A Cold Treachery (Inspector Ian Rutledge)

In Charles Todd's "A Cold Treachery," Inspector Ian Rutledge of London's Scotland Yard is dispatched to the cold and snowy north country of England, where sheep outnumber people and the rocks on the mountain slopes outnumber the sheep. Sheep farming is the principal occupation around the small Village of Urskdale, which is situated next to a lake with the equally hard-sounding name of Urskwater. The houses, barns, and sheep pens of the outlying farms are scattered on the steep rocky slopes called fells. Snow makes the fells slippery and conceals treacherous crevices. The mountainous terrain, the cold, and snow permeate Todd's story. People in these parts all know their neighbors and are wary of strangers. A horrible, bloody shooting of an isolated farm family -- mother, father, little daughter, and twin babies -- in their kitchen scares everyone into distrusting everyone else and to start locking doors. Only one family member, a 10-year-old boy, is missing. Is the boy the murderer? Or had he escaped or been killed elsewhere by the madman? Search parties have begun scouring the area for the boy, who could not survive long in the bad weather. The local police know they need help. Inspector Rutledge drives from London, facing a blizzard that is making many roads impassable and will make his job more difficult. All the elements of the story are finely drawn -- plot, suspects, other characters, the weather, the sheep, the farms, the fells. Expertly written. A most satisfying read (400 pages).

And that is part of the problem...readers want their good authors to write more, so they can read more of their books and their plots and their characterizations. But then if our authors do write more, their writing often goes downhill and the plotting gets lazy, the characterization more sloppy. Authors can't win no matter which way they go! I find it hard to believe I missed writing a review for this book. I read it quite some time ago when I was going through as many of Todd's books as I could find. Todd's shell-shocked survivor of WWI who was and is a detective is still dealing with his inner voice (who happens to be the man he was called upon to execute during wartime for refusal to obey orders...in this case to take another group of very young men over the trenches and into a war with the Germans for which there is no good reason). Rutledge becomes involved in the wintery murder of a family, except for a missing 10 year old boy who is suspected of doing the murders, simply because he is missing and the easiest person to blame such an atrocity on. Rutledge needs to find out the truth, whatever that may be, and if possible find this boy, if he is still alive...before the real killer does. Todd's books are based on an innate sadness that came over England after she lost a whole generation of young men to a war played by generals safely behind the scenes. Almost every family was impacted by the war, either by a direct loss of a son, a husband, a father...or from the vast changes that were made on English social structure when women had to make up for the battefield losses in the agricultural and business world, as well as deal with their own personal losses at the same time. Life was not easy anywhere in England, but especially on the bleak farms. The psychiatric toll taken by all this was immense, and was too much for some people to take. Todd is one of the better finds of the last couple of years. Surprisingly enough, he is an American, but he writes like he had training in the British school system and not ours. His books are smart, and thoughtful, and the language used is beautiful. Karen sadler

If you like good edge of your seat whodunits set in quaintly atmospheric British locales, if you like a story where every character may have ample reason to have done away with the deceased, if you like a yarn that brings in some psychology and even some of the "big questions" of life, if you like eccentric but believable supporting characters, if you like to be entertained and at the same time, learn just a bit about a time gone by, if you like to see justice done and all of the loose ends tied up by the last page, look no further than here, and at all of the Charles Todd, Inspector Ian Rutledge mysteries. Having cut my teeth on Agatha Christie and then savored the elegant sophistication of Miss Dorothy L Sayers, I have been -- how shall we put it -- eager for mysteries that come up to those high standards. Often disappointed. Until now. Charles Todd's multi-dimensional, flawed Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge is appealing, endearing and real. He is not a caricature detective, nor a foil for red herrings and twisted plots (even though they abound in Todd's works). His persona is such that we would enjoy a book about his life that had NO mystery to it... Not that I am suggesting such a move to the authors.... Speaking of authors... Yes plural. Having read one book, I kept thinking, who is this author. Turns out that Charles Todd is American, not British, and Charles Todd is actually a mother and son team, writing together to create these wonderful books set in post W W I Britain. And then there is Hamish, Ian's ghostly alter-ego, traveling companion, and imaginary friend. When my local bookstore owner told me the basics about Ian and his now-dead Scottish sergeant, who likes to ride in the back seat of Rutledge's car and "back seat drive" the investigations, I thought this was all too droll. Well, droll it is but it works--surprisingly well. To the point that the reader finds himself or herself wondering what Hamish thinks of this or that turn of events, even when Hamish is silent. This is the first of Charles Todd's Rutledge mysteries that I read--and then I went on to the first in the series: Test of Wills. I enjoyed reading them in this way, and in fact was hooked. (And then went on to the others). But the reader may want to read them in order. Test of Wills, Wings of Fire, Search the Dark, Legacy of the Dead, Watchers of Time, A Fearsome Doubt, A Cold Treachery, A Long Shadow. There is also a stand-alone Todd mystery called Murder Stone. Read more about them at: www.Charlestodd.com Todd intertwines the supporting characters from book to book, so that Rutledge's and Hamish's friends and family appear in more than one book, at some times, mentioned and other times, key to the story. This book, about a missing boy and his murdered family in a lonely spot between the Lake District and the Dales, is well worth your time and attention. If you find this review helpful you might want to read some of my other reviews,

This is the latest in a continuing series that is very enjoyable. The main character is likable and you feel sympathy for his difficulties and want him to succeed in solving the case. The case itself is very good, as the solution is not readily seen and unwinds nicely throughout the story. I have enjoyed all of the books in this series and highly recommend them all.

In December 1919 in wintry Urksdale, England someone murders five members of the Elcott family, three of them children, in their home. Paul Elcott discovers the grisly remains of his kin, but in his horror he fails to realize that ten year old Josh escaped the brutality. Inspector Greeley assumes the lad is dead as Dr. Jarvis stated that the killings occurred two days ago. Unable to overcome his bias that no local committed the mass murders, Greeley requests help from Scotland Yard's Chief Constable. While a blizzard hampers travel, the Chief Constable sends Word War I veteran Inspector Ian Rutledge to investigate the vicious killings. Ian keeps his thin grip on sanity through his police work as he feels remorse about Corporal Hamish who he ordered executed for insubordination. As the locals including Greeley and Jarvis insist it is a lunatic outsider, Rutledge looks for clues to find the whereabouts of Josh, not just for altruistic reasons. The murder scene implies deadly passion from someone the family members knew intimately; hence the ten year old is Ian's prime suspect; others from the village with fervent motives surface. In his seventh appearance, battle fatigue syndrome victim Rutledge seems as if he is getting mentally even more unstable than in his previous tales. Still as his grasp on reality lessens, his inspection skills remain strong. The who-done-it is solid, but it is the powerful historical look at the austere lifestyle of a northern England farm family just after the war that keeps the series fresh and at the top rung of the sub-genre. Harriet Klausner