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    A Pattern of Lies: A Bess Crawford Mystery
    A Pattern of Lies: A Bess Crawford Mystery
    A Pattern of Lies: A Bess Crawford Mystery
    Audiobook11 hours

    A Pattern of Lies: A Bess Crawford Mystery

    Written by Charles Todd

    Narrated by Rosalyn Landor

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    About this audiobook

    A horrific explosion at a gunpowder mill sends Bess Crawford to war-torn France to keep a deadly pattern of lies from leading to more deaths, in this compelling and atmospheric mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of A Question of Honor and An Unwilling Accomplice.

    An explosion and fire at the Ashton Gunpowder Mill in Kent has killed over a hundred men. It’s called an appalling tragedy—until suspicion and rumor raise the specter of murder. While visiting the Ashton family, Bess Crawford finds herself caught up in a venomous show of hostility that doesn’t stop with Philip Ashton’s arrest. Indeed, someone is out for blood, and the household is all but under siege.

    The only known witness to the tragedy is now at the Front in France. Bess is asked to find him. When she does, he refuses to tell her anything that will help the Ashtons. Realizing that he believes the tissue of lies that has nearly destroyed a family, Bess must convince him to tell her what really happened that terrible Sunday morning. But now someone else is also searching for this man.

    To end the vicious persecution of the Ashtons, Bess must risk her own life to protect her reluctant witness from a clever killer intent on preventing either of them from ever reaching England.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateAug 18, 2015
    ISBN9780062395672
    Author

    Charles Todd

    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.

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    • 4/5
      Title: A Pattern of Lies (Bess Crawford #7)Author: Charles ToddPages: 336Year: 2015Publisher: William MorrowBess Crawford finds herself still serving as a nurse during World War I with rumors of the war soon being over heard more and more often. She has a few days leave and plans to spend it with her parents. Her train is delayed at the station and she runs into a former patient, Mark Ashton, who lives nearby. He is a soldier still on medical leave from his injuries. While recuperating, his family becomes pariahs in their small town. He invites Bess to stay overnight until her train arrives. Bess finds herself the subject of the same persecution as Mark’s family.Bess sets out to find out what is at the root of the mean treatment this family is receiving. She asks questions, but no one knows who started the rumors. The villagers turn against the family readily enough with no proof and Bess wonders how this happened. The one man who can perhaps help the Ashtons’ cause is fighting in France. Bess manages to find him, but he refuses to ask for leave to come home to straighten things out. The rumors turn even the local law enforcement against Mark’s father, the former owner of a gunpowder factory that experienced a tragedy two years prior. Many think Mark’s father involved in the explosion that destroyed the factory and killed 100 men. He is arrested and set to stand trial. Can Bess figure out who is fanning the flames of injustice before it is too late?I had a difficult time getting into this story, but I knew that if I kept reading the story would improve and draw me in, which it did. This isn’t the best story in the Bess Crawford mystery series, but still worth reading as the main character’s history and personality continue to develop. There was not enough action in the story for me, and the plot seemed to drag slowly to a conclusion. It seemed Bess was poking her nose into something that really wasn’t her business. Hopefully, her next mystery will feature more action.My rating is 4 stars.Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255. “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
    • 4/5
      Autumn 1918 and Bess Crawford is on leave for a few days. While waiting for a train she meets ex-patient Major Ashton who invites her to stay at the family home in Cranbourne. Onlyto become embroiled in their troubles. Lies are circulating the area which if true or believed will result in the death of one of the family.
      An enjoyable well-written mystery
    • 3/5
      A small community blames the Ashton family, owners of a gunpowder mill, for the explosion that killed hundreds of workers and permanently closed the mill. The hatred overflows into dislike for Bess Crawford. Stranded in Kent due to unreliable trains, Bess agrees to help discover what really happened. The search takes Bess over the area, but many people refuse to speak to Bess. The two writers that pen the Bess Crawford series compose a detailed novel of the beauty of England and the horrors of WWI. Charles Todd depicts the plight of nurse’s life during war time, and the rigid rule of Matron, the head of the nurses. This, A Pattern of Lies, is the real portrayal and not an idealized picture of war.
    • 5/5
      This is an excellent novel, very absorbing, with a lot more to it than just solving a mystery. Bess Crawford, a nurse serving in France during WWI, is drawn into a mess of a criminal investigation when the father of one of her friends is arrested for murder. The novel follows Bess, and shows what it was like being a nurse working just behind the front lines. The murder inquiry, which involves an explosion at a gunpowder mill near Canterbury, explores how a small community reacts to such a tragedy, and how easily such communities can find scapegoats to blame when unthinkable disasters happen.
      I liked that Bess is not an investigator, just a friend supporting a wrongly accused man and his family, and that she draws on appropriate resources to help, not just blundering into the case the way so many amateur detectives in novels do. By using proper channels, this book also gives one a sense of how such investigations might have been approached in real life, with all the jurisdictional squabbles, inconvenient deaths and relocations of witnesses and suspects, and biased cops that one might expect to see in a criminal investigation.
      If you like the TV show Foyle's War, you will probably really enjoy this book, as it has a very similar feel.
      I won my copy of this book free through a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
    • 4/5
      Publisher’s Summary: adapted from Audible.comAn explosion and fire at the Ashton Gunpowder Mill in Kent has killed over a hundred men. It's called an appalling tragedy – until suspicion and rumour raise the specter of murder. While visiting the Ashton family, Bess Crawford finds herself caught up in a venomous show of hostility that doesn't stop with Philip Ashton's arrest. Indeed, someone is out for blood, and the household is all but under siege.Bess is asked to find the only known witness to the tragedy, now at the Front in France, but when she does, he refuses to tell her anything that will help the Ashtons. Bess does her best to convince him to tell her what really happened that terrible Sunday morning. But now someone else is also searching for this man …My Review:Decent read – I wasn’t certain until the end as to which way things would go with the Ashtons. Were they victims of a pattern of lies, or were they criminals? For me, this is one of the signs of a good mystery. I remain rooted in my hope that Simon and Bess will become something more than loyal friends, but Todd is not encouraging me in this direction. I continue to appreciate and enjoy (if enjoy is the right word) the WWI settings: from battlefield, to city, to village – another strength of the series.
    • 4/5
      I have read other books by Charles Todd but this was the first featuring Sister Beth Crawford. It was a intriguing story. Set toward the end of WWI, Sister Crawford navigates back and forth across the English Channel, from medical units near the front to a small town in Kent. While the latter is the focus of the mystery, the various venues come together as the story unfolds. I enjoyed listening to this book. The characterizations are good, although at times some key players seem almost otherworldly in their endurance and stamina. The descriptions of the venues are very good, giving the reader a clear sense of the environment. One could argue that coincidence plays an significant role in the story but all in all it was an enjoyable book.
    • 4/5
      A visit to a former patient from France turns dark and ominous with noisome objects thrown and an attempted firebombing. Why, have the locals turned against the powder factory owner and his family, two plus years after the horrific explosion and fire. The mill owner, the patient's father is arrested and charged with multiple murders As, the community rallies to support the accusation, Bess must use all her skills and family resources to unravel the truth. A worthy entry in this fine series.
    • 3/5
      Mill exploded, family blamed. Lots of driving back and forth from Canterbury.
    • 5/5
      Bess Crawford is a very good nurse who always seems to have the devil's own luck in getting assigned to transport wounded men back to England so she can then go haring around the countryside to solve mysteries. Since A Pattern of Lies is one of the best books in this series, I don't mind a bit. There is a great deal of suspense and lots of suspects in this mystery, but if you follow the tiny, carefully planted clues the writing team known as Charles Todd gives us, you will come to the solution before you're formally told. That didn't bother me much either. Why? Because the authors do a splendid job of showing us how easily people are deceived by lies, and to what lengths they'll go when they're determined to believe those lies. Not that that would have any connotations to the present day.... This entire scenario that Bess innocently wanders into fascinated me, and I was as equally interested in finding out what would be done to the Ashtons next as I was in identifying the person responsible for it all.If you're in the mood for something similar to Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs mysteries, something with a solid historical background and a strong central character, I suggest that you become acquainted with Bess Crawford. I've enjoyed my journey with Bess, and I think you will, too. In this book, World War I is almost at an end, and I'm very interested in seeing what Sister Crawford does next.
    • 4/5
      Charles Todd (Author), Rosalyn Landor (Narrator), HarperAudioIn 1916, at the height of the war, an explosion and fire at Ashton Gunpowder Mill in Kent killed more than one hundred men.Army investigation of the tragedy attributed it, most probably, to German subversive activity.In 1918, a web of hometown lies and suspicion emerge and attempt to credit the disaster to the owner, Philip Ashton.Bess attempts to help former patient (Major Mark Aston) and his family when resurfacing accusations result in the arrest of the elder Ashton.The sense of time and place is precise, as I've come to expect of Charles and Caroline Todd.Rosalyn Landor , as narrator, excels as usual.4 ★
    • 4/5
      Bess Crawford is a World War I battlefield nurse serving in France. In this, the seventh in the series, she is visiting the Ashton family in Kent, an English village, while her train has been delayed. She gets caught up in investigating a two-year-old fatal explosion at the Ashton Gunpowder Mill, and seeks to prove the innocence of Philip Ashton, who has recently been arrested for murder in the deaths of over a hundred men who worked in the mill at that time. There is a man fighting on the front lines in France who is said to have been a witness. He may be able to help free Philip but when Bess finds and approaches him, he refuses to return with her. Not only that, but many of the villagers also seem to have suddenly bought into the idea that Philip is responsible. Bess finds herself in a very dangerous situation as she continues to pursue truth and justice.Todd paints Bess as a brave and determined heroine who has an uncanny sense when it comes to solving mysteries. She’s true to herself and true to her friends. The Ashton’s personalities were well drawn as the British upper class that they were. This is fictional, yet much of the series is based on actual historical events. In the Author’s Note, this story is loosely based on a fire and explosion at Faversham’s Oare Gunpowder Works in April 1916. In the series, it’s now 1918 and with the WWI drawing to a close, I wonder how and if the stories of Nurse Bess Crawford will continue. I wouldn’t actually recommend beginning the series here. Bess’s character, so viable in prior works, was just a bit flat in this one. Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
    • 4/5
      Title: A Pattern of Lies (Bess Crawford #7)Author: Charles ToddPages: 336Year: 2015Publisher: William MorrowBess Crawford finds herself still serving as a nurse during World War I with rumors of the war soon being over heard more and more often. She has a few days leave and plans to spend it with her parents. Her train is delayed at the station and she runs into a former patient, Mark Ashton, who lives nearby. He is a soldier still on medical leave from his injuries. While recuperating, his family becomes pariahs in their small town. He invites Bess to stay overnight until her train arrives. Bess finds herself the subject of the same persecution as Mark’s family.Bess sets out to find out what is at the root of the mean treatment this family is receiving. She asks questions, but no one knows who started the rumors. The villagers turn against the family readily enough with no proof and Bess wonders how this happened. The one man who can perhaps help the Ashtons’ cause is fighting in France. Bess manages to find him, but he refuses to ask for leave to come home to straighten things out. The rumors turn even the local law enforcement against Mark’s father, the former owner of a gunpowder factory that experienced a tragedy two years prior. Many think Mark’s father involved in the explosion that destroyed the factory and killed 100 men. He is arrested and set to stand trial. Can Bess figure out who is fanning the flames of injustice before it is too late?I had a difficult time getting into this story, but I knew that if I kept reading the story would improve and draw me in, which it did. This isn’t the best story in the Bess Crawford mystery series, but still worth reading as the main character’s history and personality continue to develop. There was not enough action in the story for me, and the plot seemed to drag slowly to a conclusion. It seemed Bess was poking her nose into something that really wasn’t her business. Hopefully, her next mystery will feature more action.My rating is 4 stars.Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255. “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
    • 4/5
      Bess, a nurse at the Front during WWI, sometimes accompanies patients from France to England for care. On one of those trips she encounters a former patient, whose family is being persecuted by its community in the belief that the father caused a mill explosion and the deaths of more than 100 men. Bess is of course determined to get to the bottom of discovering who the real culprit is in this deadly situation.
    • 3/5
      What caused the explosion of a gun powder factory in Kent, and why are the local villagers shunning the family who owned it. Nurse Bess Crawford runs back and forth to France as she pieces together the very tenuous answer to the mystery. I enjoy the setting and time period, but the plot was really a stretch.
    • 3/5
      In Book 7 in the Bess Crawford mystery series, Bess works as a World War I field hospital nurse in France (1918), where the terrible surroundings are well imagined and effectively described. The action begins when, on leave and waiting for a train in Canterbury, Bess encounters a past patient, Major Mark Ashton, who invites her to stay the night with his family, as a train to London is not likely before morning. Mark’s mother had come to France to help care for him, and Bess is happy to renew her acquaintance. Mark tells her about the loss of the family business—a gunpowder mill—which blew up two years previously. A fire ensued, and more than a hundred workers lost their lives. At first, sabotage was suspected, but eventually the explosion—which created a shortfall in vital British armament production—was ruled an accident. Rather than rebuild on the site, the government relocated production to Scotland. The village economy was devastated by the loss of both men and their jobs. Resentments run high. Recently, a spate of vicious rumors has circulated, accusing Mark’s father of causing the catastrophe. Allegedly, he was at odds with the government over the running of the mill and its possible disposition after the war. The father dismisses these rumors as something no thinking person would take seriously. Unfortunately, evidence of the increasingly uneasy relationship between residents of the Ashton manor and the fictional village of Cranbourne is not hard to come by, with minor, but escalating acts of vandalism and anonymous threatening letters.Where these problems started—and, more ominously, where they will end up—is increasingly uncertain. Mark hopes that Bess’s arrival will help his parents take their minds off their current troubles, which local police seem loathe to investigate. But during her visit, the unthinkable happens: Mark’s father, Philip Ashton, is arrested on a charge of murder. In the ensuing weeks, the only people he’s allowed to see are his legal representatives. However, with their client facing possible conviction and death, they seem oddly unmotivated. Bess spends much of her time on duty in France, but several short trips to England, accompanying patients who need more care than can be offered in the field, allow her to stay in touch with the Ashton family. She uses her contacts in the battlefield grapevine to find out about a witness to the tragedy, relying on an Australian sergeant—who has a quite obvious crush on our Bess—as her eyes and ears. She also has resources closer to home: her father, the “Colonel Sahib,” who had retired from the military but was called back for “special duty,” and his former Regimental Sergeant-Major. Both of them are apparently connected with military intelligence, and willing to look into matters for Bess and provide what information they can. Bess becomes more than an interested bystander when her investigations incite an attempt on her own life.The thoroughness with which an amateur sleuth and an outsider can inject herself into the events of a plot is always a bit tricky to handle plausibly. Todd stretches logic thin in a few instances, but Bess’s interventions mostly work well. While the book has many strengths, in the end, the motivation behind all the trouble seemed to me rather weak.A Pattern of Lies will especially appeal to fans of the recent television mini-series about British nurses in France in World War I, The Crimson Field. Charles Todd is a mother and son writing team based in Delaware and North Carolina. One wonders how such a team works, though, in their case, with numerous books behind them, the results are seamless and speak for themselves.
    • 5/5
      I love the Bess Crawford mysteries! World War I , set in France and in England, with Bess as a nursing sister from a military family.
    • 4/5
      Charles Todd returns with the latest (#7) in the Bess Crawford series - A Pattern of Lies.Bess is a Sister with England's Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service. She has served her country since the beginning of the war in both France and England. It's 1918 and the hope is that the War will soon be over.A chance encounter on a leave plunges Bess into another mystery. (For in addition to being a stellar nurse, she's just as adept at solving mysteries) Mark Ashton, an officer and former patient invites Bess to his family home to visit with his mother. The family owns the Ashton Powder Mill in Kent - the scene of a horrific tragedy that killed over a hundred men. Ruled an accident by the Army, the villagers think differently. Bess is stunned by the hostility shown to the family. As the rancor - and the danger - rises, Bess agrees to see if she can help. There's a possible witness to the event that can clear patriarch Phillip Ashton's name - he's a tankman in France.Oh, I just love this series! I think it's the slow, meticulous building of clues, the measured connecting together of pieces of information, observations and snippets of conversation. It's such a change from my usual fast paced murder and mayhem mysteries. The thoughtful, careful pacing of the book lets the reader settle in to relax, enjoy and travel back in time. Todd does a fantastic job of bringing the war and the time period to life. Descriptions of time and place generate vivid mental images. I really enjoy the glimpses into the war nurses' everyday lives. A sense of honour, duty, and loyalty is infused in the character and the plot, again underscoring the time period. I like Bess - she's strong minded, strong willed, clever, caring and tenacious. Familiar supporting characters return - Bess's father, Colonel Sahib (I have such a strong mental image of this British officer who served in India with the Gurkha's), Simon and Sergeant Lassiter, a cheeky Australian officer who seems quite fond of Bess. There is attraction between Bess and the two men - I often speculate which one will be her choice. (The Aussie would be mine!)As the war is drawing to an end, I wonder where Todd will take this series in peacetime. This reader will be eagerly awaiting the next book! Read an excerpt of A Pattern of Lies. Fans of Maisie Dobbs would absolutely enjoy this series as well.
    • 4/5
      The basics: The action in A Pattern of Lies centers on the small Kent village of Cranbourne, where a gun powder mill exploded two years ago. More than one hundred men died in the explosion. The truth, never certain, has yielded to the titular patterns of lies and accusations in a town still reeling from tragedy, all are looking for someone to blame, as Bess tries to figure out the truth.My thoughts: A Pattern of Lies is darker and presents dangerous situations (aside from the war itself) than most books in this series. It's set in 1918, and as readers know, World War I is nearly over. I'm quite curious to see where the series goes beyond the war. But in A Pattern of Lies, the War remains an increasing source of pain and despair.I liked A Pattern of Lies, but I didn't love it. Bess remains a fascinating, dynamic character, and I enjoyed the time I spent with her. I enjoyed the combination of time spent on the front and off. I enjoyed the insights into life and manners of the time. I found the mystery itself to drag at times, and when it ramped up at the end, I found it interesting, but the resolution wasn't nearly as interesting as the cultural commentary that preceded it. I was struck by the consistency of human nature one hundred years ago and today.I'm continuously intrigued by the cast of recurring characters, and A Pattern of Lies was so focused on the Ashtons that the other characters had very minor roles. I hope to seem more of London, Somerset and, of course, Simon, in the next book. As a World War I novel, A Pattern of Lies succeeds, but I wanted more of Bess's world and less of the Ashtons' world.
    • 4/5
      A Pattern of Lies is the 7th book in the Bess Crawford Mystery series and it continues to hold it’s own. I continue to enjoy reading these mysteries and I learn a bit about the Great War each time.Bess has just escorted some patients back to England and while waiting for a train to take her to London meets an old patient who is recovering again from a new injury. Since it looks like the train may be late, to never, he offers her a room for the night in the family home and a chance to take his mother’s mind off recent unpleasantness. Bess met his mother when he was wounded and she came to help nurse him back to health.The family had run a gunpowder plant for over 100 years, without incident. Two years previously an accident happened, causing the destruction of the mill and the loss of 100 men. This was a terrible blow to the community on all fronts. Now whispers are going around blaming Mr Ashton for starting the explosion and subsequent fire, out of spit to the Army. This has lead to them being ostracized and worse, their property vandalized.Things are continuing to escalate, first someone tries to start a fire in house in the middle of the night. Shortly after that Mr. Ashton is arrested for the murder of the 100 men in the explosion. To Bess it appears pretty obvious this is a witch hunt started by vicious rumor. But who would do such a thing two years after the incident? Bess does what she can but her duties keep calling her back to the front to nurse more injured back to health.Things get more serious when a witness appears to be shot at from friendly fire. And shortly after that another nurse is assaulted in her room, which was assigned to Sister Crawford. It looks suspiciously like someone doesn’t want the truth to come out back in Kent.