Pardonable Lies – The Book

Pardonable Lies is the third book in the Maisie Dobbs series by Jaqueline Winspear. In it, Maisie investigates the death of a pilot during the War. This forces her to return to France. There she reconnects with former schoolmate, Priscilla. She must also face her own war demeans as well as the potential betrayal of her mentor Maurice.

Pardonable Lies – My Thoughts

Jaqueline Winspear never shies away from using coincidence in her stories. As a matter of fact, she embraces it as if it’s the universe helping Maisie resolves these mysteries. It’s Maisie’s training and extra perceptive abilities that allows her to see these things. However, there are so many coincidences in this story that it seems a bit impossible.

On top of the coincidences with the “main” mystery, there’s a sub-story going on that deals with some psychic stuff in the background. It felt an uneeded dimension to the story that actually shook some of the believability. It almost took it from a nice English cozy, to supernatural thriller. Not necessary.

All that said, I still enjoy the time period in which these books are set. They are easy reads and free from my library. So I will probably continue with them for now. On the Goodreads scale, I’d give this 2.5 stars, some where between It was Okay and I liked it.