A Duty to the Dead is a World War I-era mystery, starring Bess Crawford as Hercule Poirot. Bess is a nurse on the hospital ship Britannic when the ship hits a mine and she breaks her arm in the ensuing chaos. Forced to return to Britain and await new orders, Bess has the time to carry a dying message to the family of one of her most beloved patients. Unfortunately, it appears this message is the last thing the family wants. As Bess tries to unravel the who, what, and why, she finds herself drawn into the sphere of an ever more mysterious family, and - frankly - increasingly improbable circumstances.
What I liked: A Duty to the Dead is a quick read, and it's highly readable. I'd read The Walnut Tree by Charles Todd several years ago, so I was confident I like Todd's writing, and A Duty to the Dead didn't disappoint. Bess is spirited and Todd covers the period well.
What could have been better: The circumstances were entirely to improbable for me to fully immerse myself in the mystery. That said, I still enjoyed this book and would read another Bess Crawford mystery in the future (though where she gets the time to play private detective in the midst of the Great War is perhaps its own mystery!).
Four stars.
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