Set in the summer of 1917, Todd's excellent second mystery featuring British nurse Bess Crawford (after 2009's A Duty to the Dead) smoothly blends realistic characters with an intricate plot. When Bess accompanies Lt. Meriwether Evanson, a severe burn victim, from the Continent to England, she's surprised to spot the pilot's supposedly devoted wife, Marjorie, crying on another man's shoulder at a train station. After returning to saving lives under German fire in France, Bess is stunned to read in a newspaper that Marjorie has been stabbed to death in London. Soon after, the depressed lieutenant commits suicide by cutting his own throat. Unable to resist involving herself in the murder investigation, Bess seeks to identify Marjorie's unknown companion, the possible killer. In addition to supplying a challenging puzzle, Todd (a mother-son writing team) does a superb job of capturing the feel of the battlefield and the emotional toll taken on those waiting back home for a loved one's return. (Sept.)
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
“Remarkable.” — New York Times Book Review on An Impartial Witness
“A book rich in atmosphere and dense with plot.” — St. Louis Post-Dispatch on An Impartial Witness
“Bess Crawford is a strong and likable character.” — Washington Times on An Impartial Witness
“Entertaining.” — Mystery Scene 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
“A smartly plotted, well-told mystery.” — Booklist on An Impartial Witness
“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
“Finely plotted and full of meticulous period detail and deft characterizations, An Impartial Witness testifies to the lasting appeal of historical mystery fiction.” — Strand magazine on An Impartial Witness
“This second book in the Bess Crawford series places this mother-son duo at the top of their plotting game, with intricate twists and plenty of viable suspects. The meticulously realized period detailing is an intrinsic part of a story that is much more than a whodunit.” — Romantic Times on An Impartial Witness
A book rich in atmosphere and dense with plot.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch on An Impartial Witness
Entertaining.
Mystery Scene on An Impartial Witness
A smartly plotted, well-told mystery.
Booklist 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
Remarkable.
New York Times Book Review on An Impartial Witness
Finely plotted and full of meticulous period detail and deft characterizations, An Impartial Witness testifies to the lasting appeal of historical mystery fiction.
Strand magazine on An Impartial Witness
Bess Crawford is a strong and likable character.
Washington Times on An Impartial Witness
This second book in the Bess Crawford series places this mother-son duo at the top of their plotting game, with intricate twists and plenty of viable suspects. The meticulously realized period detailing is an intrinsic part of a story that is much more than a whodunit.
Romantic Times on An Impartial Witness
To help or not to help? That is the question. Todd's second Bess Crawford mystery (after a Duty to the Dead) opens as Bess arrives in London on approved leave from the battlefield of World War I France. At the train terminal Bess sees Marjorie Evanson, the wife of one of her severely burned patients, sobbing while clutching the arm of an officer who is not her husband. Weeks later Bess reads an advertisement asking for witnesses with information to the murder of Marjorie, which occurred shortly after Bess's sighting. Bess comes forward and begins her own investigation. She discovers that Marjorie led a secret life while her husband was away on the front lines and that someone was desperate enough to kill in order to protect it.Verdict 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. Recommended for historical mystery enthusiasts who like intrepid heroine investigators similar to Maisie Dobbs.—Susan O. Moritz, Montgomery Cty. P.L., MD
With emotional intensity and studied elegance, Rosalyn Landor guides listeners to 1917, when England’s aristocracy is facing the end of innocence and British military forces are being dealt their bloodiest hand against the Germans. Landor’s voice and manner are ideal choices to tell the story of Bess Crawford, a nurse tending the critically wounded in France. One of Crawford’s patients, a burn victim, has kept his wife’s photograph as a beloved talisman. So Crawford is surprised to see the woman from the photo with another man at a London train station. Crawford later learns that within hours of seeing the woman at the train station, she was murdered. Driven by curiosity and principle, Bess is compelled to discover who murdered the wife. S.E.S. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
FEBRUARY 2011 - AudioFile
