I find these mysteries extremely compelling. Along with the engrossing stories, the character development and the historical setting makes them a winner for me. The Great War was a tragedy for so many and I think that the author captures the angst and suffering of the various characters quite accurately. The mystery is the cherry on top!

Realised this was number 3, so do need to catch up on 1 and 2 - and I hope many more. A brilliant crime series set in the 1930's. The difference from other crime novels is that Maisie Dobbs is a psychologist as well as an investigator. So an unusual combination for that era - and a woman! It was well written and had lots of different plots going on, but it all came together well at the end. I was sorry to finish it and look forward to reading more about Maisie Dobbs.

This is my third book in the bestselling Maisie Dobbs series. She is a winning heroine; I love her gumption, especially for the era in which she is a detective, her investigative skills, and the plots of these terrific historical mysteries. In Pardonable Lies, Maisie is embroiled in three cases. First, proving 13-year-old Avril Jarvis innocent of first-degree murder in the death of her uncle. Second, verifying that Sir Cecil Lawton’s pilot son Ralph was killed in a plane crash during the Great War. Third, looking into the circumstances of the death of her college friend Priscilla Evernden Partridge’s brother during the war.

Maisie faces grave danger and emotional upheaval as she returns to France, where she served as a battlefield nurse. The plot of filled with tension, ah hah moments, rich characters, and long held secrets. Winspear’s attention to historical details is always impressive; I always feel like I am walking right beside her. Miss Dobbs isn’t very likeable, though; she’s aloof and cold. I’m hoping the next book in the series makes her more human. I didn’t care for the New Age babble and LGBT storyline.

Favorite quote: “My child, when a mountain appears on the journey, we try to go to the left, then to the right; we try to find the easy way to navigate our way back to the easier path.” He paused. “But the mountain is there to be crossed. It is on that pilgrimage, as we climb higher, that we are forced to shed the layers upon layers we have carried for so long. Then we find that our load is lighter, and we have come to know something of ourselves in the perilous climb.”― Jacqueline Winspear, Pardonable Lies

I’m only a few books into this series, but I am so impressed with them. This installment is a sweeping tale that involves Maisie tracking down details about the deaths of two soldiers lost during the war and helping a 13 year old accused of murder. During the search for the soldiers’ stories, Maisie goes back to France for the first time since the war and confronts the grief and guilt she feels over having survived.

One of the soldiers is her dear friend Priscilla’s older brother, whose service intersected with the other soldier’s. The merging and resolution of those two storylines is wonderful.

Maisie’s person storyline is heartbreaking, but healing (though her employee and fellow veteran, Billy, feels her recovery isn’t complete). We also get more development when it comes to Maisie’s uncommon abilities. There are hints in prior books about her being able to see things others don’t and it’s clear in this book that her abilities are supernatural.

One odd note: I downloaded the audio version of this book to listen to a bit of it while on a long drive. The narrator refers to Maisie’s French mentor, Maurice Blanche, as “Morris.” It doesn’t affect my rating, but it was a funny and distracting aspect of the audiobook. I’m glad I mostly read this story!

Pardonable Lies is part of an intriguing series by Jacqueline Winspear, featuring Maisie Dobbs, growing up as a housemaid and working her way through college at Cambridge. She later served during World War I as a nurse. At the conclusion of the war she opened a private investigation practice in 1929 in London. Coincidentally, in Pardonable Lies, Ms. Dobbs was researching the deaths of two soldiers during the Great War, one for a father that wanted to put to rest any chance of his son still being alive, and the other case researching the circumstances of the death of a close friend's brother. Both of these investigations brought her to France to determine the fate of each man in World War I. As the mystery unfolds, Ms. Dobbs finds that she must also come to terms with her own past, as well as her role in the Great War. There are a lot of gray areas as there are questions as to what constitutes a lie, and under what circumstances might it be understandable. At moments, there are passages in the book foreshadowing the threat of World War II. This was a very gripping and moving book.

"Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo. Shovel them under and let me work--I am the grass; I cover all. And pile them high at Gettysburg and pile them high at Ypres and Verdun. Shovel them under and let me work. Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor: What place is this? Where are we now? I am the grass. Let me work."--Carl Sandburg (1878-1967), Grass

"They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them."

It’s been awhile since I first started this series. I am glad to have finally got back to it.

The year is 1930. The Great War still looms large in people’s memories. Maisie Dobbs, psychologist and private detective has taken two cases pertaining to lost/ dead men from WWI. Sir Cecil Lawton wants her to confirm his son is really dead. He promised his wife on her death bed that he would pursue this. She always believed that he was still alive. Her best friend, Priscilla Evernden, lost 3 brothers in the war and she wants Maisie to find out where her brother Peter was buried. He is the only one whose grave she has been unable to visit.

The author captures the time and place well. Maisie is a very sympathetic character. She was a nurse during the war and has her own demons to wrestle with as well.

I really enjoyed this one on audio, read by Orlagh Cassidy. I look forward to continuing with the series.

Published: 2005

Book #3 in the Maisie Dobbs Series, Pardonable Lies is a BEAUT.

In this book, Maisie is juggling three mysteries:
Who killed Avril Jarvis' uncle?

What is the fate of Ralph Lawton, a pilot who was involved in a fiery plane crash? His deceased mother had believed him a survivor; his father wants Maisie to prove he is dead.

What is the fate of Peter Evernden? Peter is the brother of Maisie's best friend, Priscilla. Maisie, Priscilla says, while you are working on the first two questions could you find out what happened to my brother?

Obtaining these answers takes Maisie to France, where she nursed during WWI and where painful memories still plague her. It also puts her in harm's way.

Once more Maisie brings her caring attitude to the solution of these problems. Loved the book and love Maisie.

I was able to obtain the audio cd, where the book is beautifully narrated by Orlagh Cassidy in perfect King's English!!

5 stars

Such a good book. Four intertwined story lines all well done. Tears

I picked this up on a whim because I thought I'd give Maisie Dobbs one more chance (I was really annoyed with the last book, but I really love historical mysteries and want to love this series). On the plus side, Maisie herself was a LOT less irritating and condescending this time around (in other words, I didn't want to punch her every five pages, like last time). Unfortunately, the new-age, woo bullshit is just utterly pervasive in this one, with Maurice babbling on philosophically to distraction, and so I have to give up on this series. The actual mysteries in these books are interesting, as they are tied to post-WWI England, but the meditation/woo/sensing-"hands"-on-backs nonsense just utterly ruins this for me.

Rare 5 star rating for a mystery. Maisie Dobbs is such a wonderful character, written with such clarity and depth that it is hard not to like her. Not too mention that the mysteries she set out to solve in this third book of the series were so intriguing.

I tried.

I was miffed in the previous book which felt poorly planned. I was hoping this one was better, but it ended up being a book I loved to hate. Aside from the "solve by aura" approach, how every case has to do with her tragic past, and the clunky integration of spiritualism, I lost it with Maise. I get it, Dobbs, you were in a war 20 years ago. That is basically the only detail about your character. So maybe get a hobby or a cat and move on?

On the ground was a used band-aid. "I was a nurse...once," Maisie whispers as a single tear crawls down her cheek. She remembered the War, and will continue to remember it every 30 pages or so.

By the third book in her series, I'm sure Winspear has assembled her fan base. That just doesn't include me.

Probably 3.5 stars. I'm of two minds about this series. I love the time period, the historical detail, the setting, the mysteries, and the idea of a self-possessed, intelligent woman finding a way for herself. But there's always something depressing about these books, too. Certainly there's an elegiac tone, but it's almost as if Winspear has decided no one can ever be happy again in the wake of the war. I'm sure that's true for some, but all the joy just seems sucked out of this world. Just once I'd like to see Maisie Dobbs . . . I don't know. . . laugh or something. This particular entry in the series struck me as better than some because Dobbs' cool demeanor at least slipped from time to time as she solved cases that hit close to home. And yes, it's multiple cases in "Pardonable Lies," which worked until the final chapters, where the ending of the last mystery felt a bit tacked on. I'll read more of this series in time, but I think I'll take a break from Dobbs' world for a bit.