I received this book for free from my own shelves in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: my own shelves
The Cliff's Edge
by
Charles Todd
amateur sleuth, vintage mystery in a Kindle edition that was published by William Morrow on February 14, 2023 and has 320 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include An Impartial Witness, A Lonely Death, A Bitter Truth, The Confession, An Unmarked Grave, The Walnut Tree, Proof of Guilt, A Question of Honor, An Unwilling Accomplice, Hunting Shadows, A Pattern of Lies, A Fine Summer's Day, No Shred of Evidence, The Shattered Tree, Racing the Devil, A Casualty of War, The Gate Keeper, A Forgotten Place, The Black Ascot, An Irish Hostage
Thirteenth in the Bess Crawford amateur sleuth in a vintage mystery series revolving around Bess, a former nursing sister during World War I. The focus is on a family feud in which Bess gets involved.
My Take
Poor Bess. Peacetime is so boring, which we learn from Todd using first person protagonist point-of-view from Bess’ perspective. It’s also a great way to info dump on Bess’ past. It does make her wonder if her mother also misses the excitement of an active life.
Something went wrong in Ireland and I missed that story. A potential lover, her resignation from the Queen Alexandra’s, and an estrangement from Simon! I must read An Irish Hostage, 12, as I hate not knowing!
I do love history and occasionally wonder how people lived back then. The day’s technology and that is one thing that vintage stories do — take me back to those days. In this case, it’s the early twentieth century and when Bess talks of whether a house was on the telephone, it makes me appreciate what we have. The Cliff’s Edge also makes me appreciate women’s lib what with the talk about how hard women had it if they were single. Heck, even if they were married, their husbands were allowed to abuse them! Sorry, not “allowed”, but it was an accepted “practice”.
Todd brings a different perspective on Lenin and the Russian Revolution while the deaths of the Czar, Czarina, and their children is current news. That bit on the doctor and his reaction to treating those injured on the Somme was heartbreaking.
It’s World War I that starts the social changes in England. That and income tax. Todd makes good use of the declining awe on the part of the “lower” classes to ramp up the drama. Of course, that past history of stealing someone’s girlfriend and the enmity between families contributes quite a bit to that. It doesn’t help that Joe Harding had been a stalker before the war and left three different groups in the story unhappy about it. Then there was the exposure of men who had never before left their village or their farms to another way of life when they went on leave to Paris.
Inspector Wade is so suspicious of anyone connected to the Nevilles, and he certainly doesn’t believe a word that Sister Crawford says about Gordon’s medical status. She must be covering something up! What a jerk!
Gordon isn’t much help with his sneaking about. As for Grace Caldwell. What is her deal with Harding?
It’s dang sad when a wife waits through years of war, praying that her husband comes home, only to lose him when he does.
Nothing has changed as far as soldiers returned from the end of a war. It makes me so sad how little we value their service. Sure, we pay lip service by saying “thank you for your service”, but that doesn’t translate into making medical care easy to get, help in transitioning to a peacetime life, or jobs.
Mark Caldwell is so incredibly RUDE!?! And then the incredible, horrible, shocking truth comes out. Oy.
There’s an interesting bit of Neville history related to Bosworth Field and Henry Tudor. I mean this was hundreds of years ago and is still so relevant!
Action. Yeah. There’s action all right. Lots of it. And so much of it doesn’t make any sense, until Todd pulls it together at the end. Oh. My. God. Just, oh my god.
Yeah, then there are the characters and all of the action is definitely driven by the people. I think you’d have to include World War I as a character as the effects of it definitely affect the characters and their actions.
It was a pip of a story. My only annoyance was the lack of clarity about some of the characters.
And now I have to wait for #14?? After that cliffhanger!!!??? Argh . . .
The Story
Oh, no. Bess knows women like Lady Beatrice and how they treat “the hired help”. But circumstances intervene and Bess is trapped into assisting. And yet more assistance when Lady Beatrice’s godson is hurt . . . and he’s killed a man.
The Characters
Bess Crawford, a former battlefield nurse in WWI, is home now in Somerset and wondering what to do. Her father is the supposedly retired Colonel Richard Crawford, a.k.a. Colonel Sahib. Her mother, Clarice, no long the Colonel’s lady for the regiment, still corresponds with regiment wives. Cook needs help from Dr Johnston for her hand. Iris is the Crawford maid. Melinda Crawford, a cousin of the Crawfords, lives in Kent.
Sergeant-Major Simon Brandon has been with the colonel for years. His father had been Andrew Brandon.
The colonel mentions an Ian who was injured on the Somme, patched up, and sent back (and I’m wondering if it’s Ian Rutledge in the Inspector Ian Rutledge series??).
The Lintons
The widowed Lady Beatrice (a cousin of the governor of Kenya), the Dowager Countess de vere Linton, needs her gallbladder removed. Hugh, an earl, had been her husband. Jonathan is her son. I think Sylvia is his wife. Bartlett. Linton Hall is home. Lillian Winfield Taylor, a nanny to an officer Melinda knew, is now a companion to Lady Beatrice. Lillian had trained as a governess at the Misses Quinns’ School. Wilson is a chauffeur. Mrs Bennett is the housekeeper. Dr Halliday is Lady Beatrice’s insistent physician. Mrs Foster is the village seamstress.
The Nevilles
Gordon Neville, Lady Beatrice’s godson (and Hugh’s sister’s grandson), had an accident. Gordon lives with his mother, Lady Neville? Mrs Neville? (Anne is definitely Mrs Neville.) in Scarfdale. Arthur, Gordon’s brother, is a solicitor married to Margaret. He takes after their uncle Harry, another solicitor. Davies is the enterprising butler. Mrs Roper is the housekeeper. Stevens manages the sheep. Ruth is one of the maids. I think Mrs Jenkins is the cook and Matthews is the chauffeur. Dr Menzies is the local physician.
Frederick Caldwell, who had been a childhood friend to Gordon and Arthur, is married to Grace, and they live at Maris Hall in Peterborough. Lieutenant Mark Caldwell is Frederick’s major jerk of a brother. Their mother had been a Lindsay.
Constable Woods doesn’t care for the Neville brothers. Inspector Wade hates anyone with land, money, and standing. Danny, Lord Broadhurst, is the Chief Constable; he’d been a friend of Hugh’s.
Chester and Sons. The Sheep Fold is a local pub. Lieutenant Joe Harding brought back a dog — now called Cooper and not Gladys — from France; he’d been in Gordon’s regiment. Ed is one of the farmers. Judith had been the daughter of Lettie Bowman. Judith’s brother, Jamie, and sweetheart, Teddy, had gone to war and not come back. Drake is the one who put up the cross in the village square.
Florence Dunstan had been a schoolmate of Bess’. Bruce is Florence’s barrister husband. Sergeant Lassiter, an Australian Bess met in An Unwilling Accomplice, 6, keeps proposing marriage to her. I believe Terrence is the young man from An Irish Hostage. Diana had been Bess’ wartime flatmate at Mrs Hennessey’s in London. Sir Robert Pearson had been a surgical doctor in London. The Burtons are the family with whom Lillian traveled home from Africa.
The Cover and Title
The cover certainly suits the story with its gloomy gray sky. In the background are the grayed green hills, a subtle reference to that fateful cliff. In the foreground is Bess in quarter profile looking out over the landscape and wearing a black coat and cloche. At the very top is a testimonial in white with an info blurb under it in a dark brown. Under that is the author’s name in white. The title is below that in orange, above Bess’s head. At the bottom is the series info in white.
The title is too true, for it was The Cliff’s Edge that was the inciting incident and where the drama hangs.
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