This is another well crafted who-done-it in the Inspector Ian Rutledge series.

I agree with Janet on this one. Ho hum compared with earlier entries in this series.

Charles Todd, Inspector Ian Rutledge series
https://www.orderofbooks.com/authors/...

Charles Todd is the pen name of an American mother-and-son writing team: Caroline Todd, died 2021.08.28 (book 24 already sent to the publisher) and Charles Todd.

Our hero is Inspector Ian Rutledge, shell-shocked after WWI, routinely hears the voice of his dead corporal, Hamish McLeod, in his head. The two of them are good characters; their relationship develops over the series from antagonism to a kind of partnership.

Rutledge is the Rodney Dangerfield of Scotland Yard: no respect from his higher-ups, no respect from the public, none from the local police he's sent to help.

Especially early in the series, they end abruptly.

They don't have to be read in order.

To orient the stories in time and place:

General areas of each book: https://www.charlestoddmap.com/

1857 Melinda Crawford survived Indian Mutiny (she's 72 in 1919; she lives on the Kent/East Sussex border https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ken... )
c. 1890 Ian Rutledge born
c. 1892 Ian's sister Frances born
1912 Rutledge was a (New) Scotland Yard inspector
1914.08 WWI began
1916.07 Captain Ian Rutledge put Corporal Hamish McLeod to death for refusing an order to lead more men to their deaths, on the Somme.
1916 - 1919 Influenza epidemic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish...
1918.11.11 WWI ended
1919.02 Shell-shocked WWI survivor Rutledge's fiancée, Jean, ended their engagement.
1919.06.01 Rutledge returned to work at (New) Scotland Yard after recuperating from WWI. New Scotland Yard: https://www.google.com/maps/place/51%...

Simon Prebble is the best audio narrator: books 10-16, 18-22.

tTales -- Short Stories 0.5 and 12.5, Kindle ✅ ★★★

2013t0.5tCold Comfort -- Kindle, in Tales, Short Story ✅ ★★★

2015t0.6tA Guid Soldier -- Kindle, Short Story ✅ ★★★

1994t1tA Test of Wills -- Kindle, Audible ✅ ★★★

1998 t2tWings of Fire -- Kindle, Audible ✅ ★★★★
Suspicious deaths in the house of fictional poet O.A. Manning. Cornwall. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Cor...

1999t3tSearch the Dark -- Kindle, Audible ✅ ★★★
1919.08 Dorset. Ends rather badly.

2000 t4tLegacy of the Dead -- Kindle, Audible ✅ ★★★
1919.09 Scotland. Features Fiona MacDonald, fiancée of the late Corporal Hamish McLeod.

2001 t5tWatchers of Time -- Kindle, Audible ✅ ★★★
1919.10 Norfolk https://www.google.com/maps/place/Nor...

2002t6tA Fearsome Doubt -- Kindle, Audible ✅ ★★★
1919.11 Kent. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ken... farther from London than Maidstone https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mai... (33%)
Rutledge remembers a little of what happened 1918.11.11-1919.02.

2005t7tA Cold Treachery -- Audible ✅ ★★★★
1919.12 Cumbria https://www.google.com/maps/place/Cum... Lake District near Kendal https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ken...

2006t8tA Long Shadow -- Audible ✅ ★★★★
1919.12 - 1920.02 We meet Mrs. Meredith Channing. This one has an exciting ending.
Northamptonshire https://www.google.com/maps/place/Nor...

2007t9tA False Mirror -- Kindle, Audible ✅ ★★★
1920.02 - 1920.03 We hear Rutledge's nasty boss, Bowles's, thoughts about how to destroy Rutledge. Some very stupid suspects. Dorset. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dor...
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Westo...

2007t10tA Pale Horse -- Kindle, Audible, first book narrated by Simon Prebble ✅ ★★★★

2008t11tA Matter of Justice -- Audible: Simon Prebble, library large print, ✅ ★★★★
Starts in the Boer War (11 October 1899 – 31 May 1902). Good story.

2009t12tThe Red Door -- Libby ebook, Audible: Simon Prebble ✅ ★★★★

2010t12.5tThe Kidnapping -- short story, Kindle ✅ ★★★

2011t13tA Lonely Death -- Audible: Simon Prebble, large print ✅ ★★★★

2011t14tThe Confession -- Audible: Simon Prebble, Kindle ✅ ★★★

2013t15tProof of Guilt -- Libby audio: Simon Prebble; Libby ebook ✅ ★★★★

2014t16tHunting Shadows -- Audible: Simon Prebble ✅ ★★★; Kindle

2015t17tA Fine Summer’s Day -- Libby audio ✅ ★★★★; large print
1914.06.28 - 1914.12.26. This one has Inspector Rutledge's backstory as a Scotland Yard inspector in the months before he goes to war. The fine summer's day is the day the Austrian archduke is murdered in Serbia.

2016t18tNo Shred of Evidence -- Libby audio: Simon Prebble ✅ ★★★★★; Libby ebook

2017t19tRacing the Devil -- Audible: Simon Prebble ✅ ★★★★

2017t19.5tThe Piper -- Kindle ✅ ★★★

2018t20tThe Gate Keeper -- Audible: Simon Prebble; Kindle ✅ ★★★★

2019 t21tThe Black Ascot -- Audible: Simon Prebble; Kindle ✅ ★★★★

2020t 22tA Divided Loyalty -- Audible: Simon Prebble; Kindle ✅ ★★★★

2021 t23tA Fatal Lie -- Audible; Kindle ✅ ★★★★★
Has an overage of unpleasant characters. Early 1920s, Wales and Shropshire.

2021.08.28 Caroline Todd died (book 24 already sent to the publisher)

2022 t24tA Game of Fear

Trivia:
Book 5: Watchers of Time:
https://www.goodreads.com/trivia/work...

t

Charles Todd does it again! Every serial mystery novelist should read how Charles Todd introduces Ian Rutledge. Even after 8 novels, they don’t use the same trite descriptions. I’m constantly amazed at that, and that’s just in the beginning!!

Ian goes to (another) country village to look into why a Constable has been shot in the back with an arrow and along the way, uncovers a web of secrets that will require all of his expertise and intuition to untangle...

Well done.

As usual, a dependable page turner. There are usually several mysteries going on at once, so I never have any idea how they are al going to come together.

It took me a while to get reacquainted with Ian and Hamish then the investigation got interesting. Of course the last 100 pages were the most exciting. There were 2 concurrent investigations. One was a stalking of Ian, getting more threatening as the story goes on. The second was an attack on a constable in a rural, very small town. The location of the attack on the constable brought into the investigation several missing persons related to a widow in town from the historically, most powerful family. She cooperated with the investigation on her terms which influenced the behavior of others in town. The two mysteries were resolved in a single violent event that was well written.
A major aspect of the text was the description of lives after WWI. Dealing the aftermath of the huge number of war dead and debilitated was illuminating.

I may not have been in the mood for this one, but I found it too scattered. There's the romance, such as it is, with the enigmatic widow. There's the invisible man, shadowing and threatening Rutledge and leaving carved shell casings. There's the shooting (by arrow!) that he's in the village to investigate, and there are the various pasts that he digs up in the process. I find the motivation of the killer unbelievable as well. And Hamish was less incisive than usual, yammering about the widow and not about the case so much. Still, it's a good series, and I do enjoy it.

Each book in this series has been better than the one before, and the last three have all been excellent. I think that this is the one I liked best though. An excellent mystery - or three. Someone has shot a local constable in the back with an arrow. Not just any constable, but one who had been especially close to Rutledge's despised boss Chief Inspector Bowles. Rutledge is dispatched to find out who done it, but ends up delving into a completely different mystery, the disappearance of a young girl from the same village. Rutledge's instincts tell him that somehow the two are connected. Meanwhile, there's every appearance that someone is stalking Rutledge, leaving shell casings from a particular gun used in the war. And a woman who hold seances for those trying to reach the dead keeps turning up to "help" Rutledge. It all rolls together into an excellent story.

Really like this series, with Rutledge trying to manage his inner turmoil as well as solve the case. The characters are all so well-drawn, with an engrossing plot set in an unfriendly, superstitious town.

I absolutely adore this nook!
I have read it and listened to it many times. It’s kind of my g to Charles Todd for when I can’t sleep, just need to lay down & relax , etc.!! There are two plots throughout the book, and one of them starts out in a mundane way. The sound of an empty cartridge casing falling to the ground (in war time England). But the story of the empty bullet casing takes on an urgency that can’t be ignored. The other plot is MURDER...not Rutledge’s murder, but the Cold Case of a murder of a teenage girl from a wealthy and powerful ending!!! Once again, the Todd’s have outdone themselves with a devastating solution no one would have ever believed.

My least favorite in the series thus far. Right off the bat, two negatives. A storyline which seemingly involved a spiritualist. Thank heavens, she did it more as a lark and the story wasn't bogged down in mysticism. The second disappointment. Any hopes of a developing relationship between Ian and Elizabeth Fraser are shot to pieces in the first scenes with Rutledge. Either give him a love interest or don't. Quit with the teasing! And if that's not enough, the very ending also shoots any lingering hopes with Elizabeth right out of the water. Boo!

And from the excerpt on the book jacket, I thought Frances was going to play a bigger part in the story. Another disappointment. I just did not enjoy the mystery at all. Either of them. Rutledge seemed to be bumbling along, completely clueless. The one thing which might have saved this particular book was if he had found evidence to implicate Bowles in some wrongdoing, but even that proved a disappointment. I certainly hope the next book is better and a little more creative. The Bess Crawford series seems to be more nuanced, whereas Ian Rutledge has grown a little too formulaic. I'd like to see some growth or healing or something here. Have Ian do something which will surprise me instead of the same old thing.