Lipstick and Lies by Margit Liesche, a Mysterious Review.

Review: Margit Liesche's debut mystery, Lipstick and Lies, is a fictional story of the many women who during World War II exhibited loyalty and a willingness to do anything to help the war effort on the home front. She dares to introduce the reader to actual people who were a part of the chaos that threatened America in 1942. Although her story depicts to some degree the many facets where women became critical to the defense of America, she focuses primarily on the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) and the Morale Operations (MO).

Margit Liesche takes the reader through the highs and lows of Detroit in 1942. The action begins with the MO working in conjunction with the FBI. Nearby was the Ford Motor Plant where the design and manufacture of new and complex parts for planes, tanks and trucks were crucial to the war effort overseas. There were spies and traitors in the Ford Plant, and also in the FBI. The task of unmasking these people fell to Pucci Lewis, who had just been transferred from WASP to MO. FBI Agent Dante guides Pucci through her new assignment: she must go to jail to question and hopefully to get answers from a countess/counterspy. It is subsequently necessary for her to join an exclusive women's club and become friends with whomever the FBI deems suspicious. It is her obligation again to ask questions and trust she will get answers.

Lipstick and Lies is a truly provocative story. Those who lived during that period will experience memories among the words of the story. Those who did not live during that time will find the story intriguing, suspenseful, and exciting. It was a time when women volunteered to do the jobs of men on the home front so that the men could fulfill their eagerness to go overseas where the action was. Pucci was happy being a WASP. She loved to fly all the Air Force's planes, from the smallest to the largest, across country. Duty called her, however, to the MO division with the FBI. During her stint she expresses deep emotions of loneliness, fear, pain, and anxiety. From the women Pucci meet at the jail and the club, and the men she connected with both at the FBI and the Ford Plant, she is pretty confident who is loyal to America and who is true to the Axis Powers. Without substantial proof, is Pucci right? Only a showdown will tell.

The ending of the book is great! It is also a mystery—one that Margit Liesche encourages the reader to give some serious thought and to solve for themselves.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Lipstick and Lies.

Acknowledgment: Poisoned Pen Press provided an ARC of Lipstick and Lies for this review.

Hollywood Buzz
Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover), March 2009
ISBN-13: 9781590585795; ISBN-10: 1590585798

Lipstick and Lies

A Pucci Lewis Mystery by Margit Liesche