When WWI 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 flat. Realizing that the woman has nowhere to turn, Bess offers her shelter. When she feels safer, the woman reveals her name and that she has fled from her husband, an officer on leave, who struck her during a terrible quarrel. Still frightened, she will not return to her small village in Sussex, unless Bess accompanies her. Every day of leave is precious, for Bess plans to visit her family. But concern and a firm sense of duty compel the independent and compassionate nurse to be certain the woman is safe. But once she arrives at the woman's house, Bess is unsettled by the tense atmosphere, which seems to permeate the very walls. Before she can understand what is going on, matters take a deadly turn when another of the houseguests, a wounded soldier, is murdered. Not only is Bess caught in the center of the hunt for a killer—she becomes a prime suspect herself.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Awards
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Release date
October 12, 2011 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780792782605
- File size: 317563 KB
- Duration: 11:01:35
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from July 18, 2011
At the outset of Todd's outstanding third Bess Crawford mystery (after 2010's An Impartial Witness), Bess returns to London in December 1917 on leave from her nursing work in France to find an attractive, well-bred woman of about 25 huddled in the doorway of her lodging house. The tearful woman, who reluctantly gives her name as Lydia, accepts Bess's invitation to come inside. Lydia later reveals that she's fled to London from Sussex after her husband struck her in the face. The tenderhearted Bess agrees to accompany Lydia back home so she can provide moral support. On arrival in Sussex, Bess finds herself in the midst of a family devastated by untimely death and hiding poisonous secrets. When a murder occurs, the local police suspect Bess is involved. The Todds (a mother-son writing team) plausibly insert their heroine yet again into a criminal investigation, besides providing their usual depth of characterization. -
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. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
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