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A review by tonstantweader
A Casualty of War by Charles Todd
3.0
A Casualty of War is the ninth book in Charles Todd’s Bess Crawford series. Working at a forward station on the front lines of World War I, Bess encounters Alan Travis, a young man heading toward the front, and enjoys a short conversation with him. She sees him next after he’s been shot, a graze to his head, a wound he insists was a deliberate attempt to kill him by a fellow British soldier. Talking to Bess about it, he realizes the shooter is likely his distant cousin. He returns to the front and is shot again, in the back, and insists the shooter is the same man – James Travis. Unfortunately, James died a year earlier so doctors decide he is mentally ill and institutionalize him. Bess goes to check on him and is appalled by his condition and his despair. Feeling a bit guilty that she may have prompted his delusion, she tries to help him.
She also thinks he could be telling the truth, so she enlists the help of her father’s long-time friend and aide, Simon. They travel to the village James comes from, encountering inexplicable hostility that makes them suspicious. Something is definitely afoot.
This is a fair mystery that is more complex than it originally appears. During their first conversation, Alan shows pictures of his Barbadian home, telling the story of a family feud that sent his ancestors to Barbados. From that moment, it’s obvious this will be an heir unaware mystery. I made up that classification, but mystery collections are rife with inheritance plots, and the unaware heir is a great plot for inexplicable, seemingly inexplicable murders, or attempted murders. The hostile village is another common mystery trope. I wish, though, I had not understood the general story outline so early on.
I don’t object to tropes, after all, there are only seven stories, right? Todd adds nuance and twists to the tropes so they are not formulaic or cliche. There’s a reason the village is hostile and it’s not because they’re all international assassins. The heir unaware is also resolved differently, the motive quite different from expected. This is one reason I like Todd’s series – there is a complexity in the resolution that is uncommon.
One of my favorite things about reading a Todd mystery is that while deeply steeped in time and place, full of the details and events that make it seem authentic and deeply researched, I never feel that there are some index cards of facts that Todd is determined to include. Many authors cannot resist including facts that show off their research, Todd will kill his darlings if they don’t organically fit in the story. There is no need to show off his research, he just seamlessly incorporates the kind of detail that creates an organic sense of time and place.
This prolific mother-son writing partnership writing under the singular Charles Todd name has more than thirty books to their credit. The Inspector Ian Rutledge series features a Scotland Yard detective who is haunted by his World War I experiences in the form of Hamish MacLeod, a young Scottish soldier he executed on the battlefield. Bess Crawford is Rutledge’s opposite in every way, not just because she’s a woman. While Rutledge struggles with superiors who dislike and distrust him, Crawford is supported by privilege, her father an important and powerful confidante of the Crown. Rutledge’s psyche is damaged, he is a tormented man. Crawford is commonsensical in the extreme, a down-to-earth woman on an even keel. He is professional and has authority and credentials. She is an amateur sleuth, though she does use her nursing credentials as much as she can. I think writing two different series helps Todd avoid the common pitfalls of series writers who fall into habits. This is why the Rutledge and the Crawford series continue to maintain their high standards.
A Casualty of War will be published September 26th. I received an e-galley for review from Edelweiss.
A Casualty of War at William Morrow, a Harper Collins imprint
Charles Todd author site
Charles Todd at Order of Books
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2017/09/21/9780062678782/
She also thinks he could be telling the truth, so she enlists the help of her father’s long-time friend and aide, Simon. They travel to the village James comes from, encountering inexplicable hostility that makes them suspicious. Something is definitely afoot.
This is a fair mystery that is more complex than it originally appears. During their first conversation, Alan shows pictures of his Barbadian home, telling the story of a family feud that sent his ancestors to Barbados. From that moment, it’s obvious this will be an heir unaware mystery. I made up that classification, but mystery collections are rife with inheritance plots, and the unaware heir is a great plot for inexplicable, seemingly inexplicable murders, or attempted murders. The hostile village is another common mystery trope. I wish, though, I had not understood the general story outline so early on.
I don’t object to tropes, after all, there are only seven stories, right? Todd adds nuance and twists to the tropes so they are not formulaic or cliche. There’s a reason the village is hostile and it’s not because they’re all international assassins. The heir unaware is also resolved differently, the motive quite different from expected. This is one reason I like Todd’s series – there is a complexity in the resolution that is uncommon.
One of my favorite things about reading a Todd mystery is that while deeply steeped in time and place, full of the details and events that make it seem authentic and deeply researched, I never feel that there are some index cards of facts that Todd is determined to include. Many authors cannot resist including facts that show off their research, Todd will kill his darlings if they don’t organically fit in the story. There is no need to show off his research, he just seamlessly incorporates the kind of detail that creates an organic sense of time and place.
This prolific mother-son writing partnership writing under the singular Charles Todd name has more than thirty books to their credit. The Inspector Ian Rutledge series features a Scotland Yard detective who is haunted by his World War I experiences in the form of Hamish MacLeod, a young Scottish soldier he executed on the battlefield. Bess Crawford is Rutledge’s opposite in every way, not just because she’s a woman. While Rutledge struggles with superiors who dislike and distrust him, Crawford is supported by privilege, her father an important and powerful confidante of the Crown. Rutledge’s psyche is damaged, he is a tormented man. Crawford is commonsensical in the extreme, a down-to-earth woman on an even keel. He is professional and has authority and credentials. She is an amateur sleuth, though she does use her nursing credentials as much as she can. I think writing two different series helps Todd avoid the common pitfalls of series writers who fall into habits. This is why the Rutledge and the Crawford series continue to maintain their high standards.
A Casualty of War will be published September 26th. I received an e-galley for review from Edelweiss.
A Casualty of War at William Morrow, a Harper Collins imprint
Charles Todd author site
Charles Todd at Order of Books
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2017/09/21/9780062678782/