An Unmarked Grave (Bess Crawford, #4)

An Unmarked Grave by Charles Todd
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For the first time Bess' involvement doesn't seem forced. Bess is on the front lines dealing with war wounded and those who have the Spanish Flu, when an orderly brings a corpse who appears to have been the victim of foul play to her attention, and of course Bess recognizes the corpse as an officer in her Father's old regiment. Before she can report the case to Matron she falls ill with the Spanish Flu. When she recovers in England she discovers that the orderly who discovered the victim has also died an apparent suicide.

Her Father and Simeon look into it, but someone is afraid Bess knows to much and an attempt is made on her life. With the help of some new friends Bess manages to stay alive and the identity of the killer is revealed.

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Bloodless (Pendergast, #20)

Bloodless by Douglas Preston
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

After the absolutely awful Crooked River which I stopped reading after the police chief brutally murdered his dog for playing with a shoe I swore I would never read another Preston & Child book again. But I decided to give them one more chance and Bloodless didn't disappoint.

Pendergast has his voice back and this book is terrific. Although I found the ending sad. The book begins November 24th 1971 with the D.B. Cooper heist and then moves to present day Savannah Ga. Where Miss Felicity Frost has lovingly restored a hotel. Something is draining the blood from the residents and visitors to Savanna and Pickett wants Pendergast and Coldmoon to find out what is going on. Coldmoon is annoyed to have his posting to Colorado put on hold and agrees to the request with rather poor grace but Pendergast is intrigued.

To complicate matters two rivals (TV documentary producer and book author) are in town to capitalize on what the press has dubbed the "Savannah Vampire" they will go to any lengths to discredit one another and get the goods.

Pendergast sets Constance the task of getting to know Miss Frost and her seeing the inscription

From Z.Q. to A.R. Berry Patch, 4/22/72

in Miss Frost favorite book that she always keeps with her allows Pendergast to solve the puzzle after a quick trip to Oregon with Coldmoon in tow.

Leaving Coldmoon in Savannah Pendergast will travel to the creatures lair to kill it on it's own turf, only the intervention of Constance will save Pendergast life, but then Constance chooses to leave Pendergast and attempt to save her sister. Coldmoon apparently decides to stay with a distraught Pendergast as he is still in town when Dr. Quincy arrives in town looking for his lost love.

This book is more in the vein of Relic and Reliquary

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A Bitter Truth (Bess Crawford, #3)

A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I actually liked the one book I read in the Ian Rutledge Series better but am finding it impossible to find the 2nd book in the series Wings of Fire, which is very annoying. To me Bess Crawford's involvement in all these mysteries seems a bit contrived. Even so I do enjoy the series.

Bess arrives home unexpectedly and finds a complete stranger (Lydia) asleep on her door step and invites her in. Lydia eventually reveals that she fled to London after a fight with her husband (Roger Ellis) and that she doesn't know anyone in the city. Bess puts her plans to visit her family on hold in order to accompany Lydia (who has a concussion) back to Vixen Hall and they contrive a long friendship to make her appearance with Lydia seem normal. Luckily Lydia's Mother in law remembers that her late husband meet Bess's Father. With Bess's pedigree established she is invited to stay at the hall, for a memorial service for Roger's elder brother. After the service George blurts out that Roger has an illegitimate daughter in France that looks just like his late sister. Shortly after George has a long conversation with Bess revealing more about the girl. (Bess is in the parlor after everyone retires for the night because Lydia fled to Bess's room after the announcement). The next morning George is found murdered.

Bess has to go back to France for her nursing duties and promises Lydia she will look for the girl (Sophie). Bess confides her mission to her patient, Sergeant Larimore (I like him a lot and hope he appears in later books). Larimore takes it upon himself to find the girl and when Bess in called back to England for the inquest Larimore smuggles Sophie into England after rescuing her and the nuns from a fire. Larimore gets a message to Bess via her Mother and Bess rushes to Dover to rescue Larimore. She manages to get Larimore back on a ship to France with no trouble claiming he has a head injury and didn't understand what he was doing when he followed her to England and takes Sophie back to Vixen Hall with her. (No one else knows of Sophie's presence in England, apparently Larimore is a very good smuggler).

Lydia finds Bess feeding Sophie in the kitchen and insist on taking over the care of the child and is determined she will stay at Vixen Hall. Simeon comes to protect Bess (it seems to be the Colonel and Simon's main job after retiring is to keep Bess out of trouble along with some mysterious doings at the War Office). While the police are centering their investigation on the Ellis family Simon and Bess uncover the true motive for the murders (as more people were killed after George) was to keep the identity of a deserter hidden. When the deserter kidnaps Sophie in an effort to get Simon to leave they track him down.

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An Impartial Witness (Bess Crawford, #2)

An Impartial Witness by Charles Todd
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Beth is drawn into a murder investigation when she witnesses  her patients' wife having an intense conversation with a man (presumably her lover since she is pg and her husband has been in France where he was severely wounded) at the train station.

When another man is accused of the murder, Beth sets out to clear his name before it's too late.

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A Test of Wills (Inspector Ian Rutledge, #1)

A Test of Wills by Charles Todd
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Suffering PTS from his experiences in WWI Rutledge is afraid he has lost the skills to solve murders when he is sent to Warwickshire to solve the murder of Colonel Charles Harris, the chief suspect is Captain Mark Wilton, who was engaged to Colonel Harris' Ward and was seen to quarrel with him the night before his death.

Captain Wilton seems to be the only one with a motive to kill Colonel Harris, but what if the murder was a case of mistaken identity and the motive for the murder lies in an accident that happened 20 years ago. Can Rutledge find the murderer before he/she strikes again?

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A Duty to the Dead (Bess Crawford, #1)

A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Bess is determined to see that Arthur's last wishes are carried out and in the process she uncovers a string of murders and frees the man who was blamed for the first murder as a young boy.

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