Customer Reviews

Tug of War: A Joe Sandilands Murder Mystery (Joe Sandilands Mysteries)

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Commander Joe Sandilands is planning to take his 14-year-old niece, Dorcas, to be reunited with her father in the South of France. However, his superior has asked that he stop in Reims. A former soldier, suffering from shell shock, residing at a local sanatorium, is being claimed as the husband of a wealthy owner of a champagne vineyard. The woman's son claims his mother murdered her husband and sealed his body behind a wall. Another complication comes from four other people who also claim the soldier and the patient's doctor who believes the soldier may be English rather than French. With the soldier's considerable pension and well-being involved, it is important the right identity be made.

I am a huge fan of Cleverly's books. She really knows how to set the stage and give the reader a sense of physical, emotional and political place. Along with Charles Todd and Anne Perry, she writes about the horror of WWI and its impact on those who fought and lived it. She creates strong, smart, interesting characters, particularly Sandilands and Dorcas, but all her characters have dimension with dialogue that has a natural flow. But the core of it all is a good, solid traditional mystery that kept me turning the pages in the non-stop read. I highly recommend this book and the entire series.

Barbara Cleverly's "Tug of War" opens in the Champagne region of Northern France in 1915. Aline Houdart wonders how her officer husband is faring on the battlefront while she and their five-year old son, Georges, cope with the help of their elderly servants. Aline is maintaining the family chateau and vineyards under difficult circumstances, determined that when her husband returns home he will be proud of all that she has accomplished in his absence.

The next scene takes place eleven years later in London. Scotland Yard Commander Joe Sandilands is about to embark on a vacation to the south of France with his fourteen-year-old "honorary" niece, an outspoken, irreverent, and precocious young lady named Dorcas. Before he manages to escape, Joe is summoned by Sir Douglas Redmayne of Military Intelligence. Redmayne tells Sandlilands that he wants him to take part in a sensitive investigation: His task will be to identify a shell-shocked veteran of World War I who is being housed in an asylum in Reims.

The soldier's doctor, Patrice Varimont, has given him the name Thibaud for the time being. Sadly, Thibaud can neither speak nor remember his past. What makes this situation even more difficult is the fact that four families have each claimed him. Madame Guy Langlois, a grocer's wife, swears she is his mother; Mademoiselle Mireille Desforges insists that she was his very close friend and perhaps something more; members of the Tellancourt family not only maintain that he is their relative, but they even try to smuggle him out of the institution; finally, Madame Aline Houdart says that the invalid is her husband, Clovis, who was reported missing in 1917. Who is telling the truth? Moreover, why would anyone lie about Thibaud's identity? It turns out that there is an excellent motive for deception: Thibaud will most likely receive "a generous allowance from the state, a sort of war pension, calculated from the time of his vanishing to the present day and beyond." The family that succeeds in verifying its connection to Thibaud stands to receive a great deal of money.

Joe is highly qualified to conduct this inquiry. He is a veteran of the war who worked in military intelligence and was awarded the prestigious ribbon of the Legion of Honor. In addition, he is familiar with the French countryside and speaks the language fluently. When he arrives at Inspector Bonnefoye's office, Joe learns that the newspapers have made the unidentified soldier into a cause célèbre. "Every Frenchman and woman is passionate to know the outcome" and there is a great deal of pressure to come up with an acceptable solution. As Joe gets to know each claimant and examines the evidence, he observes the best and worst in human nature and learns of several explosive secrets that will alter the outcome of this complicated and heartbreaking case. Joe receives invaluable assistance from the mature and intelligent Dorcas, who proves to be a promising detective in her own right.

Cleverly's meticulous research gives "Tug a War" an added dimension. The story of this unfortunate veteran sheds light on the fate of so many soldiers who were killed, severely wounded and traumatized, or declared missing, never to be seen again. This is an intense work of historical fiction that gives readers a deeper understanding of the devastation of war. It also provides insight into how people behave under extreme pressure. Do they sacrifice for others or exploit the weak and vulnerable? Do they behave courageously or shrink in cowardice? The author's literate and animated dialogue, cleverly constructed plot, and well-developed characters make this a spellbinding work of historical fiction as well as an absorbing and suspenseful mystery.

This is one of her best books yet. All of the Joe Sandilands series have been great, but this is by far and away the best she has written. The story and people are written about in depth and I really hated to finish it, but could not stop reading and stayed up to finish. Do readTug of War: A Joe Sandilands Murder Mystery (Joe Sandilands Mysteries)

I had never read anything by this author. The characters are
interesting and strongly drawn but in the first place, it took me
awhile to plow through the first part so I could get to the
main premise of the book; to find out the identity of a shell
shocked soldier. I didnt like the way just as you are at the
end of one chapter and left hanging, the next chapter will be
about someone else leaving you wondering what they have to do
with the whole thing. Plus, the worse thing is at the end when
you supposedly find out the identity of the soldier, you still
are not positive exactly who he is...I wont tell you the
ending but leave it to you hoping you can figure it out.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Best of all B. Cleverly's Joe Sandilands mystery series.