BITTER TRUTH (Bess Crawford Mysteries, 3) Paperback – April 12, 2012

Brilliant.This is not the first time a book has taken over my thoughts for days after finishing it, but usually that is because of the plot, while in this case it is in deep appreciation of how the author(s) constructed this wonder.I have been reading mysteries since I was a pre-teen, so over 60 years, and I am rarelymystified as to the who-dun-it part of the story. This time I was totally fooled, and I so enjoy how it was done.Add in the continued descriptions from the earlier books as to the horrors of the battlefield hospital situation in France during WW I, and this is a near perfect book.I have read reviews elsewhere in which a reader would be angry at the denouement, claiming that there was no foreshadowing - not true, or others dismayed at the heroine Bess' inability to say NO to Lydia's demands, but I think that also misses the mark.There are two central mysteries here, the identity of the murderer and the identify of a missing small French orphan who may be a part of the Ellis family, and the very different motives of the people who want to find her or not find her.Any misdirection to the reader, and there is a lot, is caused by the characters themselves and how they confuse these two issues.The motive for the murders is indicated in the very beginning of the book and hinted at in other contexts throughout. The initial depiction of the murderer is also one that should alert the reader to question, and the character of Gran realizes things about this person and states them.It is also very easy to dislike the character of Lydia and to wonder at how Bess is repeatedly persuaded by her to act in ways Bess does not wish to. I read one review that described this as co-dependent.Instead, this is the moral dilemma of a woman of her time and place, raised in a military culture that insisted on duty and a social order that restricts the roles of woman of her class, stressed again by Gran.Because she is immediately pulled into Lydia's trauma Bess has trouble detaching from the two main issues, which Simon does not, enabling him to look for other explanations.The is also a delightful new character, who may be for this book only, an Australian soldier, wounded, and determined to return to his men.If the book has a lot of misdirection, Bess herself is a master of it, knowing how to use partial and shaded truth to give the needed false impressions in delicate or dangerous situations.If we dislike Lydia, who seems spoiled and aimless, it must be remembered that she has always been taken care of by a father or husband and does not know how to fend for herself or act in her own interests, and in a social order that wants her just the way she is. She is trapped in a house of women as a war drags on, with the constant worry that her husband will be killed, and with nothing to do with herself except read to a blinded soldier.Modern women who have always had more options have no right to judge this, just be thankful for how far we have come since.I wonder how this series could get any better and look forward to finding out.

Bess is on her way home for a short leave from her job as a nurse in France. On the bus ride home, it is stopped by police who are searching for a deserter, but eventually she makes it home, only to find a shivering young woman curled up in the entry-way to escape the cold. Unable to leave her, she takes her upstairs to her flat, where she warms her up and feeds her. As they talk, Bess discovers that her find is named Lydia and comes from an upper crust background. As usual, Bess is unable to refuse Lydia asks her for a lift back to her home, where her husband (the source of the slap on Lydia’s face) resides with his mother and grandmother. Before her visit concludes, a family friend is murdered, apparently because he saw a child in France who looks just like the picture of a long dead daughter. From this event, Bess becomes involved in a series of questions: who killed George, who and where is the child that George saw? This is another fine book: great descriptions, thick and shifting plot. But Bess still seems just like herself. Her decisions, after three Books, seem too predictable. In other words, she doesn’t seem to be evolving from her experiences. I’m going to take a break from this series.

An interesting, full-of-false turns mystery featuring world war battlefield nurse Bess Crawford. She earns a leave that takes her back to London and home for the holidays but before she even gets a chance to settle down, she winds a woman in distress on her doorstep during a cold and rainy evening. She does not dessert the woman and aids her, giving her comfort and shelter and slowing learning her story. Almost before she knows it, Bess is traveling with the woman taking her back home to face her family, especially her husband who had struck her and sent her fleeing to London.It is at Vixen Hall that Bess finds memories and lives buried in layers of guilt and regret and jealousy. Its a deadly combination alone but when one of the houseguests, who while drunk says something inadvertent, is found dead, it becomes a tangled web that threatens the entire family as well as Bess.It is a masterful story with twists and turns leading to heart-stopping conclusion. This is not a story to miss.

This is one of those books that you don't want to put down. The characters are very defined and believable. I like the descriptions of the character's expressions, body language and the nuances that so many writers leave out. These are the things that make it so very interesting, along with all the twists and turns that keep you guessing right to the end ... which I like very much. I do not like to be able to figure out the end of the book in the first chapters and you certainly don't do that with this one! :)

Love this author this is the third book I’ve read and it’s very engaging. The Bess Crawford Mysteries are a compelling read highly recommend

its ok. Just

The Charles Todd team always do a good job.

This is the third Bess Crawford mystery I've read and it's the one I least enjoyed. But let me qualify what I've just written. It still took me just over 24 hours to read it, I still found it difficult to put it down and compared to other books I have read I would still rank it higher in terms of interest and appeal. It by no means fails I just found it slightly less absorbing than the two others I've read so far. As always the exposition scenes are excellent and capture your interest right away. Maybe following on 'Duty to the Dead' and finding Bess once again among a family in mourning I found it less original than ' an unmarked grave' which was also the first book of the series I came upon. Not taking to the character of Lydia might also explain why I found this one less compelling. Lydia is impeccably drawn but as her character develops and as we realise how selfish, manipulative and uncaring for Bess's wishes she is, it gets more difficult to feel any sort of compassion for her and one is left to wonder why Bess should do so much as it is obvious that she sees through her rather quickly once both the young women find themselves at Vixen Hill. I also found the identity theft story at the end rather contrived and as usual found the ending rushed and implausible. I have found it so in all the books by the Todd team I have read and once again when comparing the quality of the beginnings to the hurried and often rather unsatisfactory endings it is as though each one had either the end or the beginning to write. I doubt that the mother and son team do it this way but however they choose to write it would be good if the same care could be given to the concluding part of the stories as is given to the opening chapters. I do realise that once you have been hooked you won't give up reading twenty pages before reaching the end but I still think that some effort should be made so that the reader ends up fully satisfied and eager for more.

This is a GREAT series. Accurate history, superb characterizations with hints of character development ahead and twisty lovely plotting! I can hardly wait till the next book comes out!