A Long Shadow - (Inspector Ian Rutledge Mysteries) by Charles Todd (Paperback)

About the Book

Seamless in its storytelling and enthralling in its plotting. Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

Dark and remarkable .Once [Todd] grabs you, there s no putting the novel down. Detroit Free Press

The Winston-Salem Journal declares that, like P. D. James and Ruth Rendell, Charles Todd writes novels that transcend genre. A Long Shadow proves that statement true beyond the shadow of a doubt. Once again featuring Todd s extraordinary protagonist, Scotland Yard investigator and shell-shocked World War One veteran, Inspector Ian Rutledge, A Long Shadow immerses readers in the sights and sounds of post-war Great Britain, as the damaged policeman pursues answers to a constable s slaying and the three-year-old mystery of a young girl s disappearance in a tiny Northamptonshire village. Read Todd s A Long Shadow and see why the Washington Post calls the Rutledge crime novels, one of the best historical series being written today. "

Book Synopsis

"Seamless in its storytelling and enthralling in its plotting."
--Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

"Dark and remarkable....Once [Todd] grabs you, there's no putting the novel down."
--Detroit Free Press

The Winston-Salem Journal declares that, "like P. D. James and Ruth Rendell, Charles Todd writes novels that transcend genre." A Long Shadow proves that statement true beyond the shadow of a doubt. Once again featuring Todd's extraordinary protagonist, Scotland Yard investigator and shell-shocked World War One veteran, Inspector Ian Rutledge, A Long Shadow immerses readers in the sights and sounds of post-war Great Britain, as the damaged policeman pursues answers to a constable's slaying and the three-year-old mystery of a young girl's disappearance in a tiny Northamptonshire village. Read Todd's A Long Shadow and see why the Washington Post calls the Rutledge crime novels, "one of the best historical series being written today."

From the Back Cover

Scotland Yard's Inspector Ian Rutledge brought the Great War home with him, and its horrors haunt him still. On New Year's Eve 1919, he finds a brass cartridge casing, similar to countless others he'd seen on the battlefield, on the steps of a friend's house. Soon there are more, purposely placed where he is sure to discover them.

Unexpectedly drawn away from London to a small Northamptonshire village, he investigates the strange case of a local constable shot with a bow and arrow in an allegedly spirit-infested wood. Here among the taciturn townsfolk, embroiled in a three-year-old mystery of a vanished young girl, Rutledge hopes to keep his own ghosts at bay.

But his stalker has followed him. And now the emotionally shattered policeman walking the razor's edge of sanity must somehow keep his balance long enough to discover who is tracking him...and why.

Review Quotes

"One of the most respected writers in the mystery genre." - Denver Post
"Todd's plotting and characterization are, as usual, first-rate, and the tormented motivations behind the novel's dark acts are presented with a sensitivity and refinement remniscent of the best P.D. James." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A daunting portrait of a town that keeps its thoughts, its troubles and most of all its secrets to itself." - New York Times Book Review
"[A] remarkable series....Keeps readers on the edge right up to the stunning end." - Detroit Free Press
"Evocative." - Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Incisive as ever." - Kirkus Reviews
"No mystery series I can think of captures the sadness and loss that swept over England after World War I with the heartbreaking force of Charles Todd's books about Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge." - Chicago Tribune
"Atmosphere aplenty." - Charlotte Observer
"Todd's series has the feel of the classic whodunits of such Golden Age masters as Christie and Sayers. Its ever-thickening plot is sure to please serious puzzlers who thrill to a large cast of wary villagers spinning complex webs of rumor and deception....a traditional mystery buff's delight." - Booklist
"Excels at intricate relationships among characters....Another winning story." - Library Journal
"Riveting historical mystery." - Romantic Times