Pardonable Lies
by Jacqueline Winspear
Picador Books
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Reviewed by Christine Edlund
The daring and adventurous Maisie Dobbs is back in another delightful mystery from author Jacqueline Winspear.
Set once again against the backdrop of London after The Great War, Pardonable Lies is the third novel in the bestselling mystery series. Because of an intriguing mix of characters and an interesting plot, Pardonable Lies is hard to put down, keeping me up into the wee hours of the night.
Psychologist and investigator, Maisie Dobbs has learned from the best, her mentor and confidant the elusive Frenchman Maurice Blanche, and decides to take on a new case. A young girl, Avril Jarvis, has been accused of murdering a man outside London. Maisie feels Avril is innocent and begins her investigation into the case.
Suddenly, Maisie is asked for her help on another mysterious case, this time from a prominent attorney named Sir Cecil Lawton whose wife recently died of a long illness. On her deathbed, his wife requested that he find their son Ralph who perished in a plane crash during the War. Before her own death, Mrs. Lawton believed her son was still alive. Despite his own feelings he harbors toward his son, who Cecil did not get along with in life, he grants his wife's dying wish.
Now with two cases to investigate, Maisie requests the help of her partner, Billy, to tackle the Jarvis case so she can focus her attention on finding Lawton's son. Maisie is reluctant to take on the case because of the possibility of traveling to France where she was a nurse during the War. Yet, when her old friend Priscilla decides to pay a visit, Maisie finds herself embroiled in a more unusual case than she first thought.
Pardonable Lies is an excellent book. Having not read the first two novels in the series and thoroughly enjoying this one, I plan to now read those.
Armchair Interviews says: The next book in the series will be Messenger of Truth.