I really enjoy the Bess Crawford mysteries. I'm not a huge fan of historical fiction, but these seamlessly blend a vigorous, independent, intelligent heroine with accurate historic detail. Bess Crawford is a reasonable woman.

An Unwilling Accomplice, which I read in the form of an Advance Reader's Edition, is not a disappointment. I think the storyline is a little more complex than some of the previous works in this series, but the "Charles Todd" duo strikes Bess' voice perfectly once again. And the cast of supporting characters is shaded to perfection.

Recommended.

Unwilling Souls - Gregory D. Little What an enjoyable ride! I really enjoyed this one. It's fun, fast-paced and had lots of action. Ses was a great protagonist and I liked seeing the world through her eyes. I found her to be a compelling and interesting character which made me care about her and her story. I actually started this today and finished it just a few hours later. I couldn't put down my iPad, it's how engrossing it was.

The book starts off in The Pit, a place at the planet's core which apparently housed a sort of magic school for smiths and temples to the gods. However, the gods in this story have been imprisoned for hundreds of years with The Pit serving as their prison. There is a fascinating blend of magic and technology which I thought was very original and interesting. However, the most interesting part of the story was the cities which were housed in the bones of monsters the humans slew in the war.

The story in this stayed personal, which makes sense considering that it's a first book and Ses was just starting to understand the implications of her world and her heritage. It takes place in the timespan of less than a week, which contributed to the fast pacing. However, the series will apparently become more epic in scope and add POV characters as it progresses. For now, I enjoyed the story as it is.

It's not difficult to understand given that the lore and world-building is well-spaced out and there was little to no info-dumping, and there was a very small cast of characters. The story pretty much revolved around Ses looking for her father which is more interesting than how I make it sound. There are a few twists which I didn't see coming, but also made sense. The ending does make me ask a few questions which I believe would be answered in later installments. Whatever the case may be, the ending definitely sets the stage for expanding the scope.

I'm looking forward to reading the sequel. I enjoyed the setting, the world-building, and the story. It's very fast-paced and there aren't any parts which dragged- hence why I finished this in less than a day. I highly recommend this book for people who enjoy unique settings and stories!

Alas, I was right: this read qualifies for the Summer Bingo Card.  As "Book Bust or Bummer." 

 

Our intrepid heroine, nurse Bess Crawford, loses a patient, and the army, the nursing corps, and Scotland Yard all question her, trying to find out whether she was an accomplice, or was just tricked and misled.  (He's wanted for murder afterwards.)

 

So she and her old pal, Simon (her father, a retired Colonel, is now something in intelligence, sent his former Sergeant-Major to look after her) go in search of him, to clear her name.  This involves either 4 or 5 random wounded soldiers (about 2 or 3 too many), a strange misunderstanding of the Married Women's Property Acts of the 1870s and 1880s, and far too many trips to, and around, Lower Dysoe, Middle Dysoe, and Upper Dysoe.  (If I never see the word "Dysoe" again it will be too soon.)

 

That and the motive for murder makes little sense, when it comes out.

 

I'll read Charles Todd again, because when they (a mother and son) are on form they write a very good read, but I guess the muse was taking an extended nap when they wrote this one.

I thought going into this one that this read wouldn't qualify for the bingo board, but I suspect I was mistaken.

 

I very much suspect that this one will qualify for Book Bust or Bummer.

 

Still like the series, though.