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Title details for A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd - Available

A Duty to the Dead

#1 in series

by Charles Todd
Rosalyn Landor
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available

The daughter of a distinguished soldier, Bess Crawford follows in his patriotic footsteps, volunteering to serve her country as a nurse during the Great War. In 1916, she promises Lieutenant Arthur Graham that she will carry his dying request to a brother. When the hospital ship is sunk by a mine and she is sent home to England to recover from her wounds, Bess is determined to fulfill her promise at last. There the enigmatic message is treated with skepticism. Then the family's safe world is turned upside down when another brother comes home, dying of pneumonia. Knowing what it cost the young officer to rely on a stranger to speak for him, Bess takes upon herself this duty to the dead, so that Arthur can rest in peace. But it isn't as straightforward as she expects, when she hears the whispers in the village of Owlhurst—and in the end, the price of uncovering the truth will mean putting her own life at risk for Arthur's sake.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Bess Crawford Mystery

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    September 1, 2009

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780792767657
      • File size: 283008 KB
      • Duration: 09:49:35

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      In a departure from his other mystery series, featuring a WWI veteran-turned-detective who suffers from shell shock, A DUTY TO THE DEAD spotlights Bess Crawford, a nurse who is serving her country during the same war. Bess returns to England to recuperate after surviving a dramatic brush with death in the opening chapter. Rosalyn Landor achieves the perfect timbre for Bess's firm yet feminine introspection. Voices of men are remarkably strong and forthright, and Landor even sparkles with crisp accents from other parts of the British Isles. The mystery unfolds as Bess visits the Graham house in Kent to deliver a dying soldier's final missive. A whirlwind of intrigue and murder ensues, endangering Bess beyond the war's perils. Landor recounts this combination Great War/country house mystery with elegant timing and audible suspense that result in a compelling enigma. A.W. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 25, 2009
      The winning first in a new WWI series from the bestselling mother-son Todds (A Matter of Justice
      and 10 other Inspector Rutledge mysteries) introduces Bess Crawford, a resourceful British army nurse who's injured when her ship is sunk in 1916. While convalescing in England, Bess is tormented because she's put off delivering a message from Arthur Graham, a dying soldier under her care for whom she'd developed strong feelings, to his family. Her own brush with death prompts her to travel to Kent and transmit Arthur's cryptic last words to one of his three brothers. Bess becomes further enmeshed in the family's affairs after she learns the obscure message may relate to Graham's half-brother, Peregrine, who was committed to a local asylum for a girl's murder years before. The more Bess seeks to sate her curiosity, the more she suspects that the truth about the murder was suppressed. Fans of independent women sleuths like Maisie Dobbs will welcome this new addition to their ranks.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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