Pardonable Lies, by Jacqueline Winspear, is the 3rd book in the Maisie Dobbs series. I am enjoying listening to this series on audiobook and have become a devoted Jacqueline Winspear fan. Maisie Dobbs is a private detective and a psychologist, and the stories are historical mysteries that take place after The Great War.

As were millions of women during that time period, Maisie was deeply impacted by the ‘war-to-end-all-wars.’ She was a nurse during the war and is haunted by the tragedies and horrors she witnessed. Her deeply sensitive and empathetic nature made her a wonderful war-time nurse, and an extraordinary investigator in the post-war world. And as she struggles with her own losses and post-traumatic stress, she is particularly helpful to others who were damaged physically and emotionally by the war.

Pardonable Lies is a story very much about healing. Maisie is a healer, having the ability and training to help others suffering from emotional trauma, but she, herself, is also in need of healing. The story of her journey through many of her own post-war demons is at the center of this volume in the series.

I have become very attached to Maisie and her friends. They continue to grow and develop, and are very real to me. It’s so nice to have many more books in this series to look forward to…this is a series that seems to get better and better with each book.

Click here to read a beautiful essay by Jacqueline Winspear, about her visit to the battlefields of World War I in France.