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A Maggie MacGowen Mystery #1
Telling Lies
When Maggie MacGowen was a girl, her sister, Emily, lived the life of a leftist radical on the run from the FBI. Twenty-two years after the FBI finally caught her, Emily lives in Los Angeles, a doctor at a free clinic that tends to the city’s down and out. When one of her old radical buddies comes out of hiding and surrenders to the police, their long-ago crimes become front-page news. Emily calls Maggie, now a documentary filmmaker, and asks her to come visit. By the time Maggie arrives in Los Angeles, Emily is nearly dead.
The bullet, delivered point blank in broad daylight, sent Emily into a coma. It seems a random act of violence, but Maggie digs deeper. She finds dark secrets in her sister’s past, and a conspiracy that won’t end until all those who ask questions are silenced.
The bullet, delivered point blank in broad daylight, sent Emily into a coma. It seems a random act of violence, but Maggie digs deeper. She finds dark secrets in her sister’s past, and a conspiracy that won’t end until all those who ask questions are silenced.
Audiobook
First published June 1, 1992
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About the author
Wendy Hornsby
55 books25 followersI can’t remember ever not knowing that I was a writer. When I was in the second grade, because I was forever writing little stories, my teacher, a lovely woman named Barbara Heath, gave me her own copy of Little Women, to keep. Hardcover, illustrated, no less. The story wasn’t so much magic for me as was the character of Jo March. Somehow I knew Jo, I pretended I was her sometimes, and knew I was going to grow up to be, as she was, a writer.
When I was in fourth grade, I turned pro. My essay, “Why I love Camp Nawakwa,” won a community contest, earning me a camp scholarship, and my future was set. Sort of. Loving Camp Nawakwa was my writing pinnacle for quite a while.
When it was time for college, I headed off to UCLA, where I tried on a large number of majors before I decided on History. History, well told, has more romance, adventure, intrigue, courage, provocative mystery than any fiction that can be imagined. Besides, the process of historical research and writing mysteries have a great deal in common. One snoops through the remnants of people’s lives – real or fictional – asking the important who, what, where, and when questions and implying insight with the hope of making sense of things. The study of History is great preparation for a writer, especially a writer of mysteries.
The afternoon that I learned I had passed my comprehensive exams for the Masters degree in History at CSULB, I was hired to teach History as an adjunct at Long Beach City College. Over the next decades I taught, went to school some more, raised two beautiful babies to adulthood, acquired a full-time tenured position at LBCC, and, somehow, between school and soccer and baseball and school plays, managed to get seven mystery novels and many, many short stories published. Amazing how that happened.
When my kids, Alyson and Christopher, were of a certain age, I took them to visit The Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts, where Louisa May Alcott grew up and where she wrote Little Women. I stood in her upstairs bedroom, beside the little half-moon desk where she created Jo March, and thanked her for giving a little girl a bit of courage to believe that she, too, could be a writer.
Wendy Hornsby is the Edgar Award winning author of the Maggie MacGowen mysteries.
When I was in fourth grade, I turned pro. My essay, “Why I love Camp Nawakwa,” won a community contest, earning me a camp scholarship, and my future was set. Sort of. Loving Camp Nawakwa was my writing pinnacle for quite a while.
When it was time for college, I headed off to UCLA, where I tried on a large number of majors before I decided on History. History, well told, has more romance, adventure, intrigue, courage, provocative mystery than any fiction that can be imagined. Besides, the process of historical research and writing mysteries have a great deal in common. One snoops through the remnants of people’s lives – real or fictional – asking the important who, what, where, and when questions and implying insight with the hope of making sense of things. The study of History is great preparation for a writer, especially a writer of mysteries.
The afternoon that I learned I had passed my comprehensive exams for the Masters degree in History at CSULB, I was hired to teach History as an adjunct at Long Beach City College. Over the next decades I taught, went to school some more, raised two beautiful babies to adulthood, acquired a full-time tenured position at LBCC, and, somehow, between school and soccer and baseball and school plays, managed to get seven mystery novels and many, many short stories published. Amazing how that happened.
When my kids, Alyson and Christopher, were of a certain age, I took them to visit The Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts, where Louisa May Alcott grew up and where she wrote Little Women. I stood in her upstairs bedroom, beside the little half-moon desk where she created Jo March, and thanked her for giving a little girl a bit of courage to believe that she, too, could be a writer.
Wendy Hornsby is the Edgar Award winning author of the Maggie MacGowen mysteries.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
July 9, 2008
TELLING LIES - Ex
Hornsby, Wendy - 1st in series
Documentary filmmaker Maggie MacGowen, summoned to Los Angeles by sister Emily on the anniversary of their brother's death, finds the famous former radical (now a doctor) in the hospital close to death. After notifying her parents and falling in with the engaging Detective Flint, Maggie sets out to find the person who shot her beloved sister. She searches from the gutters to the ballroom of L.A. and questions everyone from street people to friends from Emily's war-protesting days.
I like the protagonist and great plot. The relationship between Maggie and Mike is realistic and appealing.
Hornsby, Wendy - 1st in series
Documentary filmmaker Maggie MacGowen, summoned to Los Angeles by sister Emily on the anniversary of their brother's death, finds the famous former radical (now a doctor) in the hospital close to death. After notifying her parents and falling in with the engaging Detective Flint, Maggie sets out to find the person who shot her beloved sister. She searches from the gutters to the ballroom of L.A. and questions everyone from street people to friends from Emily's war-protesting days.
I like the protagonist and great plot. The relationship between Maggie and Mike is realistic and appealing.
March 9, 2023
Reviewed Audiogals.net 11/12/13
Narrated by Donna Postel
In the late 1960s, a group of young radicals were suspected in the bombing death of a college student during one of their anti-war protests. Twenty-two years later, the group is pulled together once again when the one who has been in hiding turns herself in, and another is shot in the head by an unknown assailant.
Maggie MacGowen, a well-known documentary film maker, is called to Los Angeles by her older sister, Emily, near the twenty-second anniversary of their brother’s death. Emily had been part of the radical group years earlier. Her twin brother, Mark, was a soldier in Vietnam, and was killed by friendly fire just after Emily’s arrest in the bombing. Shortly after Maggie arrives in LA, she learns Emily has been shot in the head and is in critical condition.
Maggie meets LA Detective Mike Flint as she starts trying to unravel the mystery surrounding Emily’s shooting. While skeptical at first, Flint starts to agree with Maggie that Emily’s shooting isn’t random, but instead has some connection with the reemergence of the fugitive and the former members of the 1960’s radical group. As they work together, Mike and Maggie also find themselves attracted to each other.
Donna Postel does a fine job narrating this engaging mystery. A few times her voice does lack animation, but usually she injects just the right amount of emotion into her characters’ voices. She never sounds like she’s trying too hard getting the feelings of her characters across to the listeners. Telling Lies is told in first person, so all the narrative is from Maggie’s point of view. Ms. Postel is most likely to flatten out her narrative voice when there are long stretches of Maggie “telling” the story and not talking to someone else, but even then it is only occasionally. Ms. Postel effectively differentiates her characters and, although the differences may at times be subtle between characters of the same sex, I didn’t have any problems following dialog. The male and female characters are easily distinguished one from another. Her voice for Mike is low and subtly sexy, while Maggie’s is more matter-of-fact. Both voices fit the characters well.
Telling Lies, the first in the Maggie MacGowen Mystery series was written in 1993 so don’t expect lots of recent technology. I didn’t find that to be a problem, but it does date the story somewhat. I enjoyed all the references to the 1960’s since I grew up during that decade and remember the chaos of the anti-war demonstrations quite well. Older readers like me may enjoy this glimpse back to their adolescence, while younger readers may experience an era they know little about.
The romance in Telling Lies is subtle but engaging. I love mysteries, so the romantic thread in the story is like icing on a cake. I found my way into romance novels through romantic mysteries after years of reading only mysteries, and I would dearly love to read more mysteries with solid romances. I’m looking forward to seeing how the relationship develops in the second book in the Maggie MacGowen Mystery series.
Narrated by Donna Postel
In the late 1960s, a group of young radicals were suspected in the bombing death of a college student during one of their anti-war protests. Twenty-two years later, the group is pulled together once again when the one who has been in hiding turns herself in, and another is shot in the head by an unknown assailant.
Maggie MacGowen, a well-known documentary film maker, is called to Los Angeles by her older sister, Emily, near the twenty-second anniversary of their brother’s death. Emily had been part of the radical group years earlier. Her twin brother, Mark, was a soldier in Vietnam, and was killed by friendly fire just after Emily’s arrest in the bombing. Shortly after Maggie arrives in LA, she learns Emily has been shot in the head and is in critical condition.
Maggie meets LA Detective Mike Flint as she starts trying to unravel the mystery surrounding Emily’s shooting. While skeptical at first, Flint starts to agree with Maggie that Emily’s shooting isn’t random, but instead has some connection with the reemergence of the fugitive and the former members of the 1960’s radical group. As they work together, Mike and Maggie also find themselves attracted to each other.
Donna Postel does a fine job narrating this engaging mystery. A few times her voice does lack animation, but usually she injects just the right amount of emotion into her characters’ voices. She never sounds like she’s trying too hard getting the feelings of her characters across to the listeners. Telling Lies is told in first person, so all the narrative is from Maggie’s point of view. Ms. Postel is most likely to flatten out her narrative voice when there are long stretches of Maggie “telling” the story and not talking to someone else, but even then it is only occasionally. Ms. Postel effectively differentiates her characters and, although the differences may at times be subtle between characters of the same sex, I didn’t have any problems following dialog. The male and female characters are easily distinguished one from another. Her voice for Mike is low and subtly sexy, while Maggie’s is more matter-of-fact. Both voices fit the characters well.
Telling Lies, the first in the Maggie MacGowen Mystery series was written in 1993 so don’t expect lots of recent technology. I didn’t find that to be a problem, but it does date the story somewhat. I enjoyed all the references to the 1960’s since I grew up during that decade and remember the chaos of the anti-war demonstrations quite well. Older readers like me may enjoy this glimpse back to their adolescence, while younger readers may experience an era they know little about.
The romance in Telling Lies is subtle but engaging. I love mysteries, so the romantic thread in the story is like icing on a cake. I found my way into romance novels through romantic mysteries after years of reading only mysteries, and I would dearly love to read more mysteries with solid romances. I’m looking forward to seeing how the relationship develops in the second book in the Maggie MacGowen Mystery series.
June 19, 2020
I actually read this over twenty years ago. Wendy Hornsby was my history professor in college (the best!), but I only found out she was also an author when I stumbled upon one of her books at a used bookstore. Recently, I've been getting some really sub-par mysteries from the library, and I remembered how much fun this series was, so I decided to see if there were any more, and there are! I stopped at A Hard Light back in 1998, but it looks like she added to the series again starting in 2009, and I am SUPER excited.
July 12, 2019
One of my pet peeves is when an author uses a decent storyline to promote his or her politics. It’s a cheap attempt to manipulate and pulls me right out of the story. That’s what author Wendy Hornsby did in a not so subtle way. I also think books should have a rating like movies do. This one would be rated “R” for profanity, casual drug use, and sexual content.
May 7, 2025
When Sue Grafton and Sara Paretsky started the wave of women-centered mysteries I bought a lot of them. This one appealedto me and it is very good. James Ellroy even praised it. How I can find some of the follow ups.
September 9, 2025
Fast paced story about investigating a murder on the streets of LA.
April 24, 2022
I read a lot of women detective stories. This one i recently re-read. I liked it for the action and the Mike Flint love interest to be honest.
I am not going to be very eloquent in explaining why i liked it I can tell. Something for me to ponder to make this review at all useful to even myself. smile.
I did find the Maggie character's 1980s women culture behaviour a bit funny.
I think i will give this one 3.75
Rereading in 2022. I am not of the 60s culture but let’s face it, we’ve been soaking in it. Whether it be Vietnam war, counter culture and hippies, music, etc. I would say certainly generation x is familiar with it if not the next generations. I enjoyed the 60s stories that made up the background of this book. This isn’t a political book by any means and in fact shows that there are humans behind personal political beliefs and decisions.
The opening chapters as Maggie is looking for her sister are evocative and I have enjoyed rereading them. I also enjoyed the romance with Flint.
The mystery and events were not quite as I remembered them and in fact I had not remembered the who done it correctly. I would say the reveal and explanation of the culprit was the weakest part of the story.
I do find Maggie’s character, and maybe it is the first person perspective that does this, gives me the impression of almost defiance which is surprising when how she leads her life is so normal: single mom, successful independent professional, new love interest, healthy sex life. But women have had to defend being normal that it doesn’t surprise me that this slips through given when it was written.
I am not going to be very eloquent in explaining why i liked it I can tell. Something for me to ponder to make this review at all useful to even myself. smile.
I did find the Maggie character's 1980s women culture behaviour a bit funny.
I think i will give this one 3.75
Rereading in 2022. I am not of the 60s culture but let’s face it, we’ve been soaking in it. Whether it be Vietnam war, counter culture and hippies, music, etc. I would say certainly generation x is familiar with it if not the next generations. I enjoyed the 60s stories that made up the background of this book. This isn’t a political book by any means and in fact shows that there are humans behind personal political beliefs and decisions.
The opening chapters as Maggie is looking for her sister are evocative and I have enjoyed rereading them. I also enjoyed the romance with Flint.
The mystery and events were not quite as I remembered them and in fact I had not remembered the who done it correctly. I would say the reveal and explanation of the culprit was the weakest part of the story.
I do find Maggie’s character, and maybe it is the first person perspective that does this, gives me the impression of almost defiance which is surprising when how she leads her life is so normal: single mom, successful independent professional, new love interest, healthy sex life. But women have had to defend being normal that it doesn’t surprise me that this slips through given when it was written.
April 4, 2010
Twenty two years ago they were radicals, protesting the war and fomenting violence. Maggie was Maggot the little sister tagging along behind her twin siblings. Emily, the radical and Mark, the soldier. Then on December 20, Emily is indicted and appears on the cover of Time and Mark dies in friendly fire in Vietnam.
Twenty two years later, Maggie is called by her sister to come to LA for a special event. Emily is shot before the meeting can take place and lies in a hospital with a lot of brain damage. As the family gathers and the old radicals reappear, Maggie investigates what happened in those hours before the shooting.
Even though I gave it three stars, the characters in this book are very engaging and interesting. I'm eager to see what they do next. The story was complex and a little bit different from the cozy-with-a-gimmick mystery fare. I liked the book, just didn't love the book. I loved the characters. Very satisfying ending.
Twenty two years later, Maggie is called by her sister to come to LA for a special event. Emily is shot before the meeting can take place and lies in a hospital with a lot of brain damage. As the family gathers and the old radicals reappear, Maggie investigates what happened in those hours before the shooting.
Even though I gave it three stars, the characters in this book are very engaging and interesting. I'm eager to see what they do next. The story was complex and a little bit different from the cozy-with-a-gimmick mystery fare. I liked the book, just didn't love the book. I loved the characters. Very satisfying ending.
May 3, 2013
When a 60s radical with a second degree murder warrant against her comes out of hiding after 22 years, one of her former radical friends, now helping the homeless and destitute, is shot in the head; someone tries to shoot her sister; another, who was always with the radical group, is blown up in a car – who will be next? Who is stalking these former radicals, now working for the public good – and innocents - after decades have passed?
Narrated in the first person, this lively page turner will bring those days of struggle and dreams back for those who lived through them and illuminate a time of protest, of hope and optimism, for those who didn’t – a remarkable piece of work.
Narrated in the first person, this lively page turner will bring those days of struggle and dreams back for those who lived through them and illuminate a time of protest, of hope and optimism, for those who didn’t – a remarkable piece of work.
February 26, 2015
I've read and enjoyed several later volumes in the Maggie McGowan, and was pleased when I found this first in the series. Maggie's sister was part of antiwar movement 20 some years earlier. One member who has been on the run since then, contacts Maggie about turning herself in to the authorities. That's when things start moving and Maggie's sister is shot. The characters are believable and interesting and sometimes quirky. The plot moves quickly and I found myself stealing every odd moment to keep reading.
January 25, 2016
Brought back memories of college although I didn't know anyone famous on a national level. I liked Maggie--single mother struggling with her daughter and her former husband and his new pregnant wife, her career, and her siblings' mortality--and how memories and their significance can change through the years.
March 31, 2008
I really enjoyed this book. There were a few too many names and not enough detail for me to keep track but it didn't really make me lose any of the story. I enjoyed the slight humor as well. I will be looking for her other books to read. I would have liked to give 3.5.
July 28, 2014
My rating has nothing to do with the writing Wendy Hornsby can write. I had issue with subject matter & characters. I couldn't connect & care about the characters. I couldn't care about characters who were lacking morals & values. The subject matter of the plot did not interest me.
August 21, 2014
This was a good enough book. It dragged in places and the ending was not really clear and what was clear was predictable. Not certain if I care to read anymore books in this series.
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April 15, 2014Awesome.
August 23, 2014
I liked the 2 Kate Teague books better.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews