The Shattered Tree

"He crawled as far as the shattered tree and lay there, faint from the effort. But he knew he had to keep moving. When he stopped, when the sweat dried on his skin, he'd begin to shiver again, wracking his body until his teeth chattered. There wasn't enough left of his uniform to keep his warm, and his captors, God help them, had taken his boots. Good English leather. He'd stolen them himself from a corpse.

He grimaced, afraid to look at his torn feet. He'd lost too much blood from other wounds. The one in his leg had mercifully stopped bleeding, and the cut in his hairline had clotted over, but the damage had been done. He was light-headed from lack of food, finding it hard to concentrate. A crow couldn't find enough to eat in this countryside after four years of war. He'd be dead soon if he didn't reach his own lines."

Welcome to the latest Bess Crawford mystery by Charles Todd, the Shattered Tree. It all takes place in France in October of 1918, where a lone man is discovered wounded. He is taken to a local hospital where nurse Bess Crawford tends to his wounds before he is taken elsewhere to recover. But since he can't tell anyone who he is or where he is from, he remains a mystery patient. Until one night he is attacked by another patient and in his stress, he utters protests in German. Bess is concerned that this man might be a German spy, but why is he wearing a French soldier's uniform and missing all identification? As she is sent to attend a man along with a doctor in a trench, she is caught in the crossfire of a sniper's round and finds herself a patient. She begins to follow the mystery man to the very same location she is being sent to recover, only know she has a possible name he is going by Phillipe Moreau, which is French, but why does he seem so fluent in German?

That is the best part of any Bess Crawford mystery is the slow unraveling of clues as she uses her recovery time in Paris, to figure out who this man is. Why is he running? What is he hiding? As she gets closer to the truth, those around her wind up their own victims of being stabbed. How can it be the wounded man who clearly is unable to walk much less attempt murder of anyone including an attempt on her own life again. She must figure it out before she is sent back to the aid station in France again or before more people wind up wounded or even murdered. Will she be next?

I received The Shattered Tree by Charles Todd compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers. This is such an extraordinary series and even though they are ongoing, you don't need to read them in order to appreciate the mystery aspects of the novel. It's like a Sherlock Holmes book, each mystery is unique and original and always involves nurse Bess Crawford, like a historical Nancy Drew of sorts! This is one of my favorites of the novels I've had the pleasure to read and review. I give this one a 4.5 out of 5 stars and can't wait for the next one, Casualty of War coming soon. At the conclusion of this one, readers will find discussion guide questions, an interview with the author about this novel and more about the Bess Crawford series. This is the 8th novel in the Bess Crawford series.

For more information about The Shattered Tree, Charles Todd or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

The Shattered Tree by Charles Todd

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To read more reviews on The Shattered Tree, please visit William Morrow's website.

A Pattern of Lies

I don't know what the draw if for mystery's and perhaps it is that we love to feel like we are contributing to solving the unknown. Set against the backdrop of WWI, as readers immerse themselves into the nursing duties of Bess Crawford. It is a time where nursing was just beginning to grow their grassroots and it wasn't a pretty way to get involved for women to help in the war effort. It is a time of unsanitary conditions, amid the begins of medical procedures while bombs and shells are going off all around. Where sleep and a good meal are the blessings one can hope for.

An explosion at the Ashton Powder Mill in Kent has claimed the lives of a hundred men, and like everyone involved they want answers to what happened. As time presses on, this is written off as simply an accident from war efforts and soon it is swept under the rug. But rumors don't like to lie in the dark, and soon hints at murder rock the Ashton family and it seems the only one who can help provide the answers has been dispatched to the frontlines. Will Bess be able to help unravel the pattern of lies to help end the persecution of the Ashton family or will she become the next target of the killer at large?

I received Pattern of Lies by Charles Todd compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review. Aside from a complimentary copy of the novel, I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions found here are strictly my own. I am a huge fan of anything pertaining to WWI and love that once again readers find themselves back in the thick of things with Nurse Bess Crawford. I love her character because besides being a strong female nurse, she is not afraid to shatter the stereotypes we might have as a heroine solving mysteries while the war rages around her. It isn't easy being sleep deprived and moving from place to place where she is needed the most and always has her allies watching her back when it counts. I can't wait for more future novels from Charles Todd because it is such a breath of fresh air to see strong willed female characters that stand firm in the face of adversity and thus the reason for my 4.5 out of 5 stars. This is the 7th novel in the Bess Crawford Mystery series.

For more information about Pattern of Lies, Charles Todd or where to preorder a copy of this book that debuts in August of 2015, please click on the links below:

Pattern of Lies by Charles Todd 

You can find Charles Todd on Facebook to stay up to date on all his latest novels.

To read more reviews on Pattern of Lies, please visit William Morrow's website. 

An Unwilling Accomplice

Since my first Bess Crawford novel from best-selling author Charles Todd, I've been hooked. Taking some of my favorite elements of fiction, World War I, women nurses, and murder mystery and you have to basic ingredients for what makes the Bess Crawford Series a true success. Bess Crawford has been serving as a battlefield nurse, thrust in the middle of taking care of the most challenging of patients. With medical marvels still years from being developed, she is right in the middle of action trying to save the lives of those she can, and holding hands, writing letters and simply being there for those she can't. It was truly a trying time in history for women to participate in doing their part while war raged all around them.

For Bess, she is the daughter of a famous Colonel who's own military success often times aid her in coming to terms with the war. Like most fathers, they want to do all they can to  protect their daughters when they have the opportunity and Bess finds herself paired with her friend Simon, a decorated Sergeant-Major. He comes to her rescue as often as he is able, most of the time helping her solve the latest crime using all his military resources to research potential motives.

Bess has been assigned the duties of caring for an ailing Sergeant Wilkins who is confined to a wheelchair after sustaining injuries in the war. She is to provide nursing assistance to Wilkins when his orderly is headed back to the battle lines and to ensure he is present at Buckingham Palace for the King to honor him with a medal for his courage on the battlefield. What she doesn't expect is for her patient to go missing when she leaves him at his hotel room for the night. Is this the very reason why she was assigned to Wilkins in the first place? It simply wouldn't be proper for a woman, even a nurse, to stay in the man's room overnight. Just when did he go missing?

Now with Bess' professional credentials being called into question, she faces scrutiny from her boss as well as having to answer to the local police while she simply has let a man go missing. Now she has to race against time to figure out just what happened to Wilkins because as it stands now, it looks as if Nurse Bess Crawford is more than simply an unwilling accomplice.

I received An Unwilling Accomplice by Charles Todd compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions contained in this review are strictly my own. One of the best things I love about these novels besides trying to solve the crime before Bess does, is the historical feel to the novel that brings you right into the heart of the action. The sights and sounds are so vivid in detail you can't help but feel like you are really there as you take part in the journey alongside Bess. This is the sixth novel in the Bess Crawford Series and I honestly can't wait for more. I give this one a 4 out of 5 stars!

For more information about An Unwilling Accomplice, Charles Todd or where you can pre-order a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

An Unwilling Accomplice by Charles Todd

You can also find Charles Todd on Facebook to stay up to date with all his latest novels.

To read more reviews on An Unwilling Accomplice, please visit William Morrow's website. 

A Question of Honor

For some honor means everything. For a soldier especially. Men have killed to keep the honor of their family or their duty as an officer intact. That's why it comes as a complete surprise and utter shock when Lieutenant Wade has been accused of murder. Not only the murder of his parents, but also the murder of a random family that he seemed to have close ties with. For nurse Bess Crawford, this comes at such a loss for words for a man that she thought she knew to have committed these murders. It seems as if Bess really didn't know this man at all.

Now ten years later she is still haunted by the notion that Lieutenant Wade may not be dead like most presume. She wants to follow all the clues to see where they might lead and hopefully give her some insight into the reasons why a man would murder six people and then completely live a different life in the army.

" We've all asked ourselves the same question."

"And yet no one pursued it."

"We pursued him. And were told he was dead. There was no need for your father to travel to England to go into the matter. He was needed there at the time."

"Yes, I expect you're right." I fell silent, thinking it through. "I was shocked when the Subedar told me who he'd seen. I would probably have left it there, if I hadn't seen the man for myself. Or believed I did. We could have both been wrong, you know. Still, I remember my father's face when he got the news. I remember how everyone felt, even though I didn't know about the other murders. If we did see the Lieutenant in France, then I want to get to the bottom of it for the Colonel Sahib's sake. I think what bothers me most is that we assumed, the entire regiment, that Lieutenant Wade was dead. If he's escaped justice, then my father will feel responsible. He called off the search, you see." I smoothed the fingers of my driving gloves, not looking at Simon. It was the first time I'd really put my feelings into words. Even to myself. "I don't want him blamed. I don't want him to feel he should have done more. Because I don't think he could have done."

"Then you're going the wrong way about it. You're bringing it all back again. For all of us."

"No, I'm trying to lay the Subedar's words to rest. There must be someone out there in France who bears a resemblance to Wade. If it isn't Wade - then he's dead, his bones already dust in the Khyber Pass. Where they ought to be."

And so the search continues for answers as the reader follows Nurse Bess Crawford in another mystery by Charles Todd in his latest novel, A Question for Honor due out in bookstores in August of 2013. I've been a huge fan of the Bess Crawford Mystery's simply due to the fact I love mystery and historical fiction. Charles Todd weaves them together so masterfully to give the reader so much more than they ever expected. Plus the added bonus of having a woman character offer the duality of roles, first as a nurse and then during her free time or on leave, following the clues that may in fact restore an honor due to her father, the Colonel Sahib.

I received A Question of Honor by Charles Todd compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review and received no monetary compensation for a favorable review. This one does truly deserve a full 5 out of 5 stars in my personal opinion. The best part I love about Charles Todd's Bess Crawford Series is his attention to detail, and his ability to tell such a compelling story you honestly believe it just might have happened. He does all this without going into gory details or using inappropriate language that some authors chose to in writing their novels. This is why I LOVE his novels and this entire series. I plan of coming back for more and more because I love Bess! She's a woman who I could see myself as becoming had I lived in that time period. This is like Downton Abbey meets Sherlock Holmes.

For more information about A Question of Honor, Charles Todd, or where to preorder a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

A Question of Honor by Charles Todd

You can also find Charles Todd on Facebook to stay up to date with all his latest novels.

You can also visit Charles Todd's webpage for more on his novels. 

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow (August 27, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062237152
• ISBN-13: 978-0062237156
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches

An Unmarked Grave - Giveaway and Review

France, Spring, 1918

I stopped just outside the ward and leaned my head against the cool wood of the doorframe. I couldn't remember when last I'd slept, or, for that matter, eaten anything more than a few biscuits now and again with a hasty cup of tea.

The Spanish Influenza had already cut down three of our nursing sisters, and two doctors were not expected to live through the night. The rest of us were struggling to keep men alive in the crowded wards and losing the battle hourly. Depressing to watch the bodies being carried out, one more soldier lost to an enemy we couldn't even see.

It was an insidious killer, this influenza. I'd watched men in the best of healthy in the afternoon gasping for breath by the next morning, tossing with fever, lying too ill to speak, then fighting to draw a next breath. I'd watched nurses and orderlies work with patients for days on end without showing a single sign of illness, only to collapse unexpectedly and join the ranks of the dying. The young were particularly vulnerable. On the other hand, Private Wilson, close to forty, seemed to be spared, even though he handled the dead, gently wrapping them in their soiled sheets and carrying them out to await interment. The shed just beyond the wards was filled with bodies, sometimes tacked like lumber. The burial details couldn't keep up. And those men too were dying. (pg 1-2).



In the latest novel from Charles Todd, An Unmarked Grave takes readers back to the chilling period of time as WW1 was just beginning while the Spanish Influenza was taking lives faster than the war wounded. Some wondered if there would be anyone left to fight the war. As Private Wilson is taking count of the bodies in the shed, separating the war dead from those that the illness had claimed, he noticed one extra body.

Taking care to avoid any extra attention he notifies, Nurse Bess Crawford to follow him to the shed. When he shows her the extra body, she realizes who it is. Major Vincent Carlson, and the wounds on his body are neither from the war or from the illness. He has been murdered.

When she attempts to contact Matron, the head nurse in charge of the facility, Bess herself finds she has succumbed to the Spanish Influenza as well and before she is able to tell anyone, she faints into a fever that may take her very life. Nurse Bess Crawford does recover but she begins to wonder if the body she discovered was a dream or did it really happen. All she knows is she needs to get better as soon as she can and begin to uncover what could be a murder, but how will she find the body of the Major in an unmarked grave?

I received An Unmarked Grave by Charles Todd compliments of TLC Book Tours and William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review. After reading previous novels by Charles Todd a year ago, I feel in love with his unique ability to draw the reader into his book immediately. This is my third book from him and my second in the Bess Crawford mystery series. I love having a woman character like Bess who represents a vulnerability in her character while matching wits much like Sherlock Holmes. Add to that element a bit of history and you have the blending of a perfect suspense mystery. So it's easy to see why I would rate this one a 5 out of 5 stars. I can't wait to read more from him in the future and once again, this novel has found a forever home in my personal library.

For more information on An Unmarked Grave, Charles Todd or where you can pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

An Unmarked Grave by Charles Todd

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Thanks to the generous folks at TLC and Harper Collins, they have provided a giveaway hardcover to one lucky follower of my blog, Reviews From The Heart. Here are your details:

1. Be a follower of my blog, Reviews From The Heart.

2. I would love it if you visited my Facebook page, Reviews From The Heart and "Like" my page and leave me a comment to let me know you stopped by. If you have already liked my page, leave me a comment.

3. Be a resident of the US or have a US shipping address. Please No P.O. Boxes.

4. Leave a comment below telling me why you'd love to win a copy of this book along with your email address. You can use the words instead of the symbols (at) and (dot).

I will notify the winner by email when this giveaway ends on July 13th.

A Bitter Truth

Life is about to change for battlefield nurse, Betty Crawford on a dark and blustery night in London. When the police are searching for a deserter, Betty heads home to her flat alone. Yet on the stoop of her doorway is a woman, hiding and wearing a thin coat, trying to find temporary shelter from the storm. When Betty offers her a cup of tea and a respite from the weather for a few minutes, she sees that the woman's face bears a battered and bruise hand print along with endless tears down her face.

Fearing the worst but don't wanting to frighten the poor woman, she learns that she is running from her husband, Roger Ellis. Not prone to violence against his wife, Bess learns that the woman's name is Lydia and offers her a place to stay. Lydia fears the worst could happen the longer she stays away and asks Betty to accompany her home to Vixen Hill.

There Betty will meet the Ellis family of three generations of widows and meet the spirit of Julianna, who died a young girl and one whom the family can't seem to forget. Betty is talked into staying a few days to help care for Lydia and help her deal with issues involving her husband's jealousy. During her stay, the family is planning a memorial service to lay the headstone of one of the sons that was killed in the war. Only on the eve of the memorial service, one of the house guests George Hughes confides a deep family secret to Betty when neither of them can sleep. When the house awakens in the morning, George is soon discovered murdered and someone in the house is the prime suspect.

I received the novel A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd compliments of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review. It feels like a historical version of the game, Clue, as Bess Crawford attempts to solve the mystery surrounding the Ellis family secret and the murder of George Hughes. Set in London during the middle of World War 1, the mystery continues to grow as more and more people turn up missing or murdered as well. I rate this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars and is perfect for you crime solving sleuth fans!

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A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd

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