Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Christmas approaches and WWI battlefield nurse Bess Crawford arrives back at her London digs on leave from France only to discover a battered wife on her doorstep. She takes her in and, at the woman--Lydia's--request, accompanies her home to the dreariest corner of Sussex just as the extended family is about to gather together for a memorial event for Lydia's deceased brother-in-law.
Murder ensues. As do rumors of an illegitimate child. Then comes another death--is this one a suicide or is it also murder? Are all these things connected? And if so, how?
I think this third entry in the newest British WWI era mystery series by the American mother and son team that writes under the name of Charles Todd works a bit better than the first two because it puts Bess smack dab in the middle of the muddle from the get-go and thus her collecting of clues and conjectures requires fewer far-out coincidences and less Miss Marple-ish busybodiness to propel the plot.
I didn't love this book--I thought the "who" in the whodunit should have been a more prominent and better developed character--but I liked it, especially the scenes that involved Bess's being back in battle-torn France where her investigations were more in character and thus more believable than in the first two books of this series. And I look forward to the next one. But I remain a bigger fan of Scotland Yard Inspector Rutledge, star of the Todds' longer running series. At least so far.
Click Here to see more reviews about: A Bitter Truth: A Bess Crawford Mystery (Bess Crawford Mysteries)
Trying to help a woman in distress, World War I nurse and accidental sleuth Bess Crawford learns that no good deed goes unpunished
When battlefield nurse Bess Crawford returns from France for a well-earned Christmas leave, she finds a bruised and shivering woman huddled in the doorway of her London residence. The woman has nowhere to turn, and propelled by a firm sense of duty, Bess takes her in.
Once inside Bess's flat, the woman reveals that a quarrel with her husband erupted into violence, yet she wants to return home-if Bess will go with her to Sussex. Realizing that the woman is suffering from a concussion, Bess gives up a few precious days of leave to travel with her. But she soon discovers that this is a good deed with unforeseeable consequences.
What Bess finds at Vixen Hill is a house of mourning. The woman's family has gathered for a memorial service for the elder son, who died of war wounds. Her husband, home on compassionate leave, is tense, tormented by jealousy and his own guilty conscience.
Then, when a troubled houseguest is found dead, Bess herself becomes a prime suspect in the case. This murder will lead her to a dangerous quest in war-torn France, an unexpected ally, and a startling revelation that puts her in jeopardy before a vicious killer can be exposed.
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