This isn't the type of book I often read. I got it mainly to try to expand my horizons, so to speak—I figured if I didn't like it, I'd give it to my wife. She reads mysteries all the time.

I'll be giving it to her to read, but I want this one back.

Pardonable Lies is Jacqueline Winspear's third novel featuring Maisie Dobbs, a "psychologist and investigator" in England. The novel is set in 1930, and is peppered with references to unrest in Germany and the concern many people felt about the man who was leading that country. I was first struck by the truthful nature of the conversations about Hitler—there were many people who really didn't see much to worry about, and nobody wanted another world war.

Maisie takes on three seemingly disparate cases in this book: she is drawn to the trial of a young woman named Avril Jarvis, who is acused of murder. She accepts the assignment of a prominent lawyer, Sir Cecil Lawton, to determine whether his son was killed in the war. And she agrees to investigate the war record of the brother of her dearest friend, Priscilla Evernden. Of course, these cases quickly become intertwined.

And that's the thing I enjoyed about this book the most: the fact that just when you think you have everything figured out, Winspear throws a monkey wrench into the works. Parts of the Lawton case were easy to figure out, and the pieces of the Evernden case fell quickly into place. The way these two related were less obvious at first, and cause me to slap myself in the forehead several times, saying "Why didn't I see that!" In fact, the book took me longer to read because of the number of times that I went back to re-read parts to find out what I'd missed.

The characters in the book may seem stock to some—the intrepid young female investigator (a la Nancy Drew), her wealthy friend, the doctor/love interest, the aging mentor, etc. But the characters work, and Winspear has given them each enough of their own personality that they are unique in their own ways. The settings are fascinating—especially since I've just finished reading Michael Shaara's World War I novel To The Last Man.

This is the first Maisie Dobbs mystery that I've read, but it won't be the last. As I said, I'm trying to broaden my reading horizons a bit from the science fiction/alternate history rut that I've been in lately. It's looking like mystery will be a good genre to expand into.
Edited: PC