Sunday, May 06, 2012

A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd

I had planned on reading this book earlier on my iPad for a read along with Book Club Girl.  I THOUGHT that I had downloaded the book before we left on our trip to Tennessee (it was on sale for $1.99).  But when I tried to read it, I learned that I had only downloaded the preview, not the book.  And of course, by then, the sale on the eBook was over.  So I requested the book through inter-library loan, and just finished it yesterday (and now the read along is over, so I didn't participate after all).  I enjoyed it much more than I expected - I don't usually read mysteries, although I grew up reading Nancy Drew mysteries (didn't all girls?).  It's the first in a series, so I may just have to read more.


Bess Crawford is a nurse serving on a hospital ship during WWI.  She gets close to a dying soldier and promises to take a message back to his family:  "Tell my brother Jonathan that I lied. I did it for Mother's sake. But it has to be set right."  When she is finally able to deliver the message, they react as if the message has no significance.  Through a series of events, she decides to try to learn what the message means and set it right herself.  This is my fourth book for the World War I Reading Challenge, and I rate it 4 out of 5.


2 comments:

BookClubGirl said...

I'm so glad that you liked A Duty to the Dead - and don't feel that you're late for the read along - you can feel free to join us at any point! I also have been having problems with spam so had shut off comments after 30 days, but I just changed that in case you want to post answers to the Duty to the Dead questions. I read An Impartial Witness really quickly and just started Bitter Truth (for 5/29 discussion) last night. Thanks for joining us!

Kathy A. Johnson said...

Sounds intriguing. I love mysteries, so it would probably be right up my alley.

Those e-readers can be tricky. We've been borrowing books via Kindle, and sometimes it takes both of us to figure out where to go and what to do!