MAY 2019 - AudioFile
Simon Prebble’s deep knowledge of the Inspector Ian Rutledge mystery series, which he has long narrated, serves listeners well in this 19th addition to the canon. In it, Rutledge is asked to find out more when the prime suspect in an old murder case reportedly resurfaces. Soon Rutledge is caught up in a confounding case that’s complicated by every interviewee’s habit of lying to him. As the case takes Rutledge (and his Scottish “ghost,” Hamish) back and forth across England, Prebble demonstrates his skill for coloring the personalities of a wide range of characters, including men and women, with accent, tone, and pacing. Add to that the warm, round oratory of his narrative voice, and you have a thoroughly satisfying listen. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
12/10/2018
Set in 1921, bestseller Todd’s solid 21st mystery featuring Scotland Yarder Ian Rutledge (after 2018’s The Gatekeeper) finds Rutledge defusing a hostage situation he encounters by chance in an English village. One of the people involved reports having heard of a recent sighting of Alan Barrington, a fugitive from justice. In 1910, Barrington was suspected of intentionally damaging a motorcar whose subsequent crash near the Ascot racetrack claimed the life of Blanche Fletcher-Munro and badly injured her husband, Harold. Despite a wide net cast by the police, Barrington evaded capture. Rutledge gets permission to pursue the new lead and seeks out Harold, whom Barrington held responsible for the suicide of his close friend Mark Thorne, Blanche’s first husband. The inspector finds reason to question the cause of Thorne’s death and the evidence against Barrington. Todd (the mother-and-son writing team of Caroline and Charles Todd) fails to make the most of a late dramatic development involving the psychologically damaged Rutledge. Still, this long-running series shows no sign of losing steam. Agent: Lisa Gallagher, DeFiore and Co. (Feb.)
From the Publisher
An absolute winner! The Black Ascot delivers everything we’ve come to love about an Ian Rutledge novel... If there’s ever been a more complex and compelling hero in crime fiction than Inspector Rutledge, I can’t think of one.” — Jeffery Deaver on The Black Ascot
“A masterpiece of imagination.” — Lee Child, New York Times bestselling author, on the Ian Rutledge series
“The authors... never let the series settle into an easy formula, and they always keep the reader guessing. This one feels just as fresh as the early Rutledge novels.” — Booklist on The Black Ascot
“The investigation and its ultimate destination are gripping.” — Kirkus Reviews on The Black Ascot
“This mystery is one of the finest in the series... One of the best I have read by Charles Todd—very highly recommended!” — Historical Novels Review on The Gate Keeper
“Somber, moving, and utterly spellbinding...evocative....Rutledge’s ongoing courageous refusal to surrender to the dark forces buffeting him on all sides is a shining example of resolve, nerve, and decency, and makes haunted Ian Rutledge impossible to drive out of one’s mind.” — Strand Magazine on A Long Shadow
“Charles Todd (actually a mother-son writing team) pulls off the voice-in-the-head device exquisitely. Moreover, the series is populated with highly nuanced characters, and the historical research is spot on. In Racing the Devil, the pacing is compelling.” — Newark Star Ledger on Racing the Devil
Newark Star Ledger on Racing the Devil
Charles Todd (actually a mother-son writing team) pulls off the voice-in-the-head device exquisitely. Moreover, the series is populated with highly nuanced characters, and the historical research is spot on. In Racing the Devil, the pacing is compelling.
Lee Child
A masterpiece of imagination.
Historical Novels Review on The Gate Keeper
This mystery is one of the finest in the series... One of the best I have read by Charles Todd—very highly recommended!
Booklist on The Black Ascot
The authors... never let the series settle into an easy formula, and they always keep the reader guessing. This one feels just as fresh as the early Rutledge novels.
Strand Magazine on A Long Shadow
Somber, moving, and utterly spellbinding...evocative....Rutledge’s ongoing courageous refusal to surrender to the dark forces buffeting him on all sides is a shining example of resolve, nerve, and decency, and makes haunted Ian Rutledge impossible to drive out of one’s mind.
Jeffery Deaver on The Black Ascot
An absolute winner! The Black Ascot delivers everything we’ve come to love about an Ian Rutledge novel... If there’s ever been a more complex and compelling hero in crime fiction than Inspector Rutledge, I can’t think of one.”
Booklist on The Black Ascot
The authors... never let the series settle into an easy formula, and they always keep the reader guessing. This one feels just as fresh as the early Rutledge novels.
Jeffery Deaver on The Black Ascot
An absolute winner! The Black Ascot delivers everything we’ve come to love about an Ian Rutledge novel... If there’s ever been a more complex and compelling hero in crime fiction than Inspector Rutledge, I can’t think of one.”
Strand Magazine on A Long Shadow
Somber, moving, and utterly spellbinding...evocative....Rutledge’s ongoing courageous refusal to surrender to the dark forces buffeting him on all sides is a shining example of resolve, nerve, and decency, and makes haunted Ian Rutledge impossible to drive out of one’s mind.
Lee Child
A masterpiece of imagination.
Newark Star Ledger on Racing the Devil
Charles Todd (actually a mother-son writing team) pulls off the voice-in-the-head device exquisitely. Moreover, the series is populated with highly nuanced characters, and the historical research is spot on. In Racing the Devil, the pacing is compelling.
Historical Novels Review on The Gate Keeper
This mystery is one of the finest in the series... One of the best I have read by Charles Todd—very highly recommended!
Strand-Magazine on A Long Shadow
Somber, moving, and utterly spellbinding...evocative....Rutledge’s ongoing courageous refusal to surrender to the dark forces buffeting him on all sides is a shining example of resolve, nerve, and decency, and makes haunted Ian Rutledge impossible to drive out of one’s mind.
Kings River Life Magazine
Recommended.
Historical Novels Review
This mystery is one of the finest in the series... One of the best I have read by Charles Todd—very highly recommended!
MAY 2019 - AudioFile
Simon Prebble’s deep knowledge of the Inspector Ian Rutledge mystery series, which he has long narrated, serves listeners well in this 19th addition to the canon. In it, Rutledge is asked to find out more when the prime suspect in an old murder case reportedly resurfaces. Soon Rutledge is caught up in a confounding case that’s complicated by every interviewee’s habit of lying to him. As the case takes Rutledge (and his Scottish “ghost,” Hamish) back and forth across England, Prebble demonstrates his skill for coloring the personalities of a wide range of characters, including men and women, with accent, tone, and pacing. Add to that the warm, round oratory of his narrative voice, and you have a thoroughly satisfying listen. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2018-11-13
An investigation into an 11-year-old murder unearths some surprising revelations in Inspector Ian Rutledge's 21st case (The Gate Keeper, 2018, etc.).
Rutledge survived World War I shellshocked and living with the ghostly voice of Hamish, a comrade who died in his arms. When he helps a former soldier find his wife, the grateful man gives him a tip that might help Rutledge find one of the most wanted men in Britain, Alan Barrington, who was accused of murder over a decade earlier and hasn't been seen since. Rutledge's boss gives him the unwelcome job of following up the clue, which begins the inspector's unrelenting search for the truth. Barrington had been accused of engineering a motor crash that killed Blanche Thorne and gravely injured her second husband, Harold Fletcher-Munro. Barrington had been positive that Fletcher-Munro drove Barrington's friend Mark Thorne to financial ruin and suicide so he could marry Blanche. Rutledge starts out by investigating Barrington's friends, including his lawyer and estate agent, both of whom have known him for years. When each refuses to confirm or deny that he's still alive, Rutledge begins to consider the possibility that Mark Thorne did not commit suicide but was murdered by one of the several men who wanted Blanche. Conversations with friends and relatives of the parties involved with Blanche reveal many conflicting opinions. Each snippet Rutledge gleans leads him deeper into a complex maze, but he never considers giving up even when his own wartime demons come to the fore.
Although the pace of this intricate tale is necessarily slow, the investigation and its ultimate destination are gripping.
