A Bitter Truth
A Bess Crawford Mystery by Charles Todd
Review: After Bess Crawford accompanies an abused woman back to her home and agrees to spend the night, she becomes a suspect in the murder of another guest in A Bitter Truth, the third mystery in this series by Charles Todd.
Bess is on leave from her duties on the front line in France, off to visit family in England for the Christmas holidays. While in London awaiting a transfer, she notices a young woman huddled in a doorway against the winter wind. The woman, Lydia, has a black eye and her face is swollen. She has been beaten by her husband, but has no where else to go but return home. Lydia convinces Bess to go with her to her country home in Sussex, where the family is in mourning over the death of a son, who had been killed in the war. Everyone is tense, arguments the norm. But then one of the guests in town to attend the service is found dead. Though Bess had only just arrived and knew no one there, the police still consider her a witness at best, a suspect at worst. Since she cannot leave, she decides to put her keen mind to work and do a little sleuthing on her own.
This fast-paced historical mystery, set during The Great War, offers an interesting contrast between independent-minded Bess Crawford and the more typical women of the time, one whose traditional place was in the home even if that home wasn't very inviting, even dangerous. She's a delightful character, clever and resourceful, and also a bit controversial given the time and place. A Bitter Truth is both a well-plotted mystery and a moving story of a woman making a difference.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of A Bitter Truth.
Acknowledgment: HarperCollins provided a copy of A Bitter Truth for this review.
Review Copyright © 2011 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Selected reviews of other mysteries by this author …
A Pale Horse
William Morrow (Hardcover), January 2008
ISBN-13: 9780061233562; ISBN-10: 0061233560
Location(s) referenced in A Bitter Truth: England
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A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd
Publisher: William Morrow
Format: Hardcover
ISBN-10: 0-06-201570-2
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-201570-9
Publication Date: August 2011
List Price: $24.99
Synopsis (from the publisher): 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.