A Bitter Truth: A Bess Crawford Mystery
by Charles Todd (9780062015716)

When battlefield nurse Bess Crawford returns from France for a well-earned Christmas leave, she finds a bruised and shivering woman sheltering in the doorway of her London flat. Figuring out that the woman, who eventually reveals that her name is Lydia, has nowhere to turn, Bess invites her in. Lydia is fleeing from her husband, who struck her after a terrible quarrel, and she will only return home if Bess accompanies her. Ever compassionate, Bess puts her own plans to visit her family on hold and goes with Lydia to a small village in Sussex. There are other guests at the Ellis house and a tense atmosphere fueled by dark family secrets. Shortly after they arrive, one of the guests, a returning soldier, is found murdered, and Bess is not only in the center of the hunt for a killer but is under suspicion herself.

USD $14.99