This is the third book in the series that I have read, though I've done so out of order: book 1, 4, and then 2. It turned out this didn't matter in thThis is the third book in the series that I have read, though I've done so out of order: book 1, 4, and then 2. It turned out this didn't matter in the least, as all the books completely stand on their own.
As I've noted before, I have read the books for research purposes. Fiction on World War I can be more enlightening about every day behaviors than nonfiction books. I found An Impartial Witness to be the most solid of the three, but it still frustrates me on several levels.
Foremost, the series is promoted as being about a war nurse. Bess is very rarely at the front. Due to her father's connections, she's able to get leave with incredible ease. Within the scope of the series, it feels like she sets her own hours--hopping over to France just long enough to find a witness she needs, and then she returns to England. She drives all over England, even with petrol shortages. Her father, the Colonel, still wields far too much power to get things done on her behalf, though in this book she does manage more on her own.
I still feel like Bess is very empty as a character.
Those complaints said, the books are not awful. They each read very quickly. The tension is there. It's a whodunit in the classic sense, with all sorts of red herrings and attempted murders and sordid affairs. However, I will not read onward in the series... though I will lend them to my mom to see what she thinks....more
I read the first Bess Crawford mystery and liked it, for the most part. I looked at the next books in the series and it seemed continuity wasn't a bigI read the first Bess Crawford mystery and liked it, for the most part. I looked at the next books in the series and it seemed continuity wasn't a big deal, so I went ahead and read #4 since I already had it.
Despite jumping over two books, I had no difficulty in following the story. It follows the chronology of World War I but nothing major had shifted with Bess or her immediate circle; it was really quite self-contained. As a mystery, the pace flows well and it's a fast read. I read 150 pages in one sitting.
One reason I'm reading the books is that I am studying up more on World War I-era medicine. In this regard, I'm still frustrated with the series. This book did show some action at the front, with procedures and the terror of a gas attack, but it didn't dwell much on the medical aspect.
Bess as a character still feels rather empty to me. It's definitely not a character-driven series. I have no idea what she wants. It also seems like her father is too much of a power figure. If anything goes wrong, Colonel Sahib comes to the rescue. He even has her pulled from the front when she comes down with the flu. It makes things awfully convenient far too many times over even as people are out to kill Bess. Through her father's connections she knows almost everyone and can do almost anything.
I already have the second book in the series so I'll go ahead and read that, but overall I find that there are too many bothersome elements here for me to continue beyond that. ...more
This book hooked me from the first chapter. Bess is on a mostly empty nursing ship when it strikes a mine in the Mediterranean. The ship goes down, anThis book hooked me from the first chapter. Bess is on a mostly empty nursing ship when it strikes a mine in the Mediterranean. The ship goes down, and her ensuing convalescence forces her back to England--and into a mystery regarding the promise to a dead patient. I read through the full book in two days. I enjoyed it for the most part, but several aspects did bother me.
Bess is a good detective in many ways, but she also does some things that are frustratingly dumb. She lets a convicted murderer threaten her to silence and then stay alone with her female roommate. (The fact that the murderer is obviously not a murderer isn't the point--the man's been kept in an asylum for year and has definitely been warped by the experience.) Her arm injury is a major point at the beginning of the book but about halfway, it seems to be forgotten. Not that much time has passed. The ending also felt somewhat convoluted--perhaps too many characters to muddle things.
In other words, I started out thinking, "Wow, this book as amazing," but my enthusiasm dimmed somewhat by the end. I loved the setting and the World War I backdrop; I loved many of the side characters, such as her father. I already own the fourth book in the series--I actually acquired it first and had to seek out this first book--so I think I'll get books 2 and 3, just to see how it flows. In any case, they should be fast reads....more
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