Pardonable Lies

A Maisie Dobbs Novel

By: Jacqueline Winspear

Narrated by: Jacqueline Winspear

In the third novel of this best-selling series, London investigator Maisie Dobbs faces grave danger as she returns to the site of her most painful WWI memories to resolve the mystery of a pilot's death.

Agatha Christie's Miss Marple. Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone. Alexander McCall Smith's Precious Ramotswe. Every once in a while, a detective bursts on the scene who captures readers' hearts, and imaginations, and doesn't let go. And so it was with Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs, who made her debut just two years ago in the eponymously titled first book of the series, and is already on her way to becoming a household name.

A deathbed plea from his wife leads Sir Cecil Lawton to seek the aid of Maisie Dobbs, psychologist and investigator. As Maisie soon learns, Agnes Lawton never accepted that her aviator son was killed in the Great War, a torment that led her not only to the edge of madness but to the doors of those who practice the dark arts and commune with the spirit world. In accepting the assignment, Maisie finds her spiritual strength tested, as well as her regard for her mentor, Maurice Blanche. The mission also brings her together once again with her college friend Priscilla Evernden, who served in France and who lost three brothers to the war, one of whom, it turns out, had an intriguing connection to the missing Ralph Lawton.

Don't miss other titles in the Maisie Dobbs series.©2005 Jacqueline Winspear (P)2005 Audio Renaissance, LLC

Critic reviews

"Agatha-winner Winspear's engrossing third Maisie Dobbs novel maintains the high quality of its predecessors....Filled with convincing characters, this is a complex tale of healing, of truth and half-truth, of long-held secrets, some, perhaps, to be held forever. Winspear writes seamlessly." (Publishers Weekly)

The Best Maisie Dobbs I've Read So Far

This is the third book in the series that I have read and it is the best so far. The story is compelling and told with a real economy of words. I will read another.

Love hearing the author as narrator.

I do wish the pronunciation of names could be constant across audible recordings of different books in the series. Maurice or Morris? Seems a small matter but it is jarring. Even so, love the series.

Enjoying the Maisie Dobbs series

The Maisie Dobbs stories are very good. Love all the characters. Narration by the author was not nearly as good as Orlagh Cassidy, but okay.

Jacqueline Winspear never disappoints

Would you consider the audio edition of Pardonable Lies to be better than the print version?

I didn't read the print version, but I love listening to stories. Jacqueline Winspear's narration is quite pleasing to me. So, in this case, I'd rather hear the story than read it. I find her stories to be intriguing as well as the storytelling itself.

What did you like best about this story?

I love her character, Maisie Dobbs. I find her to be credible, likeable, wise, intelligent, and also wounded. I've learned so much about WW1 from these novels. I had no idea of the effect that war had on England until I found this series of books.

What does Jacqueline Winspear bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I love hearing some stories more than reading them. I'm sure it has much to do with the narrator. I read as many books as I listen to. I like both formats, but I do prefer narration in some cases.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Oh, I don't know. I have a friend in LA who writes them for a living, but I'm not a tagline person.

Any additional comments?

No, just share with Ms. Winspear that her series is unique and that are characters are really likeable, I just love her books.

Great book only fair narration

The story is very good I really enjoyed it. I was disappointed in the narration by the author.

Abridged version inadequate, unabridged excellent

The abridged version is confusing and hard to make sense of. When I realized I was listening to the abridged version (poorly narrated by the author who acts as if she is reading a story to children), I obtained the full version and not only did it make sense, it is narrated by a wonderful reader who continues to narrate many of the later works in the series, and I began the work all over again. It was worth it! The story is fascinating and the plot very original.

I missed something

I did not realize I was downloading the abridged version! OK, so that's my bad, and my review is probably going to reflect problems with the editing rather than problems with the book.

If you've seen the movie "Murder by Death," the various super sleuths who are invited to the mystery dinner all take a stab at solving the murder at the end. Truman Capote's character, Lionel Twain, chides them for creating characters, citing clues that no one else ever had, and inventing situations that enable them to create motives or identify offenders. Well, that's the way I felt about this book. All of a sudden Maisie would "know" something and I had no idea where she got the clue, or how she knew it was a clue, etc. At first I thought maybe I wasn't paying attention, but now I realize I may have missed something you get out of the complete unabridged version.

Entertained by Book 1 and 2, Book 3, not so much..

Dull and unfortunate. Why the author elected to narrate Book 3 is beyond me - truly, I am easily entertained, however when an author elects to narrate their own work, in most cases, the life of the story gets lost.