A Deadly Cost

In this fourteenth installment of Charles Todd's beloved Bess Crawford mystery series, the wartime nurse investigates the disappearance of an old friend. With the Great War finally behind her, Bess Crawford has stepped away from her duties with Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps, ready to embrace whatever lies ahead. But peace proves short-lived when the troubling news reaches her that a dear friend has vanished. Elayne—once Bess's flatmate and trusted confidante during the war—had seemed poised for a bright and happy future. The last Bess knew, she had fallen deeply in love with a soldier while returning from France. Now, with both Elayne and the man she loved missing, Bess fears that something has gone terribly wrong. Determined to uncover the truth, Bess returns to London and soon finds herself entangled in a web of unanswered questions, bureaucratic obstacles, and lingering wartime secrets. To track down her friend, she must navigate not only the rigid constraints of the Military Nursing Service but also the guarded silence of the Army itself. At her side is Simon Brandon, her father's aide—a man marked by his own past and one who holds a complicated place in Bess's heart. Together, they follow a trail that stretches across the countryside, pursuing a mystery rooted in the shadows of war and discovering that its consequences are far from over.