Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Best of 2024 ezine!

Read advance reader review of A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd, page 3 of 5

Summary | Reviews | More Information | More Books

A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd

A Bitter Truth

A Bess Crawford Mystery

by Charles Todd

  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Published:
  • Aug 2011, 352 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Reviews


Page 3 of 5
There are currently 31 member reviews
for A Bitter Truth
Order Reviews by:
  • Mary O. (Boston, MA)
    a historic yarn
    I highly recommend this historic novel for perfect summer beach reading! It is a well written description of a complicated family situation during World War I with murder as the backdrop. There is good character development and twists and turns that make you love and hate some characters at the same time! It would make a great discussion for a book group. ENJOY!
  • Juliet F. (clarendon hills, IL)
    a very fun read!
    I love this series. The character of Bess Crawford continues to solve mysteries in her typical demure-yet quietly awesome- way. I love how the other characters seem to consistently underestimate her, until they realize how sharp she is. This series also does a great job of painting the era in which it takes place, without feeling dated or stodgy. There a few plot points which are kind of a stretch, but it's well worth it in the end. Great plot, great characters, well paced- I thoroughly enjoyed it.
  • Penny P. (Santa barbara, Calif)
    A Good Read
    I read this book in one sitting. I have never read any of the other Kim Crawford books so I have nothing to compare this one to. I do not normally read mystery books but I do think this book was very interesting.

    The characters were well developed and the plot was twisty. The time covered in history was something I know little about so that too was sort of fun to learn about. I will recommend it to the members of my book club that enjoy mysteries and may explore the other Kim Crawford mysteries.
  • Marie D. (Waretown, NJ)
    Oh, what tangled webs we weave!
    The book splendidly recreates the period during World War I in England. The coming together of the protagonist, Bess Crawford, and the household of murder suspects – one wonders if it will be determined that the butler did do it - was totally random, yet it all seems to work.

    The young nursing sister from a “good” family finds herself center stage in the dysfunctional, wealthy world of the Ellis family at Vixen Hill in the foreboding Ashdown Forest in Sussex. The bleak, twisted landscape and the cold, rainy damp in the house and its environs had me reaching for a cup of hot tea!

    The constraining life for women at that time, defined as it was by money, position, and, most certainly, their choice of husbands, played a significant role in the story. The reader may be motivated to slap Lydia Ellis for her behavior at several points in the book. All the characters are delineated fully and all seemed to have a motive for murder!

    I thoroughly enjoyed the book!
  • Anat S. (Sharon, MA)
    Page turner murder mystery
    Set at the time of WWI in Britain with a nursing sister as a hero, this is a fast pace, page turner murder mystery written in the "Agatha Christie" style where everyone has a motive for murder and the end is unexpected. It is well written and entertaining.
  • Virginia W. (Cloverdale, CA)
    Crime during WWI
    I really enjoyed this charming mystery story about a WWI nurse who becomes entangled with a woman who has run from her soldier husband and his family after he slapped her. The family of the soldier is complicated by previous and current deaths. It is engaging to read about a simpler time and description of crimes that not a gory as those depicted by authors who write about modern day crimes. I think this would be an excellent book to read on the beach or elsewhere during a vacation.
  • Nancy E. (Sturgeon Bay, wi)
    A Bitter Truth
    It was with great anticipation that I approached this book. I had read the preceding two books in the series and have to say that I enjoyed them and their plucky heroine Bess Crawford. While the plot was good, the characters were not as well drawn as in the previous two books. The setting, however, was well done. I would read more in this series, but would not recommend this particular title to mystery fans.

Read-Alikes

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket
    The Frozen River
    by Ariel Lawhon
    "I cannot say why it is so important that I make this daily record. Perhaps because I have been ...
  • Book Jacket
    Prophet Song
    by Paul Lynch
    Paul Lynch's 2023 Booker Prize–winning Prophet Song is a speedboat of a novel that hurtles...
  • Book Jacket: The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern
    The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern
    by Lynda Cohen Loigman
    Lynda Cohen Loigman's delightful novel The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern opens in 1987. The titular ...
  • Book Jacket: Small Rain
    Small Rain
    by Garth Greenwell
    At the beginning of Garth Greenwell's novel Small Rain, the protagonist, an unnamed poet in his ...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
The Story Collector
by Evie Woods
From the international bestselling author of The Lost Bookshop!
Book Jacket
The Rose Arbor
by Rhys Bowen
An investigation into a girl's disappearance uncovers a mystery dating back to World War II in a haunting novel of suspense.
Who Said...

The only completely consistent people are the dead

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Big Holiday Wordplay 2024

Enter Now

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.