A Bess Crawford Mystery (Bess Crawford Mysteries Book 3)

Bess Crawford is on leave from the front when she stumbles over a woman outside her house. She takes pity on her and learns that the women has been struck by her husband and has fled to London. She slowly gain the woman's trust and learns that her name is Lydia and that her husband's name is Roger. Bess agrees to travel with her home to her house in the country. But this act of kindness will result in quite a lot of trouble as everyone in the household inclusive Bess will be suspected in a murder case.

Once again has Charles Todd written an engrossing historical novel with where Bess en up having to find out the truth. She must try to figure out why anyone would kill a houseguest, but this time, even she is a suspect. Prior to the man's death has he asked Roger at dinner about a child that looked like Julianna, Rogers little sister that died when she was just 6 years old. But who is the child in question and could that simple question really be the reason for his death?

Ad much as I enjoyed the book and the mystery was I also a bit puzzled why it all had to be such a hush-hush thing. When the truth finally was revealed about the child was not that overly surprised, I would have liked a more interesting and perhaps surprising mystery than that. I felt that the family mourning of Julianna was frankly a bit over-the-top sometimes that it could affect the present time that much. Yeah, it was tragical, and yeah she was a beautiful child. But sometimes the truth could perhaps save some heartache and time. Still I enjoyed finding out the truth even though it was a little let down that it wasn't that complex.

But the murders is all whole other story, I failed to realize who the murder was. It wasn't until Bess and Simon Brandon realized who it was and then everything made sense.

One thing that really pleased me (and confused me) was that Sergeant Lassiter Larimore has finally made his first entrance in this book series. I am a bit confused about the name of him since I read about him A Pattern of Lies where he was Sergeant Lassiter, but here is is called Sergeant Larimore. Could there really be two different Aussie Sergeants with the same trademark Kookaburra laughter?

I just have to read on to figure it out...

Bess Crawford arrives home on Christmas leave from the Front to find a woman sitting out in the cold on the doorstep to her apartment. The woman has obviously been struck by someone and lets out that she is running from her husband. She knows no one in London and has no money. Bess invites her in to warm up and have some tea. Bess soon finds herself involved in another mystery. She agrees to accompany the woman back to her country home, but only for a couple of days. Well, that turns out to be several days, a murder and a missing man later.
Bess receives her orders to return to duty shortly after Christmas with the murder unsolved. She, however, has another mission of searching for an orphaned girl when she has free time from her nursing schedule. After a few weeks, she is summoned back to England for the inquest of the murdered victim. When she arrives, another murder victim or two is discovered. Bess is stymied as to whom is committing these murders and why. Is it someone in the family she is staying with or is it maybe the homeless beggar in town?
While this had the great tension leading up to the reveal of the murderer at the end of the story, I disliked a few of the characters so much that it detracted from some of my enjoyment of the book. I thought the characters of Lydia, Roger and Gran were all so selfish, mean, petty and sometimes cruel that I didn’t let myself weave them into my emotions, which I do to fully enjoy a story. The mystery aspect of the story was the usual great Charles Todd caliber with plenty of information to lead readers astray or put them in the picture as to the killer. The subjects of infidelity, deception, lying and multiple murders are featured in this third Bess Crawford mystery. This story will entertain for sure and I’m looking forward to the fourth story as Bess Crawford progresses through WWI in service as a nurse.

I discovered the Bess Crawford series by reading the one involving Ian Rutledge, a WWI veteran and Scotland yard detective, also written by the Todd duo. I much enjoyed the Rutledge stories and the first two books in this series, especially their tight, well-crafted plots, the ambience of WWI-worn England and war-torn France and Belgium, and the personality of the protagonist, Bess Crawford. The remarkably bright and vivacious Sister Crawford, a WWI nurse, serves at field hospitals, comes home periodically to her flat in London; and during her visits quickly finds herself embroiled in murder mysteries. She is definitely not another Miss Marple, as one reviewer characterized her, however.
The first three-fifths of A BITTER TRUTH take place largely in a bleak home in a bleak village in Suffolk, amongst the Ellises, a family devastated by recent and more distant personal tragedies. One of these tragedies comes in the person of Lydia Ellis, whom Crawford finds early on, injured and huddled in the doorway of her London flat; and then returns to her home to Suffolk and a series of seemingly inexplicable murders. The Suffolk atmosphere is Bronte-esque; the relationships amongst the family members are complex, and the plot becomes increasingly more complicated (but not to my mind, more interesting) as the number of murders increases. In the final portion of the novel, everything changes - the pace picks up, the mood seemingly lightens -- when Crawford returns briefly to her field hospital. Subsequently, she returns to Suffolk to work out the reasons for the deaths and the identity of the murderer.
I didn't enjoy this novel as much as I did the first two in the series, possibly because I don't enjoy the Bronte novels. More importantly, the prose seemed unnecessarily disjointed, possibly due to poorly integrated collaboration and/or editing, as if one Todd wrote one section and the other Todd, another. The editing problems are more trivial but nevertheless annoying: for example, referring to the passage of a day as "twenty-four hours" in some instances and "four and twenty hours" in others; and frequent references to starting automobiles by hand-cranking in some sections and no mention of hand-cranking the same cars in others. Finally (without spoiling the plot, I hope), two "miraculous", very late developments speed things along to the novel's conclusion: what earlier tragedians would refer to as "Dei ex machina". The second novel develops organically from a chance observation by Crawford ("an impartial witness") in a railway station, and the slowly evolving plot works remarkably well. When similar chances occur late in a novel and serve mainly to move the plot along, quickly, the story suffers.
I wonder whether the authors having begun a very successful second series are now marching to their publisher's tempo rather than to their own beat

I love historical murder mysteries but this series is NOT among my favorites. Todd's other series, also taking place around World War I, also seemed to be a bit slow, but the primary character Ian Rutledge (a war veteran, police detective suffering from post traumatic stress) was far more interesting. And since he was the actual investigator, there were more facts provided.

Bess Crawford is a nurse who happens to get involved in situations where murders occur (also in small villages). The plot is very slow to get moving in the series. In this book for example, the murder does not even happen till page 83. As well, she is simply not an engaging character.

She has no authority to investigate a crime so there's a lot of asking people about other characters; since she has very little evidence of anything, there's a great deal of guessing at characters' motivation and who might be the murderer. Also, far too many coincidences of characters knowing each other. I bought the entire series and read the first three, but for now, I have switched to reading other authors such as the (much better) Lenox series by Charles Finch, about a Victorian gentleman who is a private detective.

As she heads home, on leave from the ongoing First World War, battlefield nurse Bess Crawford finds a troubled young woman huddled in her doorway. With the biting cold London air chilling them both, Bess invites the woman inside. With the interior lighting now clearly illuminating the young woman, Bess recognizes that the woman appears to have been recently stuck in the face. Despite the fear and protests from the woman, Bess invites her to, at least, stay the night.

The next day, Bess learns that the woman, Lydia, has run away from her home after an altercation with her husband. While Bess had planned to visit her own family during her leave, she agrees to accompany Lydia back home, to offer support for reconciling with her husband, Roger Ellis, and to monitor what, she fears, may be a concussion. Upon arrival, they find the family grieving the recent loss of Roger's brother and the still haunting loss of his young sister many years ago. Bess agrees to stay for a meal between the family and friends in anticipation for the laying of the memorial stone on the brother's grave the following morning. When one of the men, also in attendance at the meal, is found dead the next day, Bess finds herself as a suspect in the middle of a murder investigation.

This is not a typical action driven story. The mother/son author team has crafted an intricate, character driven, English mystery, similar to those of author P.D. James. I appreciated the strong character development and the well-imagined relationship between families, strongly affected by the war. Sometimes, the drama between the characters seemed to verge on soap opera level, but I felt that the mystery was strong enough to overcome these slight faults. While fans of fast paced thrillers may find this a bit slow, I think those looking for strong characters and a believable mystery will enjoy this book.

Bess Crawford, a WWI army nursing sister, genuinely cares about people. So when she returns home to London from the French warfront on Christmas leave, and finds a battered wife with a concussion in the doorway of her flat, Bess quite naturally agrees to accompany the injured woman to Sussex to ensure her safe return to her family. After arriving in Sussex, Bess accidentally learns some dark family secrets, and her already delayed Christmas visit to her parents in Somerset is further delayed by the murder of a houseguest in Sussex. Ultimately, Bess is charged with a virtually impossible task to accomplish upon her return to wartime France: locating an orphaned French child who may be the love child of the army officer husband of the battered wife.

A BITTER TRUTH is the third book in Charles Todd's "Bess Crawford" series. The story unfolds in a leisurely fashion, the murders are civilized (without gory descriptive details), and the backdrop of WWI England is well drawn. Author Charles Todd (a mother and son team) writes extremely well, and has a wonderful knowledge of the WWI period that is incorporated in all of the Todd mystery novels. Even when the plots, like this one, are a little far-fetched, Todd holds the reader's interest and wraps everything up in a believable fashion.

A BITTER TRUTH is a little bit lighter on the WWI historical detail than usual, so I was a little disappointed. This novel works fine as a standalone, but I would still recommend that readers new to the series begin with the first "Bess Crawford" novel, A Duty to the Dead, in order to better understand Bess' situation and her particular family relationships with her mother, the Colonel Sahib, and Simon Brandon.

Mother and son writing team Charles Todd have created a third adventure for World War I nurse Bess Crawford. Like the first two books in the series, Bess Crawford is pulled into a mystery because of a spontaneous moment of meeting. Like the first two books, Bess somehow ends up living with an almost gothic British family with secrets. She becomes indispensable -- and, shortly, is solving a murder mystery with the help of the "family friend," Simon, who often appears as a sort of "Deus Ex Machina."

The idea behind this series -- the intrepid World War 1 nurse is more than a little intriguing and the Charles Todd writing team has the craft to pull of another excellent series. For the most part, they depict the times without jarring anachronisms. This mystery features a family with secrets, an illegitimate daughter, despairing soldiers, and a nasty matriarch with a tongue like an asp's. All great fun. The problem, for me, likes in Bess herself. There is a little too much random luck involved in the this series so far and Bess herself feels curiously flat and deeply sexless --even when a handsome man kisses her. There seem to be hints of a romance in the future -- perhaps with Simon -- but Bess's odd passivity and lack of depth are beginning to tell. I hope the next one in the series gives Bess a little more oomph and a lot more depth. A quirk or two would be good.

As to the mystery itself -- lots of red herrings and it was not possible to figure out who the real murderer was until the last moments of revelation. The convolutions of the troubled family are rendered well and the scenes in which Bess is on the battlefront and confronting some of those hidden secrets are some of the best in the book. I'll certainly look for the next in the series -- but I hope Bess will be progressing in development, sooner rather than later.

This is the third entry in the Charles Todd series featuring WWI nurse Bess Crawford. In this story, Bess is on her way from France to her parents' home to spend the Christmas holiday with them. She arrives in London too late to catch the train home so she goes to her flat. There, huddled against the cold, she finds a stranger, a woman named Lydia. Impulsively, she offers the woman shelter in her flat. The next day, the woman begs Bess to accompany her as she returns to her family estate in Sussex. Bess agrees to do so. While in Sussex, Bess becomes embroiled in the family's business. When one of the family's guests is murdered, Bess is further detained from her leave. Eventually, she is allowed to return to her unit in France, but not before promising Lydia to try to find a child no one in the family knew about before the night of the murder.

It seems completely out of character for Bess to return to England to spend the Christmas holidays with her much beloved parents only to be diverted by some stranger who ends up on her door stoop. That she heads off to Sussex with a complete stranger is even more confounding. She totally ignores her parents who are anticipating her arrival. Why Bess does these things is a mystery to those who have read the other books in this series. It seems so irresponsible for the sensible Bess. Then there's the whole business of Bess spending what little leave she receives while in France running around the war-torn country in search of a child who is no relation to her or even to a close friend seemed a bit too contrived and meddlesome even for Bess Crawford.

This is touted as a mystery, but it isn't really. Yes, there are murders, but Bess has no connection to them, she only superficially knows the suspects and one of the victims. She isn't even asked to aid in the solving of the murders nor does she involve herself in solving the killings beyond the occasional speculation about the whys and wherefors.

The only thing that can be said for this entry in the Bess Crawford series is that even if it isn't really a mystery and the actions taken by Bess make no sense, it is well written. Even assuming that the reader wants to read this book to its end, she will have to suspend belief in order to do so, something that not every reader of mysteries will be willing to do.

For someone is who unfamiliar with Charles Todd, this is not the book to start with. If they do, they will be sorely disappointed and that would be a shame since it would be unlikely that they'd pick up another Charles Todd book and they would miss out on some of the best written mysteries in print today.

Charles Todd's A Bitter Truth interweaves the vices of war with the failings of families into a psychologically and historically compelling mystery set in England in 1917. Bess Crawford, an intelligent and fearless nurse working on the front lines in France, comes home on leave to discover a frightened young woman with a bruised face hiding on the doorstep of her London flat. Unable by nature to leave the mysterious stranger out in the cold winter night, Bess convinces her to take shelter inside. Little does Bess know what a great deal of trouble she has brought into her life.

Charles Todd--who is actually a mother-son partnership made up of Caroline and Charles Todd--excels at keeping the war and its manifold repercussions and tragedies front and center even while much of the action takes place in England. Todd also portrays an extended family already traumatized before the war and now disintegrating under the war's pressures. Bess finds herself unwillingly bound to this family through her initial concern for Lydia, the young woman on her doorstep and the possibility she needs to be protected from a violent marriage. That turns out to be only the first level of secrets and crimes that will be unveiled throughout.

You're never sure whether those crimes and secrets arise from the war or whether they are connected to the private history of this one family. The interplay shows how, even far from the actual fighting, the war has torn apart even a small country town and its denizens. This is one of the most sophisticated critiques of the effects of war I've read--so subtle you won't notice it while you're enjoying the mystery, but its resonances will stay with you long after you finish reading.

This is the third of the Bess Crawford mysteries, preceded by A Duty to the Dead and An Impartial Witness. A fourth book in the series, An Unmarked Grave, is now available.

After finding the first two novels in the series by mother/son writing duo "Charles Todd" to feature wartime nurse Bess Crawford to be underwhelming, particularly when set against the excellent Ian Rutledge novels, this third book in the series was a pleasant revelation. Finally, Bess is doing more than deciding off her own bat to investigate mysterious events, and then whipping to and from various spots in England with the faithful family retainer, Simon Brandon, either at her side or following in her wake.

The first clue that this is going to be a more intriguing novel than its predecessors comes in the first pages, when Bess, on her way home on leave, is stuck in a bus on dark London streets as the police search for a deserter. When she finally gets home, Bess finds huddled on a doorstep not a deserter, but a young woman, soaking wet, with bruises on her body, who refuses to give her name and who can only be reluctantly convinced to take shelter in Bess's lodgings. Needless to say, before long the mysterious young woman has not only given Bess some insight into what drove her to flee her home, but convinced Bess to return home with her, just in time for a memorial service for her brother-in-law -- and for a murder.

The weakest -- and most repetitive -- elements of this novel become clear immediately. Once more, Bess is plunged into the midst of an extended family, all of whom have secrets they want to conceal. Once more, she finds herself driven to uncover whichever of those secrets need to be revealed in order to solve the crime. What made this a stronger novel, in my view, is that for the first time we see Bess as more than just a busybody trying to clean up other family's messes, or as the subject of her family's concern. The final third of the story takes Bess back to France, and to work in field hospitals. I do wish "Charles Todd" would try and craft more stories that go beyond domestic tragedies that happen to occur in a time of war, and take advantage of the fact that Bess was one of those unique women who set off to not only be of use but to carve independent lives for themselves at a time of national trauma. Until this novel, a war that was almost omnipresent in everyone's consciousness at the time is almost an incidental walk-on character in these books; a real weakness. Another flaw of this book was that the authors really provided a solution to the crime that came out of the blue -- while I don't want to predict whodunnit in the first 100 pages, neither do I really relish thinking to myself "where did THAT come from?" and trying to unearth any buried clues in the narrative. (There weren't enough...)

This series, while it seems to be improving, still is of the "read it and forget it" variety; I definitely prefer the Ian Rutledge novels or, best of all, Rennie Airth's superb trilogy featuring John Madden, which takes his main character from the immediate aftermath of WW1 up to the dark days of WWII. I think when the next Bess Crawford mystery appears, I'll go back and re-read The Blood-Dimmed Tide: A John Madden Mystery (Penguin Mysteries) instead, or Sebastian Japrisot's A Very Long Engagement: A Novel (MUCH better than the film.) Still, for the author's fans, this novel is a step forward, and it's certainly an intriguing-enough tale to occupy a few hours on a rainy weekend. Mildly recommended; 3.5 stars and rounded up. (Oh, HOW I wish the store permitted half-star ratings; they were designed for books like this!!)

One note: some reviewers have compared this series unfavorably to the "Maisie Dobbs" novels by Jacqueline Winspear. I don't find much to choose between them, for my part: Bess is obsessed with investigating family dynamics; Maisie, with the psychological elements of crime and her endless "maps" of events. The latter offer a more diverse array of side characters, but few of them are three-dimensional, so it really comes down to which formula the reader prefers.

Set during World War I, Bess Crawford is a "nursing sister" (battlefield nurse) from England, serving in France. She has just been granted leave for Christmas and is returning to her London flat, looking forward to spending time with her family. She returns late at night to find a young woman huddled in her doorway. The woman is obviously hurt and very frightened. Bess invites her in to warm up and discovers she has run away from her husband after he struck her. Eventually the young woman, Lydia, convinces Bess to accompany her home to Sussex. Bess finds a wealthy, dysfunctional, multi-generational family in deep mourning for a family member who has just died from recent war wounds. But strangely, they are also still in mourning for a young girl (daughter/sister/grand-daughter) who died many years previous. She quickly learns that the whole family is actually strangely obsessed with the beautiful, dead little girl. Bess, anxious to get home to her family, is asked to stay for a few days until the headstone dedication service for the recently deceased is over. Unfortunately, one of the house guests is murdered the morning after the service, and everyone in the house is under suspicion. Lydia believes her husband, Roger, has a love-child in France who looks very much like his dead little sister. This suspicion was confirmed by a comment the now dead man had made the previous evening. Had Roger killed him? Where is the child? This is where this story gets a little far-fetched for my tastes. There are a few too many coincidences for my tastes as Bess and Lydia's husband both try to find the young girl who may or may not be his daughter. The fact that she is found within a few days in war torn France is a bit hard to believe. I like my mysteries to be a bit more sophisticated in that senses. That part aside, I found it an pleasant read and will probably pick up a few more books written by this author team (Charles Todd is actually a mother and son writing team).

First Line: A cold rain had followed me from France to England, and an even colder wind greeted me as we pulled into the railway station in London.

Bess Crawford has been given Christmas leave, and she's looking forward to time away from nursing the wounded and dying on the front lines in France. All she has to do is spend one night in her London flat before going home to her parents. Unfortunately she doesn't even get the front door to her flat open. A woman has taken shelter from the wind and rain in the doorway. Not only is she wet and cold, her face shows signs of a fist, and she's scared to death. Against her better judgement, Bess takes her in. Not only does she give the woman a place to stay, she lets the frightened stranger talk her into going home with her because she doesn't know how her husband (the man who hit her) is going to react.

Lydia lives out in Ashdown Forest, in a grand house called Vixen Hill. The landscape reminds Bess of the blighted land of France where war has destroyed every bit of grass and trees, and Lydia admits that it's so grim in winter that the place sucks the life out of a person. When they arrive, Bess finds a family gathered for a memorial service, and even though these people are grieving, there's still something in their behavior that makes Bess uneasy. When one of their number is found dead, Bess finds herself mired in the middle of murder.

The Ellis family of Vixen Hill is an interesting one. Many secrets and emotions are tied into the untimely death of a daughter many years ago. Just what those secrets are, and just what each family member's motivations are is what Bess has to find out in order to celebrate Christmas with her family.

This is the strongest book in this series so far. I think this is due, in part, to the fact that we finally see Bess as a nurse in France. In the other two books, she was on leave in England, but this time we see her performing her job, interacting with medical staff, doctors, soldiers, and officers, and moving from place to place in a war torn country. This makes her a more fully realized character, and I appreciated seeing this side of her.

Although this is the third book in the series, it stands alone well, so you don't have to worry about starting with the first book to keep your bearings. If you enjoy the Maisie Dobbs series written by Jacqueline Winspear, you should give Bess Crawford a try. Chances are, you'll like Bess, too.

I have read several of Charles Todd's mysteries, and I especially like the Bess Crawford books. I looked forward to reading this third novel about Nurse Crawford and her life during World War I. Unfortunately I have to say that I was a bit disappointed. The story was a bit disorganized and a bit far fetched. Bess finds a well dressed woman hovering in her doorway when she returns home on leave and, without knowing anything about the woman, takes her in. The woman is running away from her husband who has hit her in anger. After spending a couple of days with the woman, who calls herself Lydia, Bess agrees to accompany her home to face her husband, and a house full of strangers. They are accompanied by Simon Brandon, Bess' family friend who always seems to be there to save her from terrible outcomes. It turns out that Lydia's husband is Captain Roger Fellows who, in civilian life, is the master of Vixen Hill, a large estate. Also, living in the house are Roger's mother, grandmother and assorted relatives and friends who have gathered for a memorial service for Roger's brother who has died as a result of war wounds. Hovering in the life of this family is a sister, Juliana, long dead, who haunts the family because her loss was so great. She died of a tumor while a small child, and the family has never gotten over it. This child and the repercussions of her life and death were the cause of the domestic violence against Lydia.

As the story progresses, several other murders occur, seemingly without motives, and a small child, who resembles Juliana, is transported from France to England by an Australian Sergeant who is trying to help. The solutions to the murders and the future of the French child are addressed at the end of the novel.

If this review seems a bit of "all over the place", it is because the novel is all over the place. I would love to see a Bess Crawford book which has her spending more time in the theatre of war. Also, perhaps due to changing times, the insults from the family based on gender roles and the "noblesse oblige" of the home county wealthy was a bit hard to swallow. That a women who had worked on the front lines of a hideous war would actually hold her tongue at some of the insults the family passes out to her seems a bit naive. This is especially true when we realize that, during this same time, the fight to gain the vote for women was in high gear. The mother and son team who write the Charles Todd books obviously know a lot about World War I. With the resurgence of interest in this war currently taking place in literary circles, it might be good to write more about Bess and the war and to leave the murders at home to someone else.

In the third Bess Crawford mystery, Bess has returned home from France. She has been serving as a battlefield nurse during World War I, but is back in London for Christmas. Bess is looking forward to seeing her family, but finds a young woman huddled in the doorway of her flat. When Bess sees that the woman is cold and bruised, she invites her in. The woman, Lydia Ellis, says her husband Roger hit her for the first time, but that most of her injuries are actually from a fall. Bess believes Lydia and doesn't think she is making up a story to protect her husband. Bess agrees to accompany Lydia to her home in Sussex for moral support and to make sure Lydia is recovering from her injuries. While in Lydia's home, George, a friend of her husband's family, is murdered and everyone in the household falls under suspicion. Could George have been murdered because he claimed Roger fathered a child in France or are Lydia and the rest of the family hiding other secrets worth killing for?

Charles Todd is actually a pen name for a mother and son writing team. The result of their collaboration is a well-written and fast-paced historical novel. It is extremely suspenseful, and I found myself very involved in the plight of Bess, Lydia, and the other characters. Bess is an intelligent, independent woman who is curious almost to the point of nosiness. However, she has only good intentions toward others and wants to help anyone who is in need. Although she gets talked into accompanying Lydia to her home when she would rather be with her own family, she doesn't hesitate to stand up for what she feels is right, even if it makes her unpopular or puts her in danger. When Lydia needs help, a family friend named Simon is there for her. I could not quite figure out how Simon fits in with the family, though. Simon seems like a brother to Bess, and there are no romantic feelings between the two. I have not read the prior books in this series, so I feel I was missing some needed background information to fully understand their relationship.

Lydia and her husband Roger have a complicated marriage, and Bess ends up right in the middle of their marital problems as well as other family matters. Of all of the members of Roger's household, I like his mother the best. While she is only a supporting character, I like that she is strong, but honest and kind, and seems to have both her son and her daughter-in-law's best interests at heart.

A new character is introduced in this book, Australian office Sergeant Larimore. He is amusing, kind, and causes complications for Bess, but also provides assistance to her in her quest for the truth regarding George's drunken proclamation that Roger had fathered a child. I hope Larimore, who is a breath of fresh air in the otherwise very serious book, returns in future installments of the series. Unlike Simon, Larimore does have the potential to be a love interest for Bess.

The true motive for the murder doesn't come out until the book is almost over. The ending gets a little confusing and the solution seems to come out of nowhere. However, the rest of the book is so well-written and the historical details so fascinating, that I am able to overlook that flaw. If you like Anne Perry's "William Monk" series, you will enjoy reading about Bess Crawford's adventures in war-torn Europe.

This review was originally written for the "Season for Romance" E-Zine. The book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.

Life is about to change for battlefield nurse, Betty Crawford on a dark and blustery night in London. When the police are searching for a deserter, Betty heads home to her flat alone. Yet on the stoop of her doorway is a woman, hiding and wearing a thin coat, trying to find temporary shelter from the storm. When Betty offers her a cup of tea and a respite from the weather for a few minutes, she sees that the woman's face bears a battered and bruise hand print along with endless tears down her face.

Fearing the worst but don't wanting to frighten the poor woman, she learns that she is running from her husband, Roger Ellis. Not prone to violence against his wife, Bess learns that the woman's name is Lydia and offers her a place to stay. Lydia fears the worst could happen the longer she stays away and asks Betty to accompany her home to Vixen Hill.

There Betty will meet the Ellis family of three generations of widows and meet the spirit of Julianna, who died a young girl and one whom the family can't seem to forget. Betty is talked into staying a few days to help care for Lydia and help her deal with issues involving her husband's jealousy. During her stay, the family is planning a memorial service to lay the headstone of one of the sons that was killed in the war. Only on the eve of the memorial service, one of the house guests George Hughes confides a deep family secret to Betty when neither of them can sleep. When the house awakens in the morning, George is soon discovered murdered and someone in the house is the prime suspect.

I received the novel A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd compliments of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review. It feels like a historical version of the game, Clue, as Bess Crawford attempts to solve the mystery surrounding the Ellis family secret and the murder of George Hughes. Set in London during the middle of World War 1, the mystery continues to grow as more and more people turn up missing or murdered as well. I rate this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars and is perfect for you crime solving sleuth fans!

WWI nurse Bess Crawford is on Christmas leave. She discovers an emotionally and physically abused woman, Lydia Ellis, on the stoop of her London flat. Bess accompanies Lydia to her home, Vixen Hill, a mansion in the remote, desolate, bitterly cold heath of Ashdown Forest, Sussex. She encounters a distraught family in mourning. At their dinner party, a drunken guest, George Hughes, reveals a family secret about an orphaned child he's seen in France who resembles the portrait of a dead child, Juliana Ellis. The next morning, George is found murdered. In France, Bess begins a frantic search for this orphaned child; meanwhile, more bodies are found in Ashdown Forest. Someone at the dinner party is desperate to keep secret the bitter truth about Juliana and the orphaned child who could be her twin sister.

Charles Todd's "A Bitter Truth" is a riveting mystery involving a serial killer preying on the friends of a wealthy family. Dysfunctional, wealthy families; remote, isolated mansions; vicious, coldhearted murders; and a lovely, snooping heroine (à la Agatha Christie style) seem to be a trademark for Charles Todd. The themes of love, betrayal and loyalty prevail throughout this novel. Specifically, it explores the limits to which a family will endeavor to keep past indiscretions hidden from public knowledge. As with the previous novels in the wonderful Bess Crawford series ("A Duty to the Dead" and "An Impartial Witness"), I felt that I had been transported back in time, albeit a tumultuous time, in which I wouldn't want to have lived. Historical mysteries always make me appreciate the modern comforts that I sometimes take for granted.

In "A Bitter Truth," the reader will experience and learn the tremendous amount of heartache, sorrow, stress and exhaustion that is involved in being a nurse on the Front in France. While serving there, Bess befriends an Australian gentle giant, Sergeant Larimore; risking his life on several occasions, he aids the young woman in her quest to find the orphaned child who resembles Juliana. (I kept hoping they'd have a romantic relationship that would linger into the next installment.) Bess is also helped a great deal by her dear family friend, Sergeant-Major Simon Brandon, who is her protector/bodyguard at Vixen Hill and her assistant in analyzing clues. Together, they make a most unusual sleuthing pair.

I enjoy serial killer mysteries, especially those that occur during the holidays such as Christmas. I can sympathize with Bess' sorrow and stress at not being able to travel to her parents' home as planned. (I've experienced holiday delays myself due to dangerous weather, illness, lost keys, etc.) However, I believe the mystery's resolution and the revealing of the serial killer were too hastily performed. Much distraction is created by emphasizing the human drama of locating the orphaned child in France and forcing Roger to claim her as his own. Nevertheless, there is a great deal of suspense as Bess and Simon's search for the killer on the heath leads them into danger. "A Bitter Truth" is a good addition to the Bess Crawford series and is recommended for fans of historical mysteries.

Joseph B. Hoyos

A stranger on your doorstep with bruises, a stranger you let into your home, and a stranger who became your friend and brought trouble when you arrived at your new friend's home. Could you make friends that quickly and feel comfortable enough to go to their home?

Bess thought it was possible, and when she arrived at Lydia's home she immediately knew there was something strange about Lydia and her entire family. This became even more apparent when a family member was murdered and Bess became one of the suspects in the investigation. How did a well-bred girl get herself into such a mess....being nice definitely didn't pay off in this case.

The case involved Mr. Hughes who drank too much that evening and blurted out a family secret in front of unknowing family and a few town guests. Could that have been the reason Mr. Hughes was murdered. Who would revert to murder to keep something quiet? Everyone in the household was questioned, and being the last one to speak to Mr. Hughes before his death, was incriminating for Bess.

When the police thought they found the murderer, everyone was free to leave. Bess left but not without having to promise Lydia she would find someone for her. Bess hesitated but knew the person in question may be the root of the reason for the murder so she promised to look in France. Bess's nursing career kept her busy, but she managed to "try" to search. This search was the key to many secrets.

The story took place in the early 1900's with scenes from makeshift hospitals in France and the house where the family lived...Vixen Hill. The home, the town, and the family life of that era were well described...the lack of phone communication was frightening...also the "motorcar" that had to be cranked to get it started.

The book was slow at first, but once the murder took place, the interest picked up. The murder and some of the story's characters were somewhat bizarre, but interesting.

I can honestly say the book wasn't bad but it did get too much with the patient care and such. I have never read a Bess Crawford mystery by Charles Todd, but have read the Inspector Rutledge ones. It won't disappoint you, but finding out who committed the crime will surprise you and how the police operated in the 1900's will keep your attention.

4/5

A Bitter Truth brings us another Bess Crawford novel. This one centers around a woman, Lydia, who shows up on Bess' doorstep just as she arrives for some well-earned leave from her job as a Nursing Sister during World War I, in France. Lydia has been struck by her husband and is fearful for her safety. Her husband, an active duty officer, has changed while in service, and his temperament has become unpredictable.

Bess is drawn into the Ellis family's dysfunction and drama. We learn that there has been tragedy, with a young family member dying and another young man dying of wounds received in service, suicide resulting from the despair of the child's death, an intransigent matriarch whose ways do nothing to help and much to annoy, and sundry other characters all who contribute to the complexity of this tale. The day after a family gathering, a visitor is found dead, and thus begins the hunt for the killer. As the story progesses, suspicion is cast first here, then there, and when one of the suspects is found dead, back we go to square one. The story is paced well and progresses steadily.

As with other Charles Todd novels, characters are generally well sketched and realistic. These are people you can and do meet every day. They are not "novel characters" ... they are realistic people whose stories we are drawn into. Bess is strong, but not well experienced in life ... and she can stand up to you or anyone, but not always for the right reasons or causes. She sometimes flounders in making decisions, and sometimes acts without a good foundation for those actions. So do we, in our lives. Roger Ellis, the abusive husband, is a deeply imperfect man; hardened by the war and the loss of his beloved sister and brother, unable to communicate with or even make the slightest move toward reconciling with his wife, avoiding the consequences of an impulsive action in France, trying to control life and never understanding that we never control life, we only control ourselves.

The setting is primarily the home of the Ellis family and the nearby town. The barren, chilling countryside adds to the coldness and detachment of the characters.

This is my third Charles Todd novel and my first featuring Bess Crawford. As with the others, I find the writing to be very good ... perhaps a tad too much of a tendency to sound "authentic" and scraping a nerve here and there. It is a finely crafted story: solid plot, good setting that enhances the storyline, very well drawn characters, generally solid writing. I found A Bitter Truth to be an enjoyable read and recommend it either in series or as a standalone.

"A Bitter Truth" is third in the new Bess Crawford series of British historical mysteries penned by the American-based mother/son team that calls itself Charles Todd -- the son's actual name, I believe. Like their other --previous series? - featuring Inspector Ian Rutledge, it is set in the World War I United Kingdom, principally England.

Battlefield nurse Bess Crawford returns from the French front to spend Christmas with her family. But she finds a bruised and shivering gentlewoman huddling in the doorway of the building that houses the London flat Bess shares with several other nurses. It's a cold and windy wintry night, and Bess has a rather well-developed sense of duty, which she blames on being an Army brat, so she takes the woman, whose name she eventually discovers is Lydia, in. She will have reason to relearn the twist on that old adage, "no good deed goes unpunished."

Lydia eventually reveals that it was her officer husband Roger Ellis who beat her in an escalating quarrel; yet Lydia wants to go home, to the manor house Vixen Hill, in what she describes as the winter-dreary moors of Ashdown Forest, in Sussex. Bess is expected by her family in Somerset, but she realizes Lydia has had a concussion that is as yet untreated, so she agrees to accompany the young woman to Sussex, on the agreement that it will be for just a few days.

Of course, Bess, who seems to find trouble wherever she goes, finds trouble at Vixen Hill. The house is in mourning, deeply distressed by the death of the elder son Alan, of his war wounds. But its residents are also tense, on edge, and soon a troubled, wounded house guest is murdered. Things get even worse from there, or it wouldn't be a mystery.

A BITTER TRUTH, as An Impartial Witness: A Bess Crawford Mystery, which I have also read and reviewed, is much better than the first book in this series, A Duty to the Dead, which I have also read and reviewed in these pages.

"Todd" does extremely well at giving us the atmosphere of wartime England, and the social uproar caused by the war. The author(s) are excellent on England's landscape, wintry weather, cities and towns, residents and police, soldiers home on leave. Dialog and narrative are fine; the plot is complex in a satisfactory way. In fact, the plot is pulled together, organized excellently, in line with the rules that govern this kind of writing. And I did not see the villain coming; that might have been foreshadowed a little more. The warfront scenes are adequately done, but there is no question but that "Todd" cannot, as in the first two books of the series, render them with the intensity a reader might expect from the best wartime novelists. Furthermore, it seems a little odd, considering the formality that still governed the country then, that Bess should stay so long in the home of a family not her own, and should interact with them in the way that she does. Finally, frankly, I found the Ellis family a bit tedious. And claustrophobic.

"Todd" is the author of thirteen Rutledge mysteries and a stand-alone, in addition to this series. Mother lives in Delaware; son, in North Carolina. I've seen him several times at mystery weekends sponsored by the local library; he seems an intelligent, polite, and charming man.BITTER TRUTH is a well-done historical mystery that many readers might enjoy.

The Bitter Truth, the third in the Bess Crawford series, again finds her in a difficult situation as the result of trying to help someone. Maybe it's just in her nature or possibly her training as a nurse that makes her get involved. In this case, it's a young woman she finds huddled on her doorstep attempting to get out of the rain. Suddenly, Bess finds herself entangled in this woman's life and eventually in a murder.
Bess is a little like Miss Marple or Jessica Fletcher of "Murder She Wrote" in that she seems to stumble into situations where suspicious deaths occur. Her expertise as a nurse is often sought after, and as a result, she becomes caught up in the case. You have to admire her determination and courage when it comes to facing possible danger as she looks for the truth. In each case, it's not about solving the murder but about helping the people involved heal from some kind of trauma.
This story explores a dysfunctional family still attempting to recover from a number of losses including that of a child some years before. There's also an illegitimate little girl in France who looks suspiciously like the child who had died. Is she related to the family? As always, Bess seeks the truth no matter where it may lead.
The story is interesting and well-written. I personally find that time period - WWI England - quite fascinating. It's not as popular a setting as the wild 1920's or the austere 1930's or 40's, and I think it deserves some attention. I'd also like to see the next book reveal more about Bess's personal life as in the first book. I think it's time we knew more about her.

It's a different world Bess Crawford inhabits. If one were to find a freezing and battered woman on one's doorstep today, what are the odds that one would take her into one's house? Slim to none? Bess does this. And still it's the same world we live in. The woman was beaten by her husband - not a new tale today or yesterday.

Bess's tendency to take in strays takes her to Sussex and a murder or two, then back to France and the War and the hunt for a missing child who may or may not exist at all.

Charles Todd writes with great empathy about a problem that just will not seem to go away. Todd shows readers the limits society places on Bess and also on the woman she is trying to help, and demonstrates how Bess works within that system as best she can. Todd conveys the utter randomness of war, particularly in the disposition of non-combatants who are so totally at the mercy of the world around them. The character of the Australian who helps Bess find that child is a delightful thing to read, even as the description of his physicality is not always pleasant. The revelation of the murderer is, to my mind, the weakest point of A BITTER TRUTH, relying as it does on little detection from Bess and another fortuitous happenstance during the chaos of a war. Still, well worth the read.

This Bess Crawford mystery, set during World War I, finds her on a short leave from the front, intending to spend the Christmas holidays with her parents. When she arrives at her apartment in London, she finds a young woman huddled on her doorstep, cold, hungry and distraught. In sympathy, Bess takes her up to her room and learns that she has run away from her husband and home because he has abused her, and her disfigured face is proof.

From this improbable beginning, Bess becomes involved in a family's secrets and along the way in a few murders, since she accompanies the young woman back to her home and family. The novel rambles on, as the plot unfolds and the police fumble in an effort solve one murder after another. Bess returns to France, only to be recalled by the police for additional inquiries.

There are some excellent aspects to the novel, including insights into the lives of upper crust Britons of the period. But it appeared to this reader that to bring the plot to a conclusion, the mother-son author duo reached out to contrive a solution that has little if any foundation. Nevertheless, the book is an enjoyable read and is recommended.

This third in the Bess Crawford mysteries has returned to the complexity of the first volume, after what I thought was a disappointing second book. A nursing sister during the Great War, Bess has briefly returned to her London flat on Christmas leave, preparatory to joining her parents for Christmas. But as she arrives home, she finds a battered woman trying to warm herself in the doorway. Lydia, as Bess discovers through questioning, has been struck during an argument with her Army officer husband; Lydia immediately clings to Bess and persuades her to accompany her back to her husband's home to confront him. Bess has no sooner arrives than she realizes Lydia's family by marriage is haunted by the death of a child years earlier. But it is when a man is murdered after a family gathering that Bess is drawn into something much deeper than dysfunctional family members.

This is a happy return to a complex family mystery as in the first volume. Bess' investigation into the family mystery seems much more natural than in the previous book, and she is joined by an intriguing Australian soldier during a search in France. Her father's assistant Simon Brandon is again pivotal in the novel as well. I particularly enjoyed the atmospheric descriptions, whether it be of Bess' frigid return to London, the bleak countryside she finds in Sussex, or the smoky battlefields and appalling fate of the war wounded. Bess herself is a favorite of mine; she is practical, if with a tendency to get excessively caught up with anyone who asks her help, and reminiscent of Maisie Dobbs without as much of the introspection.

In 1917, battlefield nurse Sister Bess Crawford leaves the front in France to spend Christmas with her family in Somerset, England. Bess stops at a London boarding house for the night with plans to complete the journey home the next day. Instead she finds a battered, cold and wet woman curled in a fetus like position at her door. She brings twentyish Lydia Ellis inside.

The next morning Lydia tells Bess she is leaving her abusive husband Roger for hitting her. Lydia persuades Bess to come with her to her home Vixen Hill in Sussex so she can confront her spouse. At Vixen Hill, family friend George Hughes swears he saw a child in France who looked like Juliana, Roger's late sister who died as an infant. Everyone including Roger's mother and grandmother assume he sired a child while he was on the continent. Someone murders George with the police suspecting Lydia. Bess returns to France looking for the child and soon with the help of an Aussie finds Sophie who she brings to Sussex as another homicide occurs.

The latest Bess Crawford WWI amateur sleuth (see An Impartial Witness) is an exhilarating multilayered mystery. Kindhearted Bess cannot stop herself from helping someone in need, a trait readers will admire. France and England seem geographically small considering the state of transportation in 1917 and especially since nothing is quiet on the western front as Bess runs into others too frequently. Still Team Todd once again provides the audience, as he does with the Inspector Rutledge police procedurals, a tale that deeply condemns war.

Harriet Klausner

It is December 1917 and Bess Crawford has been granted Christmas leave from her nursing duties at the British field hospital on the French lines. Her family had apparently not gotten her telegram, no one was there to meet her when her transport arrived. Bess wearily traveled through the cold rain to her London flat, planning to continue her journey to her family's country home. When she finally arrived at her flat's doorway she discovered a young woman huddled there seeking shelter from the storm. Bess managed to get the young woman, who had obviously been beaten, to accept Bess' help and shelter for the night. Soon though Bess found herself drawn into the young woman's troubles to the extent of accompanying her back to the home she had so hastily fled. Once there, Bess and her new friend Lydia became embroiled in murder and long buried family secrets.

This is an interesting period mystery featuring Bess Crawford, a young woman from a well to do British military family who trained as a nurse in order to do her bit in World War I. Bess is an interesting character, the mysteries she is involved in a reasonably well planned making this a series well worth reading. This is the third in the series, and although there is an over all series story arc it is not strictly necessary to read these in order.

I enjoyed reading this book even though some events and situations were highly improbable. I do want to read more Bess Crawford having read all 3 books to date. There are valid criticisms in some more negative reviews, but one has to applaud a series that causes readers to want to learn more and live through more adventures with this heroine. Do you suppose Bess will ever spend any time with her mother? Will we be privy to at least a few bits of conversation or close time that her mother always seems to wait for? Is her profile of father worship so rigid that no room can be made for her mother? I actually care more about this dimension of her character development than any future romance scenarios. Does anyone else feel this way? And how about that constant rain, eh? Both Ian Rutledge and Bess Crawford find themselves drenched more than not. Should we take that as a warning to stay away from UK? So,yes, it seems silly that Bess is drawn into so very many murder mysteries on her way home from the front for holiday dinners that are never consumed. Nevertheless, I look forward to the next book in the series. I'm sure it will continue to improve.

The mother/son team that writes under the pen name --- Charles Todd --- have already created the terrific Inspector Ian Rutledge series. Now, A BITTER TRUTH marks the third entry in their latest series --- the Bess Crawford mysteries.

Bess is a British battlefield nurse who witnesses first-hand the horrors of WWI. Additionally, she finds herself constantly at the center of various deadly mysteries. A BITTER TRUTH finds Bess befriending a young woman named Lydia who appears to have been battered by her husband, himself a British serviceman. Bess decides to accompany Lydia to her home and is quickly thrust into the middle of a murder that may have been committed to protect a deadly family secret.

The difference with this Bess Crawford mystery is that she herself is unwittingly made a subject in the murder investigation --- a fact that makes her involvement in finding out the truth that much more difficult. Although this is not Charles Todd's finest work, it does feature what they always do best --- create an atmosphere of a bygone era that is so real and gritty you are practically transported there with every line.

This is an average entry in the Charles Todd cannon. I actually prefer the Bess Crawford mysteries to the Ian Rutledge series, so I was a bit disappointed in this book. Bess is a decent, hard-working nurse during WWI and the situations she finds herself in are barely plausible, although the authors do a good job at providing interesting historical context to the tale. Unlike other Charles Todd mysteries, the "who" as in "who-dun-it" remained a mystery to me until the conclusion, which I guess is a plus if you like to be surprised by the ending. However, like other Charles Todd novels, the writing is nothing special and this turns into just a mildly interesting read but hardly memorable. (Someone needed to tell them that they didn't need to mention "heath" and "gorse" so often. It became a bit silly after a while as they describe the landscape.) Being the 3rd Bess Crawford mystery, I have to say that I enjoyed the first two much more.

I love the Charles Todd books - at least all those prior to this one.

However, this latest effort ,the third on the Bess Crawford series, is a huge disappointment! I found it utterly dreary - the plots sags, the characters are shallow, totally uninteresting and unpleasant (with the exception of a minor character, an Australian sergeant, but this one is overdrawn - a charicature). Our heroine once again starts interfering with some stranger's household when she's supposed to be going home on leave , and the ponderous way this is handled by the authors makes Bess come across as a self-righteous, interfering, meddlesome and quite unlikeable spinster. Much of her narrative is an unrelenting whine ..... There is no joy anywhere to be found, no lightness of being, no sense of contrast so essential to any good fiction) .......

Why Bess should want to spend time with these totally unlikeable people is beyond me. And why should I want to spend my time reading about them ? Life's too short for this unrelenting, depressing, tedium.
I really couldn't care who committed the murders......I just wanted to finish the book - a chore, to say the least. Sorry, Charles Todd, but you can do SOOO much better.

I generally enjoy reading these Bess Crawford mysteries, but this one was really silly from the start. I would put it down, but then pick it back up hoping it was gonna grab me and make me glad I bought it. The more I read, I wanted Simon to come get me and take me back to mother and father! It became more unbelievable along the way and the by the time the plot was solved, I wanted to hit myself in the head with my Kindle for wasting my time. I've not felt that way with other Bess books I've bought. The Todds need to rethink their strategy on the next one.........

This is the most atmospheric Bess Crawford book to date. The plot takes us from the cold and isolated Ashdown Forest to the battlefields of France. While the story isn't packed with historical detail, it does give a real sense of time and place.

Todd's books aren't edge-of-your-seat suspense. Instead, the plots are introspective, deriving tension from human frailties. The real strength of these books is the examination of the heavy toll the First World War exacted from individuals and the English people as a whole.

Having said that, I just didn't feel a connection with this book. There wasn't anything that truly engaged my mind or my emotions and the denouncement was very disappointing.

"A Bitter Truth" is an engrossing depiction of the life of a battlefield nurse in WWI and an upper class family in rural England. We observe the interactions of this family as they attempt to deal with a particularly embarrassing situation of a possible illegimate child.

Bess Crawford is a nurse who returns to England on leave from her duties on the French battlefields. She finds a well dressed young woman huddled in her doorway. The woman, Lydia Ellis, has a bruise on her face,and Bess's compassionate nature takes over. She invites Lydia to her flat and learns that Lydia's husband Roger, struck her. Lydia is afraid to return to her home so Bess offers to accompany her.

At the Ellis home, Bess meets Roger and understands about the argument. Roger is about to return to his unit at the front and Lydia wants to try to conceive a child so that if anything happened to Roger, Lydia would have that part of him to remember and love.

Bess is a steady character who is a delight. As a nurse, she deals with physically and mentally injured people. She has seen horrors at the front so she doesn't get unnerved at things back in England. She is also a problem solver and has the ability to analyze a situation and provide useful alternatives. In this manner, I found myself sympathetic to her and wishing her to succeed.

Charles Todd describes the relationship between family members and their goal of protecting the family name. When a character is murdered, the reader continues the story enjoying Bess as she tries to figure out what happened and who could be the guity person, while the author keeps us in suspense.

There is something in the novel that will capture the reader's heart, in addition, there is a well placed plot twist that adds to the reader's interest and sets this story at the top of creative story telling.

The story has a plot and character who seem made for each other and combine for a wonderful reading experience.

Sadly, despite excellent period details and a lot of atmosphere, this story is so absolutely implausible and contrived. Also, (spoiler alert) the quest for the murderer leaves the reader absolutely betrayed. After endless machinations involving a large cast of characters, the culprit turns out to be someone whom the author has devoted just a minor, very minor amount of ink and energy.

The works of this fantastic duo--Charles Todd--always satisfy. Though I personally favour the Ian Rutledge series, their Bess Crawford series adeptly submerges the reader--quite credibly--into the WWI era. Literary agent Donald Maass has made reference to the fact that many readers want to be in the mind of a main character who has noble intents while surrounded by tension and conflict. Charles Todd handles this incredibly well with both of their main characters. I found A Bitter Truth to be presented in a compelling manner. I reread it the other night--grateful for my bad memory because I couldn't remember who'd dunnit; I enjoyed it just as well, which I think is a real test of good writing. A Bitter Truth is a satisfying page-turner.

The third entry in the Bess Crawford series once again had a mystery that I didn't figure out until the reveal. Once again the situation seems implausible but I didn't really care this time. I enjoyed one of the new characters a great deal, but I missed Colonel Sahib and Mrs. Crawford who were only seen briefly in phone calls.

First Sentence: A cold rain had followed me from France to England, and an even colder wind greeted me as we pulled into the railway station in London.

Returning from the battlefields of France to England for Christmas leave, WWI nurse Bess Crawford encounters a desperate woman, rain-drenched and bruised in her building's entry. Offering her shelter, Bess slowly learns the woman, Lydia Ellis, had been struck by her husband during an argument. Lydia begs Bess to return to the family's house in Sussex with her and, fearing Lydia may have a concussion. Bess agrees, entering a home filled with tension and, ultimately, murder with Bess being an initial suspect.

The mother and son team of Charles Todd write some of the most evocative descriptions creating a wonderfully strong sense of time and place. The alternating settings of London, and English country house and the stark reality, cruelty and death of war are deftly handled. Even more, they deal with the front and the wounded in a manner which is strongly impactful, yet not overly graphic.

The dialogue is so well done; it is atmospheric..."The forest is--I don't know--not haunted, but most certainly, it broods." with a well-placed sense of irony and occasional wry humor. The language doesn't work hard at reflecting the period, but the sense of it is still there, particularly with the use of the old collective noun "a crocodile of children."

Bess is a character who has grown on me with each successive book. She is a dedicated nurse, but the authors have restrained her from coming across as prissy. The relationship with Simon, her father's ex-Sergeant Major and now assistant, is one handled with proper decorum and appropriateness to the period, but one rather hopes to see grow as the series progresses. Lydia, the wife in trouble, is very well constructed as a character who is difficult to like, but one who elicits one's sympathy.

There were a couple weaknesses to the book. It did become tiresome that some of the characters were continuously referred to by their full names and, although I suppose necessary for the plot, I did have a problem with on significant decision made by Bess to not tell the police about a piece of evidence. Both of these are minor points, however, when weighed against the book's strengths.

"A Bitter Truth" is the best, so far, of the three books in the Bess Crawford series. How lucky are we readers to have two such good series from Charles Todd.

A BITTER TRUTH (Hist Mys-Bess Crawford-England/France-1917/WWI) - VG
Todd, Charles - 3rd in series
Wm. Morrow, 2011, Unc. Proof - HC ISBN:

The works of this fantastic duo--Charles Todd--always satisfy. Though I personally favour the Ian Rutledge series, their Bess Crawford series adeptly submerges the reader--quite credibly--into the WWI era. Literary agent Donald Maass has made reference to the fact that many readers want to be in the mind of a main character who has noble intents while surrounded by tension and conflict. Charles Todd handles this incredibly well with both of their main characters. I found A Bitter Truth to be presented in a compelling manner. I reread it the other night--grateful for my bad memory because I couldn't remember who'd dunnit; I enjoyed it just as well, which I think is a real test of good writing. A Bitter Truth is a satisfying page-turner.

The third entry in the Bess Crawford series once again had a mystery that I didn't figure out until the reveal. Once again the situation seems implausible but I didn't really care this time. I enjoyed one of the new characters a great deal, but I missed Colonel Sahib and Mrs. Crawford who were only seen briefly in phone calls.

First Sentence: A cold rain had followed me from France to England, and an even colder wind greeted me as we pulled into the railway station in London.

Returning from the battlefields of France to England for Christmas leave, WWI nurse Bess Crawford encounters a desperate woman, rain-drenched and bruised in her building's entry. Offering her shelter, Bess slowly learns the woman, Lydia Ellis, had been struck by her husband during an argument. Lydia begs Bess to return to the family's house in Sussex with her and, fearing Lydia may have a concussion. Bess agrees, entering a home filled with tension and, ultimately, murder with Bess being an initial suspect.

The mother and son team of Charles Todd write some of the most evocative descriptions creating a wonderfully strong sense of time and place. The alternating settings of London, and English country house and the stark reality, cruelty and death of war are deftly handled. Even more, they deal with the front and the wounded in a manner which is strongly impactful, yet not overly graphic.

The dialogue is so well done; it is atmospheric..."The forest is--I don't know--not haunted, but most certainly, it broods." with a well-placed sense of irony and occasional wry humor. The language doesn't work hard at reflecting the period, but the sense of it is still there, particularly with the use of the old collective noun "a crocodile of children."

Bess is a character who has grown on me with each successive book. She is a dedicated nurse, but the authors have restrained her from coming across as prissy. The relationship with Simon, her father's ex-Sergeant Major and now assistant, is one handled with proper decorum and appropriateness to the period, but one rather hopes to see grow as the series progresses. Lydia, the wife in trouble, is very well constructed as a character who is difficult to like, but one who elicits one's sympathy.

There were a couple weaknesses to the book. It did become tiresome that some of the characters were continuously referred to by their full names and, although I suppose necessary for the plot, I did have a problem with on significant decision made by Bess to not tell the police about a piece of evidence. Both of these are minor points, however, when weighed against the book's strengths.

"A Bitter Truth" is the best, so far, of the three books in the Bess Crawford series. How lucky are we readers to have two such good series from Charles Todd.

A BITTER TRUTH (Hist Mys-Bess Crawford-England/France-1917/WWI) - VG
Todd, Charles - 3rd in series
Wm. Morrow, 2011, Unc. Proof - HC ISBN:

Another in the series with murders along the way, an aristocratic family and a mysterious child . Slow at the start but it grew on me. News is too curious at times a d often goes where angels fear to tread.

than the first two books. The reader gets to "see" Bess work as an Army nurse, rather than have other characters "tell" how great a nurse she is. The novel also gives a bit of background on Bess, with brief mentions of life in India, her relationship with her parents, and fleshes out the character of Simon Brandon. (Now, if we could just get a physical description of the major players!). Other reviewers have more than adequately detailed the major plot points, so I won't rehash their far superior efforts.
That said, the mystery was kind of muddled, and confusing-but I didn't care, as I was enjoying the book so much. it seems that the authors have finally hit their stride with Bess Crawford, as a character, and I am looking forward to the next installment.

This is the third book in the Bess Crawford series, which is written by the mother and son team that goes by the name of Charles Todd. When Bess, a British nurse in France during the First World War, returns to London on Christmas leave she finds a well-dressed woman huddled on her doorstep. Bess offers her refuge and sees that the woman, Lydia Ellis, is badly bruised. After Lydia had an argument with her husband, Roger, which ended when Roger hit her, she fled to London from her home in Sussex.

Although she wants to be with her family, Bess's conscience leads her to accompany Lydia back to Sussex. She meets Lydia's family and learns about the death of Juliana, Roger's younger sister, who succumbed many years ago to a disease at the age of eight. Later, George, one of the house guests, has too much to drink and he blurts out how he saw Roger in France with a little orphan girl who looked exactly like Juliana. George then speculates that the girl may have been Roger's illegitimate daughter.

The next day, George is found murdered. As the police investigate, Bess becomes more involved. When she returns to duty in France, she tries to locate the orphanage where George saw the girl, but is hindered by the chaos caused by the war. Meanwhile, more dead bodies turn up in Sussex, we learn about more secrets that the Ellis family is concealing and there are many suspects to keep you guessing.

One of the best things about this well written series is its realistic portrayal of the war, both the horrors around the battlefields in France and the affect it had on English society. Bess is also an interesting character and her observations add to the realism. Unfortunately, I have to lower my rating to three stars because the book violates one of the rules of detective fiction, which I can't mention without revealing the ending.

Wow! Lots of twists and turns. Interesting characters, strong women and military men. This story starts with Bess rescuing and befriending a woman in London with no money and nowhere to go.

After returning her new friend home, Bess spends Christmas with her family.

And there are multiple murders and a baby in war torn France that causes a new plot twist!

A great read!

When you finish a book and immediately look for the rest of the series, then you know that is a great read. And that is what I did for this book. If you like historical mystery with a strong woman amateur detective, then you will love this. The historical details are so well written and you feel you know the characters and the setting/era when you are done.

Bess is from a good family and is a nurse during the war. She is very capable in that capacity and also in finding solutions to mysteries that come her way. I am reminded of the Maisie Dobbs books and found this just as enjoyable. The book is suitable for men, women and teens. It will be an enjoyable read for all who are interested in historical mystery.

Like so many cozy mysteries, the Bess Crawford books are a bit preposterous. She's a war time nurse, after all, working under extraordinarily primitive and tragic conditions. Still she finds the time to travel to England or elsewhere and solve a crime or two. However she's so committed to crime solving and nursing that you can't help but love her. She's restrained, proper, trustworthy, discreet and bright. I also think she's young but young in the sense that Miss Marple must have been young. Oh I know she'll find a slightly war wounded aristocrat who will be the love of her life but...Anyway, I thought this particular story was intriguing, demonstrating how modern and painful life was moving headlong into the fading golden age of Edwardian England. I have no idea of what real life was in Britain during WWI but the Charles Todd must be sitting at their desks stuffing themselves with tea and crumpets to create Bess's world. And I thank them for it.

In this third installment of Charles Todd's mystery series, the story opens in December 1917. World War I battlefield nurse Bess Crawford has returned home to England from caring for patients in France. This is a well-deserved break from constant hard work and the horrendous emotional toll of caring for injured soldiers, and Bess is looking forward to spending Christmas with her parents. As her train pulls into the London railway station, she looks for her father or for her father's right-hand man, Simon Brandon. When she sees no one she recognizes, she figures her telegram announcing her arrival may have been delayed. She must take an omnibus into the city to the flat she shares with friends through the darkening, windy evening.

As Bess approaches her flat, she notices that all the windows are dark. The landlady must be out, and her flatmates, also nurses, are not at home. Bess feels an initial relief; she is so tired that all she wants is solitude. Then she glimpses a huddled figure in the outer doorway of the house. As Bess approaches, the woman apologizes in a tearful voice and walks away into the street, shivering in the wind. After much persuading from kind-hearted Bess, the stranger accepts her invitation to come inside to warm up.

The woman is still skittish, anxiously saying she can only stay for a few minutes. When Bess lights the lamp, she is shocked to see that the lady has been struck in the face --- her cheek is marked and her eye is swollen and blackened. Bess doesn't pry, but is appalled to hear that the woman hasn't eaten since the day before. She makes tea and serves biscuits, insisting that her guest, Lydia, stay the night in a flatmate's vacant room. In the morning, Lydia admits that her husband struck her. Afterward, she makes her way from her country home into the city, where she fears her husband will find her. She seems to believe the violence might be at least partially her own fault: "I shouldn't have brought up Juliana. It was wrong of me."

Bess doesn't feel she can ask Lydia questions, but naturally she's wondering who Juliana could be. She ponders the possibilities as silence falls between the two women. When Bess notices that her family's friend, Simon Brandon, is in the street below the flat, she joins him. After confiding in Simon about her unexpected guest, Bess tells him that she may have to take Lydia to her parents' home in Somerset, since she is expected there for Christmas. However, Lydia has a request for Bess. She's hoping her new friend will go with her to her country home, saying that she believes she can face Roger, her husband, and his family from a stronger position if Bess is by her side. Since Bess suspects that Lydia is suffering from a concussion, she doesn't believe she can let the woman travel alone. Of course, as she heads to Lydia's home in the country, she has no way to predict that she will soon be deep in a murder mystery...and that she herself will be one of the prime suspects.

The many fans of this series should be delighted with Bess Crawford's latest adventure, while historical mystery buffs new to these novels are likely to embrace it, scrambling to read the previous two installments. Readers may find some of the minor characters to be a bit under-developed (for example, Lydia's husband Roger's motivations seem hazy in the extreme), but Bess is a strong and sympathetic main character. Her personality coupled with a fascinating time in history and an intriguing mystery make for enjoyable reading.

--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon

Bess Crawford is an English army nurse traveling home to spend Christmas with her family in a brief respite from 1917 war-torn Europe. At least that was the plan before she encountered Lydia Ellis, a woman with a badly bruised face fleeing her husband.

This is the third novel featuring WWI British army nurse Bess Crawford and in it, the author weaves a complex tapestry of murder and betrayal out of an almost dizzying assortment of disparate threads. "A Bitter Truth" features a large cast of characters, locations ranging from London and the English countryside to the war's front lines, port cities in England and France and enough murderous motives to daunt the most dedicated detective.

In Bess Crawford, the author has created a believable and satisfying heroine. She's plucky and resourceful as one would expect, but she is also a product of her time and sensibilities. Part of the enjoyment of reading this novel is watching as Bess navigates her way as an independent woman in a male-run world.

Most of the story takes place in and around Vixen Hall, a bleak ancestral home in a dank and dismal part of Sussex. There, Bess finds herself a reluctant and mostly unwelcome guest of the Ellis family, an old and aristocratic family burdened by too many tragic deaths and unresolved secrets.
When a guest is found murdered Bess is caught up in the investigation. It is almost a welcome relief when she is finally free of the house and its family and back working amidst the horrors of trench warfare in a front line medical aid station in France.

But Bess has made a promise and feels duty-bound to keep it and scours the war-torn towns of France for a child who may or may not be real. Meanwhile, back in England, the murder investigation continues with deadly consequences.

Reviewed by Andrew MacRae for Suspense Magazine

After having read all books in the Maisie Dobbs series, I was thrilled to find another series of books surrounding WWI with an interesting heroine such as Bess. Yes, the ending left much to be desired, but for fans of Bess, this is a very enjoyable book. I hope Charles Todd (mother and son) continues to write more books in this series.

If you finish this series and like the genre, you might try Anne Perry's Monk series, with Hester Latterly, another WWI nurse (must be read in order).

I really enjoyed the first Charles Todd Bess Crawford Mystery, but I have liked each successive one less. I can't decide if it is because a.) not enough character growth, b.) the growth there is is not to my liking or c) I don't find the story itself compelling.

Having written it out I think it's mostly a) and c).

So nope. I cannot recommend this. But plenty of other people did.

I have so far rather enjoyed the Bess Crawford series; I really enjoy the Bess Crawford character as it is nice to see an intelligent, strong, spirited woman being given a leading role. How this tale comes together for me is where it gets knocked down from four to three stars. I understand that Bess is caring and compassionate but the whole story just seems so far out that it would never in a million years happen. No one in their right mind would do what Bess does, accompanying some random woman to her home for a few days during her very short Christmas leave. Maybe I am selfish and a cynic but I had such a hard time imagining that anyone would do that, much less that someone else would have the gall to even ask a complete stranger, albeit a kind one, to accompany them home in such a manner is even worse. There is so much 'relying on the kindness of strangers' in this, it is almost laughable. I understand that it was a very different time than 2011, but Bess seems to have in inordinate amount of good luck finding people willing to drive her places or spill key information. I also have to touch on the character of Simon Brandon . . . three book into the series and only hint at this character's background and true intentions? I can only assume he is gay and the author doesn't want to come right out and say it, for whatever reason. It would make more sense to just be out with it, whatever Simon Brandon's intentions or feelings are for the Crawford family, because it just muddles this story.

With that negative being said, I absolutely adored the Australian captain's character that is introduced and hope that he will be in future books; he is a great addition, funny, sweet and charming and just what this book needed as most of the people are rather downers.

All in all, this book was a worthy addition to the Bess Crawford series but I would recommend it with some reservations, probably better for fans of the series than for someone just starting out.

I know perfectly well, as a novelist myself, that the cover is not the fault of the authors. The book is fine, actually, great historical detail, a good mystery. I felt the protagonist was distinctly distant emotionally, so I couldn't really invest myself. But the cover! That dress is from the 40s. When I picked up this book in an airport shop, I thought it would be WWII, and kept looking again and again to make sure I had the period right. I mean, this book takes place in 1917, when hemlines were just at the ankles, and no one was wearing this uncorseted style! Again, not the authors' fault, but I do wish publishers cared as much about these things as those of us who love historicals do.