A Bitter Truth 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
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 sheWhen 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 go home if Bess will come 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 has died of war wounds Her husband, home on compassionate leave, is tense, tormented by jealousy and his own guilty conscience Then, when a troubled house guest 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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A Bitter Truth : Charles Todd
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Charles Todd
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Title:
A Bitter Truth : Charles Todd
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Published :2019-09-25T04:35:56+00:00
Charles Todd is the pen name used by a mother and son writing team, Caroline Todd and Charles Todd.
488 Replys to “A Bitter Truth”
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 m [...]
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 [...]
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 insi [...]
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 [...]
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.
3,5, varbūt 4 zvaigznes. Spriedzes gabals, bet kaut kā vietām nepārliecināja notikumi un pierādījumu pavedieni. Sajūta par klavierēm no krūmiem, lai gan aiz deguna izvazāja smalki.
This is a Reading Good Books review.* In compliance with FTC guidelines, it should be noted that I received the book for free through 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 novels fea [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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.
I liked this book but I also found it really slow.
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 [...]
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. [...]
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 c [...]
"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 [...]
A Bitter Truth3.5 StarsOn 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 [...]
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 [...]
This third book in the series was not as good as the first two books. The story moved at a very slow pace and I found myself waiting for the mystery to be solved and for the book to be finished. Part of the problem was this: Bess never engaged my emotions. She seems too detached from her own feelings, if she has any strong ones, other than for her parents, particularly her father. She is far too stoic for my taste, giving a bland narrative of events. *Spoiler* The only real bright spots in this [...]
Excellent, simply excellent. Fast-paced from the beginning, and it really kept you going. Recommend!
Another clean novel by this author with an intriguing and multi-faceted plot.
I had issue with the initial premise of this book. Main character is good SamaritanMain 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.
Enjoyed this book.
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 o [...]
The setting for this story is during World War I in London, England. The heroine is Bess Crawford, a battlefield nurse. During one of the coldest winters London has seen in a very long time, Bess encounters an emotional lady with a black eye on her doorstep. By nature, Bess cannot turn her away. But , litttle does Bess know about the trouble she was inviting into her life. By befriending this lady, Bess' life became very complicated. This one good deed takes Bess to a remote, spooky town where s [...]
Why do I love Bess Crawford mystery stories? They are ravishing stories with a mystery element that I adore. Bess is a straight forward character. She is calm and intelligent. She is a person that ponders things. She is intuitive, respectful, politely charming, and independent. Her character is virtuous, she consistently tries to do the right thing in every situation. She is a character I admire. It is easy to become swept away by a character that I like so much!In A Bitter Truth, Bess has come [...]
Another brilliantly written offering from Charles Todd. Once again Bess finds herself mixed up in a tangle of love, hatred, lies, and murder. With Simon Brandon as a more-than-able sidekick, and a new (possible) love interest introduced in the form of the charming Australian Larimore, Bess forges her way through the darkness with her usual forthright manner, clarity of vision, and compassionate practicality.The supporting characters weren't all as likable this time around. I found myself wanting [...]
Awesome story!! I was hooked from the first page to the last. So far anything that Charles Todd writes is a riveting read. Bess Crawford gets off the train and heads for her apartment in London for a much needed rest from her duties as a nursing sister aiding the wounded troops in France of WWI. As she approaches her building she find a woman, injured and distraught in need of help. Bess of course can't resistand she invites this lady who says her name is Lydia up stairs.From that point on the p [...]
I am a fan of the mother-son writing team that is Charles Todd. A Bitter Truth is the third in the Bess Crawford Mystery series. This one can be read as a stand-alone, although you might get a better sense of the character of Bess if you first read the initial book - A Duty to the Dead. The mystery unfolds slowly, allowing us to get to know the characters involved. The descriptions of the war and Bess's experience as a nurse are very well done. Bess is a fearless and fairly independent woman, wh [...]
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 [...]
I started and finished this book all in one day! Bess Crawford arrives home on leave from the French frontlate one rainy night to discover a woman huddled on her doorstep. The woman, Lydia Ellis, is clearly educated and well-off, yet she has clearly been the victim of physical abuse, and she's clearly in need of Bess's help. Bess finds herself drawn into Lydia's problems and soon finds herself accompanying Lydia to Sussex. During her weekend there, a guest is murdered. As usual, Bess is caught u [...]