A Duty to the Dead

A Duty to the Dead (2009) Charles Todd

Bess Crawford is serving as a nurse in the Great War. The hospital ship on which she was serving was sunk, and although she survives, a badly broken arm sends her back to London to recuperate.

A promise made to a soldier who died from his wounds while she was caring for him sends her to the man’s family, to deliver a cryptic message that makes little sense to her–and seems to lead to no action on the art of the man to whom she delivered the message.

I haven’t read many books set in the era of the Great War, so I very much enjoyed the history of this tale. And I liked Bess as well–her ideas and her experiences seemed to make the actions of the women who served during that war come to life.

I was also fascinated by the look at shell shock, as it was called then. The men who fought in WWI saw a great many horrible things, and lived in almost unimaginable conditions–that more men didn’t break under those conditions still amazes me.

I did have one issue, however, and that was the reaction that Bess had to the man who threatened her. Perhaps she didn’t truly believe he would do her harm, but I have a hard time believing she would have so blithely gone about trying to solve a mystery and trusting him as she did.

I could have believed her helping without the threats, but after the threats? It wasn’t a deal breaker for the story, but it threw me out of the story several times, as I wondered whether someone would really react as she was.

Aside from that issue, I enjoyed the story and am looking forward to the next book.
Rating: 7/10

Published by HarperCollins

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