Reviews

• The best Bess Crawford mystery

  This is the fifth in the series. So by now you should be acquainted with the characters, by this unique mother and son team. We are now in the last year of the war and everyone is speculating what Bess will do now that she is no longer going to be a nurse. She is working in and aid station where they receive the wended men. There she finds that her history in India allows her to converse with a wounded Indian Sergeant. There he finds that he had seen Lieutenant Wade a person of interest from her father's regiment. The story can get a tad complex to convey on this review. However this person had a nefarious background and was wanted for various deeds. She wants to track him down and find the truth. I have to admit that my first read form Charles Todd was the Ian Rutledge Mysteries. Guess I'll have to try "the Murder Stone".

• A GREAT read!

  This is another valuable addition to my library of Charles Todd mysteries. The characterizations and location descriptions seem like very real people and places from the time frame described by the authors.

• Question of Honor Deserves Applause

  I was so excited to read this fifth in the Bess Crawford mystery series because I love this heroine and have enjoyed the first four books enough to read them twice and pass them along with heartfelt recommendations to friends and family. The authors' writing is compelling. When Bess is on the front as a nursing sister, they show her fatigue, sadness, and despair over her dying patients in a way that the reader feels it also. When she is on leave and pursuing inquiries into the murder cases in which she becomes entangled she relies on her great empathy and brilliant powers of deduction as she doggedly pursues clues until the situation is resolved to successful conclusion. The reader is slowly brought right along with Bess as the book's plot unwinds. War is hell, and Bess knows it. So does the reader because the authors' historical knowledge of the period and the so-called "Great War" is woven convincingly into the plot. Readers who pay attention to these details will learn more about the period and the War than is ever taught in school. A great read. I hated for it to end. I know I'll read it again.

• Five Stars

  A very good book as is the whole series. Lots of plots and detail about nursing in WW1.

• A Question of Honor

  In A Question of Honor, we start the story in India, 1908, where Bess as a child learns that Lieutenant Wade, a man in her father's regime has killed both his parents in India and three people in England, but he disappears before they catch him. And, he is presumed dead after a while when no traces of him are found. A decade later Bess learns from a dying man in France that Lieutenant Wade could be still alive... The previous book, An Unmarked Grave, was the first book in this series that I didn't find as excellent as the rest so I was hopeful that the next one would be better. And it was. The story in this book is more interesting and I found it hard to put the book down. The book is really intriguing to read. Bess is trying to find out if Lieutenant Wade still alive, and if he is what is he doing fighting in the front and was he really guilty of the crimes in India and England? Bess and Simon Brandon (he works for her father) is working together trying to find out the truth without involving Bess father, Colonel Crawford because the killing is still a stain on the Colonels regiment's reputation and Bess doesn't want to involve her father if it turns out that it Wade isn't alive. So, she travels to the village where the killing of a family took place and tries to find out more about the murdered family and the connection to Lieutenant Wade. But, that's not that easy, some people there are even quite hostile towards her. But, Bess won't give up. What I love about this book is that it's like a puzzle, you have to be patient, piece after piece is revealed during the progress of the story until the truth is revealed in the end. I also loved that my favorite Aussie, Sergeant Larimore made a cameo, although I wish he had a bigger part in the book. But still I love every mention of him in the books, like this one where she met him in France as she tends to wounded soldiers: "I was always happy to see this cheeky Australian. He had helped me once when I needed help desperately and I was fond of him. Dangerous to care about anyone in wartime, but still…" Looks like Bess is quite fond of Larimore as well! I must admit that I hope they will end up together. I just love every scene with them together. I recommend this series to anyone that likes to read historical mysteries, especially books that take place during WW1. I enjoy these books very much and every book can be read as a stand-alone. 4.5 stars

• I like this series and enjoyed this addition.

  As usual I will give no synopsis since that is done in other places. I like this series. The heroine is empathetic, honorable, persistent and quite likeable--I know there are readers who disagree with that, but I do like her. The returning characters are human, but still the kind of people you would enjoy inviting into your home for an evening. If they weren't why would I want to spend several hours with them while supposedly reading for pleasure. A Question of Honor gives us more back story regarding Bess's early history and that of her family. The end of the war is getting close and I am getting impatient for her to realize that she is in love with a certain someone who always comes to her aid when she needs it, often going to extreme lengths to do so. If this series doesn't get these two together in the end I will be very disappointed. Bess is not a 21st century woman. It would be ridiculous to make her one, but she is independent and quite forward thinking for her time. This series allows us to see the changes brought about by WWI for both women and men without beating us over the head with it. A rare thing in modern literature. I would recommend this book for those who are looking for an easily read, historic mystery with tension, a satisfying ending and enjoyable characters.

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