An Unwilling Accomplice

June 16, 2014
Why would a decorated WWI veteran desert just after being honored by the king? That’s the question posed by Agatha-winner Todd’s absorbing sixth Bess Crawford whodunit (after 2013’s A Question of Honor). In the autumn of 1918, Bess, an experienced battlefield nurse, accompanies wounded Sgt. Jason Wilkins to Buckingham Palace, where he receives a medal from George V. After the ceremony, Bess agrees to let Wilkins have some time to himself to entertain friends, a choice she regrets after finding that he has bolted the London hotel where they were both staying. Given two week’s official leave for her perceived negligence, Bess is determined to track Wilkins down and ascertain why he used her in his scheme. The murder of a man in the north of England, with Wilkins the prime suspect, complicates her efforts. As usual, Todd (the mother-son writing team of Caroline and Charles Todd) effectively depicts the psychological effects of war, though the resolution doesn’t do justice to the opening puzzle. Agent: Jane Chelius, Jane Chelius Literary Agency.

July 1, 2014

Is Bess Crawford an accomplice to military desertion and murder? In her sixth outing (after A Question of Honor), the World War I nurse is in trouble with the army and the police, and facing the possibility of being terminated from the nursing service. On leave in London, Bess gets a surprise request to accompany a wounded soldier, Sergeant Wilkins, to a ceremony at Buckingham Palace to receive a medal for bravery from the king. Wilkins is in Bess's charge for the event and through the night. But when morning comes, Wilkins has vanished. Bess, already facing an inquiry into whether she knowingly or through negligence aided a deserter, learns that the soldier has killed a man and again disappeared. With her reputation on the line and a possible murderer on the loose, Bess has no time to waste. VERDICT Todd's mystery is a puzzle that readers will enjoy trying to solve, but lead characters Bess and her friend Simon keep the pages turning. It is also very timely as people will doubtlessly be interested in World War I books since the centennial of the start of the war is this summer. Recommended for fans of cozies, historical fiction mysteries, and strong female sleuths. [See Prepub Alert, 2/10/14.]--Susan Moritz, Silver Spring, MD

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2014

Home on leave, World War I battlefield nurse Bess Crawford is asked to escort a wheelchair-bound soldier to Buckingham Palace. But first he vanishes, and then he's accused of murder.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 15, 2014
A runaway soldier forces nursing sister Bess Crawford to find a killer and clear her name during World War I.Home from the battlefront on a three-day leave, Bess gets a puzzling assignment. Sgt. Jason Wilkins, a wounded soldier she doesn't know, asks her to push his wheelchair when he receives a medal from King George at Buckingham Palace. Nor can she figure out why Wilkins wants her, instead of an orderly, to attend him afterward. The reasons become clearer when he goes missing: An orderly would have stayed the night in his room, whereas Bess, for delicacy's sake, left him in privacy. Because of her accidental dereliction of duty to Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Services, Bess is given two weeks' leave, which she uses to search for Wilkins. While on his trail, she learns that he's now on the run because he's been accused of murdering a man. Sgt. Maj. Simon Brandon, former personal servant to Bess' father, insists on accompanying her in her quest to learn whether Wilkins is masquerading as a wounded major who tends to wander and shoot at people because he thinks he's escaping from the Germans. Bess isn't sure whether the major is Wilkins, who also had a head wound and was so heavily bandaged-more bandaged than he needed to be-that Bess never got a good look at his face. A third veteran on the loose and the human dramas she encounters along the way add to Bess' challenges in finding Wilkins and absolving herself of unwitting complicity in the murder. Bess' sixth case recycles two motifs from her fifth (A Question of Honor, 2013): confused identity and blighted honor. Despite all the convenient happenstance and all the wounded veterans roaming the English countryside, Bess' courage and determination triumph over all.

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August 1, 2014
Bess Crawford, a British battlefield nurse in WWI, keeps getting involved in murder mysteries. Here, in the sixth novel in the series, Bess is honored to be asked to accompany a wounded soldier to Buckingham Palace, where the soldier is supposed to receive an award. But the soldier vanishes, and Bess is accused of dereliction of duty, an accusation that Bess takes very seriously. When the missing man turns up, apparently having murdered someone, it isn't just her professional reputation Bess must save; it's her own life. The Crawford novels aren't quite as captivating as those in the mother-and-son writing team's better-known Inspector Ian Rutledge series, but perhaps it's not fair to compare them. The Crawford novels are lighter and less freighted with psychological and metaphysical overtones than the Rutledge books, and Bess clearly isn't intended to be as complex a protagonist as Rutledge is. Fans of the previous books in the Crawford series will enjoy this one.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)