Inspector Ian Rutledge Series

“Stunning . . . the tragic sweep of Todd’s historical mysteries grows more expansive with each novel.”—The New York Times Book Review

Called out into the teeth of a violent blizzard, Inspector Ian Rutledge faces one of the most savage murders he’s ever encountered. He might have expected such unspeakable carnage on the World War I battlefields where he’d lost much of his soul—and his sanity—but not in an otherwise peaceful farm kitchen in remote Urskdale. Someone has murdered the Elcott family without the least sign of struggle. But when the victims are tallied, the local police are in for another shock: One child is missing. Now the Inspector must race to save a young boy before he’s silenced by the merciless elements—or the even colder hands of the killer who hides in the blinding snow.

Praise for A Cold Treachery

“Todd’s Ian Rutledge mysteries are among the most intelligent and affecting being written these days.”—Washington Post Book World

“Brilliant.”—Chicago Tribune

“Traditional mystery lovers who prefer their whodunits enriched with psychological insight will heartily embrace A Cold Treachery. . . . A superb effort.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Brilliantly conceived and elegantly executed.”—Strand magazine                                                                                                          

“[Charles] Todd’s mysteries are among the most intelligent and affecting being written these days.”—The Washington Post Book World 

In 1912 Ian Rutledge helped gather the evidence that sent Ben Shaw to the gallows. Now, seven years later, Ben Shaw’s widow brings Rutledge evidence she’s convinced proves her husband’s innocence. Ben Shaw’s past is a tangle of unsettling secrets that may or may not be true. And it grows only more twisted when a seemingly unrelated murder brings Rutledge back to Kent. There an unexpected encounter revives his painful memories of war—and the voice of Hamish MacLeod, the soldier Rutledge was forced to execute. Two elusive killers are on the loose at the same time . . . and to catch them before they catch him, Rutledge will be forced to question everything he believes about right, wrong—and murder.

Praise for A Fearsome Doubt

“Brilliant . . . Who’d have thought that Charles Todd’s brilliant concept for a mystery . . . would not only continue but grow stronger from book to book.”—Chicago Tribune
 
“Todd raises the stakes in this series to new and nearly unbearable levels.”—The New York Times Book Review
 
“A brilliant and gripping whodunit . . . an outstanding historical mystery and literate period fiction.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“If anyone can turn a simple village mystery into a brooding Greek tragedy, it’s Charles Todd. . . . Todd handles grave issues with great compassion”—The New York Times Book Review 

 In a marshy Norfolk backwater, a priest is brutally murdered after giving a dying man last rites. For Scotland Yard’s Ian Rutledge, an ex-officer still recovering from the trauma of war, it looks to be a simple case. Yet the Inspector finds himself uncovering secrets that the local authorities would prefer not to see explored. Rutledge pares away layers of deception to piece together a chain of events that stretches from the brooding marshes to one of the greatest sea disasters in history—the sinking of the Titanic. Who is the mysterious woman who may have boarded that ship—and who is the secretive woman who survived it? Only Rutledge can answer those questions . . . and prevent a killer who’ll stop at nothing from striking again. 

Praise for Watchers of Time

“One of the best historical series being written today . . . In the grand tradition of English murder mysteries.”—The Washington Post Book World

“With his tortured detective Ian Rutledge and the ghost who inhabits his mind . . . Charles Todd has swiftly become one of the most respected writers in the mystery genre. . . . The pair is unique among sleuths.”—The Denver Post 

“Outstanding. Todd’s portrait of Rutledge and postwar England remains powerful.”—Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine

The weathered remains found on a Scottish mountainside may be those of Eleanor Gray, but the imperious Lady Maude Gray, Eleanor’s mother, will have to be handled delicately. This is not the only ground that Inspector Ian Rutledge of Scotland Yard must tread carefully, for the case will soon lead him to Scotland, where many of Rutledge’s ghosts rest uneasily. But it is an unexpected encounter that will hold the most peril.

For in Scotland Rutledge will find that the young mother accused of killing Eleanor Gray is a woman to whom he owes a terrible debt. And his harrowing journey to find the truth will lead him back through the fires of his past, into secrets that still have the power to kill.