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A Bitter Truth: A Bess Crawford Mystery
A Bitter Truth: A Bess Crawford Mystery
A Bitter Truth: A Bess Crawford Mystery
Audiobook11 hours

A Bitter Truth: A Bess Crawford Mystery

Written by Charles Todd

Narrated by Rosalyn Landor

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

About this audiobook

“Highly recommended—well-rounded, believable characters, a multi-layered plot solidly based on human nature, all authentically set in the England of 1917…an outstanding and riveting read.”
New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Laurens

“Bess Crawford is a strong and likable character.”
Washington Times

Already deservedly lauded for the superb historical crime novels featuring shell-shocked Scotland Yard inspector Ian Rutledge (A Lonely Death, A Pale Horse et al), acclaimed author Charles Todd upped the ante by introducing readers to a wonderful new series protagonist, World War One battlefield nurse Bess Crawford. 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. A terrific follow up to Todd’s A Duty to the Dead and An Impartial Witness, A Bitter Truth is another thrilling and evocative mystery from “one of the most respected writers in the genre” (Denver Post) and a treat for fans of Elizabeth George, Anne Perry, Martha Grimes, and Jacqueline Winspear.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateAug 30, 2011
ISBN9780062125644
Author

Charles Todd

Charles Todd is the New York Times bestselling author of the Inspector Ian Rutledge mysteries, the Bess Crawford mysteries, and two stand-alone novels. A mother-and-son writing team, Caroline passed away in August 2021 and Charles lives in Florida.

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Reviews for A Bitter Truth

Rating: 4.074074074074074 out of 5 stars
4/5

81 ratings45 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Also published as Veritas2nd in the Victor Carl, Philadelphia criminal defense lawyer, series.Connection with the Philadelhia mob may have gotten Victor Carl out of debt and even saved his life, but the price has been high--a steady stream of small-time hoodlums whose fees are paid by the mob. Carl has lost none of his thirst for money, big money, so when a rich Main Line heiress, Caroline Shaw, drops into his lap, so to speak, all he can see is the potential millions to be gained from a 30% contingency fee--if he can get her to sign the agreement. But collection will take him to strange place--the seemingly cursed house, Veritas, of the rich family and Belize--put him smack in the middle of a war for control of the city?s mob.I had a hard time getting into this actually very good story because initially it seemed more like a Gothic tale than an interesting variant on the police procedural genre, and I really, really don?t like Gothic. Fortunately, I stuck with the book, and it turned out, once the back story was set up, to be a faced-paced thriller as well. Carl is not terribly complex nor very likable, but one of his sidekicks, private detective Morris Kaputsin, an older Russian Orthodox Jew, is most certainly the best character in the book.Good plot, very good writing, well-written denou?ment--an enjoyable read, even though not as good as Lashner?s debut in the series, Hostile Witness. Recommended.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In the third book about Nurse Bess Crawford, Charles Todd has defined how people in the upper class feel about those who do not follow the rules. Women are wives and mothers and stay home. They do not take unpleasant jobs, espcially nursing. They also think that just because they are 'known', the police have no business thinking that any one of them could be involved in a crime. Bess is a nurse in France during World War I. As she arrives home for a much needed rest coinciding with Christmas. she finds a badly bruised woman shivering on her London apartment doorstep. Eventually the woman reveals that her husband had hit her during a violent argument. She has not seen him for 3 years, and he is much changed from the man she married before the war. He will not consider having children which she desperately wants. When Bess reluctantly agrees to accompany her home to make sure that she arrives safely and no longer needs medical assistance, she thinks that she will only be delayed for a day. From there she plans to travel to her parents house for Christmas. Unfortunately a murder occurs, and the entire household is told they must not leave until an inquest is held and/or the murder is found. There is a subplot about a small child that bears a striking resemblence to a daughter that had died when she was about 3 or 4. The dispair the family felt is one of the main reasons the husband will not consider having childre.I liked the book and all the background information on WWI. But I agree with one of the other reveiwers that Bess does seem to have more leave than others. Maybe it was different for the medical teams than for the men actually fighting the war. Looking forward to the next book and to see if Bess continues to see her Australian soldier.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is the second of William Lashner's books featuring Victor Carl, a flawed loser of a lawyer that we somehow still root for. This and the previous (Hostile Witness) are the best, although I stopped reading after four because Victor Carl became less flawed and thereby less interesting. I think it's in Veritas that there's a brilliantly funny scene featuring mobsters riding a limo in a funeral procession...if I tell you more I might spoil the humor. Read this and Hostile Witness--both very well written and great reads. (I don't read great literature; I read for entertainment but I can't stand a poorly written book--all the books I add here are well written.)
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is not my usual genre but I really enjoyed the author's writing style. My spouse found some of the twists and turns rather predictable but I enjoyed them.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Good, clean, page turning mystery. Charles Todd’s mysteries are great.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It’s December 1917 and Bess Crawford, a World War I battlefield nurse, is home to England for the holidays. In the doorway of her London rooming house, she finds a young woman huddled, bruised and chilled to the bone. When she takes in Lydia Ellis, giving her tea and a place to sleep for the night, she can’t predict just how firmly she inserts herself with the young woman’s life and family.Lydia convinces Bess to return to Vixen Hill, her husband’s family home. While there for a memorial service, a houseguest is murdered and the surly police inspector believes Bess to be a top suspect. Bess’s father, a retired army colonel, sends his man Simon Brandon to assist Bess in extricating herself from the thorny situation. But as the story unfolds, I turns out there’s no simple way to do that. A second, pivotal plot involves a two-year-old war orphan in France.The Bess Crawford mysteries are a second series by Charles Todd, an American mother-son writing team; both series are set in England during or just after the Great War and drip with the gloom and angst of that period. The writing, as usual, is sharp and solid, the plotting deft and the overall result quite satisfying. Review based on publisher-provided copy of the book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A Bitter Truth is set in the time of WWI and features a nursing sister named Bess. Bess is a wonderful character...a great sense of duty, compassion, and integrity. When she helps Lydia, a lost young woman one evening, she becomes embroiled in Lydia's family troubles and then a series of murders. A well-written mystery and I look forward to reading more from this author.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I am a real fan of Charles Todd mysteries, both series. This is Bess Crawford, who inevitably spends what little leave time she has solving mysterious deaths and murders. Okay by me since the WWI background is excellent and the mystery intriguing. Very well written.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    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.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    a very good stand-alone novel, set in the time of the first world war. rather slow for some people, but not me. I think I will check out the other books by this author, sometime soon.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Charles Todd is a wiley story-teller. The only quarrel I have with him is that he focuses through-out the story on one set of characters, barely mentioning the ultimate culprit. A lot of energy is spent trying to figure out which of the characters might be the evil-doer. And then, in the last few pages, the evil-doer is mnaifested with little more to point to that person than that he is nearly the last man standing. With that aside, Todd's story is very well done. The heroine is not the brightest light in the deck is always just outside the mainstream. I shall read every book I can find by this author.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    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 the victim does not seem the type that anyone would want to kill. Moreover, the solution ultimately comes out of left field with absolutely no foundation or foreshadowing that would allow the reader to figure out the rather complicated motive.

    There is also very little character development and Bess gets herself into some exceedingly far-fetched situations. It would be lovely if she and Simon finally got their romance going - the hints at something between them need to start paying off soon.

    Aside from Bess, Simon and the sexy Australian, none of the characters are particularly appealing and it is difficult to feel any real sympathy for the supposedly abused wife nor anger at her allegedly abusive spouse. It is also irritating that the most unlikable character did not turn out to be the killer!

    The historical detail on life in France during the war is excellent and the Todd's research is superb. One hears so much about the soldiers in the Trenches and very little about the suffering of the civilians, especially the orphaned children. The descriptions are both harsh and heartbreaking yet there is also a glimmer of hope at times.

    All in all, an enjoyable listen despite my issues with the plot and Roslyn Landor's narration is wonderful.  
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    2011,Harper Audio, Read by Rosalyn LandorPublisher’s Summary: adapted from Audible.comBess Crawford returns from France for a well-earned Christmas leave to find a bruised and shivering woman huddled in the doorway of her London residence. Bess takes the woman in and learns that she has had a violent quarrel with her husband – still, she wants to return home to Sussex, if Bess will go with her. Duty-bound Bess obliges, but soon discovers that this is a good deed with unforeseeable consequences.Vixen Hill is a house in mourning. Lydia’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. The 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.My Review: Decent read. Certainly not the caliber of the Maisie Dobbs series, which I came to love, but nonetheless entertaining. Events of the story are plausible, and the mystery involved enough that I didn't see the conclusion coming. I must say again that Rosalyn Landor is perfect!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    One of Todd's best in this fine series. The mystery sustains until the end as Bess tries to find and rescue a beautiful orphan girl. Meanwhile back in England, who is killing the people in the Forest?
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book, third in the Bess Crawford mystery series, is an excellent read and is highly atmospheric. The reader is transported from 1917 London to Sussex to just behind the lines of the battlefields of France. The characters are quirky and secretive. Just about any one of them could be the culprit. The prose is generously descriptive without excess. The ugliness of war, although present, is not offensively graphic. Yet the characters' lives are truly tragic and the writing draws hard on our heartstrings. I will surely delve into the other two books of this series and I eagerly await future installments of the ongoing Bess Crawford saga.I am grateful to William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers and Goodreads First Reads for having provided a free copy of this book. Their generosity, however, did not influence this review - the words of which are mine alone.Synopsis (from book's back cover):While attempting to help a woman in distress, World War I battlefield nurse Bess Crawford learns a bitter truth, that no good deed goes unpunished.Returning to her London flat from the front lines in France for a well-earned Christmas leave, Bess Crawford comes upon a bruised and shivering woman huddled in the doorway. Propelled by pity, Bess takes her in. Yet despite the ill effects of a concussion suffered during a quarrel with her husband that erupted into violence, the woman decides to return home, and asks Bess to travel with her to Sussex.At Vixen Hill, Bess discovers a family in mourning for an elder son who has died of war wounds, and a husband tormented by jealousy and his own guilty conscience. But when a troubled houseguest meets an untimely death, Bess finds herself the prime suspect, and on the trail of a vicious killer that leads back to war-torn France toward a startling revelation that will place her life in dire jeopardy.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It should be noted that I won this in a Goodreads giveaway.

    I am going to keep this short as I don't have much of a reaction to this book.

    Overall, I was disappointed with this book. It had a lot of promise, but it fell short in the end. The "twist" is hardly that. It's not a book I would read again.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    "A Bitter Truth" is the third in the series "Bess Crawford." This book did not catch my imagination as much as the first two. It seems to drag along trying to make a story. The author(s) seem to be slapping something down hoping that it works. I'm always waiting for her to meet Ian Rutledge. I feel that is why this second series has been added.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Bess arrives at her apartment to see a woman hiding from the rain in her doorway. She has a badly bruised face and black eye so Bess coaxes her inside out of the weather. Lydia begs Bess to accompany her back home to Sussex and introduces the rest of the family. It’s not long before there’s a murder, a canterous police inspector, a child who died long ago suspiciously, another missing child, and a homeless person and Bess can’t leave.Lydia actions were not realistic to me. Not sure why but lately I find the characters in the historical mysteries immature.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It took me a long time to decide to read A Bitter Truth. Truth be told, I still have a bone to pick with the so called climax of the last chapters. It bordered on the nonsensical. I still am not sure of the motive of the murderer, which is a big issue, but I can only shrug this off. I also don't know how I would have rated A Bitter Truth in the past...probably less than I just did. This book forced me to read carefully. The first chapter was the best, with every word being a silent and flashy cog in the grand scheme of things. The best thing about this book is the unforced, natural and plain telling of Sophie. A Bitter Truth is one of those historical fiction settings that, due to the maturity of the authors, doesn't feel like a thriller in disguise. A most welcome distraction from the ordinary quick fixes I've alas chosen for myself.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    When Bess Crawford, of Queen Alexandra's Nursing Service, comes home on leave, she finds a runaway wife hiding in her doorway. Instead of going home to her parents, Bess is persuaded to spend time at the woman's highly dysfunctional home, where some rather unpleasant people are encountered. Later, Bess searches war-torn France for a missing child. This was not my favorite of the Bess Crawford stories -- some of the actions and motives seemed a bit far-fetched. Still, I enjoy Bess's adventures and will keep reading the series.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I like the new series from this author duo. This one was especially good. Would there be a book where nurse Crawford and Inspector Rutledge meet?
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was a very well written mystery. I enjoyed it very much. This is the very first one that I have read in the series. I did not have a problem understanding what was going on. I now want to go on and read the other books. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys English mysteries.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    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. Little does Bess know what a great deal of trouble she has brought into her life. Charles Todd—who is actually a mother-son partnership made up of Caroline and Charles Todd—excels at keeping the war and its manifold repercussions and tragedies front and center even while much of the action takes place in England. Todd also portrays an extended family already traumatized before the war and now disintegrating under the war’s pressures. Bess finds herself unwillingly bound to this family through her initial concern for Lydia, the young woman on her doorstep and the possibility she needs to be protected from a violent marriage. That turns out to be only the first level of secrets and crimes that will be unveiled throughout.You’re never sure whether those crimes and secrets arise from the war or whether they are connected to the private history of this one family. The interplay shows how, even far from the actual fighting, the war has torn apart even a small country town and its denizens. This is one of the most sophisticated critiques of the effects of war I’ve read—so subtle you won’t notice it while you’re enjoying the mystery, but its resonances will stay with you long after you finish reading. This is the third of the Bess Crawford mysteries, preceded by A Duty to the Dead and An Impartial Witness. A fourth book in the series, An Unmarked Grave, is now available.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This third entry in the Bess Armstrong mystery series written by the mother and son team called Charles Todd opens with Bess finding a strange woman, wet and shivering, huddled in her doorway during Christmas leave from the French front. She convinces the frightened woman to come up to her flat and after discovering that she's run away from the husband who struck her and deciding she likely has a concussion Bess decides to involve herself in the woman's troubles. Thus she accompanies Lydia home and is therefore a guest at Vixen Hill when a friend of the family, who seems to know too much about Lydia's husband's war time activities, is murdered.This part of the novel required the greatest suspension of disbelief for me: that Bess would take the troubles of this unknown family so completely upon herself struck me as an artificial device to involve our accidental sleuth in yet another murder to investigate. But, what do I know? Perhaps people really were that empathetic and helpful in Britain during WWI. Just because I can't imagine it doesn't mean it can't happen, I suppose.That relatively small quibble aside, it was a fairly good story with a subplot involving a child in France and the introduction of at least one new character -- the Australian officer -- who I hope become a permanent addition to the series. It also has all the aspects of a Who Done It? story since clues are in place throughout the novel but the killer isn't revealed until the final few chapters.Recommended to fans of British mysteries, this series and the Charles Todd books. Overall rating: 3 1/2 stars.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Series: 3rd in The Bess Crawford MysteriesMain Character: Bess Crawford, English military nurse during warSetting: WWI, England and FranceThis was my first Bess Crawford book and it stands alone fine. Bess is given holiday leave from her nursing duties and finds a women huddled at the door to her apartment building soaked to the bone and her face bruised. Although Bess doesn't want to get involved in Lydia's Domestic situation, she is talked into going with the women to her home to help her face her husband since Bess feels she has a concussion and wants to see she is cared for. Bess becomes enmeshed in a dysfunctional family in their bleak mansion. During the dinner party Lydia's husband Roger and his longstanding friend are distinctly heard in a lull in the dinner conversation talking about a suspected illegitimate child of Roger's in France. Naturally the friend is found dead the next day. Lydia asks Bess to locate the child in France and when Bess returns to the battlegrounds of France for her duties she enlists the help of an Australian officer to locate the orphanages so she can begin her search. Her search to find the child sets events tumbling out of control.Bess as a character is fine as far as she goes. I found her motivations hard to understand through most of the book. Emotionally Bess was distant for me. She explains emotions but they didn't resonate with me. Always in the background is a family friend named Simon who I felt had more potential in any number of ways, but remains as a convenient chess piece to have assist Bess. The dysfunctional family and their bleak home called Vixen Hill provide a creepy atmosphere, giving this tale a Gothic touch. The Australian officer was an brilliant touch that I can only hope will be a return character in the next book.The plot was nicely complex and the reader is along for the ride. It isn't until the last eighty or so pages that the final pieces to this puzzle are revealed and the story is suddenly racing along. There are many improbable parts to this tale, which would not have been too bad if I could have related a bit more with Bess, which I think is the main reason why this book took so long to get me interested. I felt no emotional connection and thus no immediacy from the tale. The Gothic touches and seemingly sinister family members make up for the down sides. As for the killer, there was not enough information to have figured out who it was so that added to the suspense in the final pages as things spun out of control. Without giving up too much, I would have liked the killer to have been a more central character rather than an almost sideline player.This book offers an atmospheric historical tale which does lead the reader on a twisted path with a rather harrowing climax.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Really enjoyed this latest edition to the Bess Crawford series. I will agree with some of the other reviewers that there were some loose ends. All things considered it is was still a fun read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An act of kindness toward a stranger has unexpected consequences for WWI nurse Bess Crawford. Bess accompanies the injured woman to her home outside of London, intending to continue from there to her parents home well in time for Christmas. When a fellow guest is murdered, Bess must stay until the police allow her to leave. Bess's involvement continues even after her return to service in France, until she is called back to England for a final confrontation.I didn't like the second Bess Crawford mystery nearly as well as I did the first, so I started this one with a little trepidation. Happily, I soon discovered that Bess was once again the Bess of the first book. In this book as well as the first book, Bess is reluctantly drawn into the mystery for a good reason. In the second book, Bess forces her way into a situation that isn't any of her business, and she came across as stubborn, pushy, obnoxious, and a little spoiled.The mystery in this book isn't as well developed as it could have been, but I was so happy to have the “old” Bess back that I could overlook that. Bess's personal life hasn't developed much over the course of the series, probably due to its wartime setting. I don't think it's essential to read these books in order. Recommended for readers of historical mysteries, and particularly for fans of the Maisie Dobbs series, which shares several characteristics with this one.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In the third book about Nurse Bess Crawford, Charles Todd has defined how people in the upper class feel about those who do not follow the rules. Women are wives and mothers and stay home. They do not take unpleasant jobs, espcially nursing. They also think that just because they are 'known', the police have no business thinking that any one of them could be involved in a crime. Bess is a nurse in France during World War I. As she arrives home for a much needed rest coinciding with Christmas. she finds a badly bruised woman shivering on her London apartment doorstep. Eventually the woman reveals that her husband had hit her during a violent argument. She has not seen him for 3 years, and he is much changed from the man she married before the war. He will not consider having children which she desperately wants. When Bess reluctantly agrees to accompany her home to make sure that she arrives safely and no longer needs medical assistance, she thinks that she will only be delayed for a day. From there she plans to travel to her parents house for Christmas. Unfortunately a murder occurs, and the entire household is told they must not leave until an inquest is held and/or the murder is found. There is a subplot about a small child that bears a striking resemblence to a daughter that had died when she was about 3 or 4. The dispair the family felt is one of the main reasons the husband will not consider having childre.I liked the book and all the background information on WWI. But I agree with one of the other reveiwers that Bess does seem to have more leave than others. Maybe it was different for the medical teams than for the men actually fighting the war. Looking forward to the next book and to see if Bess continues to see her Australian soldier.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Nursing Sister Bess Crawford comes home on Christmas leave to find a strange woman shivering on her doorstep. She discovers that the woman has impulsively fled her home is Sussex after being struck by her husband. Worried about the woman's syptoms, which suggest a concussion, Bess accompanies her to her home and becomes involved in a murder inquiry when she and her hostess discover one of the houseguests murdered. Against her better judgment she is drawn into the complex dynamics of the Ellis household. Her involvement is extended to France when she returns to duty at the front lines of WWI. This mystery is the third in the series, but stands alone well. Elizabeth Crawford is well drawn as a character and the mystery is involving, with an unexpected twist and conclusion. The Sussex landscape in winter is vividly described. Charles Todd is the pen name for a mother/son team who also produce the Inspector Rutledge series.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really wanted to like this book. It had so much going for it: a Gothic English country house, a World War I nurse as the central character, an eccentric English family, several murders, and some good dialogue. Alas, the novel did not come together. The varied and well pictured setting and atmosphere could not compensate for characters so ill defined. In fact it was difficult to actually enter into the story since the plot and characters swirlled about. And, many decisions made were questionable to say the least. I felt while reading this mystery that the author was making it up along the way rather than following a well planned strategy. Then, I discovered that a mother and son writing team authored the book. So, perhaps they just couldn't get their act together. Still, I am glad to have received this ER book because it did provide the opportunity to explore the many different ways that war, even across the Channel in this instance, can so disrupt people's lives.Because I did find so much about the book to like, I guess I should give this team another shot. Maybe next time it won't misfire.