Review
Readers first met Ian Rutledge in
A Test of
Wills (1996) set in 1919. Rutledge, who left a brilliant
career at Scotland Yard (British national police headquarters)
in 1914 has returned at the end of the Great War, but he is
burdened with the heavy secret that he is still suffering from
shell shock. With him almost constantly is the cynical, taunting
voice of Hamish, a young Scots corporal he was forced to have
executed on the battlefield for refusing to fight.
The following ten stories to date each revisit Rutledge one
month after the previous one, following the war-damaged
detective on his cases that take him to different parts of rural
England. The authors (a mother-son writing team) are consciously
following this slow pace because they, like many of their
readers, are particularly...
Beyond the Book
Charles Todd is the author of ten Ian
Rutledge mysteries to date, and one
stand-alone novel,
The Murder Stone.
This USA-based mother-and-son (Charles &
Caroline) writing team maintain a strong
level of anonymity, even though they
appear on many author panels together
and Charles is a very active member of
the Mystery Writers of America
.
According to Caroline "because of
Charles' job and his father's job,"
they've been reticent about using their
last name. Charles was a corporate
troubleshooter, who traveled frequently
for his job. Even their residences are
kept...
