An Unwilling Accomplice

Oh my god, what is happening to this series?

The first book of this series was reasonably well plotted. This book is an absolute disaster in search of a plot. Notable highlights:

-Bess and Simon just randomly drive through England in search of one random dude, even though they have, at best, 1.5 clues about where that dude is, that, again at best, narrow it down to an entire county
-Bess and Simon just happen to stop for the night in the same barn where that random dude is hiding
-A completely unrelated OTHER random dude just happens to be in the same area, acting completely insane even though he isn't, apparently solely to confuse the issue (which he knows nothing about).

And so on. This is a string of improbable coincidences masquerading show more as a plot. The mystery itself is equally ridiculous, and Bess and Simon don't figure out the very obvious key issue until waaaaay too late.

Meanwhile, something terrible has happened to Bess's characterization. She's weirdly timid and newly terrible at detecting, which is weird for someone who is surrounded by murder all the time. At one point, she's walking with someone who has just made it clear that she does have an answer Bess needs, and when that woman indicates that she doesn't want to say anything, Bess is basically like, "WELP, cannot possibly ask a question now! Dang. Sure a pity. But what can one do?" At another point, Diana tells Bess a name, but Bess can barely hear her. Bess thinks it's Evering, and asks everyone she meets about Evering, with no result. Later she gets a letter from Simon, who has spoken to Diana, telling her it's Everard. And Bess ... still thinks it might be Evering, even though she has found no one by that name and couldn't hear what Diana said. She even asks Simon if he's SURE it was Everard. It's like she can't grasp that she heard wrong. (Also, as is typical of the Charles Todd plotting at this point, this entire sequence is completely irrelevant. It's not even a red herring.)

And, sadly, the writing quality of the series has declined dramatically, too. It may actually be an editing problem -- lots of repetitions, lots of mistakes (and I don't just mean the name change of a fairly major character), lots of inconsistencies, but all things a good editor would catch.

And the ongoing flaws of the series are still evident, of course. It continues to be entirely white and straight and colonialist. The authors genuinely seem to believe that people of color and queer people didn't exist before, oh, 1971. Or, more likely, they'd prefer to pretend they didn't. And they seem to want to stand up and cheer for colonialism.

Man. I am going to continue on, but at this point I am not sure my interest in the setting can make up for everything the series has become. show less

I enjoyed the book, but I felt, as I often do with mysteries, that it lagged in the middle, as if the publisher has said, "Look, can't you add a few more chapters so we can get beyond that 300 page mark?" In this case, I became dizzy as they drove back and forth (and back and forth) between 3 villages with nearly the same name (Lower-, Middle-, and Upper-something). At one point I made a note that surely petrol was rationed and how is it they never needed to fill their tank in this trio of villages (that had neither a telephone nor a constable). I had to smile 3 pages later when Simon SPOILER ALERT went to fill his tank.

On the other hand, the plot was rather new and so fun to read. The characters are probably well-know to readers of the show more series. So, is there a romantic frisson crackling between Bess and Simon? I am intrigued by the mother and son team that comprise "Charles Todd." Geographic distance makes no barrier in this day; does gender? relationship? age? I would be great to have LT interview them. show less

I can never get enough of historical fiction, especially mysteries. I guess this was born from reading a bit of Agatha Christie, although hers are only “historical” because of how much time has passed since initial publication. Nowadays, whenever I want a reliable read, I don’t look much further than Charles Todd and his Ian Rutledge and Bess Crawford mysteries. Although it must be noted, Charles Todd is actually a mother and son writing team who work so well together, that determining who contributed what in any of their books is impossible.

An Unwilling Accomplice is one of the latest installments of the Bess Crawford mystery series. Set toward the end of World War I, this particular story finds Bess on a short leave looking show more forward to some much needed rest. However, she’s been requested to accompany a wounded soldier to Buckingham Palace where the man is to receive a medal.

The mystery begins subtly as she doesn't recognize the name and with her memory of wounds, she’s sure she would have remembered him. Regardless, she does her duty only to be repaid by the man up and disappearing. The next time she hears about him, he is suspected of committing murder and is on the run.

Bess is yet again caught up with intrigue during a tumultuous time in England which quickly mirrors itself in Bess’ life as she strives to right a wrong. This time the situation nearly causes her to lose her place in the nursing service, as well as the respect of her superiors she’s worked so hard to earn on her own, not as her father’s daughter.

The story is engaging and keeps your attention through every chapter. In the past, she’s received some help from her family, but this particular adventure is primarily her and Simon Brandon working to find the truth before their suspect kills again. Another difference is that most of the book is set in England while Bess is on leave, giving those familiar with the series a break from the war just like their heroine Bess.

At 352 pages, you won’t feel the need to skip along, because the story never drags. There is little predictability and the plot is complex enough but not over the top. Highly, highly recommended!

Fans of Maisie Dobbs and Maggie Hope will love Bess and once Todd has you hooked, you have to check out the Ian Rutledge mysteries. The first book in that series is called A Test of Wills. show less

If you have somehow never read one of Charles Todd's Bess Crawford series, you are missing out on a real treat. Bess is one of those heroines that I just immediately loved and rooted for even though occasionally wanting to scold her for taking risks.

She is a British nurse in World War I and she spends much of her time in France near the front lines. This is a military service in which the women are held to a higher standard of conduct than civilian women. They have a uniform and are subject to orders just like soldiers. Since it is early in the 20th century, women still lead restricted lives anyway, but the nurses represent England and as such need to remain above reproach. How Bess manages to solve murders in that sort of climate is show more largely due to her father's assistant Simon Brandon. Her father is apparently in military intelligence.

In this story Bess is assigned to accompany a wounded officer to Buckingham Palace where he is presented a medal by the king. She is responsible for him until an orderly picks him up at the hotel the next morning to return him to the rehabilitation hospital. She can't remain in his room overnight of course, but when she checks on him in the morning he has disappeared. Then she hears of a sighting of him at a bridge where a man is murdered. She is in big trouble; in fact she's in danger of being thrown out of the nursing service. Obviously this calls for an investigation and when Simon gets wind of it, he comes to help.

The story becomes more and more mysterious until it seems like they are following several soldiers on the run. I loved trying to work out the plot and wasn't disappointed at the end. Meanwhile, I learned about the care of wounded men in France and England, and how ordinary people lived in the countryside during that war.

One character in this book stands out. A man called Maddie cares for all the people in several villages in England. He seems a competent doctor but doesn't claim to be one and Bess is mystified by him. He lives alone very simply. What is his story?

I haven't read all the books in this series but I hope to eventually.

Highly recommended.
Source: HarperCollins show less

The Unwilling Accomplice ( A Bess Crawford Mystery)
By: Charles Todd Crime/Mystery
Harper Collins 2014 Pages. 366
Copy Courtesy of The Reading Room Advanced Copies
Reviewed by: tk

Bess Crawford is a nurse, in London during WW1 in 1918. She attends, and transports wounded soldiers from France to London. Bess receives a letter from the War Office in regards to a man that had been wounded, and in need of her services during his award ceremony at the Buckingham Palace. Seems easy enough. What Bess doesn’t know is that this wounded hero has a private agenda. Sergeant Jason Wilkins will involve Bess in a immense cat and mouse to keep her name in good standing, and to right the wrongs that have been done. With the help of Simon, her fathers show more personal servant, and long friend will embark on an extraordinary tale of murder, deceit, false identities, and mayhem.

This is the first book I have read by Charles Todd, and I did enjoy the read. His characters are superior, witty, and strong in nature. Bess seems to fall into trouble easily, and really doesn’t have the best of luck. Amazingly though she has a good friend that isn’t intimidated by her struggles, and will see it through until its conclusion. Simon seems to love and understand Bess very well. I really thought there would be more of a romance between them. Again, this is the first book I have read, so maybe that has happened, or will at some future point is unknown to me.

The story has a spectacular amount of twist and turns. I love the imaginative ways the author brought in additional details and characters. The one downfall of the book was the amount of back and forth travel of Simon and Beth. I feel the repetitive content took the flow out of the center of the story. I found the urge to skip forward very tempting. Overall an amazing read. 3.5/5 show less

First, try for me with this series and I will try again. Convoluted rather than intriguing, good characterization within a meager plot premise. Lots of wandering through the countryside; seeking clues leading to a fairly obvious conclusion followed by a "happy days" accounting of the military characters. The book did a good job of demonstrating, without preaching, both the political blunders and devastating casualties of the Great War.

This time Bess is asked to accompany a wounded soldier to receive his medal from the king for a brave act that almost got him killed. The man seemed to be pleasant enough, but even though he claimed Bess was one of the nurses who helped save him, she couldn’t place his face or his wound in her memory.

She does her duty, escorts the man and is with him in the presence of the king and brings him back to the hotel. After settling him in and promising not to bother him much because some of his friends were going to stop and visit she has a nice evening meal with Simon in the hotel restaurant. Against her better judgement she only checks on him twice before bed, under the impression the soldier was still close to an invalid and thus would show more be safe enough with minimal checks.

Her nice turn comes back to bite her. In the morning, she discovers her patient must have left in the night and hasn’t come back yet. She hopes his friends just got him a little too toasted and are late getting him back. It soon becomes apparent that he’s not coming back, nor has he been checked into any of the area hospitals. This leaves Bess in hot water. She lost a patient who a couple days later is wanted in connection to a murder, making Bess’s situation even worse.

Bess and Simon eventually team up and drive all over the English countryside looking for clues to her missing patient. A few clues lead them to a small village which might also have been mostly wishful thinking. However, there does seem to be some strange happenings and a couple strange men that have recently shown up and the community is tight lipped about them, muddying the waters for our duo. show less