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A Bitter Truth
(Bess Crawford #3)
by
World War One battlefield nurse Bess Crawford is featured for a third time in
A Bitter Truth
. Bess reaches out to help an abused and frightened young woman, only to discover that no good deed ever goes unpunished when the good Samaritan nurse finds herself falsely accused of murder.
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Hardcover, 352 pages
Published
August 30th 2011
by William Morrow
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Start your review of A Bitter Truth (Bess Crawford, #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 gains 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 murd
...more

So installment 3. Pretty good. A solid 4.
A few things I didn't like: 1) Lydia. Spoiled and making demands of Bess to stay or do things. Jesus woman, just say no. 2) Simon finds a connection between the dead that no one knew of creating motive for another character- how about a wee bit if foreshadowing? Otherwise it looks contrived for a different ending than the illogical mess that came before. 3) Give Bess a love life, a wee bit of romance in her life. Don't make her so flat and only driven by ...more
A few things I didn't like: 1) Lydia. Spoiled and making demands of Bess to stay or do things. Jesus woman, just say no. 2) Simon finds a connection between the dead that no one knew of creating motive for another character- how about a wee bit if foreshadowing? Otherwise it looks contrived for a different ending than the illogical mess that came before. 3) Give Bess a love life, a wee bit of romance in her life. Don't make her so flat and only driven by ...more

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
...more

Another excellent Bess Crawford mystery. I got behind in this series - in all my series, really - and finally got around to finishing this one.
I love this time periof and this one is a little claustrophobic. It is an English Country House mystery with extended circumstances. Bess was very patient with Lydia. Much more patient than I would have been! (She didn't even get to spend time with her family while she was on leave from France!)
Good mystery with good characters! ...more
I love this time periof and this one is a little claustrophobic. It is an English Country House mystery with extended circumstances. Bess was very patient with Lydia. Much more patient than I would have been! (She didn't even get to spend time with her family while she was on leave from France!)
Good mystery with good characters! ...more

At the outset it is necessary to say that I have not read the first two Bess Crawford Mysteries so Bess' background and her relationship to Simon, who seems to appear anytime Bess is in dire straits, is not familiar to me. As a result I found the relationship confusing. But, even it I understood that aspect of the story, I would be hard-pressed to believe the whole basis of the book. That a war-time nursing sister would take in an abused woman in the middle of the night in London was a stretch f
...more

While I like the character (nurse Bess Crawford) and the time and place (England, WW I), this story was very disappointing. The premise was very weak and the events that followed felt very forced. It lacked an emotional center. This book bore little comparison to the Ian Rutledge mysteries by the same mother/son writing team. Those books are emotional, intelligent and much more engaging.
A more fulfilling series that involves a WW I nurse is the William Monk/Hester Latterly books by Anne Perry.
A more fulfilling series that involves a WW I nurse is the William Monk/Hester Latterly books by Anne Perry.

Sep 07, 2011
LJ
rated it
really liked it
Shelves:
traditional_mystery,
france,
historical,
ww1_1914-18,
mystery,
england,
writing_pair,
1900s_early
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 Su ...more
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 Su ...more

This book does little to answer The Question of Simon. When introduced in the first book, I assumed he must be gay. Why else would a nice guy, still young enough to fight (I'd guess in his 40s), still be single and opt to live in a small cottage by himself? I mean, it's war time, an eligible man who doesn't have to go fight would have women following him around. Then, as I read the books, I thought possibly he was in love with Bess (he goes wherever she goes in England). Or maybe it's her mother
...more

So so. Bess is an inconsistent character, the family that she is drawn in to help is full of stereotypes - and their obsession with a dead perfect child is a bit over the top. The plot is full of red herrings, and bogs down as a result. The war time scenes are good, and the character of the Aussie sergeant Larimore is a welcome bright spot in the midst of all the starchy and angst ridden types.

3.5 stars. Good, but wasn’t a compelling read for me - seemed a bit draggy in spots. Protagonist is morally refreshing - enjoyed the author’s characterization of this resolute nurse in an interesting WW 1 timeframe! I believe I did enjoy the 1st one of this series a bit more - “Duty to the Dead” which I recently read.

This is a
Reading Good Books
review.
* In compliance with FTC guidelines, it should be noted that I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
I have a love-hate relationship with the mystery/thriller genre so I’m constantly on the hunt for new titles to see how an author will twist the well-known and loved genre into something new. I haven’t read anything by Charles Todd before so I was quite looking forward to reading this one.
A Bitter Truth is third in the series of mystery n ...more
* In compliance with FTC guidelines, it should be noted that I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
I have a love-hate relationship with the mystery/thriller genre so I’m constantly on the hunt for new titles to see how an author will twist the well-known and loved genre into something new. I haven’t read anything by Charles Todd before so I was quite looking forward to reading this one.
A Bitter Truth is third in the series of mystery n ...more

I have read the Ian Rutledge and Bess Crawford series by Charles Todd mother and son writers, so I was expecting a great read and I was not disappointed with A Bitter Truth. The main character is Bess Crawford who is a nurse in France during the war. On her way up the stairs to her apartment in London, she sees a woman huddled under the stairs. The weather is bitter cold and Bess can see the woman has on a thin coat and is shivering uncontrollably. She invites the woman in and gives her hot tea
...more

Much like A DUTY TO THE DEAD, this Bess Crawford mystery is long on intriguing characters but short on mystery and suspense. Bess' involvement with Lydia and her family starts out plausibly enough but there are so many eccentric family members and so many dangling plot threads that the whole story becomes unintentionally funny by the end of the book. I wanted more, more, more of sexy Lydia and her headstrong reckless ways, and less, less, less, of creepy old ladies pining over graveyard memorial ...more

Life is about to change for battlefield nurse, Bess Crawford on a dark and blustery night in London. When the police are searching for a deserter, Bess 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 Bess 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.
...more

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 chara ...more
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 chara ...more

"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.
Bess Crawford is a nurse who returns to England on leave from her duties in the battlefields of France. She is surprised to find a well dressed woman huddled in her doorway. When Bess sees that the woman, Lucy Ellis, has a bruise on her face, Bess's compassion ...more
Bess Crawford is a nurse who returns to England on leave from her duties in the battlefields of France. She is surprised to find a well dressed woman huddled in her doorway. When Bess sees that the woman, Lucy Ellis, has a bruise on her face, Bess's compassion ...more

A Bitter Truth
3.5 Stars
On leave from the front, WWI nurse Bess Crawford, encounters a woman alone on a rainy night in London. After taking the young woman in, Bess quickly learns that not everything is as it seems and soon finds herself embroiled in a nasty case involving a missing child and a murder.
Slow to start and the mystery doesn't make a great deal of sense. Nevertheless, Bess is a likable heroine and the historical detail is fascinating.
The mystery is the weakest aspect of the book as ...more
3.5 Stars
On leave from the front, WWI nurse Bess Crawford, encounters a woman alone on a rainy night in London. After taking the young woman in, Bess quickly learns that not everything is as it seems and soon finds herself embroiled in a nasty case involving a missing child and a murder.
Slow to start and the mystery doesn't make a great deal of sense. Nevertheless, Bess is a likable heroine and the historical detail is fascinating.
The mystery is the weakest aspect of the book as ...more

This mystery, one of the many I've read by Charles Todd, is part of his new series which "stars" Bess Crawford, a nursing sister in the first World War. This is the second book in which Todd and his mother are listed as collaborators even though her name does not appear on the book cover. I found the pace of the story very uneven-- fascinating at the beginning with descriptions of Lydia's home where the moor and forest are bleak in winter and at the end where the discovery of the actual murderer
...more

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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I like this book least of the four in the series--still well-written, still loved the characters and especially Simon, who gets showcased in this book. But the people Bess is helping are unsympathetic at best and selfish to the max at worst, so that just makes you want to get her away from them. That makes it harder to enjoy the book. Is there a slight homage to Austen going on here, with great guy Simon Brandon--almost as longsuffering as Mary Anne Dashwood's Colonel Christopher Brandon--and th
...more

Excellent, simply excellent. Fast-paced from the beginning, and it really kept you going. Recommend!

Not my favorite of the series... it seemed pretty unbelievable, and I'm someone who will believe a heck of a lot in fiction.
It also struck me during this book (probably because I was busy being annoyed at the plot) that there hasn't been any humor in these books--other than the odd moment with a wounded patient. Maybe I'll go back to Charles Lenox for a while. ...more
It also struck me during this book (probably because I was busy being annoyed at the plot) that there hasn't been any humor in these books--other than the odd moment with a wounded patient. Maybe I'll go back to Charles Lenox for a while. ...more

#3 in the Bess Crawford World War 1 series, in which Bess takes in a young woman seeking shelter after being injured in a marital argument. This leads to several mysteries, including an orphaned girl taken in by nuns in France, family dynamics, and a blind veteran. Bess’s good intentions get her much involved.

Not my favorite in the Bess Crawford series -- I found it inconsistent that she would travel far away with a strange woman, then get tangled up in her family's crisis. It dragged on a bit.
...more

I had issue with the initial premise of this book.
Main character is good Samaritan
Main character gets her holiday leave usurped.
I love a historical mystery god knows but I just couldn't get the opening premise out of my head. ...more
Main character is good Samaritan
Main character gets her holiday leave usurped.
I love a historical mystery god knows but I just couldn't get the opening premise out of my head. ...more
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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What is Simon to Bess? | 10 | 82 | Jan 14, 2015 05:52PM | |
Free Books, .99, ...: A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd Giveaway | 7 | 21 | May 17, 2012 07:13AM |
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