Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Scotland Yarder Ian Rutledge's promotion to chief inspector is disrupted by a difficult case in Todd's brilliant latest historical mystery featuring the tortured investigator (after A Christmas Witness). In 1921, Rutledge's boss, Chief Superintendent Markum, orders him to travel to Northumberland to investigate the death of Oswin Dunn, a pilot whose body washed ashore near Lindisfarne, "the cradle of Christianity in England." The location makes the drowning a concern for the Church of England, which is worried that Dunn's death on the sacred island could stir up bad press. Aware that he must tread carefully, Rutledge begins searching for a murderer after an autopsy reveals that Dunn was fatally bludgeoned before entering the water. The chief inspector pursues two possible motives for the killing: anti-German prejudice directed against Dunn for having a German brother-in-law, and anger over Dunn's investigation of the sinking of the British Royal Navy's HMS Ascot just before the 1918 armistice. As usual, Rutledge is haunted throughout by the ghost of a man he killed in WWI, and Todd expertly balances a moving depiction of Rutledge's torment with a masterful whodunit plot. The author is in fine form. Agent: Lisa Gallagher, DeFiore & Co. (Mar.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
It's 1921 when the murdered body of a local man washes ashore off Lindisfarne. The government and the Church of England are concerned about protecting both the reputation of the Church and the sacred sites that are a big tourist destination. Because of his social and political connections, Scotland Yard sends Detective Inspector Ian Rutledge to solve this crime and try to keep the Church out of the investigation. Almost immediately, Rutledge finds himself pulled between two coastal fishing villages that were scarred by home-front battles and coastal bombardment by Germany in the Great War. Animosity toward Germany in these villages still runs high. Facing a puzzling case and a cast of locals that don't take kindly to outsiders, the newly promoted Rutledge meets one of the most challenging cases of his career. To solve it, he'll also have to confront his own demons left over from his time in the war. VERDICT Number 25 in the Ian Rutledge series (following A Game of Fear), this latest is sure to delight the enormous readership of this post-World War I mystery series.--Susan Clifford Braun
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
His 1921 promotion doesn't protect Chief Inspector Ian Rutledge from getting sent to remote Northumberland to investigate a death that doesn't look all that suspicious. Even after the local coroner has established that boat pilot and chart maker Oswin Dunn was killed by a blunt instrument somewhere far from the beach on Ross Sands where his body washed up, Rutledge realizes that his job isn't to work out whodunit but to keep the local churches from any hint of scandal. With the failure of Plan A (assure the world that the aging Dunn died a natural death), he's forced to fall back on Plan B (craft a story about his death that assures the world that his corpse did not float down from the nearby Holy Island). Goaded by both his superior, Chief Supt. Markum, and his familiar, Hamish MacLeod, the soldier he ordered executed for refusing to continue fighting the Great War, Rutledge shuttles between the bare-bones Ship Inn, where he's staying, and the posh Bamburgh Castle Inn, where there's a telephone. The discovery that Dunn's sister, Ilsa, had married traveling German salesman Herman Krüger, before she left the village supplies a motive for Dunn's murder--hatred of the Hun--that would seem only one of several possible motives if Todd hadn't gone out of his way to announce it in his prologue. The only question remaining is why Dunn's disposition and behavior were changed so dramatically by the sinking of HMSAscot by a German U-boat the day before the 1918 Armistice. And that's one Rutledge, after examining the evidence, can answer with an authority that would bring satisfaction to anyone but his own tormented soul. A welcome final revelation suggests that happiness may yet await the troubled hero. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
