An Unmarked Grave by Charles Todd

An Unmarked Grave by Charles Todd
(Bess Crawford #4)
262 pages / 8 hrs, 31 mins

"In the spring of 1918, the Spanish flu epidemic spreads, killing millions of soldiers and civilians across the globe. Overwhelmed by the constant flow of wounded soldiers coming from the French front, battlefield nurse Bess Crawford must now contend with hundreds of influenza patients as well.

"However, war and disease are not the only killers to strike. Bess discovers, concealed among the dead waiting for burial, the body of an officer who has been murdered. Though she is devoted to all her patients, this soldier's death touches her deeply. Not only did the man serve in her father's former regiment, he was also a family friend.

"Before she can report the terrible news, Bess falls ill, the latest victim of the flu. By the time she recovers, the murdered officer has been buried, and the only other person who saw the body has hanged himself. Or did he?

"Working her father's connections in the military, Bess begins to piece together what little evidence she can find to unmask the elusive killer and see justice served. But she must be as vigilant as she is tenacious. With a determined killer on her heels, each move Bess makes could be her last."  --from the publisher

I didn't like this one as well as the others in the series. Bess's life of privilege during such a horrific, widespread period of suffering rubbed me the wrong way.  The class system in England is sometimes difficult for me to understand.  Still, it was a good story although the ending was a bit weak, imho.  I give it three out of five stars.

A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd

A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd
(Bess Crawford #3)
352 pages / 11 hrs, 1 min

"World War One battlefield nurse Bess Crawford is 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."  --from the publisher.

Good story, but I didn't care for the family Bess was trying to help.  They weren't very likable, in my opinion, so the story dragged for me in parts.

The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson

The Summer Before the War: A Novel by Helen Simonson --- 479 pages

The second effort by the author who received popular and critical acclaim for her debut novel Major Pettigrew's Last Stand (2010) is evidence that Simonson is no flash in the pan.

Both Major Pettigrew and The Summer Before the War demonstrate that the "novel of manners"   should not be dismissed as the relic of a quaint and distant past, as Simonson applies her well-honed pen to the dissection of English village life with all the aplomb of a reincarnated Jane Austen. Indeed, Simonson channels the Austen spirit far more successfully than any of the uninspired offerings of HarperCollins' Jane Austen Project.

In this new book Simonson examines the impact of the First World War on the twilight years of the British Empire. She sets her story in the East Sussex coastal town of Rye (the town in which the author herself grew up, although long after the time period of her novel), where life is exceedingly pleasant for those with a comfortable income, while those without such comfort are expected to know their place and "cultivate an attitude of grateful subordination" towards their betters.

Into this setting Simonson introduces her heroine, Beatrice Nash, a young woman with too much intelligence and too little income to fit into the hierarchy of Rye. Forced by the death (and lack of foresight) of her father to earn her own living, Beatrice has been hired --- with some misgivings --- by the governors of the local grammar school to teach Latin to the children of the town. But the war looming on the horizon is about to come roaring down on all of comfortable sureties of England and Empire, and those who survive will find the world changed beyond recall.

Click HERE to read the review in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Click HERE to read the review from National Public Radio (NPR).

Click HERE to read the review in the Washington Post.