After reading the previous book in this series, A Cold Treachery, I was interested to see where Inspector Ian Rutledge's cases would take him next and I decided to jump right in and read the next book in the series. After all, it was already on my Kindle waiting for me, just a click away.We first encounter the inspector here on New Year's Eve, 1919, only a short while after the end of his last case. He accompanies his sister, Frances, to the house of mutual friends for a dinner party. At the party, one of the guests is alleged to have some psychic powers and she is asked to hold a seance, an activity that is very popular in the London of the day. This makes Inspector Rutledge, who has an intimate knowledge of and relationship with the dead from the recent war, very uncomfortable, and he is relieved to receive a phone call from Scotland Yard which gives him an excuse to leave.As he is leaving, he finds a brass cartridge casing on the steps outside. He picks it up and sees that there is an engraving on it. He puts it in his pocket and goes on his way, but soon he's finding other such engraved casings. Someone seems to be following him around and leaving the casings for him to find. For a man already on the knife's edge of mental collapse because of PTSD, this seems a deliberate attempt to unsettle and threaten him. Mercifully, he is called away from London to a small Northamptonshire village where the local constable has been shot and seriously wounded by a bow and arrow, while in woods that the locals consider to be haunted. Trying to find out what has happened proves difficult for Rutledge because the local folk are extremely taciturn and close-mouthed.Rutledge learns that there are other mysteries which the villagers seem intent on hiding for some reason. For example, a teenage girl disappeared from the village some three years earlier and has never been found. Her grandmother, with whom she lived, says she must have gone to London to look for her missing mother. But did she? And was the constable looking for her grave in the woods when he was shot?It soon becomes apparent to Rutledge that there is a connection between the missing girl and the wounded constable, but just what that connection is is not at all clear. Meanwhile, distressingly, Rutledge continues to find engraved cartridge casings in odd places and then while he is out in his motorcar one day, a bullet smashes his windscreen, barely missing his head. Who is this unknown adversary who appears to be stalking him? To complicate the situation further, the psychic from the New Year's Eve party shows up in the village and expresses concern about Rutledge, but is her concern genuine or is she somehow connected to the stalker?In order to solve the mysteries, Rutledge must find a way to break the silence of this unfriendly and secretive village and he must find the motive behind the disappearance of the teenager and the wounding of the constable and discover the connection between the two.This is another eloquent story of suspense told in absorbing prose with an emotional depth that gives the reader a sense of Ian Rutledge as a very real and sympathetic, if flawed, character. He is a character that we can care about, one about which we can look forward to reading more.
I hadn't read a Charles Todd book for a while, and was in need of some 'light' reading. So I picked this one up. I always enjoy these books for the most part, but at Amazon.com before I bought the book, I saw a reader comment that the presence of Hamish in Detective Ian Rutledge's life is getting old. To an extent I agree with that reviewer, but not to the point where I don't think the book is worth reading. This plot device that Todd (mother and son writers) uses is actually quite unique in modern fiction, even if Shakespeare used it a bit. Now given, Todd is no Shakespeare, but I've read many books with significantly less characterization and less sensible plotting. Those two parts in novels are very important, at least to me. So I am more than willing to give these books a little leeway. People do not often totally overcome a mental illness (PTSD) in their lives...and back then in World War 1, there was little that could be done concerning what was called then 'shell-shock'. Therapy as it is known today was just beginning to be used, and there was little in the way of medication. So that ghost, Hamish, might be around for a while. Maybe once in a while they might make things a little less dark?Rutledge does manage to meet a new woman, someone who a bit clairvoyant. She recognizes his problems from the war, but does not delve into his private problems at first Rutledge seems to have a stalker, who at first is simply mysterious. But later the stalking becomes dangerous to life, and he has to figure out both an attempted murder of a police officer, as well as deal with this new private problem...
What do You think about A Long Shadow (2006)?
I'm not sure why I found this more satisfying than the typical Ian Rutledge mystery (usually 3 stars), but I did. (PERHAPS because I cheated, skimmed to the end to learn whodunit, then went back & read at a normal pace - a study showed people enjoyed reading stories more when they knew how they ended!)This despite the fact that the solution to the mystery is a bit...incredible. But I liked the mix of characters, the believable setting - where despite the mysterious attack on the local constable, people still keep their doors unlocked - and the odd subplot involving someone leaving bullet casings in Rutledge's car, rooms, etc. This book also introduces a female character - Mrs. Channing - whom I hope we'll see again; some new info on Rutledge's thick-headed, resentful boss (you'd think he'd appreciate the fact that Rutledge, time and again, solves the crime and makes the department look good!) and used the Hamish factor (I refuse to call him a character!) in slightly different ways. (Any change regarding Hamish is good, IMO; after the first mystery, where it was something novel, it has become a somewhat annoying crutch and I sometimes wonder whether the authors have a settled idea of what "the voice in Rutledge's head" is supposed to be: his guilty conscience; hallucination; or a "real" spectral presence. The lack of consistency in the Hamish voice really drives me up a wall.)I look forward to seeing where the authors go from here in subsequent installments.
—Mary Ellen
Ian Rutledge breaks my heart. On the surface, he's an upper class British officer returned from the front after WWI to resume his position as an inspector at Scotland Yard. Underneath the handsome facade, he is the ultimate casualty of a terrible war-- tortured by his memories, haunted by a decision made in the heat of battle and abandoned by his fiancée, he throws himself full force into solving the cases he's assigned. Instead of a partner or a sidekick, Rutledge has only the ghostly specter of a dead colleague and brother-in-arms, Hamish McCleod, to help him sort out the details. Smart and original.
—Joanne
If a movie is going to be made from these books - this should be the one!! This book is a great mystery and keeps one guessing until the very last chapter.A mystery solved without CSI!! The book plods along - and whenever I think it could have gone quicker I realize that the book takes place in 1919 and there is no CSI. They couldn't even take a fingerprint. Surprised that it could be determined whether something was poisoned!!The one annoying thing - is that it is very obvious that the book was not written by an Englishman - because the word honor is Americanized. Other then that - you can hear the accent and see the English countryside.This is my favorite Ian Rutledge book. By this book he has become a well established detective.Things I love:-tUsing people’s body language to obtain information-tShort chapters-tSmall town characters-tIan Rutledge’s use of gossipsThis book begins the “romance” of Ian and Meredith Channing. BEST USE OF: Tea and lots of it!! Hot tea, cold tea, sweet tea, poisoned tea – I had to have tea while reading this book!!ALPHA MALE Ian is an 8 in this bookSPUNKY HEROINE Meredith Channing is the only heroine and she is a 10IMPLIED SEX 0HEA(HAPPILY EVER AFTER) No one is HEA in an Ian Rutledge mysteryPROLOGUE/EPILOGUE NoneRating System10 – Perfect – one of my favorites – a keeper foreverHeat Level0 – You couldn’t even start a fire with this book!!
—Patsyann
