Duty to the Dead

The daughter of a distinguished soldier� Bess Crawford follows in his footsteps and signs up to go overseas as a nurse during the Great War� helping to deal with the many wounded. There� serving on a hospital ship� she makes a promise to a dying young lieutenant to take a message to his brother� Jonathan Graham: "Tell Jonathan that I lied. I did it for Mother's sake. But it has to be set right." Later� when her ship is sunk by a mine and she's sidelined by a broken arm� Bess returns home to England� determined to fulfill her promise.

It's not so easy� however. She travels to the village in Kent where the Grahams live and passes on to Jonathan his brother's plea. Oddly� neither Jonathan� his mother� nor his younger brother admit to knowing what the message means. Then Bess learns that there's another brother� incarcerated in a lunatic asylum since the age of 14 when he was accused of brutally murdering a housemaid.

Bess rightly guesses that the dying soldier's last words had something to do with the fourth brother. Because the family seems unwilling to do anything� she decides that she will investigate. It's her own duty to the dead.