See the hottest books publishing this Summer

What do readers think of A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd? Write your own review.

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):
  • Readers' Rating (31):
  • Published:
  • Aug 2011, 352 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Reviews

Page 4 of 4
There are currently 31 reader reviews for A Bitter Truth
Order Reviews by:

Write your own review!

Rebecca J. (Knoxville, TN)

A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd
I was interested to read a book in this Todd series about Bess Crawford as I had enjoyed one of his Ian Rutledge books. A Bitter Truth had good historical detail, a likeable main character in Bess and a fun romance. The mystery part was a bit contrived and I think Todd's mysteries are more for historical fiction buffs and readers who like rather tame mysteries.
Barbara C. (Riverside, CA)

Loses steam!
This book was as grabber at the beginning, but it fizzled with too many tendrils of plot and an ending that left me scratching my head. However, that said, I love Bess and want her to have a life. The two first books about Bess were better because she was more relevant to the plot and plot line. Too many coincidences here.
Mary M. (Beverly Hills, FL)

Held my attention
This book has an intricate plot, full of twists and turns and kept me reading, even though some of the plot twists are improbable at best. Several of the characters are three-dimensional, though Bess herself is not so much, and why she, and another character interject themselves so thoroughly into the lives of strangers is a question. The book does convey a good sense of wartime Europe, with all its the tragedies and upheavals.
Power Reviewer
Portia A. (Mount Laurel, NJ)

Too coincidental?
Bess Crawford is a British nurse in WW1; Maisie Dobbs is a British nurse in WW1. Bess Crawford has a young man help her; Maisie Dobbs has a young man help her.
Bess Crawford solves mysteries; Maisie Dobbs solves mysteries.
Maisie Dobbs came first and I think Jacqueline Winspear writes better stories.
I found the end of this book to be too contrived, but for a summer read it wasn't too bad.
Deanna W. (Port Jefferson, NY)

Cozy Whodunit
I am a fan of Charles Todd's Ian Rutledge Series. I also enjoy the Masie Dobbs series by
Jacqueline Winspear. This is the third in the Bess Crawford series. I have also read the first two. I was looking forward to reading this old fashioned mystery. However, this whodunit had a predictable plot with too many coincidences. Also the solution to the
crime seems to come out of the blue.
Mary G. (Purcellville, VA)

A Bitter Truth is a Bitter Pill
When I signed up to review A Bitter Truth, by Charles Todd, I was looking forward to being introduced to an author I hadn’t read before. After reading the book, I was glad it was free. For a team of writers (Charles Todd is a mother-son writing duo) with 15 books to their credit, this book was surprisingly clumsy and amateurish.

This book was the third in a mystery series featuring a World War One military nurse, Bess Crawford, as the protagonist. It opened with Bess arriving home from the front for holiday leave. Her bus was delayed while police searched for a deserter. Much was made of this deserter in themore
Power Reviewer
Gail B. (Albuquerque, NM)

Deja Vu
A dark and stormy night, a frightened, well-bred woman crouching on our heroine's London doorstep, with no money and nowhere to go. Tender-hearted Sister Bess Crawford is drawn into the spooky life of the Ellis family at Vixen Hall in the Sussex countryside. The convoluted plot, with multiple victims and possible villains, a la Agatha Christie, is saved by the back story of wartime England and France in WWI. Storyline has many similarities to Maisie Dobbs novels, though not as well written.

Read-Alikes

BookBrowse Book Club

  • Book Jacket
    Lies and Weddings
    by Kevin Kwan
    A forbidden affair erupts at a lavish Hawaiian wedding in this wild comedy from the author of Crazy Rich Asians.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Erased
    by Anna Malaika Tubbs

    In Erased, Anna Malaika Tubbs recovers all that American patriarchy has tried to destroy.

  • Book Jacket

    Songs of Summer
    by Jane L. Rosen

    A young woman crashes a Fire Island wedding to find her birth mother—and gets more than she bargained for.

Who Said...

Give me the luxuries of life and I will willingly do without the necessities.

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

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

B a L

and be entered to win..

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.