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Though the Great War is nearing its end, the fighting still rages on. Waiting for her transport north, nurse Bess Crawford meets Captain Alan Travis, an Englishman whose branch of the Travis family made its fortune on the Caribbean island of Barbados. Then, at the beginning of November, Captain Travis is brought into Bess’s forward aid station disoriented from a head wound. He insists that the man who shot him was an English officer—a distant cousin named James Travis—and asks for Bess’s help finding him. Her inquiries in the captain’s sector about James lead nowhere. Days later, the captain is severely wounded, and again he accuses James of shooting him. But Bess has been told that James couldn’t possibly have shot his cousin, which brings Alan Travis’s sanity into question.
As the war comes to a bloody end, Bess is given leave, and in an English clinic for brain injuries, she discovers a suicidal Captain Travis strapped to his bed. Horrified by his condition, she and Sergeant-Major Simon Brandon travel to James Travis’s home in Suffolk to learn more about the baffling relationship between these two cousins. Her search for the truth about Alan Travis will lead Bess into unexpected danger—and bring her face-to-face with the visible and invisible wounds of war that not even the much-longed-for peace can heal.
About the author
Charles Todd is the New York Times bestselling author of the Inspector Ian Rutledge mysteries, the Bess Crawford mysteries, and two stand-alone novels. A mother-and-son writing team, Caroline passed away in August 2021 and Charles lives in Florida.
Summary
From New York Times bestselling author Charles Todd comes a haunting tale that explores the impact of World War I on all who witnessed it—officers, soldiers, doctors, and battlefield nurses like Bess Crawford.
Though the Great War is nearing its end, the fighting rages on. While waiting for transport back to her post, Bess Crawford meets Captain Alan Travis from the island of Barbados. Later, when he’s brought into her forward aid station disoriented from a head wound, Bess is alarmed that he believes his distant English cousin, Lieutenant James Travis, shot him. Then the Captain is brought back to the aid station with a more severe wound, once more angrily denouncing the Lieutenant as a killer. But when it appears that James Travis couldn’t have shot him, the Captain’s sanity is questioned. Still, Bess wonders how such an experienced officer could be so wrong.
On leave in England, Bess finds the Captain strapped to his bed in a clinic for brain injuries. Horrified by his condition, Bess and Sergeant Major Simon Brandon travel to James Travis’s home in Suffolk, to learn more about the baffling relationship between these two cousins.
Her search will lead this smart, capable, and compassionate young woman into unexpected danger, and bring her face to face with the visible and invisible wounds of war that not even the much-longed for peace can heal.
Additional text
“A superb whodunit—just when you think you have it figured out, Todd throws a curve—and a moving evocation of a world at war.”
