“Makes fine work of the brooding atmosphere.” — New York Times Book Review on A Bitter Truth
“Outstanding.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) on A Bitter Truth
“Bess is a very strong series lead, the historical setting is as well developed here as it is in the Rutledge books, and the mysteries are just as elegantly constructed. Readers who have yet to sample the Crawford series should be strongly encouraged to do so.” — Booklist on A Bitter Truth
“Few writers surpass Todd in depicting the insanity of war.” — Kirkus Reviews on A Bitter Truth
“Todd brings World War I England and France to life with an intriguing plot and an intrepid sleuth.” — Library Journal on A Bitter Truth
“A thoughtful mystery with an excellent plot, well-drawn characters and wonderful atmosphere.” — Associated Press on A Bitter Truth
“A well-envisaged plot, a deep sense of time and place and characters drawn with care and compassion.” — Richmond Times-Dispatch on A Bitter Truth
“Charles Todd has developed believable characters that carry along this story with lightning speed from the first page to the last.” — New York Journal of Books on A Bitter Truth
“The Todds excel at complex characterizations....For lovers of upper-drawer British whodunnits and Anglophiles in general, A Bitter Truth should prove a sweet treat indeed.” — Wilmington Star-News on A Bitter Truth
“A lovely picture of a slower world.” — Charlotte Observer on A Bitter Truth
“A thoughtful mystery with an excellent plot, well-drawn characters and wonderful atmosphere.” — Indianapolis Star on A Bitter Truth
“Combines believable characters, gut-wrenching suspense and a sobering commentary on the ravages of war.” — Deseret News on A Bitter Truth
“Highly recommended—well-rounded, believable characters, a multi-layered plot solidly based on human nature, all authentically set in the England of 1917, make A Bitter Truth an outstanding and riveting read.” — Stephanie Laurens, New York Times bestselling author
“Readers will enjoy Todd’s plucky, determined sleuth and a thrilling mystery that proves murders on the home front don’t stop just because there’s a war.” — Library Journal on An Impartial Witness
“Bess Crawford is a strong and likable character.” — Washington Times on An Impartial Witness
“A superb whodunit—just when you think you have it figured out, Todd throws a curve—and a moving evocation of a world at war.” — Richmond Times-Dispatch on An Impartial Witness
“A smartly plotted, well-told mystery.” — Booklist on An Impartial Witness
“A book rich in atmosphere and dense with plot.” — St. Louis Post-Dispatch on An Impartial Witness
“Todd’s excellent second mystery featuring British nurse Bess Crawford smoothly blends realistic characters with an intricate plot.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) on An Impartial Witness
“Find some cures for the post-Downton Abbey blues ... Charles Todd has been producing a series of highly praised detective novels set in the years immediately after World War I.” — Tulsa World Scene
Makes fine work of the brooding atmosphere.
New York Times Book Review on A Bitter Truth
Charles Todd has developed believable characters that carry along this story with lightning speed from the first page to the last.
New York Journal of Books on A Bitter Truth
Bess is a very strong series lead, the historical setting is as well developed here as it is in the Rutledge books, and the mysteries are just as elegantly constructed. Readers who have yet to sample the Crawford series should be strongly encouraged to do so.
Booklist on A Bitter Truth
A well-envisaged plot, a deep sense of time and place and characters drawn with care and compassion.
Richmond Times-Dispatch on A Bitter Truth
A thoughtful mystery with an excellent plot, well-drawn characters and wonderful atmosphere.
Associated Press on A Bitter Truth
A lovely picture of a slower world.
Charlotte Observer on A Bitter Truth
The Todds excel at complex characterizations....For lovers of upper-drawer British whodunnits and Anglophiles in general, A Bitter Truth should prove a sweet treat indeed.
Wilmington Star-News on A Bitter Truth
A thoughtful mystery with an excellent plot, well-drawn characters and wonderful atmosphere.
Indianapolis Star on A Bitter Truth
Combines believable characters, gut-wrenching suspense and a sobering commentary on the ravages of war.
Deseret News on A Bitter Truth
A superb whodunit—just when you think you have it figured out, Todd throws a curve—and a moving evocation of a world at war.
Richmond Times-Dispatch on An Impartial Witness
A smartly plotted, well-told mystery.
Booklist on An Impartial Witness
Highly recommended—well-rounded, believable characters, a multi-layered plot solidly based on human nature, all authentically set in the England of 1917, make A Bitter Truth an outstanding and riveting read.
Find some cures for the post-Downton Abbey blues ... Charles Todd has been producing a series of highly praised detective novels set in the years immediately after World War I.
Bess Crawford is a strong and likable character.
Washington Times on An Impartial Witness
A book rich in atmosphere and dense with plot.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch on An Impartial Witness
A thoughtful mystery with an excellent plot, well-drawn characters and wonderful atmosphere.
Associated Press on A Bitter Truth
Charles Todd has developed believable characters that carry along this story with lightning speed from the first page to the last.
New York Journal of Books on A Bitter Truth
A thoughtful mystery with an excellent plot, well-drawn characters and wonderful atmosphere.
Indianapolis Star on A Bitter Truth
Makes fine work of the brooding atmosphere.
New York Times Book Review on A Bitter Truth
Bess is a very strong series lead, the historical setting is as well developed here as it is in the Rutledge books, and the mysteries are just as elegantly constructed. Readers who have yet to sample the Crawford series should be strongly encouraged to do so.
Booklist on A Bitter Truth
The Todds excel at complex characterizations....For lovers of upper-drawer British whodunnits and Anglophiles in general, A Bitter Truth should prove a sweet treat indeed.
Wilmington Star-News on A Bitter Truth
A well-envisaged plot, a deep sense of time and place and characters drawn with care and compassion.
Richmond Times-Dispatch on A Bitter Truth
Combines believable characters, gut-wrenching suspense and a sobering commentary on the ravages of war.
Deseret News on A Bitter Truth
A lovely picture of a slower world.
Charlotte Observer on A Bitter Truth
Bess is a very strong series lead, the historical setting is as well developed here as it is in the Rutledge books, and the mysteries are just as elegantly constructed. Readers who have yet to sample the Crawford series should be strongly encouraged to do so.
Booklist on A Bitter Truth
Charles Todd has developed believable characters that carry along this story with lightning speed from the first page to the last.
New York Journal of Books on A Bitter Truth
Makes fine work of the brooding atmosphere.
New York Times Book Review on A Bitter Truth
A lovely picture of a slower world.
Charlotte Observer on A Bitter Truth
The Todds excel at complex characterizations....For lovers of upper-drawer British whodunnits and Anglophiles in general, A Bitter Truth should prove a sweet treat indeed.
Wilmington Star-News on A Bitter Truth
A well-envisaged plot, a deep sense of time and place and characters drawn with care and compassion.
Richmond Times-Dispatch on A Bitter Truth
Combines believable characters, gut-wrenching suspense and a sobering commentary on the ravages of war.
Deseret News on A Bitter Truth
A thoughtful mystery with an excellent plot, well-drawn characters and wonderful atmosphere.
Indianapolis Star on A Bitter Truth
A thoughtful mystery with an excellent plot, well-drawn characters and wonderful atmosphere.
Bess Crawford is a strong and likable character.
A superb whodunit—just when you think you have it figured out, Todd throws a curve—and a moving evocation of a world at war.
A smartly plotted, well-told mystery.
Charles Todd has developed believable characters that carry along this story with lightning speed from the first page to the last.
New York Journal of Books
The Todds excel at complex characterizations....For lovers of upper-drawer British whodunnits and Anglophiles in general, A Bitter Truth should prove a sweet treat indeed.
A book rich in atmosphere and dense with plot.
Truth can be a bitter pill to swallow. In Todd's third Bess Crawford mystery (after An Impartial Witness), Bess finds herself back in London, on leave from her nursing duties on the World War I battlefields of France. Upon arriving at her London lodging, she finds a battered woman named Lydia in her doorway taking shelter from the cold. Bess befriends Lydia, who begs to be accompanied back to her home in Sussex. During a memorial for Lydia's brother-in-law, Bess becomes embroiled in the family's disagreements and secrets. When one of the houseguests, a wounded soldier, is found murdered, the police cast their suspicion on everyone—including Bess herself. She must search from Sussex all the way to war-torn France to discover the bitter truth about a soldier's death not on the battlefield but on the home front. VERDICT Todd brings World War I England and France to life with an intriguing plot and an intrepid sleuth. Recommended for all British wartime mystery aficionados who like plucky investigators similar to Maisie Dobbs.—Susan O. Moritz, Montgomery Cty. P.L.s, MD
Rosalyn Landor returns as Bess Crawford, a WWI nurse and sleuth who adeptly solves mysteries that come her way in the British Isles. In A BITTER TRUTH, Bess, by chance, encounters a woman in distress in London and then accompanies her to her estate in Sussex, where dire consequences and murder ensue. Landor's clear enunciation denotes Bess's upbringing, common sense, and compassion. Landor also creates recognizable variation between all the women’s voices. In particular, bold and authoritative matriarchs' voices are contrasted with those of relatives who speak with deference. However, male characters all converse in the same gruff tone. Bess's suspenseful leave in England ends with a harrowing quest as she returns to war-ravaged France. A.W. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
NOVEMBER 2011 - AudioFile
Rosalyn Landor returns as Bess Crawford, a WWI nurse and sleuth who adeptly solves mysteries that come her way in the British Isles. In A BITTER TRUTH, Bess, by chance, encounters a woman in distress in London and then accompanies her to her estate in Sussex, where dire consequences and murder ensue. Landor's clear enunciation denotes Bess's upbringing, common sense, and compassion. Landor also creates recognizable variation between all the women’s voices. In particular, bold and authoritative matriarchs' voices are contrasted with those of relatives who speak with deference. However, male characters all converse in the same gruff tone. Bess's suspenseful leave in England ends with a harrowing quest as she returns to war-ravaged France. A.W. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
NOVEMBER 2011 - AudioFile
Sister Crawford spends an eventful Christmas 1917 on leave from the battlefield.
Just back from France and planning to stay overnight in a London boarding house before traveling to her family in Somerset, Bess Crawford finds a young woman huddled on her doorstep, wet, shivering and bruised. She brings her inside, and the next day Lydia Ellis admits that she's leaving her husband Roger, who struck her. If Bess will accompany her, she'll return to Vixen Hill in Sussex and face him again. Off they go, their arrival heralded by a thunderclap announcement by family friend George Hughes: While in France he saw a young child identical to Roger's sister Juliana, who died as a tot. Surely Roger fathered her while serving in France. Roger's sister, mother and gran are distraught. The next day, George is dead, his murder followed by the disappearance, then death, of blind Davis Merrit, who may have killed him. But why? While family tension mounts, Bess, summoned back to France, promises Lydia to look for that child. With the assistance of an Aussie soldier, she finds young Sophie but leaves her in the care of nuns in Rouen. Bess returns to England, followed by the Aussie with Sophie in tow. There's another murder and much investigating by the constabulary before a plethora of confessions are presented, some admitting to current missteps, others to past mercy killings in the Ellis family, and a deserter is unmasked.
The least believable tale from the Todd partnership (An Impartial Witness ,2010, etc.) finds Bess, Roger and the Aussie traipsing all over France and England and bumping into each other. Still, few writers surpass Todd in depicting the insanity of war.
