{"id":9716,"date":"2018-02-24T08:46:30","date_gmt":"2018-02-24T13:46:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=9716"},"modified":"2022-11-07T19:00:32","modified_gmt":"2022-11-08T00:00:32","slug":"a-duty-to-the-dead-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9716","title":{"rendered":"A Duty to the Dead"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Duty to the Dead<\/a><\/em> (2009) Charles Todd<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Set in Europe in 1916<\/p>\n

Bess Crawford is a nursing sister on the HMHS Britannic<\/em> when its sunk by the Germans. She’s sent him to recuperate, and also to deliver a message given to her by a dying soldier.<\/p>\n

The mystery here is good, but what I enjoyed most about this story is the setting–Europe during the Great War.<\/p>\n

Barbara was older than most of us, an experienced nursing sister before the war had begun in 1914. She had told me once that her family had been horrified when she decided to train as a nurse. Now, with the war on, it was socially acceptable to tend the wounded. But not then, not a woman of her class, not in 1905.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From across the room Ted Booker stared at him, unaware who the doctor was. I could see the blankness in his eyes. <\/p>\n

Ignoring us, he went on talking to invisible companions, men he could see clearly and appeared to know well. He was arguing, vehement and insistent and profane. It appeared that a sniper had already killed three of his men, and he was on the field telephone, asking someone to do something about it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI call it madness, to sit in a dark room and talk to the dead and threaten to use that shotgun. I tried taking it away once, but he came raging over to my house and demanded it back. And I was afraid to say no.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes time.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it doesn\u2019t. He needs to brace up, like a man, and say good-bye to his brother and remember he\u2019s still alive, with a family looking to him for love.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It was a very enjoyable re-read.
\nRating: 7.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

A Duty to the Dead (2009) Charles Todd Set in Europe in 1916 Bess Crawford is a nursing sister on the HMHS Britannic when its sunk by the Germans. She’s sent him to recuperate, and also to deliver a message given to her by a dying soldier. The mystery here is good, but what I […]<\/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":[194,30,48,33,8,41],"tags":[124,123,629,45],"class_list":["post-9716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7-5-10","category-british","category-female","category-historical","category-mystery","category-reread","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-2wI","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9718,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9718","url_meta":{"origin":9716,"position":0},"title":"An Impartial Witness","author":"Michelle","date":"February 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"An Impartial Witness (2010) Charles Todd Set in Europe in 1917. Nursing sister Bess Crawford has just escorted a group of wounded soldiers back to London, including a terribly burned pilot whose picture of his wife was what he turned to through his excruciating first days. When that woman's murdered\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":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Impartial-Witness-e1511018288905.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13771,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13771","url_meta":{"origin":9716,"position":1},"title":"Tales: Short Stories Featuring Ian Rutledge and Bess Crawford","author":"Michelle","date":"December 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Tales: Short Stories Featuring Ian Rutledge and Bess Crawford (2015) Charles Todd This collection is four short stories with Bess Crawford and Ian Rutledge. \"The Kidnapping\" \"The Girl on the Beach\" \"Cold Comfort\" \"The Maharani's Pearls\" \"The Kidnapping\" - Ian Rutledge, London 1920 I actually have a copy of this\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":"Tales Short Stories Featuring Ian Rutledge and Bess Crawford","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Tales-Short-Stories-Featuring-Ian-Rutledge-and-Bess-Crawford.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3407,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3407","url_meta":{"origin":9716,"position":2},"title":"A Duty to the Dead","author":"Michelle","date":"January 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Duty-Dead.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10054,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/10054","url_meta":{"origin":9716,"position":3},"title":"An Unwilling Accomplice","author":"Michelle","date":"March 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"An Unwilling Accomplice (2014) Charles Todd Set in Europe in Autumn 1818. I may need to step away from this series for a little bit, or at least read something in between books, because I'm beginning to wonder just how much murder a nursing sister in the Great War can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/An-Unwilling-Accomplice.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3435,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3435","url_meta":{"origin":9716,"position":4},"title":"A Bitter Truth","author":"Michelle","date":"January 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"A Bitter Truth (2011) Charles Todd In the third Bess Crawford mystery, Bess has returned home for Christmas leave, but before she makes it to her parent's home, she discovers a young woman huddled in her doorway. Taking pity on her, she ends up returning home with the woman, to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Bitter-Truth.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3467,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3467","url_meta":{"origin":9716,"position":5},"title":"An Unmarked Grave","author":"Michelle","date":"January 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"An Unmarked Grave (2012) Charles Todd The fourth Bess Crawford mystery finds the Spanish Influenza doing more damage to the soldiers fighting--and the civilians at home--than the Great War itself was doing. I've been morbidly fascinated by this flu since I learned about it. It was truly a horrible disease,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Unmarked-Grave.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9716\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}