A Cruel Deception audiobook

Consistent. That’s the word for the Bess Crawford mysteries. And that’s generally a good thing. The characters are always beautifully drawn, and the story is always well crafted. The storylines are always unique, and the descriptions really draw the reader into the story. A Cruel Deception is no exception to the caliber of this finely developed series, although it moves more slowly than some installments, and the authors rely on a lot of backstory, even early on.The only aspect of the series that suffers from consistency is Bess’ love life. Although I’m not a reader of romance, the authors need to unite Bess and Simon. As much as I enjoy this series, I’m tired of feeling strung along. Bess is beginning to look stunted and emotionally immature (surely they're not going to bring out the PTSD next to explain her reticence), and Simon is looking weak, while his absence from the last two books is unrealistic for a man of his strength and discipline. After the war(s), people didn't dilly-dally in affairs of the heart; they knew how fleeting life could be. These characters would certainly be aware of the precious gift of having survived, and they're too authentic and know themselves too well for the authors to saddle them with ongoing indecision. It's just unrealistic.Recommended, but this is a series that needs to be read generally in order.

This excellent series continues with nursing sister Bess Crawford in 1918, just after the Armistice, determining what path she should follow after years of war service. Her London hospital matron steps in with a personal request of Bess - find and help her soldier son, apparently missing from his work with the peace talks in Paris. This is another beautifully rendered story about the lingering effects of war, both physical and mental, and the conflict of social change that inevitably occurs, Aside from the trouble at hand - finding and restoring the missing, troubled young soldier, suffering from PTSD and addiction - fans will also discover tantalizing bits of Bess's personal dilemmas and relationships. One of the best WWI series.

Is this really only the 11th Bess Crawford? Well, I have enjoyed them all. This one Bess is quite alone and experiences some harrowing challenges as she complies with order from her superior to find and care for a missing son in Paris. I don't care to ruin the story for others and my eyes are callin

It is hard to believe this is the 11th installment of the Bess Crawford series, it seems like yesterday that I was reading about the ship Bess was returning to England had been hit and was sinking. The series continues to be outstanding and this one is no different. The war is over and Bess accepts an personal assignment from the Matron of the London office of Queen Alexandra to return to Paris and check on her son and report back to the Matron. At Bess arrival in Paris Bess found the affairs of the Matron's son are different than what's his Mother believes. The twists and turns the story takes will hold your attention as Bess becomes involve in the young man's life. Bess is starting to wonder about her future where is Simon and her home in England. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK AND SERIES.Disclosure: Thanks to Harper/Colons Publishers for a copy through Edelweiss. The opinions expressed are my own.

After working with the severely wounded men during the war Sister Bess Crawford wondered what was her next assignment. She was contacted by a mother whose son Lawrence Minton was missing.Through her sources Bess finds more about Minton, the soldier and what he saw to make him fearful.After a perpetrator breaks into the house where Minton is recuperating Bess shoots him, only to incapacitate him , so he can be arrested by the authorities.An interesting book, the eleventh in the series.I want to thank Wm.Morrow publishing for sending me this book.

It's hard to believe that we are already discussing the eleventh novel in the terrific Bess Crawford series. It seems like I was just diving into the first novel featuring the WWI battlefield Nurse from England and feeling like it was just a temporary respite from the well-seasoned, award-winning Ian Rutledge series. Yes, the mother and son team that writes under the name of Charles Todd knew a good thing was happening when they penned their first Bess Crawford mystery and we're so lucky that it wasn't just a brief departure from their regular series.The major difference between this latest release, A CRUEL DECEPTION, and the prior ten Bess Crawford novels is that this one takes place after WWI had completely ended. However, as we know it is often the case, when a war has ended for the combatants it somehow never ends for those who were involved in the fighting of it. It begins in late March of 1919 and the war has not yet ended for Bess as she is still caring for wounded now back home in England.One day, Bess's Matron calls on her and begins to ask her if she has thought about her future, or even what she planned to do with herself once the injured from the war have all been tended to. Matron advises her that she has selected Bess for a special, independent assignment that required someone professional and discreet. With that, Bess was sent to meet with another Matron, this one being the Chief of Nursing. She asks Bess if she would travel to Paris and look in on her son. He had been fighting with the British troops during the war and was wounded. She wants Bess to determine if he has recovered from his wounds and that he was doing alright.Bess heads to Paris with little to go on other than the Matron's son's address and his name. She is not the least bit fooled into recognizing that something much deeper was at play with this situation. Bess wanted to confer with her father, a Colonel with the British army, about this situation be he was also tied up with some post-war business. Bess arrives in Paris and looks up the soldier she was sent to find, one Lawrence Minton. She initially finds out that he is not living at the address she was provided and had not been there for some time. The lady running that housing establishment indicates that he may be found in a town outside of Paris, where he was supposed to be attending a Peace Conference, called St. Ives.When Bess arrives in St. Ives it does not take much asking around before she comes to the home of young woman named Marina in a neighborhood that is a far cry from Paris. Marina takes some coaxing before letting Bess in. Immediately upon entering this home Bess makes a quick assessment of the situation. Lieutenant Minton is not battling any physical wounds any longer. What he is dealing with is addiction to rather pricey pain medication that he has quickly become addicted to. It turns out Marina is not Minton's mistress nor is she the one providing him with the laudanum and other medications his body and mind now requires. Lawrence Minton had once saved Marina's father and their family was ever in his debt. Neither Marina's family or Minton's mother, the Matron, were aware of his current condition and Bess has to deal immediately with the dilemma of what if anything she will report back to the Matron.Minton has been quite moody and at times intolerable to be around. He barely allows Bess any opportunity to assess his physical or mental needs and hides himself away the majority of the time. Bess has gotten to know Marina quite well as she takes up a room in the home and pitches in with financial assistance that is much needed, especially since most of what was worthwhile in Marina's home had been used to pay for his habit. One day, while returning from a shopping trip, Bess finds Marina dealing with a bad burn on her arm that she got from the stove while cooking. As Bess is trying to treat her burn she learns from Marina that Lawrence Minton was gone.Not knowing what to do, and realizing that Minton was in no shape to go far or take care of himself, Bess heads back to Paris to begin looking for him in one of the many hospitals in the area. She keeps to herself that fact that Minton left a note which could be interpreted as a farewell letter alluding to the fact that he might be looking to end his life. While in Paris, she befriends an American flyer named Captain Jackson. Jackson is extremely friendly and at once becomes protective of Bess, especially as her search for Minton takes her to some seedy parts of Paris. The war and the current Peace Conference finds Paris teeming with life and much of it are undesirable, predatory types that Bess would not know how to deal with. She confesses that where she comes from she sees more cattle and Navajo sheep than she does people and this really makes her vulnerable.Bess does find Minton in a particularly downtrodden Parisian hospital and he is barely alive. He was brought in by a local Priest who found Minton after he was nearly beaten to death. Bess believes he was beaten by something hard, like metal or wood, and not just bare hands --- leading her to further surmise that whoever did this to him was after him personally as some type of revenge. The mystery now is what did Minton do and who had he wronged so badly that they would want him dead?The answers to these questions will take Bess way out of her comfort zone. Even though she gets Minton taken by ambulance to his private physician, he still is not willing to talk about what happened as he clings to life. His doctor even utilizes hypnosis to try to get any answers that Minton may be hiding deep down inside of himself. Bess now finds herself knee-deep in a deadly situation that she is completely unprepared for as she finds the real world post-war can be just as deadly as the war itself. I wondered how Charles Todd was going to handle this series now that WWI had ended and their protagonist was a Field Nurse. Even though Charles Todd may have been done with WWI, WWI was not done with them. A CRUEL DECEPTION shows that there are still plenty of stories left for Bess Crawford and I cannot wait to see what happens next for her.Reviewed by Ray Palen

The greatest strength of the Bess Crawford books is the meticulous adherence to the details and the spirit of time and place. I enjoyed following along as Bess searched for an answer to the miasma surrounding her Matron's son. I did want more of Bess and her own personal story. Looking forward to the next installment.

An intriguing read, with one last twist at the end (NOT a cliffhanger, just a surprise revelation) that has me anxiously awaiting the next installment in the series. It looks like the post WW I years may prove just as challenging to Bess Crawford as the war itself.

4.5 Stars rounded up to 5 Stars. I just couldn't give it a full 5 Stars because I am so bored with the Simon and Bess scenario of constantly hinting of their relationship turning romantic. Their romance would probably be as thrilling as watching paint dry.

Bess Crawford is sent to Paris by Matron to find her son, Lawrence, and report back to her regarding his whereabouts and condition. As a wounded army captain, he had volunteered to take part in the peace talks but is now missing. Bess takes on the challenge and finds him staying with a friend, a young woman whose family he had helped during the war. But he is suffering from a severe laudanum addiction and makes it clear that he resents both Bess' and his mother's interference. Bess decides not to report back but to stay and try to help despite his disinterest in any aid she can give. She begins to realize that there is more happening than just an addiction especially after a murder attempt is made on him. Not only that but she keeps running into the same man when she is out and, although he seems friendly, she suspects that the danger is spreading and Lawrence isn't the only one being threatened.I've been a fan of Charles Todd's Ian Rutledge series for a while but A Cruel Deception is the first of their Bess Crawford mysteries I have read. Like the other series, this is set in WWI era and it is just as engrossing. Bess is a nurse who had worked on the frontlines and makes for a very strong protagonist. Also like the Ian Rutledge series, it is more about the investigation than the action which is limited and tends to take place off the page. I did feel the villain seemed a bit contrived but, overall, I quite enjoyed this book and wouldn't hesitate to read others in the series.Thanks to Edelweiss+ and William Morrow for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

Bess, er, Sister Crawford, is at it again: back to Paris as a personal favor to Matron, who is concerned about her son. Attached to the peace delegation, because he asked to serve, she fears he may be ill, in danger, or possibly addicted to opiates. Bess, ever the sole of discretion, is off, although she does happen to encounter her father on the ferry over.Matron was right to be concerned: her son is addicted to laudanum, and is haunted by recently jarred memories from a terrible incident in 1914. As Bess works to help Lawrence, and uncover the mystery of what happened, she endangers herself, with a near push into the Seine. As capable, calm and methodical as Bess is, she also has a few allies up her sleeve: her father, the Colonel Sahib for counsel; Major Webb, a silent but not-s0-stealth protector prompted by both the Colonel and Captain Barkley; and Lieutenant Jackson, an amiable American who is present in part because of Simon.Bess solves the mystery, uses her weapons skills and her nursing skills to good effect, but still has not the biggest question: what will she do, now that the war is over? For that, we must wait for the next installment.

A new Bess Crawford mystery is a delight. In "Cruel Deception,” Bess is struggling with her changing role as the war is ending and nursing sisters are returning to civilian life. Her renowned investigative skills are called into action by her superior Matron, who sends Bess on an unorthodox mission to find a soldier missing from the peace talks taking place in Paris. What looks at first like a simple case of AWOL turns into something more complex.I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I love Bess Crawford! She is curious, cool, calm, and collected under pressure. She is the very woman that I would want to help me if I were in need, and Lawrence Minton needs her whether he knows it or not. Mystery, suspense, and a man suffering with PTSD make this an exciting book. I really love this series because the war and the time afterwards are the setting, but there aren't graphic details since that is not what he focus of this series is about.