Scotland Yard's Inspector Ian Rutledge finds himself caught in a twisted web of vengeance, old grievances, and secrets that lead back to the war that still haunts him
In late june 1916, on the eve of the bloody Battle of the Somme, a group of English officers have a last drink before returning to the Front. Strangers until the war, they discover that before the
fighting began, they had all lived within a hundred miles of one another along the southern coast of England. They also had one other thing in common: a passion for motorcars.
Daring fate, they make a promise to the future. If they survive the battle ahead-and all those to come-they will meet in Paris a year after the war ends. They will celebrate their good fortune by racing motorcars they own, beg, or borrow from Paris to Nice.
In November 1919, the officers meet as planned, and though their automobiles are not designed for racing, they set out for Nice. But a pair of serious mishaps mar the reunion. In the mountains just north of their destination, one vehicle is nearly run off the twisting, fog-shrouded road and another crashes, badly injuring the driver. No one knows-or will admit to recognizing-who was behind the wheel of the rogue motorcar.
Back in England one year later, during a heavy rainstorm, a local rector driving along the Sussex coastline loses control of his motorcar and is killed. Was it an accident due to the hazardous conditions Another set of tire tracks raises suspicions of something far darker, especially since the rector was driving a car he surreptitiously borrowed from a neighbor, a captain in the Great War.
Is the crash connected in some way to the unfortunate events in the mountains above Nice the year before While the unfortunate clergyman, another veteran of that terrible war, wasn't in France then, the car's owner was. If it was foul play, was it a case of mistaken identity Or was the dead man the intended victim after all
Called in to investigate this perplexing case, Scotland Yard's Inspector Ian Rutledge-a man who carries his own ghosts from the battlefields of France-discovers that the truth is elusive. The stony villagers are adept at keeping secrets, frustrating his search for a faceless killer hiding in the shadows-a cold-blooded murderer willing to strike again. This time, the victim he chooses is a child, and it will take all of Rutledge's skill to stop him before an innocent young life is taken.
About the Author
Charles Todd is the author of thirteen Ian Rutledge mysteries, three Bess Crawford mysteries, and one stand-alone novel. A mother and son writing team, they live in Delaware and North Carolina.
Industry Reviews
"A superb entry in a superb series: an exquisite sense of time and place, a satisfying mystery with a breathless conclusion, and above all the complex, haunted, charismatic Inspector Ian Rutledge himself-truly one of crime fiction's most absorbing characters." -- Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author Praise for No Shred of Evidence: "It's that melancholy tone, the legacy of the trenches, that gives Todd's polite rural mystery such uncommon depth." -- Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review on NO SHRED OF EVIDENCE "Poirot was one name, Holmes was another, and Rutledge deserves to be in that classic pack of crime solvers." -- Suspense Magazine on NO SHRED OF EVIDENCE "Fans already mourning the end of "Downton Abbey" can easily get their English fix by following Rutledge and Hamish on their rounds." -- Wilmington Star News on NO SHRED OF EVIDENCE "The mother and son team, who write as Charles Todd, deftly capture the atmosphere of post World War I England in this complex mystery which will appeal to fans of British mysteries." -- Iron Mountain Daily News on NO SHRED OF EVIDENCE Praise for the Ian Rutledge series: "I love series that follow particular characters over time and through their experiences, so I automatically read the latest installments from ... Charles Todd." -- Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Times Book Review "Todd writes a rich mystery, but in investigating the murder Rutledge also probes the psychic wounds of the village and tries to minister to the collective survivor guilt of the living. 'The dead,' as the voice in his head tells him, 'still believe it was worth dying for.'" -- Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review on RACING THE DEVIL "Charles Todd (actually a mother-son writing team) pulls off the voice-in-the-head device exquisitely. Moreover, the series is populated with highly nuanced characters, and the historical research is spot on. In "Racing the Devil," the pacing is compelling." -- Newark Star Ledger "Todd's rich storytelling shines in "Racing the Devil," showing an England forever changed by The Great War, yet determined to survive." -- South Florida Sun Sentinel
