A Question of Honor: A Bess Crawford Mystery by Charles Todd

                There has been zero romantic development between Bess and Simon.  This is very frustrating.  With nothing more to say about that, I will leave the conversation here.   

                Before Bess Crawford became a World War I nurse, she spent her childhood in India.  Her father was running his regiment and he and his wife decided to keep Bess with them instead of sending her back to England for education.  The Crawfords were happy with their decision and became even more so when they heard about the death of young Alice Standish.  She and her older sister were living with a couple in England when she died of typhoid.  There was not time to notify Lieutenant and Mrs. Standish about the illness before Alice died and they were not able to be by her side.

                Devastated, Mrs. Standish is determined to return to England to care for her elder daughter who also has typhoid, but a milder case.  Lt. Standish isn’t able to receive leave, so Colonel and Mrs. Crawford arrange for Lieutenant Thomas Wade to escort Mrs. Standish in her husband’s place.  Lt. Wade is happy to do this.  He makes sure Mrs. Standish arrives safely and spends time with Alice’s caretakers before leaving Mrs. Standish with them.  The entire trip seems to have gone smoothly except for the fact that Mrs. Standish has decided to stay in England to be with her daughter.  This, however, was expected and life goes about as usual.

                Then the military police arrive looking for Lt. Wade.  His parents have been found murdered and they believe Lt. Wade is the one who murdered them.  Before returning from leave, Lt. Wade took some time to visit his parents.  The morning he left their home to come back to the regiment, they were found dead.  On top of this, there was also a family that was murdered back in England.  It was in a house where Lt. Wade was seen to have been walking around.  With Lt. Wade possibly involved in five murders, the police want to talk to him immediately, but Lt. Wade cannot be found.  He learned about the police and decided to make a run for it.  After several days of searching, Lt. Wade is declared dead.  He has not been found, but the only means of escape is through a rough terrain that nobody survives.  It is too dangerous to even search for his body.  With nowhere else to look, Lt. Wade is presumed dead and guilty.

                Years later, while Bess is serving in France, she helps a Subedar, an Indian Sergeant, who says he saw Lt. Wade just one hour ago.  Before she can get any more information, the man dies.  Not sure what to do, Bess reaches out to family friend Sergeant-Major Simon Brandon.  She knows the mention of Lt. Wade would bring up painful memories for both her father and mother making Simon the best person to contact.  At first all Bess has to tell Simon is what the Subedar told her, but then she sees Lt. Wade for herself and the investigation really begins.

                Simon agrees to help Bess secretly figure out what is going on.  Neither one wants to upset her parents by bringing up a difficult time in their past.  Instead of telling Colonel and Mrs. Crawford what they are doing, Simon and Bess quietly go on day trips while she is on leave in order to dig up clues.  It does not take long for everything to lead back to the English house where Lt. Wade is suspected of murdering an entire family.  Mr. and Mrs. Caswell, as well as their adult daughter, were all shot and killed in their home.  From what Bess and Simon learn, it seems like the Caswells never saw it coming.  It is also unclear as to why Lt. Wade would want this family dead.  Bess and Simon know they have to look further into this family to figure out why they were murdered.  When they do, they discover a dark past and a long list of suspects who would have been happy to see this family in their graves. 

                     What I liked about this book that the others didn’t do is that everyone in the Crawford family eventually became involved in the case.  Not only did Bess and Simon run around investigating, but so did Colonel and Mrs. Crawford.  This is the first time the reader ever really got to see Bess’ parents in action.  They were usually in the background.  Having them be part of the investigation was an enjoyable element to this story. 

                     As the series is currently written, there is only one more book left for me to read. After that, I’m not sure what is going to happen. It is already the summer of 1918 and there isn’t much war left. The series could end or it may continue with Bess’ life afterwards. I’m not quite sure what I want to happen. Maybe once I read the sixth book I’ll figure it out.