A Question of Honor

by Charles Todd

Charles Todd is the pseudonym for an American mother and son team of writers.  Their WWI mysteries, based in England, are generally about Inspector Ian Rutledge.  However, a few years ago they started a series about a young nurse, who serves on the front lines, Bess Crawford.  This is the third Bess Crawford book I have read.  If I remember correctly I thought the first two were okay, but I prefer the Rutledge books.  I have read several of the Rutledge series and enjoyed them all.

I have to say that I enjoyed this book, it was a nice escape from all the heavy stuff I have been reading lately
The story starts in India where Bess's father, a Colonel is told that one of his officers is accused of five murders, three in England, and his parents stationed in India.  Before her father can arrest him the young man runs away.  They assume he has died in Afghanista.

However, 10 years later a wounded India soldier tells her that Lt. Wade is still alive.  She is skeptical at first but then sees a soldier she thinks is Wade while retrieving a wounded man from the trenches.  She doesn't want to tell her father about this in case she is incorrect.  She enlists a young man, who works with her father, to help her to investigate the murders and the murdered family in England.  They are not welcomed warmly in the village.  They do find out that the family that was murdered had been fostering "war children", children whose parents were in India, and they hear rumours that the children were not treated well.  Could that be a clue as to why they were murdered?

She eventually encounters Wade, who is now using another name, in an army hospital.  He recognizes her and fears she will turn him in so he tries to run away, but he is too injured to get far.  She tells him she will keep his secret.  However, while she doesn't think he committed the murders she can't be certain.  She and her friend find a picture of children who were staying at the houe and visit a photographer to see if he can remember the names of the children in the picture.  He doesn't know much more than they do.  The man and his daughter are killed when their studio is set on fire, shortly after Bess's visit.  Wade was not in England at the time so he could not have done it.

They eventually do find out who the guilty party is.

The story is interesting for both the plot and for the authenticity of the story.  The descriptions provided about life in England and for the soldiers in WWII are very detailed and provides a lot of interesting background for the story.  There is an element of "class" structure in the story, but it isn't boring and doesn't overwhelm like the Elizabeth George stories.