In general, I've liked the Maisie Dobbs books. I think the time period (post-Great War England) is interesting and I like the characters.

However, I have two issues with this book: first, the disparate cases come together too smoothly and second, Maisie's detachment from everyone is kind of off-putting.

Pardonable Lies follows three separate cases, two of which have an unlikely (and far too convenient) meeting. While it keeps the plot moving quickly, it seems too unbelievable that of the millions of soldiers who served in WWI, Maisie work simultaneously on separate cases involving two soldiers who knew each other.

The other problem, Maisie's detachment, bothers me more. Maisie is supposed to be a caring person - a trait that helps her as a private investigator. But she's so distant from her friends and family. In this book, where Maisie returns to France for the first time since being a nurse in the war, her distance is somewhat understandable. However, it's hard to buy her as a compassionate, caring person when she keeps her friends and family at a distance.