A Cruel Deception
3 Stars

Bess is asked by Matron Minton to look into the disappearance of her son serving with the British peace delegation in Paris in the aftermath of WW1.

Unfortunately, this latest installment in the Bess Crawford mysteries simply did not resonate. The mystery surrounding Lawrence Minton's disappearance fails to fulfill its potential mainly due to the fact that Lawrence is a selfish, self-absorbed and ungrateful man and it is exceedingly difficult to sympathize with his plight.

Another problematic element is the pacing of the narrative, which plods along as Bess attempts to uncover the reasons for Lawrence's PTSD. Alongside the actual clues (which are few and far between), there is an excessive amount of internal musings about the countryside, the post-war shortages and the people Bess encounters.

The explanation for the attacks on Lawrence is disappointing as the culprit isn't actually a character in the story until the last couple of chapters, and the motive is rather far-fetched.

Finally, the authors really need to get a move on with Bess's love life. It is obvious to everyone (except perhaps Bess and maybe Simon) that the two are meant for each other. Simon's absence from this installment was keenly felt.

The next installment has yet to be announced, but I look forward to listening to the excellent Rosalyn Landor when it is published. ( )

"As always, Todd's intense feelings for the traumatized survivors of war make one mother's son the broken hero of an entire generation of lost souls." — The New York Times Book Review

In the aftermath of World War I, English nurse Bess Crawford attempts to save a troubled officer from a mysterious killer in this eleventh book in the acclaimed Bess Crawford mystery series.
The Armistice of November 1918 ended the fighting, but the Great War will not be over until a Peace Treaty is drawn up and signed by all parties involved. Representatives from the Allies are gathering in Paris, and already ominous signs of disagreement have appeared.
Sister Bess Crawford, who has been working with the severely wounded in England in the war's wake, is asked to carry out a personal mission in Paris for a Matron at the London headquarters of The Queen...

Many readers may have expected Charles Todd's Bess Crawford series to end when World War I ended, but this writing team has continued Bess's adventures in order to create a portrait that illuminates the cost of war on human lives—the lingering pain and horror that no armistice or peace treaty can assuage. Bess has continued her nursing, working with severely wounded soldiers, but in A Cruel Deception, she finds herself thinking about what else she might want to do with her life. She also finds herself thinking about Simon Brandon who seems to be on holiday in Scotland-- and a mysterious woman might be involved. I imagine that I'm not the only fan of this series who's wanted Bess to start thinking more seriously about Simon. Who knows? We may be getting our wish.

Another thing that Charles Todd deals with so well in this series is how Bess has gotten used to living her own life and making her own decisions without deferring to her family. This is something many women in this time period found themselves doing for the first time, and they liked it.

This series often deals with various issues wounded soldiers had to face, and in A Cruel Deception, it's the anguish of mental trauma, that most difficult affliction for most people to understand or to even begin to deal with. Here, what we now call PTSD is treated with sensitivity and understanding as Bess tries to find out why someone is attacking both Minton and herself, as well as learning what happened to Minton that makes him want to destroy himself. It's another tale well told, and I'm looking forward to the next time I meet Bess. ( )

Have no fear, although the war is over, Bess Crawford is still a member of Queen Alexandra's nursing corps and still solving mysteries. In this entry in the series, she is asked to locate the Matron's missing son in Paris. (Matron is the head of the nursing corps.) She finds that he has undergone a personality change seemingly overnight. Finding the reason for his troubles and the person behind it all takes a lot of detective work, assisted by a doctor friend of the young man's family and culminating in a frightening scene where Bess must use all her skills to save herself and her charge. Recommended.

Most of the time I enjoy reading mysteries by the mother/son team of Charles Todd, but this time, the writing hedged on dreariness. Maybe the prior two mysteries I have read displayed better writing and story-telling that this novel shrunk in comparison. WWI has ended and Bess has been given the duty to find Matron’s son in Paris and relay information concerning him to his mother. Bess finds Lieutenant Lawrence Minton addicted to opiates and suffering from guilt-ridden nightmares. Lawrence escapes from Bess’s care, only to suffer a brutal beating at the hands of a mysterious man. Bess bravely faces many hazards in her quest to find and assist Lawrence and this journey drones on and on for too long. Of course, the reader knows that Bess will prevail in her duties and will seek Simon. ( )