An Impartial Witness: A Bess Crawford Mystery by Charles Todd

               Well, I did it again.  Except this time I didn’t stay up late reading.  Instead I told myself I would read for only one hour during the day and then I would do my other work.  What I ended up doing was turn the one hour of reading time into three.  Actually, it was more like three and a half.  No matter how hard I try, I can never seem to walk away from a Bess Crawford mystery, and I’ve only read the first two books in the series.  I’m wondering if maybe I should get all the books in the series from the library at the same time, put everything else to the side, and read until I’ve finished the series as it currently stands.  This could work because then I wouldn’t feel so bad reading instead of doing what I’m supposed to, but I would hate to run through the books that quickly.  I think it would be best for me to keep reading one at a time and then get the next when I’m finished.  This means I will have to be better at pulling myself away when I have to.  Somehow I don’t think that will happen.             

                An Impartial Witness is the second book in the Bess Crawford mystery series.  This time World War I nurse Bess Crawford finds herself as the only person with information involving a murdered woman.  While at a train station, Bess recognizes a woman as the wife of one of her wounded soldiers.  Pilot Lieutenant Meriwether Evanson is severely burned and the only thing keeping him alive is the photo of his wife, Marjorie.  Bess knows the photo well and when she sees Marjorie at the train station she knows exactly who the woman is.  Unfortunately Marjorie is not at the station alone.  She is with an unknown man and is greatly upset.  It looks like she is saying good-bye to her lover.

                When Marjorie leaves the station, Bess tries to follow her, but Bess quickly loses her in the crowd.  It isn’t until weeks later that Bess finds out she may be the last person to have knowingly seen Marjorie alive.

                While serving in France, Bess finds in a newspaper the request for any information about Marjorie and the day she was killed.  Bess writes to Scotland Yard to tell her story about what she saw at the station.  Thinking she is done with the situation, Bess continues on with her military duty until Scotland Yard requests her presence.  Now Bess’s involvement in the case truly begins.   

                At first all Bess is asked to do is tell her story again and help Scotland Yard figure out who the mystery man with Marjorie may be.  They show Bess pictures, but none of them are the man she saw.  Then another soldier turns up dead.  Scotland Yard says it’s suicide, but Bess isn’t so sure.  Something about both deaths does not feel right.  Things become even stranger when Bess meets Serena, Lt. Evanson’s sister.  Serena is determined to figure out who the mystery man is herself.  Her brother killed himself after finding out about Marjorie and Serena wants answers, especially since Marjorie was pregnant when she died, and it was not with Lt. Evanson’s baby.                         

                With all of her military duties, Bess does make an effort to stay out of the case, but she is too determined to find out the truth to do that for long.  Soon Bess finds herself trying to save a man’s life.  His name is Michael Hart and he is a wounded soldier who has been in love with Marjorie for years.  Scotland Yard believes he is guilty of Marjorie’s murder, but Bess doesn’t believe this is true, and she’s going to risk her life to prove it. 

                Once again there were a lot of characters and locations to keep straight.  I have never been to England, although I would absolutely love to, so I did not always understand how Bess got to so many places in one day.  She was always traveling to a different city to find out information about Marjorie.  It seemed as though sometimes she went to three in one day.  How she did all this, I don’t know, but it is what Bess needed to do in order to learn as much as she could about Marjorie.

                Some of the characters Bess meets along the way are not too pleasant.  Marjorie’s sister Victoria is probably not someone I would want to associate with all that often, if ever.  Michael’s uncle and aunt, however, seem like really good people.  They care greatly for their nephew and help in any way they can to make sure everything turns out all right.  Michael isn’t too bad either, once he gets over trying to be charming.  He does get a little dark at times, but what can one expect from a man whose love has been murdered? 

              Then there is Simon. My dear Sergeant-Major Simon Brandon. Bess’ father’s right-hand man, Simon is in this book a lot more than he is in the first. Once again he is always there when Bess needs him. This time, however, I see some signs of romance happening between the two. I don’t know if either one has fully realized what is going on, but if Simon does have feelings for Bess he should probably say something soon. Men really like Bess and I can’t imagine it will be too much longer before one of these men catch her eye. Although, I have a feeling I know who Bess’s eye is really on, but I don’t know if she knows it herself quite yet.