{"id":10057,"date":"2018-03-20T11:31:06","date_gmt":"2018-03-20T15:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=10057"},"modified":"2022-11-07T19:00:31","modified_gmt":"2022-11-08T00:00:31","slug":"a-pattern-of-lies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/10057","title":{"rendered":"A Pattern of Lies"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Pattern of Lies<\/a><\/em> (2015) Charles Todd<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Set in Europe in Autumn 1918<\/p>\n

It’s time to take a break from this series. Reading one after the other is making me notice the weaknesses rather than the strengths.<\/p>\n

It’s unfortunately, because I thought the bits about the mill were very interesting.<\/p>\n

(A) mill had to be located near water, because water was needed in the manufacture as well as to transport the gunpowder to the scattered factories where shell and cartridge casings would be filled with it. No one wanted to see wagons of gunpowder on the rutted and wretched roads.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Potassium nitrate\u2014 saltpeter\u2014 made a better gunpowder than sodium nitrate. And alder trees made the best charcoal for the formula. That was something else I\u2019d heard. But for some time now gunpowder works all across Britain had begun to produce cordite instead of traditional black power, and that was a much more complicated recipe. With far more chances for something to go badly wrong.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Bess Crawford runs into Major Mark Ashton, an officer she had previously nursed, while returning to England with a group of wounded. When he discovers her train to London has been delayed, he invites her to stay with his family, as she’d met while nursing Mark.<\/p>\n

I probably should have stopped at the previous book, and picked this one up in a month or two, because there were plenty of interesting bits I enjoyed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had trouble with my hearing. It\u2019s coming back now, but when the tunnel went up nearly beneath our feet, I wouldn\u2019t have heard an artillery barrage. I was luckier than some of the lads. The shock wave killed them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019d seen cavalry give way to trenches, aircraft learning to pursue the enemy or strafe the lines or, when the chance arose, fighting each other high above the battlefield. I\u2019d watched tanks grow from clumsy beasts that killed more men than they preserved to useful battlefield weapons.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, I’m done with this series for now, and hopefully when I pick up the next book in a month or two it’ll have been enough time for the minor annoyances to pass.
\nRating: 5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Publisher: William Morrow<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Pattern of Lies (2015) Charles Todd Set in Europe in Autumn 1918 It’s time to take a break from this series. Reading one after the other is making me notice the weaknesses rather than the strengths. It’s unfortunately, because I thought the bits about the mill were very interesting. (A) mill had to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[30,48,33,8],"tags":[124,123,629,45],"class_list":["post-10057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-british","category-female","category-historical","category-mystery","tag-bess-crawford","tag-charles-todd","tag-roaring-20s","tag-wwi"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-2Cd","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13775,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13775","url_meta":{"origin":10057,"position":0},"title":"A Pattern of Lies","author":"Michelle","date":"December 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"A Pattern of Lies (2015) Charles Todd (Bess Crawford) Set in England and France in 1918. Stuck in Canterbury waiting for a transport train to take her to London, Bess meets a soldier she had helped nurse back to health. Invited to spend the night with his family when the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pattern of Lies","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Pattern-of-Lies.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12140,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/12140","url_meta":{"origin":10057,"position":1},"title":"Gunpowder Alchemy","author":"Michelle","date":"October 6, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Gunpowder Alchemy (2014) Jeannie Lin Set in China in 1850 It has taken me a really long time to read this; it's been my lunch-time reading book, but I don't always read at lunch, and after lunch I walk and listen to either an audiobook or podcasts. 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How he really come down the chimney to leave gifts? And if he does, can he be caught? Unfortunately, the de Luce household is in an even greater uproar than normal,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"I-Am-Half-Sick-of-Shadows","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/I-Am-Half-Sick-of-Shadows.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11680,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11680","url_meta":{"origin":10057,"position":5},"title":"Recipe For Treason","author":"Michelle","date":"February 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Recipe For Treason (2014) Andrea Penrose Set in ~1814 The first two books in this series were fine. This one, however, irritated me. Let's start with first thing to drive me to a snarky comment, 5% into the story. 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