Delightful suspense with intuitive detective

'Pardonable Lies' holds suspense, features intuitive detective Maisie Dobbs

By NANCY GILMORE

Date published: 9/18/2005

By NANCY GILMORE

Maisie Dobbs, the heroine of "Pardonable Lies," is an unusual detective. Author Jacqueline Winspear has created an adventurous, psychic, New-Age type to solve this English mystery.

So, what's unusual? The story is set in the 1930s, in a period between the two World Wars. For such a time, a liberated woman like Maisie is unusual--and refreshing.

Forced to be independent at a young age, Maisie makes her living as a private investigator. She has an interesting personal history, although still in her 20s, including a stint as a nurse in France during the "Great War."

She is hired to find out if the son of a client really died during the war. Ralph Lawton was reported to have perished when his airplane crashed in France. But his mother, on her deathbed, pleads with her husband to get proof, because she has a sixth sense that he is still alive. Reluctantly, he promises, and there lies Maisie's task.

Her exploits also reunite her with her former close friend, Priscilla. She enlists Maisie's aid in finding out the fate of her brother, who also fought in France and is believed dead. The tales of the two men, who didn't know each other, coincide a little too neatly.

Winspear depicts a realistic world after a war, filled with memories of the horrors experienced by the participants. Maisie's wartime "ghosts" haunt her, and her attempts to make peace with them are woven into the story.

Maisie Dobbs is a likable character who shows a lot of courage and intelligence. But she's definitely not your grandmother's kind of detective.

She's intuitive, studies psychology and seeks help from wiser elders. She meditates.

The picture Winspear paints of England in the 1930s will captivate many and is one of the delights of this book.

Nancy Gilmore is a copy editor at The Free Lance-Star.

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Date published: 9/18/2005