Set in 1920, bestseller Todd's 12th mystery to feature the shell-shocked WWI veteran and Scotland Yard inspector Ian Rutledge (after 2008's A Matter of Justice) is one of the strongest entries yet in a series that shows no sign of losing steam. Rutledge first looks into the disappearance of missionary Walter Teller, who suddenly fell ill in London and later apparently walked out of the clinic where he was being treated. Rutledge questions members of Teller's immediate family, including his brothers, Peter and Edwin. After the resolution of the case of the missing missionary, Rutledge investigates the bludgeoning death of Florence Teller, apparently the wife of another Peter Teller, in Lancashire. Once again Todd (the pseudonym of a mother-son writing team) perfectly balance incisive portraits of all the characters, not just the complex and original lead, with a tricky puzzle in which the killer is hidden in plain sight for the discerning reader to discover. (Jan.)
Warning: skeletons in the family closet can be deadly. In Todd's 12th Inspector Rutledge mystery (after A Matter of Justice), set in post-World War I London, Rutledge struggles to find inner peace in a disillusioned world. His current assignment starts as a straightforward missing-person case of one Walter Teller but quickly blends into a murder investigation when a woman is killed in Lancashire. Village accounts suggest she was married to army officer Peter Teller, presumed dead. Is it just a coincidence that one of Walter's brothers is named Peter, who happens to be very much alive, living in London, and married to another woman? The Teller family emphatically denies that the dead woman is a relation, but Rutledge must uncover their secret before the killer strikes again. After introducing new sleuth Bess Crawford in A Duty to the Dead, the mother-and-son writing team returns to their popular series sleuth, the tortured but very human Ian Rutledge, with this engaging and atmospheric mystery. VERDICT Recommended for Anglophiles who love cozy, historical mysteries with a detective who is bent but never completely broken. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 9/15/09.]—Susan O. Moritz, Montgomery Cty. P.L.s, MD
Inspector Rutledge confronts a war-weary family in 1920. Where is Walter Teller? An undiagnosed malady has sent him to the Belvedere Clinic. His wife Jenny, his sister Leticia, his brothers Edwin and Peter and their wives Amy and Susannah worry over him, then become alarmed when he disappears. Family members hare off in all directions to find him, reuniting when Scotland Yard sends Inspector Rutledge to help. Nobody seems eager to confide in Rutledge, who, accompanied by the hectoring ghost of Hamish, a soldier he executed during the Great War, wonders if the Tellers of Essex are related to recently murdered Florence Teller, a widow from Hobson. Her husband Peter never returned from the war. Are her Peter and the Essex Peter one and the same? Was she killed to cover up not only bigamy but illegitimacy? And is her death related to Walter's illness? Peter, his leg gimpy from war wounds, falls downstairs and dies. Jenny, distraught at Peter's possible perfidy, succumbs to laudanum poisoning. Walter returns, then vanishes again, only to be waylaid himself. While sorting through the family travails, Rutledge must confront a former suitor of Florence with family woes of his own, as well as a triple murderer who's prowling Westminster Bridge determined to slay Rutledge. Departing from Rutledge's earlier cases (A Matter of Justice, 2008, etc.), the caprices of fatherhood take precedence over the iniquities of war this time, with a subdued Hamish and an emotionally reawakening Rutledge along for the ride. Author tour to Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco
Compelling.” — San Jose Mercury News on The Red Door
“Fascinating and compelling.” — Winston-Salem Journal on The Red Door
“One of the strongest entries yet in a series that shows no sign of losing steam….Once again Todd perfectly balances incisive portraits of all the characters, not just the complex and original lead.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) on The Red Door
“Engaging and atmospheric.” — Library Journal on The Red Door
“A complex story with lots of unexpected twists and turns….A fun ride to a surprising conclusion.” — Mystery Scene on The Red Door
“Superb…haunting tale of love and loss.” — Globe and Mail (Toronto) on The Red Door
“In The Red Door, Charles Todd shows again that this series about Ian Rutledge, a battle-fatigued World War I veteran and Scotland Yard detective, is as fresh and original as when the shell-shocked detective debuted 12 novels ago.” — Sun-Sentinel (Florida) on The Red Door
“An intriguing story that’s impossible to put down…reminiscent of Agatha Christie.” — Post and Courier (Charleston, SC) on The Red Door
“The book is more than a whodunit. Todd’s characters are well-wrought, his settings evocative, and the book a pleasure to read.” — World magazine on The Red Door
Superb…haunting tale of love and loss.
Globe and Mail (Toronto) on The Red Door
The book is more than a whodunit. Todd’s characters are well-wrought, his settings evocative, and the book a pleasure to read.
World magazine on The Red Door
An intriguing story that’s impossible to put down…reminiscent of Agatha Christie.
Post and Courier (Charleston
Fascinating and compelling.
Winston-Salem Journal on The Red Door
Compelling.
San Jose Mercury News on The Red Door
In The Red Door, Charles Todd shows again that this series about Ian Rutledge, a battle-fatigued World War I veteran and Scotland Yard detective, is as fresh and original as when the shell-shocked detective debuted 12 novels ago.
Sun-Sentinel (Florida) on The Red Door
A complex story with lots of unexpected twists and turns….A fun ride to a surprising conclusion.
Mystery Scene on The Red Door
"An intriguing story that’s impossible to put down…reminiscent of Agatha Christie."
Post and Courier (Charleston)
"An intriguing story that’s impossible to put down…reminiscent of Agatha Christie."
Post and Courier (Charleston))
Fascinating and compelling.
In The Red Door, Charles Todd shows again that this series about Ian Rutledge, a battle-fatigued World War I veteran and Scotland Yard detective, is as fresh and original as when the shell-shocked detective debuted 12 novels ago.
A complex story with lots of unexpected twists and turns….A fun ride to a surprising conclusion.
The book is more than a whodunit. Todd’s characters are well-wrought, his settings evocative, and the book a pleasure to read.
Superb…haunting tale of love and loss.
Compelling.
What terrified missionary Walter Teller so much that it first paralyzed him, then caused him to run away from his family? How will Inspector Ian Rutledge and Hamish (his invisible sidekick) solve the mystery of the disappearance of Walter Teller and the subsequent murder of Florence Teller? Simon Prebble puts his considerable talents to work with a variety of accents from the length and breadth of the British Isles. While Rutledge pokes and prods at the dark secrets of Teller's extended family, Prebble shifts accent and intonation to mimic the background of each character. Slowly and confidently, the detective tugs at the web of deceit that began many years before WWI, unraveling it in bits and pieces. Prebble's gruff tones bring forth tales of the war that echo throughout this mystery and the Teller family itself. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine
