWI in such not-subtle ways I got annoyed with it instead of empathizing. I think it is very realistic she'd be troubled by these issues, but the way I was constantly hit over the head by them made me less sympathetic.

The good: less "woo-woo" psychic abilities used to solve the mysteries. Maisie used powers of observation and deductive reasoning, sure, but these were believable. She also hustled, researched, and actually, you know, looked for clues instead of just meditating and letting them come to her.

The bad: she and her mentor, Maurice, both look down their noses at psychics and call them frauds. A little hypocritical, no? And yet, Maisie visits one and can instantly tell she is the real deal because apparently Maisie has The Gift?

The good: Maurice starts breaking away from her mentor Maurice and realizing he's not perfect.

The bad: He has a much bigger role in this book and turns out that besides mumbling generic ambiguous platitudes to sound wise, he also loves controlling Maisie and interfering with her investigations. He even has someone follow her! I kept hoping he'd die in this book but at least Maisie is striking out more on her own now.

There's a few other things that I annoyed me. For example, Maisie decides that a threat to her life is a result of a specific case she's working on. She doesn't explain why she thinks it's because of THAT case and not one of the others she's also working on. Her assistant suggests some other sort of reason and she immediately admonishes him not to jump to conclusions. Isn't that what she just did??

So yeah, the writing is not always my cup of tea. That being said, I enjoy the setting, the callbacks to the lingering effects of the Great War, and the mysteries themselves. This isn't a "must-read" series for me, but I will probably read more as a light filler between bigger books. Hopefully Maurice isn't around much longer.

As a teacher, it’s interesting and delightful to see a writer’s craft develop. I believe I am witnessing that development of art and skill in Jacqueline Winspear. With each book in the Maisie Dobbs series, she is just better. The plots have seemed to have more “pizzazz” and the characters just get rounder and rounder. I really liked that this book was in three sections, with the first section set in England, the second in France, and the last back in England. As in the previous books, the lingering ill effects of WWI loom large within the plot. With the trip to France, Maisie herself deals with her own “dragons” faced on the muddy fields of France as a nurse during the war. Issues of class remain a major element as well but this book also explores the difficulties of a gay man, the son of a knight, and his difficulties. There is also a bit of intrigue since of course England had utilized spies and there was a French resistance movement during the Occupation. The book is in many ways an essay of the moral dilemma surrounding truthfulness, hence the title. It essentially asks the question of when is it more honorable to withhold the absolute truth. I haven’t read a series of any sort since I finished the last Harry Potter back in 2008 or so. I’m really enjoying the feeling of truly getting to know the characters, how they view the world, how class and circumstances have affected them, and their relationships to the other characters. In a sense, they’ve become friends. Overall, I have found this book very satisfying and would definitely recommend it to a friend. Now, I'm off to start her new book, Messenger of Truth. Good Reading to all!

Book #3 of 17

In the line of solving mysteries Maisie Dobbs is a Boss. I love her style, her voice, her thoughts and her actions.

In this book there are 3 crimes and she solved them all. She has that boss intuition. She is coming for you in such a classy way.

Maisie Dobbs is the female Easy Rawlins in Walter Mosley series. I would love to see a collarbation with these two.

Yet another amazing read in this series!! And there was not just one person following and/or attempting to stop Maisie--permanently! I appreciate perhaps the most about Winspear's writing the fact that Maisie herself sometimes decides to evade the "whole truth" when all parties will be happier and better satisfied with their lives not knowing everything... That requires such courage. I don't know if I could do that. It would be a tough decision, and although Maisie agonizes, she is quite satisfied with her decision. And I love the way WWII is inevitable, yet we see how everyone (not just those directly involved in fighting, etc.) is affected by WWI and, honestly, these books have helped me better understand the world's reticence to become involved in another worldwide battle against Hitler. Plus, this reticence/atmosphere definitely allowed him to gain the power and control he had... Such insights to be gained!